Chip Ganassi Racing driver Scott Dixon won the Honda Indy Toronto race on Sunday, earning his 52nd career win. This milestone means Dixon is tied with Mario Andretti for the second-most wins of all time, while A.J. Foyt remains in first with 67 wins.
Sunday’s win in Toronto ended a drought for Dixon, whose last victory came in May 2021 at Texas Motor Speedway. This also marks his 18th consecutive season with at least one win and his fourth overall win in Toronto.
Dixon started the race just behind Andretti Autosport driver and Toronto pole sitter Colton Herta, who spent the first half of the week testing a 2021 McLaren MCL35M in Portimao, Portugal. Herta finished in second place.
The race — despite a tight track and many drivers having issues in practice and qualifying — stayed relatively clean. The most notable caution came when Andretti Autosport driver Alexander Rossi got caught up with Arrow McLaren SP driver Felix Rosenqvist, causing Rossi to veer into the wall and go out of the race. Rosenqvist finished third.
Before the drivers even hit the track for Sunday’s race, though, the series was swamped with off-track news and drama. In addition to Herta — who has expressed interest in moving over to Formula 1 — testing in Portugal, Chip Ganassi Racing driver and last year’s series champion, Alex Palou, got caught up in contract disagreements.
Chip Ganassi Racing announced July 12 that they would exercise the option to keep Palou through the 2023 season, a decision with which Palou disagreed. Palou took to Twitter to voice his concern with the situation, saying that he did not approve of the press release and did not plan to stay with Chip Ganassi Racing after 2022.
Minutes after Palou refuted Ganassi’s claims, Arrow McLaren SP announced that they signed Palou to start in the 2023 season. In addition to being a full-time IndyCar driver, Arrow McLaren SP also wants Palou to be an F1 test driver for their team.
Little clarity has since been provided on the situation and on where Palou will end up in 2023, as both Chip Ganassi Racing and Arrow McLaren SP have stood firm on their stances.
After Sunday’s race, Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Marcus Ericsson still leads the championship with 351 points. Team Penske’s Will Power is in second with 316 points, while Palou is right on Power’s tail with 314.
The series will head to Iowa next week for a doubleheader: the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 on July 23 and the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 on July 24.
