Dixon runs opener without radio communication

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Scott Dixon ran the entire IndyCar season-opening race without radio communication in a miscue that probably cost him his first career victory on the downtown streets of St. Petersburg.

The six-time IndyCar champion finished second to winner Alex Palou in a 1-2 finish for Chip Ganassi Racing on Sunday. Team owner Ganassi said if the radio had not malfunctioned, "he would have won -- it was simple."

Dixon instead was the runner-up at St. Pete for the fifth time in 21 starts on the street course. He has eight career podiums but has never reached the top spot.

"I'm pretty pissed off. We had a good race going and we didn't get it done, so it doesn't feel good, that's for sure," fumed the New Zealander.

Dixon said it's the first time in his career he ran an entire race without radio communications and he lost already spotty contact with the No. 9 crew around the 10th lap for good. He pitted based on his fuel gauge but not having the radio "ultimately cost us the race."

"With not [pitting] when I should have, I think, with about maybe the same lap as Alex. We caught that traffic with about five or six cars and lost about two or three seconds on that lap, so that was a bit of a nightmare," Dixon said. "You have a fuel light so you know when the car is going to run out. I didn't know if they could hear me, so I was just telling them, 'I'm just going to run to the light and see what happens.'

"Ultimately I think for me, it was just one lap too long. I should have pitted maybe when I saw [Palou] coming in."

Ganassi said the team could intermittently hear Dixon -- "sometimes you got it, sometimes you didn't," he said -- but Dixon could not hear them. The lack of communication caused Dixon to pit a lap too late for fuel, and it cost him the victory.

"If everything was 100%, he would have won -- it was simple. He would have won the race. The race was over," Ganassi said. "It was one stop to go, and we pitted a lap later than we wanted him to. That was the race. That was the difference between he and Palou."

But it was still a tremendous opener for Ganassi, who is celebrating his 35th season as a team owner this year. He noted CGR has not been strong at St. Pete of late, so the 1-2 finish was promising for this year.

Palou has won three of the past four IndyCar championships, including two straight. He now takes a 10-point lead over Dixon into the next event.

"Really good here for us in St. Pete -- not one of our favorite tracks. We've been challenged here the last number of years," Ganassi said. "We're certainly the season favorite until next week or until the next race. I think our cars are better than they were a year ago, at least here in St. Pete. If you saw how we ran here the last, like I said, number of years, it wasn't great. It was OK, we hung on, but we were clearly being beat by some of the other teams, and that wasn't the case this weekend. So it was nice."

Marcus Ericsson was the last driver to win for Ganassi in St. Pete in 2023. Prior to that win, it was Dario Franchitti in 2011.