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 Dixon literally came from behind to beat Juan Pablo Montoya in an
85-lap season finale at Sonoma Raceway that went down to the wire.
Montoya needed to pass Ryan Briscoe on the 2.3-mile road course to
get his second title, but he fell 1.17 seconds short. Montoya had
led the series point standings since capturing the first race of the
season.
Montoya only had himself to blame. Not only could he not catch
Briscoe in the waning laps, he had put himself deep in the pack by
running into Team Penske teammate Will Power on Lap 39.
Most of the championship contenders were buried in the pack due to a
caution for Luca Filippi's slow car. In the busy restart, Power
seemed to turn down on Montoya as they approached Turn 5, and
Montoya broke his left front wing with the contact on Power's right
rear wing assembly.
Power spun and Montoya was forced to come to pit road for
replacement equipment.
"Will overshot (the corner), and I was fighting with (Josef)
Newgarden," Montoya said. "We shot the corner, got inside (Power),
cut across and I was there. We touched and that was it."
The contact and ensuing pit stops dropped Power and Montoya to 23rd
and 24th, respectively, in a 25-car field. They both battled back,
but they couldn't delivered what Roger Penske's organization needed
to repeat as champions.
Dixon did everything he needed to do. He not only won the GoPro
Grand Prix of Sonoma, he led the most laps for the two bonus points
that allowed him to match Montoya's 556 points. Dixon owned the
tiebreaker: Three race wins to Montoya's two.
Ironically, Montoya won his 1999 CART championship by tying Dario
Franchitti in points and having the tiebreaker.
"We just threw this one away," Montoya said.
This championship was Dixon's fourth, tying him with Mario Andretti,
Sebastien Bourdais and Franchitti. Dixon also now has 38 career
wins, one short of Al Unser for fourth place on the sport's all-time
list.
Dixon's surprising standing stemmed from being 47 laps out of the
lead entering Sunday's race. He had to leapfrog not only Montoya but
Graham Rahal, too.
"It was a day we needed a lot of things to go our way," Dixon said.
"(Winning) is what we had to do, and a lot of things had to happen
for us. It was still a longshot."
Two fast pit stops got Dixon in front of other contenders, and he
then cycled to the front when others pitted. Dixon also benefitted
from Charlie Kimball (third place) and Tony Kanaan (fourth)
finishing ahead of Montoya.
It just so happens that Briscoe is one of Dixon's close friends and
a former teammate.
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"It's the sweetest championship we've had," Dixon said.
Montoya got a chance to catch Briscoe because Bourdais drew a
penalty for bumping Rahal out of the way. Rahal was furious, partly
because he also got punted in the penultimate race Aug. 23 at Pocono
Raceway by Tristan Vautier.
Finishing 18th dropped Rahal to fourth in the standings behind
Power, who came home seventh.
Power also gave Chip Ganassi's organization its 100th IndyCar
victory.
Justin Wilson, who died of head injuries suffered in the Pocono
race, was honored before the race. Crew members up and down pit road
along with fans bought and wore T-shirts honoring the fallen IndyCar
veteran, and there was a video tribute, a moment of silence and the
playing of "God Save the Queen."
Wilson's younger brother, Stefan, attended the race and said he
harbors no anger for the freak accident when debris from a crashed
car landed on Wilson's helmet from above.
"I looked at it, and it's so freak there's no one to be angry with,"
Stefan Wilson said. "It wasn't like we missed something was
preventable. You think about all the things that equaled that and
you change a parameter by the smallest amount we're not having this
conversation.
"It's not easier to accept, not harder to accept. There's just been
no anger."
NOTES: Josef Newgarden entered the race as a championship contender,
but he stalled the car on the final pit stop, and the car caught
fire. The CFH Racing crew extinguished it and got him back into the
race, but he finished 21st. ... Jack Hawksworth was penalized for
avoidable contact with Carlos Munoz in Turn 7 on Lap 71. He finished
19th. ...Sonoma Raceway is expected to remain IndyCar's season
finale in 2016. Details are being worked out to push the event to
September so the schedule can be extended.
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