Dixon Earns Podium in Portland, Enters Season Finale in Title Contention with Ericsson

Scott Dixon executed the most on-track passes (13) of any driver in the field today and registered a team high P3 finish at the Grand Prix of Portland. Dixon and the No. 9 PNC Bank team also gained more positions than anyone in the field from the start to finish of the race (+13 positions after starting in P16).
 
Dixon notched his 131st career podium finish, which ranks 2nd all-time across INDYCAR SERIES history (Mario Andretti: 144). This is also the 322nd all-time podium for Chip Ganassi Racing in the INDYCAR SERIES.
 
Chip Ganassi Racing will head to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season finale with both Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson in contention for the championship. 
 
Scott Dixon enters the final race of the year with a chance to win the championship for the 12th time in his 22 career INDYCAR SERIES seasons.

Photo Courtesy of Chip Ganassi Racing

Race Results
P1 – Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevy
P3 – Scott Dixon, No. 9 PNC Bank Honda
P11 – Marcus Ericsson, No. 8 PNC Bank Honda
P12 – Alex Palou, No. 10 Ridgeline Lubricants Honda
P24 – Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Carvana Honda

2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Points Leaderboard
P1 – No. 12 Will Power (523) 
P3* – No. 9 Scott Dixon (503)
P4 – No. 8 Marcus Ericsson (484)
P6 – No. 10 Alex Palou (457)
P22 – Jimmie Johnson (200)

Scott Dixon – No. 9 PNC Bank Honda
“That was definitely a fun race. We’ve got to work on qualifying and stop making it so difficult on us. The PNC Bank No. 9 had pretty good pace throughout the race today. The fuel mileage was exceptionally easy, which was a huge positive. The drivability was fantastic, so kudos to Honda as it made my day a lot easier. We’re still in the title hunt and we can definitely get this.”

Marcus Ericsson – No. 8 PNC Bank Honda
“Starting from 18th, it was going to be a difficult task. On lap one, I unfortunately got off-track and lost a few spots which was not ideal. From there on, I think the No. 8 PNC Bank crew did a good job to get us back up there in the field. We tried a few things with the strategy to get off-sequence. When we were in free air, we were really strong. The pace was pretty good in the No. 8 car. We made some good calls and made our way back up. On the re-start, we started from 16th and made our way to 11th and really showed our potential. It’s a bit disappointing result but it was a decent race.”

Alex Palou – No. 10 Ridgeline Lubricants Honda
“Starting fourth, we were running okay in the beginning and then lost a bit of pace. We’ll check on what went on today and recover next week in Laguna. We still have one race to go, and we will try to win it.”

Jimmie Johnson – No. 48 Carvana Honda
“We were just unfortunate today. Didn’t have the pace that I was looking for today. With the sun being out today, I don’t think the set-up in the car correctly compared to yesterday’s sessions. I was just trying to be polite and make my way around the track at the end, but unfortunately the No. 21 did a fade in the braking zone into Turn 1 after I gave him the position. We made some contact which put us in the wall and took us out.”