Quiet finish to Dixon’s epic Ganassi tenure

The last race of Scott Dixon’s farewell season with Chip Ganassi Racing ended in a similar fashion to the first race of 2026. Both were unrewarding and unrepresentative of the six-time champion’s 25-year tenure with CGR, but he persevered through adversity to place 17th in the No. 9 Honda and farewell the only team he’s known since 2002.

“We definitely tried a strange kind of strategy and we really had to push hard and came up a little short. We definitely had good speed, just a tricky day,” Dixon said. “There were definitely many moments. I think the pre-race meeting, and then pre-race itself, you just see old snippets and different memories. Good riddance to this year, for sure. It was definitely a tough one. I’ll enjoy a few moments of downtime over the next weeks.”

Dixon heads to Arrow McLaren as part of its ambitious 2027 line-up, but before he crossed the finish line with Ganassi, the emotions hit prior to making his 415th start for the organization. There weren’t any tears; Dixon’s been ready for this change for a while, but things might have gotten a bit misty once or twice.

“Close a couple times, for sure,” he said. “The pre-race, for sure, the driver meeting. I think you have a lot of big years, lots of wins, lots of those kind of situations.”