NTT INDYCAR SERIES: CHEVROLET DETROIT GRAND PRIX

June 2, 2024

Scott Dixon

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Scott Dixon led a race-high 35 of the 100 laps. Second win of the season, both on street courses. Fourth win here in the Detroit Grand Prix. Now 58 career wins, nine shy of the great AJ Foyt.

Going into this, did you see something like this playing out this afternoon?

SCOTT DIXON: I think having been in this race last year, then several Detroits before, I think anything is on the table no matter where you start on the grid.

It was definitely action packed today. I think so many ups and downs. It's a bit of a roller coaster. Obviously for us, we took a pretty wild strategy to pit I don't even know how many laps, maybe 40 laps from the end.

I said at the lap 50 caution that we could make it from that point, so... Just with the cautions we had. Most of the race was just restarts looking in the rearview mirror in turn three and making sure there wasn't anybody coming down that was going to take out the whole load of you.

Yeah, wild race. Quick conditions. Conditions were very tough. We saw tires going off that we didn't think were going to. It was definitely pretty wild and full on at many of the times out there.

THE MODERATOR: Scott also takes over the NTT INDYCAR SERIES points standings, now 18 better than his teammate Alex Palou.

We'll open it up for questions.

Q. Nine cautions, 47 laps.

THE MODERATOR: Eight cautions.

Q. Crash in turn three, crash in turn five. Where is the line on it being action packed versus maybe embarrassing for the sport?

SCOTT DIXON: I don't think it's ever embarrassing. I think you do a survey, most people go to races to watch crashes. I don't (smiling).

I know when I watch some kind of NASCAR race, they have a similar kind of effect. It's obviously exciting. Obviously you don't want to see the caution laps and them taking over.

From my perspective, it was pretty calm up front. Got wild with the 6 and the 27 at some point. Then when I was at the back, it was actually pretty calm. I was around the 14. He gets wild here and there. He must have used it all up at some point.

Yeah, I don't know, I didn't see a lot of it. Obviously once I watch the race back and see what happened. But you're in confined streets here. It's tough, man. You make any kind of mistake...

Anticipating the hybrid, the tire was pretty hard here. Very hard to turn the black tires on. Front tires makes it easy to lock. Colder conditions than last year. That probably definitely played a factor, as well.

Q. After what happened in Indy where Chevrolet ended up getting everybody in the Fast Six, for Honda to rebound a week later, in Chevy's backyard?

SCOTT DIXON: Weird. It happens sometimes like that. Honda is not going to lay down. They're getting after it. We saw what's other manufacturer had at the 500. They were packing some heat, man. We saw that even in the first practice here today when you look at top-line speeds. They've got a lot of power right now.

Drivability is always fantastic with Honda. Obviously drivability and fuel mileage plays a big factor, especially in these street courses, how bumpy they are. I think they still have the upper hand there.

Q. A couple people in the pits said it was a classic, vintage Scott Dixon win. How would you define a classic Scott Dixon win? Is it get to the front and stay there?

SCOTT DIXON: I think some of today is a little bit of luck, right? I think Long Beach, we took an aggressive approach. If we were lucky, we would have had some caution. We had to do it the very difficult way of having no caution.

Today it kind of played out that way a little bit, but it was tight. A lot of people on our strategy didn't make it. Herta made it difficult for us there. We knew they were going to be two or three laps short, but they threw the Hail Mary of getting their lap back. Had to push on him. The cars from behind were starting to encroach on us.

Yeah, I don't know. I think for us as a team, we just try to cover all bases, man. I don't think there's a style or a classic way of winning. Honestly, you just take any win you can get.

Q. Alex Palou finished 16th. His first result out of the top 10 since 2022. The margins are very tight for points. Does that give you a little bit extra as we get to the summer stretch or is it still pretend like you don't have the lead and charge as always?

SCOTT DIXON: Some of the key players, it's not good to see a teammate have a bad day. Alex had issues right from the start, burning the rears off the car. Haven't spoken to him yet. Once you get back in the melee there, it can go one way or the other. Obviously he got collected in that situation.

