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[h=2]INDYCAR 2016 Driver Review: Scott Dixon[/h] Marshall Pruett & Robin Miller / Images by IMS Photo & LAT

SCOTT DIXON
NO. 9 CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET

2016 Best result: 1st (Phoenix, Watkins Glen)
2016 Championship position: 6th (477 points)


Is a two-win season a slump?

PRUETT: Call it more of a team-wide blip on the radar. He won two in 2014 and three during his championship season in 2015, so the number of wins wasn't a total shock, but I didn't expect the Ganassi team to fall so far behind Penske on the engineering front. Specifically, the Penske cars were on another planet with their damping and handling at most road and street courses, but when the CGR team was on top of its game (like Watkins Glen), Dixon sends reminders that no one is faster or more dominant behind the wheel. With faster cars, Dixon, Kanaan, and maybe even Charlie Kimball would have combined for more than two wins.

MILLER: Only for Dixon or maybe Will Power, because they have expectations unlike most. But Long Beach and Road America could have easily been a win (Dixon said it was one of the best cars he's ever on a road course), and Toronto was all his until he got hosed by a yellow, so four/five wins is about the norm for the four-time IndyCar champion.

Was anyone unluckier in 2016?

MILLER: He lost Long Beach by a few feet at the phantom blend line, got zapped by an electrical failure at Detroit, was cruising along in second at Road America before breaking down, didn't get called into the pits quick enough at Toronto, and had to start 11th at Mid-Ohio despite being the fastest car because of a misunderstanding on the radio that brought him into the pits too early in qualifying. It's surprising he wasn't driving the Novi with No.13.
PRUETT: It's funny how much things can change in 12 months. Dixon was hailed as the luckiest driver in the paddock after taking the 2015 title from Juan Pablo Montoya at the final round, but that luck certainly didn't carry over into the latter stages of 2016 when it was needed. Dixie had a win and earned seven top 10s from the first eight races, but things began to go smoky and sideways at Road America. Over the final eight races, he had four finishes of 17th or worse, and it was topped off at Sonoma with a bizarre in-race helmet change to resolve a radio issue.

All that said, and considering all of the good fortune he's enjoyed since joining the series, it's hard to get overly upset about 2016.
Chevy dominated Honda in 2016, and within the Chevy camp, Penske dominated everyone else. Was being at Ganassi a disadvantage this year?

PRUETT: In that context, yes, but Penske and Ganassi seem to take turns kicking each other's ass in the engineering department, so we could be saying the same about the Penske drivers being envious of Dixon and company next year or the year after. Dixon's engineer Chris Simmons is just as talented as any of Penske's best, and it's worth repeating: The results of the championship spoke to a team-wide advantage at Penske instead of an individual deficiency between Dixie and Simmons.

MILLER: A member of the Ganassi team said that they weren't as good as they thought they were in 2016, but everyone except Team Penske was at a disadvantage.

Sixth in the standings doesn't sound like a disaster, but it's Dixon's lowest championship position since 2005. Does that mean anything beyond a statistical quirk?

PRUETT: Nope, but Penske has looked stronger since IndyCar opened the door for aero kits in 2015, and the need to commit more money to catch and pass Penske in that regard has come at a difficult time for Ganassi. Losing Target's funding hasn't helped, and the switch to Honda - which comes with a need to start from scratch on the aero side - is another significant obstacle to matching Penske. We know Dixon is capable of winning a championship every season, provided his car is up to the task. With all that rests on CGR's engineering team, and with the question marks regarding Honda's aero kit in a year where development is frozen, getting back to title form could be a tall order for the four-time champ in 2017.

MILLER: Nope. He qualified sixth or better 10 times in 16 starts (including a pair of pole positions) and led 268 laps (third most overall), but four DNFs are simply too much to overcome - especially when a rival has a year like Pagenaud's.