One driver who thrived in these conditions was Pagenaud. He’d been running a quiet race in the middle of the Top 10, but when the rain came down his car broke through. He restarted sixth, passing Ed Jones right away, picking off Leist, Pigot, and Harvey one by one over the next dozen laps. Simon’s pass of Harvey was especially breathtaking. After the race, Harvey even said if Simon wasn’t in such a brightly colored car he wouldn’t have seen the Frenchman diving through!At one point, the gap between Pagenaud and Dixon was 9 seconds. Dixon had a lockup that allowed Pagenaud to halve that gap. Pagenaud’s car was stellar in the wet and he quickly reeled in Dixon. As they came down the main straight with two to go, Pagenaud dove to the inside, Dixon locked up again, and Pagenaud nabbed the lead! Would Dixon be able to fight back with two laps to go?Based on his expression here, it should be pretty clear that Pagenaud held onto the lead, pulled a gap, and took his first win since Sonoma 2017. Dixon finished second and Jack Harvey came home third, his best ever IndyCar finish. Of course this also extends both the Team Penske streak of winding the Indy GP, as well as the duopoly of Pagenaud and Power taking home the top spot. It’s also the 3rd year in a row Dixon has finished 2nd here.It’s rather interesting comparing tire wear on all three of the podium finishers. Pagenaud claimed his car was driving brilliantly, but check out his left rear! It’s half a slick! Both Dixon and Harvey had pretty severe front wear and Dixon especially complained that in the rain he had no front grip.With the win, Pagenaud jumps up to fourth in the points. Dixon is still second in points with Josef Newgarden leading the championship battle. But over the next two weeks, the chase for the Astor Cup will be ignored as the IndyCar field battles to put their face and name on the side of the BorgWarner trophy. That’s right the Indy 500 is coming up and we’ll be there to cover all the action!
