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Dixon OK with Newgarden's winning move

Scott Dixon described Josef Newgarden’s decisive pass on him at Barber Motorsports Park as “a great move,” despite the fact that it appeared to come late and ran Dixon to the outside curb.

Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images

Race winner Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet
Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Race winner Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet
Race winner Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet
Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

On the first lap after a Lap 68 restart, Newgarden’s #2 Penske-Chevy went up the inside of Dixon’s Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda at the penultimate Turn 16, in a strong move that saw both of them run out wide on the exit of the corner. It would prove to be the move that earned Newgarden his fourth IndyCar victory and first for Penske, when race leader and teammate Will Power had to make an unschedule stop nine laps later due to a puncture.

Dixon, who has now finished on the podium seven times at Barber without ever winning the race, commented: “I feel bad for Will obviously with the flat tire issue, but then I also left the door open a little bit in Turn 16 and Josef put his nose in there.

“I saw him come… I tried to turn down, but through that whole complex – [Turns] 14, 15, 16 – I was just so loose, if I’d turned more, I would have spun out.

“I thought he was going to give me a little bit more room on the exit, but he did a hell of a job. It was just bad placement on my behalf. You know, I'll be thinking about that one for a little while. I typically hold a fairly tight line there.

“But, yeah, he dove it in there, with some speed. He couldn't make the corner at the appropriate time, so we kind of both ran wide there. But, you know, it was a great move.”

Dixon said that the harder primary [black-sidewalled] tires had proven to be the best tire compound for the race, despite the cool conditions in Birmingham, Alabama today.

“I found our biggest struggle throughout the day was trying to pick the right tire and maintain the tire,” he commented. “In the past, the red tire has been very good here, but the black just seemed to be a lot better [today]. I wished we had saved a lot more black tires throughout the weekend from practice and qualifying. I think if we had run three sets of those, it would have been a better race for us.

“As we came to that last pit stop with the caution, it started to drizzle. I think the red tire option might have been the best at that point if it had picked up and started raining a bit more.”

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