FORT WORTH, Texas. — With hardly any practice and a short qualifying session, Scott Dixon cruised to victory on IndyCar’s delayed start to its 2020 season at Texas Motor Speedway.
Dixon took the checkered flag in the Genesys 300.
The race marked the beginning of the IndyCar season after having been delayed three months because of the coronavirus pandemic. The race was run without fans Saturday night.
“Not often you get a car like that. Just very thankful to have that,” Dixon said. “The team gave me an amazing car. It was a fun night for us on the No. 9. It’s great to be back in the car after such a long break, to do it like that.”
A late caution caused by his teammate Felix Rosenqvist with 10 laps to go threatened Dixon’s bid for the win, but Dixon held off late charges by Simon Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden.
“I felt like we won the race with how bad we were,” said Newgarden of a third-place finish after started from the pole. “We had the pole, we had a good result. We were close but we didn’t have what it took to fight for the win tonight.”
The win is Dixon’s fourth at Texas Motor Speedway and his 47th career win, which moves him closer to Mario Andretti (52) for second on the list of all-time winners in the IndyCar ranks.
Zach Veach had a career-best finish in fourth and Ed Carpenter rounded out the top five. Noblesville-native Conor Daly finished sixth in his first outing with Carlin Racing.
Daly will be splitting a full-time season in rides with Carlin Racing and Ed Carpenter Racing.
“We had such a great, reliable car all night,” Daly said. “It’s great to start a season like this! It’s awesome. The car is such a step higher from where it was last year.”
The race was the first time IndyCar drivers experienced the new aeroscreen, which was made standard on IndyCars for safety purposes.
“Hot, very hot,” said Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay of his experience with the aeroscreen. “Lack of airflow was a big thing tonight.”
“Other than the handling differences, I didn’t notice the screen, to be quite honest with you,” said Newgarden. “You can take that as a very good thing. I didn’t notice it.”
The series will have the rest of June off before heading to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the GMR Grand Prix, which was moved to the July 4th weekend and coupled with the Brickyard 400.
That race also will be held without fans.