If you look at a couple of the Penske cars, heard a lot of guys you know are going to be racing for the championship had a tough day today.

See how it goes. It's swings and roundabouts. Same thing can happen next week in Road America. We'll keep our heads down and keep trying to get the most we can out of it.

Q. How difficult was it on the slicks wet condition?

SCOTT DIXON: I don't know yet. They kept asking me. I was like if we're going to be under caution for another lap or two, we're going to be fine.

It was weird. It would rain in two, rain in three, then kind of very wet seven through eight. The front straight got really wet. It was moving a lot.

I think with some of the temperature and the pavement, it being somewhat of a light shower, it did get very wet out there at one point. I was like this is going to be really rough. Luckily that caution ran on a little bit longer. Once we went back to green, it was fine.

I kept asking, do you see more rain coming? If that's it, we're fine. Obviously we stayed out.

Q. What did it feel like when the green tires went off? Did you guys know after warm-up this morning that they were going to be an issue?

SCOTT DIXON: Definitely not expected. Obviously the Friday set of tires some cars went well into the 20s.

It's weird. There's a lot of wheel spin at this place. We try to counteract, driving the car and stopping the wheel spin.

The first stint I wanted to wheel spin the car more, which creates temperature, soaks the tires, you get some thermal heat. It wasn't doing that. I think it was actually wearing the tire out.

10 laps into the first stint, I really starting easing off on applying throttle. I don't know what happened to Alex. Looks like he had no rears left.

Definitely unexpected. Supposedly the black tire from last year, which was the tire to run on. But it looked like it caved pretty hard, man.

Q. Watching the timing and scoring monitor, the last part of the race you were running steady 104.1. Is that the secret to fuel saving? If you answer, will you and Mike have to kill me?

SCOTT DIXON: Colton made it definitely more difficult. The way that I might save fuel is different to him. He was getting me very out of sync. You need free and clean air because you want a very positive front. He definitely made it difficult for me. That's why I made the lunge on him. We know he's not going to go to the end. They were throwing a Hail Mary to get their lap back and work it out.

It was a bit frustrating there. I'm watching obviously on my dash the gap behind. Marcus was doing a great job getting the number, obviously great speed. When he got kind of within a second, I'm like we need to go here.

It was a little tighter than I thought it was going to be on fuel. I was getting some pretty big numbers, thought it was going to be pretty easy. Maybe our fuel was off a little bit. Got the blue light with two to go, that's not good. But we were totally fine.

Q. On the flipside of Honda's dominance, we have you heading into a Cadillac for Le Mans in a couple weeks. What does it mean to get a win in Detroit and then represent Cadillac?

SCOTT DIXON: Cool to see Jim Campbell hand me the trophy today. Obviously they don't want to do that. It's hard... Obviously with the IMSA race here, too, I was on the stand trying to support my teammates that I will go to Le Mans with.

I think what is very cool is both manufacturers, you cross over. I know it's not an easy thing. It's difficult for them to do it. Probably more so for Honda just because that's my real job, day job is INDYCAR racing. I get to have some fun four or five times a year with Cadillac.

Looking forward to it. Obviously they have a great program. What Le Mans brings for us this year, who knows. Yeah, I said to Jim, hopefully didn't make him angry. I'll see him in a week or so (smiling).

Q. This is your fourth win here in Detroit. How does it feel winning on the downtown course versus your previous wins on Belle Isle?

SCOTT DIXON: Any win feels awesome, man. I would say there's no fountain to jump into, which is definitely a bit different (smiling). Some people rode the lions and stuff. That was put to a stop after Hunter-Reay.

It's cool. It's a new venue, this is kind of going back to historic Detroit, downtown city racing. I have to say a huge thanks to all the fans. It was cool to do the parade lap and look up. On top of all the buildings, it was just lined with people. It was pretty fantastic. That is difficult, especially when it looks like there's going to be a lot of rain.

Any win is special. It's kind of cool to win in two different places.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations.