Scott Dixon holds off Graham Rahal at Indy road course to extend record streak of winning seasons

Click here for the full stats package of points and results from Saturday’s race.

The oldest living Indy 500 winner had a special message for Scott Dixon.

Parnelli Jones, who won the 1963 Indianapolis 500, watched the Chip Ganassi Racing driver’s 54th career victory while celebrating his 90th birthday at his home in Southern California.

“Wow that was a great race - down to final lap, final turns with Scott (Dixon) staying out front and winning,” Jones said via longtime racing publicist Steve Shunck. "(Graham) Rahal sure pushed him. A fun race to watch. I’m happy for Scott, Chip and the whole team.

“It takes a team to win. Scott is one of the best drivers to race in an open wheel car. He proved it again today. Road course or oval, a win at the Speedway is always special.”

Jones has a special connection to Chip Ganassi, Dixon’s car owner.

When he was 5 years old, Chip was gifted a film of Jones’ 1963 win by his father, Floyd. Jones later signed off on Ganassi’s first Indy 500 driver’s license.

Ganassi’s team often has welcomed Jones as a racetrack guest, including at the 2021 Indy 500.

As one of the all-time greats in IndyCar, winning never gets old for Scott Dixon.

The six-time IndyCar champion won in the most quintessential ways on the IMS road course — conserving fuel while pitting off sequence to leap up the running order is classic Dixon — to extend his consecutive streak of winning seasons to 19.

After 54 career victories (second only to A.J. Foyt), Dixon, 43, seems to be maintaining his Hall of Fame ability into middle age.

“What it all comes down to for me is I love racing,” he said. “That’s the fun part for me, is when the race starts or when we go even to a test, I enjoy being in the car.”

“It’s tough. The NTT IndyCar Series right now is extremely competitive. There’s so much depth between the driver and team combos, that it’s very hard to win. You constantly are chasing a moving target, which is fun. That’s what keeps you I think fresh, inspired. Especially when you have great teammates that are very fast, as well.

“Yeah, I love this sport. Hope it continues for a lot of years.”

It would be hard to stop with Dixon one season short of an even two decades of consistent winning (as well as his record streak of 319 consecutive starts, having broken a tie with Tony Kanaan with Saturday’s race).

But Dixon stopped short of saying he felt relieved to have kept the streak alive.

“I don’t know; you go into every weekend as a fresh start,” he said. “For me and for this team, they only go there to win. The downside is that there’s probably 26 or 27 other really competitive cars, at least 10 or 15.

“Over time I think these (wins) feel better. Maybe in the early parts of your career, you really don’t care too much about wins. Another one will just come along. I think with how competitive it is, what these teams have got really good at is covering all strategies. The days of where maybe us or a couple of others would go on an alternate strategy, now you might have half the field that would do it.

“A lot of the drivers have done a good job of understanding how to get the mileage, how to look after the tire. There’s a lot of tools now, whether it’s with the simulator to onboard laps to the dash overlay stuff, all the information we get now, makes it a little bit easier to catch up and maybe cover different strategies. It was cool to have this one work out today and be a strong performance for our team.”

Pato O’Ward has six podium finishes this season and endless frustration about not standing on the top step for any of them.

“A fricking win would be great,” O’Ward said after finishing third Saturday.

“Yeah, I mean, I’ve been driving my ass off every single race. Like, there is nothing more than I want than to get wins. Obviously there’s been little things here and there that have got us out of contention and out of being able to kind of capitalize on that.”

O’Ward is ranked sixth in the points standings through 14 of 17 races in a surprisingly winless season for Arrow McLaren’s three Dallara-Chevrolets.

That didn’t seem probable after the season opener, which O’Ward lost to Marcus Ericsson after dropping to second with three laps remaining because of a brief plenum fire in his engine.

But as a past winner at Gateway (the next track on the circuit), O’Ward tried to keep his spirits up.

“With like the performance of today, I’m very pleased,” he said. “I’m just tired. I’m just very pleased with today, very happy with how the team and I attacked because I was playing around with (pole-sitter and runner-up) Graham (Rahal) in the warmup, and he was just stronger than me. I know he was. I knew it was going to be a tall ask, just from outright pace, to try and beat them.

“But I was very happy with my car balance. I was very happy with every other call. Yeah, we just got to keep pushing.”

Graham was gracious in defeat and extremely complimentary of winner Scott Dixon — but there was one thing that irked the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver about finishing second.

Rahal took issue with the length of a six-lap yellow shortly after the race began for a Turn 7 incident involving Marcus Armstrong, Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Colton Herta and Romain Grosjean.

Dixon was among a few who dove into the pits under the caution, allowing the Chip Ganassi Racing star to get on his winning strategy while also conserving fuel.

“That may have had an effect on today,” said Rahal, who started on pole for the first time in six years and was seeking his first IndyCar victory since 2017. “But the reality is that’s the way that these things go.

