Scott Dixon of the Chip Ganassi Racing team won the Long Beach race of the 2015 Verizon IndyCar series on Sunday.
Dixon qualified third and overtook Juan Pablo Montoya on lap 2, showing that the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet had the pace. When Dixon beat pole sitter Helio Castroneves off pit lane on the first service stop on lap 29 of 80 to take the lead, he wasn't to be denied in the race that had only one caution for four laps. Dixon's first victory at Long Beach was his 36th overall, breaking a tie with Bobby Unser for fifth on the all-time Indy car list. Al Unser is fourth with 39 victories. It was the 98th Indy car victory for team owner Chip Ganassi. Castroneves was held in his pit box by chief mechanic Travis Law to avoid contact with the incoming No. 10 NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet driven by Tony Kanaan. The extra second was critical. And though the crew of the No. 3 Auto Club of Southern California entry had a blazing second and final stop on lap 55, Dixon was six-tenths of a second ahead of Castroneves on his out lap entering Turn 1.
Montoya, who won at St. Petersburg, placed third in the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. Simon Pagenaud finished fourth and Kanaan also earned his second top-five finish of the young season. Sebastien Bourdais placed sixth and Josef Newgarden was seventh. Marco Andretti, Carlos Munoz and Sebastian Saavedra completed the top 10.
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