NTT INDYCAR SERIES: HY-WEE MILWAUKEE MILE 250, RACE 2

September 1, 2024

Scott Dixon

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Scott Dixon.

Heck of a race. What was it like from your perspective?

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, it was I think on many fronts. I hope the fans enjoyed it. It was pretty wild. I think there was never a lap that you were kind of relaxing. It was just flat out the whole time, especially the strategy shift I think at the end with Colton, we got a bit of a reset with that last caution. What a wild day. Alex's issue, then Power having his issue. Definitely made for TV.

Yeah, for us it was a bit up and down throughout. I think we changed everything but the kitchen sink last night after yesterday's car. It was definitely very positive. It was nice to have a good car today. Obviously moved up when we needed to. Had a good restart on the last one.

Congrats to McLaughlin. I know it's not the first time of a Kiwi 1-2, but it's always a lot of fun to have another New Zealand driver there.

THE MODERATOR: Open it up for questions for Scott Dixon.

Q. Colton said he doesn't know how Nashville is going to race. You probably do. Are you going to win a fourth straight?

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, yeah, just give me the trophy now (smiling).

Q. Are you excited to go there?

SCOTT DIXON: I am. You can't thank Scott Borchetta enough. The amount of effort he's cleaned up, for one. Obviously got handed not a great situation. I know they've been promoting the heck out of it. He's a hell of a person. Huge partner for our sport.

I think all of us want this to go extremely well, whether it's just a couple years or whether it's going to become the primary situation. Everybody loves the Nashville downtown street race. The race itself was interesting, I thought. Would have been a great spot for a last championship race just because of the unknowns and the atmosphere is what we need for the sport.

Nashville, finishing on an oval, I think is always good. I think the highs and lows as we saw today can come pretty quick and pretty heavy. I just hope it's well-attended and we can keep building on it. I'm looking forward to Nashville.

Q. I'm assuming you don't know what was wrong with the 10?

SCOTT DIXON: No. Actually asked twice because I was kind of trying to make sure we weren't doing the same thing, making sure it wasn't the same problem I had at Mid-Ohio.

Q. And it was not?

SCOTT DIXON: I don't know. They just said we've asked for information and haven't got any.

Q. They said on the broadcast a battery needed to be replaced, a12 volt.

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, okay. The DC to the DC on the hybrid could kill that, as well. There's a lot more parts now. It could be any kind of issue. Ours was similar to that. The hybrid can get into a funny kind of mode which will just kill the car, which is kind of the last thing it should do because it's the only thing that can charge the actual battery, is that. It could be something totally different. I think they've worked a lot of the kinks out from my problem.

Yeah, just sad to see. I think Alex would have had a great race. I think he probably would have had it sewn up. But Power made it pretty exciting there, too.

Q. What is it like as a driver to be in a disabled car, watching your championship points slip by?

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, it's frustrating. I think when it's introduced, something out of your control, it's always tough. Kudos to INDYCAR and everyone that have done so much testing. I think there would have been a whole lot of other things that could have been a problem. Whether it was that or not, I'm not sure.

Yeah, it sucks. Had it at Mid-Ohio, same situation. I think he at least did one parade lap or two parade laps, I don't know.

Yeah, in that situation, with maybe two races to go, how quickly it can change. Luckily the other car had an issue, as well.

Q. Are you following the championship while trying to run your own race?

SCOTT DIXON: When I saw that, I was. You're feeling for the team because you know how hard every single person works on it. What could have been could have been sewn up. Very few times - Alex had it last year - but very few times do you get to go to the last race and it's all over, which would make the feeling pretty nice for the whole team.

You feel for Alex, but you also feel for the whole crew, not just the 10, but all the cars that work extremely hard together.

I didn't even know what had happened on that caution. The big screens around here, you could kind of see. It was focused on the 12. I don't know how it happened or what was broken on the car, but yeah.

Q. You said you had to throw the kitchen sink at it. You weren't that far off yesterday or were you that bad?

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, it was more the drivability. The car wasn't really nice to drive. I think from race to race, I don't think you'd even do the amount of setup changes we did at a test, not all at once.

