Scott Dixon did Scott Dixon things via his Gallagher Grand Prix win the last time out in Indy. Dixon came from behind to score his 54th career NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory.

In a race that he won, he also broke the ironman record by topping an iron man himself in Tony Kanaan. That was Dixon’s 319th straight start which is a new record. The victory also extended a previous record of most consecutive seasons with at least one trip to victory lane at 19. He’s won at least one race every year since 2005.

Dixon has won a race in 21 of his 22 years in the sport in general. It took him until Race 10 to win in Toronto last year and now Race 14 this year.

Indy was also his 200th career top five finish which is most all-time. His 54 wins is second ever, so are his 50 career runner-ups and 134 podiums.

In saying that, Dixon moved up to a quiet second in points behind his teammate Alex Palou. It makes you wonder if Palou’s 2023 dominance is overshadowing a strong season for Dixon thus far.

He’s finished in the top 7 in all but one race. Palou has finished in the top 8 every race. He had 10 top 7 finishes in each of the last two years. He had 9 in 14 races in 2020. He had 11 in 2019 but 15 in 2018. He’s on his way to potentially 14-16 this year.

However, it’s not a championship winning one. Does it matter if he’s next best in class?

His last 11 finishes have been 7th, 6th, 6th, 4th, 4th, 2nd, 4th, 6th, 6th, 5th, 1st. Palou has been 5th, 1st, 4th, 1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 8th, 3rd, 3rd, 7th in the same span.

It’s taking those top fives and turning them into podiums and even race wins as the difference. But it doesn’t mean that Dixon is slowing down anytime soon either.

There’s no doubt that his career is winding down. I mean he’s been doing this for two decades now. His wins aren’t coming quite as often. But he still finished in the top 4 in the final standings for the 6th straight year last season and 16th time in the last 17 seasons at that. Do that long enough you’ll find titles. But can he keep doing that?

“Over time I think these ones feel better,” he said. “Maybe in the early parts of your career, you really don’t care too much about wins. Another one will just come along.

“I think with how competitive it is, what these teams have got really good at is covering all strategies. The days of where maybe us or a couple of others would go on an alternate strategy, now you might have half the field that would do it.”

His first three titles came in five-year increments. 2003, 2008, 2013. Then, he exploded with championships won in 2015, 2018 and again in 2020. That’s three championships in a six year span including 2 of the last 5.

Dixon, has reached victory lane in just four of his last 52 starts though too. Palou has 4 wins this season alone.

What’s crazy is, from July 2019 through August 2020 (Gateway 1), Dixon had 11 podiums in a 15 race span. Among those 11 top three finishes were five wins and five runner-ups. Over the last 52 races, Dixon has had just 4 wins (Texas 1 in 2021, Toronto, Nashville in 2022, Indy 2023), two runner-ups (Nashville 2021, Mid-Ohio 2023) and only 12 podiums.

In the same span for Palou, he’s had 8 wins, 6 runner-ups and 22 podiums.

That’s why he’s in the position that he’s in today.

Time is against him though for that 7th. Just 10 times has someone won the title at 41 years of age or older. Three drivers were 42. One was 43 and four more were 44. No one was 45 while two drivers won at 46.

Among the drivers to be crowned a champion at 41 years old and up, only one came since 1990. That’s why it’s amazing to see Dixon doing what he’s doing now in the manner that he is doing so. If not for Palou, this could be a championship winning season.

Dixon will look to continue his winning ways at Gateway and lead a championship charge of his own. He has previously produced a championship season despite not sitting atop the points standings until the conclusion of the season-ending race (2015). 

The six-time champion won at Gateway in 2020 (Race 1) with a margin of victory of just 0.1404 seconds ahead of his now-teammate Takuma Sato. Dixon secured the lead on lap 176 and held on to take the checkered flag after 200 laps of racing. He has also registered two other podium appearances at the track, obtaining a P2 result in 2017 and a P3 finish in 2018.

No driver has posted a better average qualifying result on ovals this season than Dixon (5.25).

“St. Louis is a fun track and it is very challenging to get turns one, two, three and four right,” Dixon said. “Last year’s race was really cool with how the high line came in. I think they focused a fair bit on using that practice session to get it to come in and then for the last couple of restarts that definitely played true. I’m looking forward to it and hope that we can have even better cars this year.”