Front row start for Honda, Dixon at Texas Motor Speedway
- Five-time Texas winner, Scott Dixon will roll off P2 for Sunday’s PPG375
- Ganassi teammates Takuma Sato and Alex Palou to start sixth and seventh
- Honda notches five of top-10 starting spots for the second round of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES
FORT WORTH, Texas (April 1, 2023) – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon will be pursuing a record-extending sixth Texas Motor Speedway INDYCAR win in Sunday’s PPG 376, after qualifying on the front row today aboard his #9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Dixon already has a record five NTT INDYCAR SERIES wins at TMS, seeing the checkered flag first in 2008, 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2021, four of which came with Honda power. His Honda-powered Ganassi teammates, Takuma Sato and Alex Palou will also roll off in the top-10 for tomorrow’s 250-lap race—starting sixth and seventh respectively.
Joining them in the top-10 on the grid are David Malukas, ninth for Dale Coyne Racing with HMD, and Colton Herta rounding out the top 10 and the first of three consecutive Andretti Autosport cars on the starting grid.
PPG 375 Honda Qualifying Results
- 2nd Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
- 6th Takuma Sato Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
- 7th Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
- 9th David Malukas Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda
- 10th Colton Herta Andretti Autosport Honda
- 11th Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport Honda
- 12th Devlin DeFrancesco Andretti Autosport Honda
- 16th Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
- 20th Kyle Kirkwood Andretti Autosport Honda
- 21st Helio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing Honda
- 22nd Simon Pagenaud Meyer Shank Racing Honda
- 23rd Sting Ray Robb-R Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
- 24th Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
- 27th Christian Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
- 28th Jack Harvey Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
R – Rookie
Quotes
Scott Dixon (#9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) will start on the front row after qualifying second today, seeking his record-extending sixth INDYCAR win at Texas: “I think we had a pretty good day, for all of the Ganassi cars. Would’ve been nice to qualify one place higher [the pole], but we’re on the front row. It was nice to get some ‘high line’ practice in as well [in the session following qualifying], so we’re pretty pleased with everything, to be honest. Looking forward to tomorrow.”
David Malukas (#51 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda) qualified ninth: “That was really good. Looking at the times, it’s the ‘Big Three’ [teams] and then us, so I’m really happy with that. To get the absolute maximum [out of the car], I reckon we were 99% of the way there [in qualifying]. I had a little bit of a [tire] scrub in Turns one and two, but I think with the car we had we really max’ed it out the best we could. I’m very happy.”
David Salters (President and Technical Director, Honda Performance Development) on today’s qualifying: “Big shout out to Chip Ganassi Racing and Scott Dixon for a great performance to earn a front row start in Texas. The teams and HPD have been working hard for this very specific track. There’s still work to do, but a lot can happen here in the race. We’re looking forward to tomorrow. It’s great to be in Texas, y’all! Yee-Haw!”
Fast Facts
- Alex Palou has qualified seventh in both opening races in the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES; the 2021 series champion also qualified seventh last month at the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
- Honda-powered drivers have won 13 times at Texas in Indy car competition, starting in 2004 with a 1-2 finish for Andretti Green Racing [now Andretti Autosport] teammates Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti.
- This weekend’s EXPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway is the first of five oval races that will be held in the 2023 season.
Where to Watch
Television coverage of Sunday’s 248-lap PPG 375 starts at 12 p.m. EDT on NBC. Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on NBC Peacock, the INDYCAR Radio Network, and SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation (Channel 160).
Honda Racing social media content and video links from Texas can be found on:
Instagram (www.instagram.com/hondaracing_hpd)
TikTok (www.tiktok.com/hondaracing_hpd)
Twitter (www.twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD)