IndyCar: Will Scott Dixon spend the 2023 offseason asking himself 'What if?'

If Scott Dixon had won three out of four races earlier this season, he might have won his seventh IndyCar championship.

Unfortunately, he didn’t start racing in championship-caliber form until his teammate Alex Palou had essentially locked himself into a second championship (in the last three years) of his own.

Winning three out of four isn’t bad at all, though. Dixon won at Nashville and Gateway in August and capped off his 23rd season in IndyCar with a win at Laguna Seca Sunday afternoon.

Starting 11th due to a grid penalty, Dixon then was assessed a drive-through infraction early on in the race due to avoidable contact as part of a massive 7-car pileup on Turn 2 of the opening lap.

But with eight cautions for 35 laps (enough that the pace car had to be refueled), Dixon slowly made his way to the front to win at Laguna Seca for the first time in his career.

“It was a tough race,” Dixon said. “But it worked out for us. Strategy, we just tried to keep it simple, kind of working from the back end of the race. I knew after that we had a really fast car, even with some of the damage we kind of had from the contact with the 21 (Rinus VeeKay) on the start.

“All in all, great day. It's nice to rebound like we did. Definitely some heated moments throughout the race. Pretty pissed off at times. It's always nice to finish the year like that.”

Fellow Kiwi Scott Mclaughlin finished second while series champ Alex Palou finished third. Last year’s champion, Will Power, finished fourth, with Callum Illott finishing fifth. Christian Lundgaard, Alexander Rossi, Marcus Armstrong, Pato O’Ward and Ryan Hunter-Reay rounded out the top 10.

Ultimately, Dixon finished second in the final point standings, but if the home stretch is any indication, there’s still plenty of gas in his tank. He’ll likely be in contention for many more victories come 2024.

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Armstrong wins Rookie of the Year

It was quite the afternoon -- actually, quite the last two weeks -- for Chip Ganassi Racing.

In addition to Dixon’s race win and Palou’s second championship (that he actually clinched a week prior in Portland, as did Dixon clinching second-place), Marcus Armstrong took home Rookie of the Year honors despite missing the five oval rounds of the season.

Armstrong, who beat out full-timers Agustin Canapino, Sting Ray Robb and Benjamin Pederson for the honors, recorded a best finish of seventh in Toronto in July. He recently signed a multi-year deal to continue racing for CGR and will run a full schedule next year.

“It was nice to finally talk about what I have in store for the future with Chip Ganassi Racing,” Amstrong said. “As well, to win the Rookie of the Year championship, I'm extremely pleased to finally lock that down. Obviously, we didn't do five races, so it was going to be a tough ask, for sure.

“But nevertheless, I think we finished every race. We were consistent. We had some good results. Sometimes I think we could have done a lot better. Yeah, we were consistent and fast enough to win it without the ovals.”

Armstrong will get a quick education in oval racing, taking part in a test on Wednesday at Texas Motor Speedway.

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A new chapter for Helio

Come May, Helio Castroneves will once again try to score a record fifth Indy 500 win. But Sunday was the end of the line for the 48-year-old Brazilian as a full-time IndyCar driver.

Now as a minority partner of his team, Meyer-Shank Racing, Castroneves will continue to show up to the track, though his helmet will stay at home most weekends.

“I’ve been doing this for so many years and learned so much in this sport, it’s about giving back,” Castroneves said. “I’m going to wear a lot of different hats, including team owner, as well as coaching and helping drivers, to continue representing great partners we have today.

“It’ll be a great challenge but I’ll still be here. This is my life and part of what I want, and I’ll still race somewhat in the series. SRX will be one of them and hopefully, whatever happens next, we’ll just wait and see.”