“I asked, ‘I don’t know why we’re not going green. This doesn’t make any sense.’ I knew when Dixie pitted, I was like son of a... You give the guy an inch, he’s going to get a mile. He’s the best at saving fuel, going fast, doing the things he does. I did that exact strategy two years ago so I know it works.”

But in addition to seeing the positives in the continued turnaround this season for RLL (which now has two pole positions in the past five races), Rahal also found no shame in losing to a six-time series champion who extended his record streak of winning seasons to 19.

“Look, 19 straight years with a win doesn’t happen by luck,” Rahal said. “There’s nobody else that’s anywhere close to that. But I certainly wanted one bad today.

“To come up short, it definitely, definitely stings. He made the strategy work. He’s damn good at that.”

Here’s what the podium finishers had to say postrace.

Scott Dixon:

Graham Rahal:

Pato O’Ward:

Scott Dixon made it 19 consecutive seasons with a victory in the NTT IndyCar Series.

Rebounding from a spin on the opening lap that dropped him outside the top 15, the six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion beat Graham Rahal by 0.4779 seconds on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

It’s the 54th career victory for Dixon, who has won in every IndyCar season since 2005. The 43-year-old is second on the IndyCar career win list to A.J. Foyt.

“That was crazy; huge credit to this team,” Dixon told NBC Sports’ Kevin Lee after celebrating with his wife, two daughters and son. “I had a fantastic start and got up to eighth or ninth and then got T-boned. Huge credit to the team. It’s been a trying year for us with things haven’t gone our way, but they never give up.”

Pato O’Ward finished third, followed by Christian Lundgaard and Alexander Rossi.

Will Power, Alex Palou, Scott McLaughlin, Kyle Kirkwood and Marcus Ericsson rounded out the top 10.

With three races remaining, Palou extended his massive championship lead to 101 points over Dixon.

“Finishing the race was important,” said Palou, who narrowly missed a Lap 1 incident involving teammates Dixon and Marcus Armstrong. “We had a really good first couple of stints, started on used reds and saved some sticker reds and never made them work. We couldn’t really go fast. A shame we couldn’t go better. But a good result for the team and for us in the championship.

Josef Newgarden, who was Palou’s closest pursuer at 84 points behind entering the race, finished a season-worst 25th.

With five laps remaining on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, the outcome is in doubt.

Exiting the pits 7 seconds behind Scott Dixon after his final stop, Graham Rahal has chopped 6 seconds off the lead over the past 15 laps.

While trying to conserve fuel, Dixon also has been fighting his way through traffic and was held up while trying to lap Ryan Hunter-Reay.

On Lap 80, Dixon’s gap is 1.6 seconds over Rahal, who was frustrated with passing Hunter-Reay and threw a hand gesture while going by on the frontstretch.

With 15 laps remaining, there still might be time for Graham Rahal.

The pole-sitter has taken 3 seconds out of Dixon’s lead in five laps since making his final pit stop, leaving Rahal 4.0527 seconds behind on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course. While navigating traffic, Dixon also is being told by his team to save fuel, which slows his pace.

Rahal is trying to score his first victory in more than six years, while Dixon is trying to avoid his first winless IndyCar season since 2004.

Scott Dixon is in the catbird seat to keep a record streak alive on a day when he already was making IndyCar history.

After the final round of pit stops, the six-time IndyCar champion has cycled into a 7-second lead over Graham Rahal.

Dixon made his record-breaking 319th consecutive IndyCar start today and now is poised to extend his streak of seasons with at least one victory to 19.

After a turn at the point, Scott Dixon has pitted from the lead and might be in contention to continue his streak of seasons with at least one IndyCar victory to 19.

Graham Rahal inherited the lead with 25 laps remaining but needing to make one more stop.

Dixon, who has at least one win in every season since 2005, is 31 seconds behind Rahal after making his final stop. The battle for the lead could be tight after Rahal makes his final pit stop if the race stays green.

Dixon has rebounded after falling outside the top 15 with a Turn 7 spin on Lap 1 while avoiding teammate Marcus Armstrong’s wounded car.

Meanwhile, Christian Lundgaard has slipped to fourth behind Rahal after a stop that took about four seconds longer than scheduled.

Having led 31 laps so far, pole-sitter Graham Rahal’s first pole position start in six years has gone smoothly.

Rahal made his second pit stop under green from the lead on Lap 49, putting him in strong position with 36 laps remaining.

Teammate Christian Lundgaard now is in the lead with only Scott Dixon (who is off sequence on stops) between the RLL drivers.

Nearing the halfway mark of the race, things are looking good for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Pole-sitter Graham Rahal and teammate Christian Lundgaaard are in the top two spots after the first round of green-flag stops.

Alexander Rossi has drifted back to a distant 6.1221 seconds behind in third place.

It’s been a remarkable midseason turnaround for RLL after Rahal failed to qualify for the Indy 500 (after being bumped by Jack Harvey, his other teammate).

