Dixon: Indy “owes me nothing” in pursuit of second 500 win

Credit: Matt Fraver

Scott Dixon has led more laps than any driver in Indianapolis 500 history, yet from his 22 starts and 16 races led, he still only has the 2008 crown to his name.

The six-time IndyCar champion won the 92nd Running of the Indy 500 from pole position and has since started from the very head of the field four more times, finishing runner-up and third place twice each in the ensuing 17 years. 

“I’m obviously pretty s**t at leading the correct ones,” the Chip Ganassi Racing icon said of his all-time-great laps-led count. “It’s almost 700 laps up there here and only one win; you clearly only have to lead the last lap. There’s some crazy statistics [that] some of the two-, three-, four-time winners that have maybe led 10 or 15 laps but they led the right ones. 

“It is what it is, man. This place owes me nothing. It’s a privilege to race here and it’s been a tonne of fun. But working on leading the right laps.”

The 2026 Indy 500 will be the 23rd of Dixon’s career and 15th with the Dallara DW12 chassis, which is set to be replaced for the 2028 season. But even with all of the running over a decade-and-a-half, he continues to find new ways to maximise the package.

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“It’s a historic car, I guess,” he said. “It could race in historic racing, which is kind of weird. Obviously it’s gone through big changes, whether it’s the safety improvements, side intrusion, the weight changes, the weight distribution. Probably in recent history, the aeroscreen and the hybrid has changed a tonne. 

“You’re never really chasing the same thing. Even if it’s a slight weather change, it’s different here. The tyre each year [has] a small difference.”

Even now at 45 years old, he continues to try new things and explore fresh directions in his pursuit of an elusive second crown at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“It’s always fresh but it’s crazy to see when you give the engineering group a year to things up,” Dixon said. “Even the open test, I probably need two or three geometry changes that I’ve never tried before to wheel bases, to all kinds of stuff. 

“So there’s a million options; obviously not all of them work very well so it’s always fresh. Even today I’ll be doing stuff that I’ve never done before.”