Fuel-Saving Maestro Scott Dixon Can't Save Enough To Beat Alex Palou

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Scott Dixon knows he doesn’t have a shot at a seventh INDYCAR title this year.

Scott Dixon prior to the NTT IndyCar Series XPEL Grand Prix at Road America 

So going for race victory No. 59 is the strategy every week. Even if it means a roll of the dice.

Putting Dixon in a position to save fuel to potentially win a race doesn’t always equate to a roll of the dice. But Sunday, at Road America, to try to go the final 18 laps on fuel was just a little bit too much at a 4.014-mile track where the fuel run was approximately 13 to 15 laps.

Dixon had to pit with two laps remaining, relinquishing the lead to Alex Palou, who won for the sixth time in nine races this year. 

Now 155 points behind Palou, Dixon expects the strategy to focus on victory lane even more than usual.

"We have nothing to lose," Dixon said. "We’re just going for some race wins. You're pretty much out of the championship. Nothing to lose. Throw some Hail Marys."

Palou has seen Dixon throw some Hail Marys and make them work. 

So he, at first, was frustrated and confused. He wouldn’t be able to beat Dixon straight up because Dixon had on the softer tires and would have been able to hold him off if the caution came out and they had a restart.

"When I was following Scott, I could see that he was not saving as much as I was," Palou said. "I was like, ‘This guy is crazy. How is he going to do it?’ But I didn't know. I don't have a lot of information.

"If it was another driver, I would have probably just focused on myself. But I know that Scott can make crazy stuff happen."

Palou’s strategist, Barry Wanser, had his engineers triple check their numbers to make sure that Dixon couldn’t make it on fuel, as they continued to tell Palou to save over