The team responded by making several personnel changes and changing many of its longtime processes at its shop. After qualifying first Friday, Rahal said he thinks the team still is several years behind IndyCar powerhouses Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske on shocks and dampers — the suspension settings that hold the keys to speed in IndyCar.

But the team clearly has closed the gap on street and road courses. Lundgaard won from the pole at Toronto last month, and Rahal is now on track for his first victory since sweeping a Detroit doubleheader in June 2017.

Graham Rahal gave up the lead to teammate Christian Lundgaard on a pit stop — but more importantly, the pole-sitter stayed ahead of Alexander Rossi.

Rahal exited the pits just a few feet ahead of Rossi, who was matching Rahal’s pace before pitting four laps earlier.

On Lap 25, Lundgaard was in the lead, followed by championship leader Alex Palou.

Pole-sitter Graham Rahal has moved back to the point as tire compound choices seem to be coming into play.

Rahal started on the more durable primary tire and lost the lead on the opening lap to Devlin DeFrancesco, who was on the alternate tire that is faster but wears more quickly.

DeFrancesco got a good jump on the Lap 7 restart, but his pace quickly faded. Rahal made ground and took the lead on Lap 9, and Alexander Rossi also scooted past DeFrancesco into second.

Through 10 laps, Rahal leads, followed by Rossi, DeFrancesco, Pato O’Ward and Christian Lundgaard.

In the latest twist of an already wild weekend, the first lap of the Gallagher Grand Prix didn’t disappoint.

Devlin DeFrancesco, who was starting a career-best fifth in the NTT IndyCar Series, stunningly seized the lead from pole-sitter Graham Rahal on the opening lap.

DeFrancesco, who likely is in his final season at Andretti Autosport, dove to the outside on a four-wide pass into Turn 1 on the first lap.

Meanwhile, championship leader Alex Palou nearly got caught in an incident that involved Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Marcus Armstrong and Scott Dixon.

It started when Armstrong seemed to spin on Turn 7 without contact after being squeezed between the Arrow McLaren Chevrolets of Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist (with Palou on the inside before backing out of a four-wide situation).

Josef Newgarden, who trailed Palou by 84 points entering the race, ran into Armstrong in the aftermath and lost a lap in the pits. Newgarden is running 25th, which is where he started after a six-position grid penalty because of an engine change.

Palou managed to clear the multicar wreck that also collected Romain Grosjean.

With the race under yellow, DeFrancesco leads, followed by Rahal, Pato O’Ward, Christian Lundgaard and Alexander Rossi.

Zak Brown and Chip Ganassi don’t like each other.

This was true long before the current Alex Palou contract dispute, but it’s become magnified by the contentious circumstances over the services of the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series champion.

A good example of their dislike came in the buildup to the Indy 500. During a May 26 news conference at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Brown was asked about the impending free agency of Marcus Ericsson (who is in a contract year with Chip Ganassi Racing).

Labeling Ericsson as “a top candidate” to drive a fourth car for Arrow McLaren, Brown took a shot at Ganassi’s marketing and sponsorship department in noting that the team seemed unable to find sponsorship for the 2022 Indy 500 winner.

“I’m a little surprised his current team doesn’t have the commercial competence that they can sell an Indy 500 championship contender and sign them up,” Brown said. “I’m sure they’re working at it, but I would have let him go if he was driving for me, and I would have commercial confidence that I could get the sponsorship.”

The Associated Press’ Jenna Fryer had a good look last year on the roots of the Brown-Ganassi feud.

As usual with the NTT IndyCar Series this season, everything starts with Alex Palou.

The runaway championship points leader remains at the center of a contractual tug of war between Chip Ganassi Racing and Arrow McLaren that started 13 months ago.

Both sides have fired shots in the last 24 hours with McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown charging that Palou has reneged on a deal, and Chip Ganassi angrily retorting that McLaren has overstepped its bounds.

Click here to read the wrapup.

Other storylines to watch:

—After a disastrous May in which he missed the Indy 500, the fortunes of Graham Rahal swung 180 degrees Friday with his first pole position since Detroit in June 2017.

It was the latest example of how this track can “make or break you,” as Rahal’s teammate Christian Lundgaard.

—It’s been a mostly miserable weekend so far for Josef Newgarden, who entered today’s race trailing Palou by 84 points with four races remaining.

Newgarden failed to advance to the second round of qualifying and then got hit with a six-grid starting penalty Saturday morning because of an engine change. His No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet will start 25th of 27 cars.

—Linus Lundqvist will be making his second career IndyCar start in the Meyer Shank Racing No. 60 Dallara-Honda after an impressive debut on the streets of Nashville. Before crashing with nine laps remaining, Lundqvist qualified 11th and turned the fastest lap in the race.

Substituting again for Simon Pagenaud (who still is recovering from his July 1 practice wreck at Mid-Ohio), Lundqvist is angling to land a full-time ride next season after being on the sidelines for much of 2023 despite winning last year’s Indy NXT championship (which has provided some scholarship money to fund his career).