Dixon Charges to a Podium Finish for Honda in Portland

• Scott Dixon finishes third today at Portland International Raceway
• Dixon goes to next weekend’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES season finale tied for second as the Chip Ganassi Racing driver seeks a record-tying seventh title
• Graham Rahal scores his second top-five finish of 2022

Scott Dixon charged forward 13 position Sunday at Portland International Raceway to finish third aboard his #9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, keeping him in the thick of the battle for the Drivers’ Championship as the 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES heads to next weekend’s season finale.

After consistently gaining positions through the first two-thirds of the 200-mile contest, the six- time INDYCAR champion took advantage of a late-race restart to move from sixth to fourth in one corner, then passed Pato O’Ward to put himself on the podium with a third-place finish. Dixon now sits just 20 points out of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship with one race remaining.

Scoring a fifth-place result for Honda was Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Graham Rahal, notching his second top five of the season, following a fourth-place result earlier this year in Toronto.

Andretti Autosport teammates Colton Herta and Alexander Rossi came home sixth and seventh, respectively, at the end of the 110-lap contest on the Portland International Raceway road course.

Portland Grand Prix 500 Honda Race Results          

R – Rookie

Quotes

Scott Dixon (#9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) finished third, goes to next weekend’s season finale tied for second in the battle for the Drivers’ Championship: “Definitely a fun day for us, just have to stop qualifying at the back [of the field] and make all that work for us. We had pretty good pace throughout the race, and pretty good tire [wear] as well. Our fuel mileage was exceptionally easy to attain today, which was a huge positive, and the driveability was still fantastic, so kudos to Honda. It made my day a lot easier. We’re still in the hunt for the championship, 20 points back, so we definitely can still win it.”

Graham Rahal (#15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda) finished fifth: “I thought it was a great day for us. The car ran really well and Honda did a great job working with what we had to make the cars as competitive as we did. Then we made some really helpful [chassis] adjustments in the race that helped us move forward. The driveability of the Honda engine is always really strong, and I thought today that played a role in helping us. I’m super pleased for our entire team. A top five is obviously a good finish for us this year.”

David Salters (President and Technical Director, Honda Performance Development) on today’s race: “Firstly, thanks to all of our teams for a sterling effort today. And, as always, extremely inspiring to see the maestro who is Scott Dixon, at work in the ‘office’, doing what Scott Dixon does [moving from 16th in the starting field to a third-place finish]. Now the fight for the Drivers’ Championship moves to Laguna Seca [next weekend] and we’ll see what happens. We at HPD have some work to do, and so we’ll do some work.”

Fast Facts

• Honda’s first Portland win came in 1996, via a 1-2 finish for Alex Zanardi and Gil de Ferran. Zanardi won again with Chip Ganassi Racing in 1998. Honda drivers swept the 1999 podium in Portland, with de Ferran winning, followed by Juan Pablo Montoya in second and Dario Franchitti, third. De Ferran repeated as race winner in 2000.
• Honda’s Indy car win total of 281 in 25 years of North American open-wheel racing – including 15 Indianapolis 500 victories since 2003 – is unmatched by any other manufacturer in the same period.