Detroit
Dixon did it by outlasting three of Andretti’s drivers — including his son.
Dixon raced to his first IndyCar victory of the year, beating Ryan Hunter-Reay by 1.8 seconds at Belle Isle on Saturday. Hunter-Reay drives for Andretti Autosport, and so do Alexander Rossi and Marco Andretti, who finished third and fourth.
“I’m sure Michael was on the radio probably telling Hunter-Reay to get after it a little bit there,” Dixon joked.
Dixon hadn’t led a lap all season until Saturday, but this was his fourth top-five finish in seven races in 2018. IndyCar’s active leader in victories, Dixon now has at least one in each of the last 14 seasons. This was also his 99th top-three finish, breaking a tie for fourth with Al Unser on that list.
In the first of two IndyCar races this weekend at Belle Isle, Dixon led for 39 of the 70 laps on the 2.35-mile street course. After starting on the pole, Marco Andretti was in front for the first 22 laps before giving up the lead during a cycle of pit stops.
“We wanted to stay as close as possible just in case they pitted quite early,” Dixon said. “We knew they kind of had to get to lap 20 to make it work anyway, and then we started to pile on the pressure a little bit there to be close on that pit stop exchange.”
The only other drivers to lead were Hunter-Reay and Graham Rahal. After winning both Belle Isle races last year, Rahal crashed out of this one after 45 laps, hitting the wall coming out of a turn.
Santino Ferrucci, making his first IndyCar start two days after his 20th birthday, crashed a short while after Rahal when he spun 360 degrees before ending up in a tire barrier. Charlie Kimball was given a penalty for avoidable contact.
Busch Dominates at Pocono
Long Pond, Pa.
“You’re always worried about something crazy or unpredictable situations taking place,” he said.
There’s very little unpredictable about an Xfinity Series race with Busch in the field.
He romped again, overcoming an early penalty that dropped him to the back to win the Xfinity Series race on Saturday at Pocono Raceway for his 189th career NASCAR victory.
“We knew we had speed in our race car. It was really fast out front,” he said.
He led 24 of the first 26 laps and the final 40 to win for the 92nd time in Xfinity to add to his series record. Busch scaled back his schedule in the second-tier series and won for the first time in four races this season.
“I hear about the numbers from everyone else. I don’t necessarily go back and check stats or look at records,” he said.
The 33-year-old Busch is piling up quite the list of milestones over a 14-plus year career.
Busch also has 47 Cup wins and 50 in the Truck Series to become perhaps the most dominant driver across all three national NASCAR series in history.
He dominated early on Saturday and won the first stage until he was busted on the 27th lap for speeding on pit road.
“I didn’t think I sped,” he said. “I never saw any of our top indicating lights that would have said we were speeding.”
It didn’t matter. He had the No. 18 Toyota up to sixth by the end of the second stage and controlled the race in the final stage, easily holding off runner-up Chase Elliott.
“I think if you run on Saturday, it’s more just for fun,” Elliott said.
Xfinity regulars completed the top five: Daniel Hemric was third, followed by Austin Cindric and pole winner Cole Custer.
Busch won the Cup race last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway to become the only driver in NASCAR’s modern era to win a points race on every track on the schedule.
His first win at Pocono in Xfinity gives him wins on 26 tracks in the series.
“It’s been one I wanted to get,” he said.
Elliott Sadler finished sixth and has a 62-point lead over Custer for first place in the points standings.
Busch’s Toyota failed a post-race inspection and his team will face penalties this week.