Yesterday, had we stayed out a half lap later, I think we would have restarted third. It's just how you catch those cautions. I think Daly was two or three spots behind me at that point. It can flip like that.

That's how it rolls throughout the season. Some work for you, some don't. Yesterday was full on, man. That was a long 250 laps.

Q. Today was a short one?

SCOTT DIXON: It was a little easier, that's for sure.

Q. You've done a lot of Milwaukee. Give us your thoughts what you saw over the couple days.

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, I love a challenge. This weekend was a challenge on many fronts. Qualifying was a mess. Practice. It was full of highs and lows. That kind of sums up Milwaukee. That's what you have in the race. You kind of have these peaks, everything is going well, then you might right run on top of somebody or get high, they come by, you're kind of in the crap again.

It's fun. I love it just because it is so difficult. Honestly, the crowds were a lot better than I thought they were going to be coming back, especially for a doubleheader. It's hard to do that. I think next year, obviously for a one-day event, will be fantastic. It's always hard when it's a new date, you're coming back for a time.

Congratulations to INDYCAR and everybody that made what the two-day event was. Doubleheaders are hard to pull off.

Q. You ran the fastest laps of the race as you were trying to reel in Scott. At what point did you realize he's just a little too far to catch?

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, I need to look. I think I ran faster than I did in qualifying. Need to get that around the other way.

Yeah, I think if we'd had maybe another 10 to 20 laps, it might have been slightly different. But it is what it is. He drove a fantastic race. There was kind of the one stint where he got me, then the 14, and also maybe one other that kind of got in front. Just got into a traffic sequence where I couldn't really run on the bottom. I couldn't understand why everybody else could. As soon as I did, I had loads of understeer and couldn't get it together.

He did a hell of a job. To take the lead obviously for that last restart puts you in a great position. Had there been another restart, could have been maybe a little bit different.

Q. The podium record, Scott Dixon claims yet another INDYCAR record.

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, it's cool. Obviously Mario, I'm a massive fan of Mario. He's a huge part of our series. Again, I keep saying it, but it's so cool that him and A.J. and many others, whether it's Rick, come to a lot of our races. Obviously Mario raced in a lot of different categories, as well, and achieved many great things.

Just to be mentioned with any of those guys is very special.

Q. The final restart, can you walk us through that. Colton was saying you actually touched. Seems like you guys can trust each other maybe more than other drivers?

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, we don't have battles all the time. When we have had, it's been fair. Some guys you obviously know that it's probably not going to go that way. There was definitely some extremely aggressive moves out there. If you didn't get out of the way, you were going to be in the fence today. Probably just two or three cars. It's what people want to see, too. I think longevity-wise, it's only going to work for so long.

Yeah, it's always been good for me and Herta. Yeah, a lot of respect there. No issues.

Q. Everyone was surprised with the strong turnout. Having done a number of races here, did you notice anything that might be different that gives you reason to think this is going to be a successful event moving forward?

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, the only time I got to see the infield was during the autograph situation. The activation was great in there. Previous years we've gone back, whether it's food stalls or bars, have been closed. To have that, the bands, local entertainment, I think is huge.

I think the hard fill for most ovals is unless INDY NXT is here, what race is on the track. That's the hard part. Whether it was Texas in the past. You want people to come here and are entertained not just for our race, which is obviously the marquee point. You have a fill a lot of time, as well.

I know that's always been a discussion that I've had in off-season chats just about how you do that. I know I think that changed a lot of things, especially on that side of the grandstands for this year.

Q. When the field finally went green, Josef was involved in that accident, the LED light was green, but the flagman was waving a yellow flag. What did you see? The race didn't go green at first, went green at lap six. Josef didn't go, thought it had been called off. Cars stack up behind him.

THE MODERATOR: I'm not sure that's accurate.

Q. We have photos.

THE MODERATOR: We have video, unless you saw something from the cockpit.

Q. Did you see something different?

SCOTT DIXON: It was somebody that messed it up. I don't know.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I can't recall that. Josef definitely went. That's what I felt. I was beside him.

Q. What did he say? He said somebody didn't get the message that it had been waved off.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Okay.

SCOTT DIXON: Just a Penske start. Typical (smiling).