Honda: Scott Dixon Closes Out 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Season with 12th Victory

Getting Closure

For the third time in the last four races, Scott Dixon overcame early adversity to win, claiming his 56th career victory at the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, season finale to the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season.

Caught up in an opening-lap multi-car crash and resulting “drive-through” penalty, Dixon and his Chip Ganassi Racing team once again went “off strategy” early in the 95-lap contest, and combined speed with excellent tire strategy and fuel saving to emerge with a late-race lead he easily maintained to the checkers at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Already a five-race winner this season, Dixon’s teammate Alex Palou led a race-high 51 laps to control much of the first half of the race. But a series of mid- and late-race cautions worked to Dixon’s advantage as he assumed command on Lap 76 and remained at the front for the remaining laps.

The Ganassi organization completed an outstanding season as Marcus Armstrong secured series Rookie of the Year honors with an eighth-place finish.

The victory at Laguna Seca was a series-high 12th for Honda in the 17-race 2023 season, as the manufacturer scored wins on every type of circuit visited by INDYCAR: road, temporary street and oval. It also marked the eighth time Honda has scored double-digit victory totals in a single Indy car season and a “win rate” of just over 70% this year.

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers’ Championship (Final, unofficial, after 17 rounds)
1. Chevrolet 1,437 points
2. Honda 1,425 points

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Drivers’ Championship Standings
1. Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 656 points
2. Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda – 78
3. Scott McLaughlin, Team Penske -168
4. Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren -172

Honda Indy car seasons with 10 or more victories
2023 12 wins 17 total races
2021 10 wins 16 races
2018 11 wins 17 races
Note: Honda was the single engine supplier 2006-2011
2005 13 wins 17 races
2004 14 wins 16 races
1999 12 wins 20 races
1998 13 wins 19 races
1996 11 wins 16 races

The Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey concludes the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES. The 2024 season gets underway March 8-10 with a return to the Florida Gulf Coast for the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.