Dixon Dominates in Texas for Third Consecutive Honda Victory

FORT WORTH, Texas, May 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Defending and six-time series champion Scott Dixon dominated tonight's opening round of this weekend's doubleheader at Texas Motor Speedway, scoring Honda's third consecutive victory to open the 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season.

Honda now leads rival Chevrolet by 42 points (265-223) as it seeks a fourth consecutive INDYCAR Manufacturers' Championship.

Starting third, Dixon quickly took over at the front, leading 206 of the 212-lap Genesys 300, and moved into the championship points lead as Honda added an oval-track victory to wins in the opening two races of the season: on a road course at the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama by Alex Palou; and victory last weekend by Colton Herta on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Following his fourth-place finish tonight, Palou is second in the early-season championship standings, with 100 points to 118 for his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Dixon.  Graham Rahal made the biggest gain tonight, finishing fifth after starting 13^th, with Jack Harvey running seventh for Honda, moving him to fifth in the points standings.  St. Petersburg winner Herta appeared headed for a top-five finish tonight, but mechanical failure ended his evening after 190 laps.

Quotes
Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) started 3^rd, finished 1^st: "Yeah, that was pretty awesome. I love this place.  It was a bit of a crazy night, it was cool to be racing a countryman [fellow New Zealand native Scott McLaughlin] for those last few laps.  Huge thanks to everyone at PNC, the team, and Honda.  Always proud to be powered by Honda, especially when you get wins like this.  He [McLaughlin] was fast, and the conditions were definitely difficult tonight, with traffic and the rain earlier this weekend. But we won man, and that's what counts."

Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda) started 13^th, finished 5^th: "We had a rough opening to the race, I think we fell back to about 20^th place, but after our first pit stop I think we were the fastest car on track. I thought we might be able to get Alex [Palou] for fourth there at the end, but I took too much out of the car getting up to him, and didn't have quite enough left at the finish [to attempt a pass]. The guys did a great job, Honda did a great job.  The motor was fast, to go by [Josef] Newgarden the way I did, I was super pleased with that."

Rebecca Johnson (Senior Manager, Director of Production, Honda Performance Development) on tonight's opening race win for Honda at Texas Motor Speedway: "Starting the season with three wins in a row, it simply doesn't get much better. It's good to see Scott [Dixon] start out his championship defense on a strong note, and to see three different Honda drivers win on three types of race circuit as the season begins with this string of consecutive events.  Hopefully, we can continue this string and close out the weekend with another win here in Texas."

Fast Facts

• This is Scott Dixon's 19^th consecutive INDYCAR season with at least one victory, tying him with A.J. Foyt on the all-time list. 
• It is Honda's 13^th win at Texas Motor Speedway, and the fifth for Dixon.
• Seven wins in 2020 brought Honda the company's ninth INDYCAR Manufacturers' Championship, and third consecutive title, with Honda driver Scott Dixon prevailing to win his sixth Drivers' Championship, highest among all active drivers in the series.

Next
The doubleheader NTT INDYCAR SERIES weekend at Texas Motor Speedway concludes Sunday with the Expel 375, with television coverage on NBCSN starting at 5 p.m. EDT.

Honda Racing social media content and video links from Texas Motor Speedway can be found on Instagram (www.instagram.com/hondaracing_hpd), Twitter (twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD). Additional features and long-form videos can be found on the Honda Racing/HPD YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV).

SOURCE Honda Racing/HPD