Dixon “just messed up” in Indy 500 pit speeding incident

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Dixon became the all-time lap leader for the biggest open-wheel race in America, surpassing Al Unser Sr’s record of 644 laps led on lap 133 of the 2022 Indy 500. Dixon started the day third on the list and passed Ralph dePalma’s mark of 612 just before half distance.

Polesitter Dixon looked in control of the race leading 95 laps overall but finished 21st due to his pitlane speeding penalty which occurred in his final scheduled pitstop while leading with 25 laps remaining.

“It’s just heart-breaking to be honest,” Dixon told NBC. “It must’ve been very close [to the limit], I came into the pits and locked the rears, then kind of locked all four, so I knew it would be close and I think it was a mile an hour over or something.

“The car was really good all day, we had really good speed, the team did an amazing job on strategy. I just messed up.”

Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

Photo by: Geoffrey M. Miller / Motorsport Images

Team-mate Alex Palou, with whom Dixon traded the lead in order to save fuel over the opening stint, also suffered a pitlane disaster ahead of his second pitstop, when he was forced to take emergency service.

The reigning IndyCar champion was just about to enter the pits when the red light in pitlane came on for Callum Ilott’s crash at Turn 2. The resulting penalty sent him to 32nd place after the restart, but he battled his way back to finish ninth.

“I had lots of fun in this race, there was just one point where my heart broke in pieces,” said Palou, who still led 47 laps on the day due to his off-sequence strategy. “We just kept going and we had a good result at the end of the day.

“I’m proud of the team and super-proud for Marcus [Ericsson, his winning team-mate]. We just