2022 Honda Indy Toronto results: Scott Dixon wins 52nd career race, tied for second most all-time in IndyCar

Dixon is now tied with Mario Andretti for second on IndyCar's all-time wins list, trailing only the 67 victories of A.J. Foyt

Scott Dixon needed all of his veteran wiles and racecraft to hold off a charging Colton Herta at Exhibition Place to win the Honda Indy Toronto, breaking through for his first win on the season and 52nd of his career to tie Mario Andretti for second most in the series. A.J. Foyt is the all-time wins leader with 67. 

"We struggled a little on the 'reds'," said Dixon, a six-time series champion. "It was a tough drive. It is great to end that [no wins] streak, fantastic. Back in the winner's circle."

The grid was a reflection of Indy's past, present and future. Behind Dixon and Herta was Felix Rosenqvist in third, followed by Graham Rahal in fourth (his best finish on the season), current series points leader Marcus Ericsson and series defending champion Alex Palou in a race that featured a little bit of everything. 

There was plenty of strategy calls playing out, as witnessed by Rahal and Palou, who both started deep in the field. There was plenty of passing, particularly at the mid-pack of the field, and there were plenty of bent cars and bruised egos over the 85 laps at the 11-turn, 1.786-mile temporary street circuit. 

In what turned into a fuel-saving race, race telemetry became spotty for all the teams, making it mostly guesswork as to whether the cars had enough left to finish, or if they had more and could challenge for positions. 

In the end, Herta's rear tires were too worn for him to really challenge, and it was doing all he could to hold off Rosenqvist, who was right on his gearbox was told he was free to attack for position, which could have been a bit of a psychological ploy by the Arrow McLaren SP team to rattle Herta into making a mistake. 

"We had to fight really hard for this," Rosenqvist said. "We took our opportunities to move forward. First podium with the team."

The Andretti Autosport driver was able to block out the channel, focus on his car, and brought him home in second.

"Felix was really fast, and he looked like if there were a few more laps he would have gotten us," Herta said. "It's good to be back on the podium. Hopefully we can continue on with consistency. We need to make this a little more regular."

All that only allowed Dixon to motor away from the two, making career-win 52 and a bit of history, all from a nice Sunday cruise at the finish.

"It's fantastic that we still have A.J. and Mario in the pits, that we can still talk to them," Dixon said. "I'm hoping this is the start of a roll."

Unofficial results for the 2022 Honda Indy Toronto

1. Scott Dixon
2. Colton Herta
3. Felix Rosenqvist
4. Graham Rahal
5. Marcus Ericsson
6. Alex Palou
7. Simon Pagenaud
8. Christian Lundgaard
9. Scott McLaughlin
10. Josef Newgarden
11. Pato O'Ward
12. David Malukas
13. Rinus VeeKay
14. Callum Ilott
15. Will Power
16. Romain Grosjean
17. Helio Castroneves
18. Devlin DeFrancesco
19. Jack Harvey
20. Conor Daly
21. Jimmie Johnson 
22. Kyle Kirkwood
23. Alexander Rossi
24. Dalton Kellett
25. Takuma Sato

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[Jul 17, 2022 at 5:09 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

It's Dixon for the race win, his first this season and 52nd of his career, followed by Herta, Rosenqvist, Rahal and Ericsson.

That win moves Dixon into a tie for career wins with Mario Andretti.

[Jul 17, 2022 at 4:52 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Behind Rahal, Ericsson is running fifth after not being in the top 10 pretty much the entire race. Right behind Ericsson is defending series champion Alex Palou, who also started deep in the field, and Simon Pagenaud.

[Jul 17, 2022 at 4:50 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Will this be a fuel-saving race now? Tim Cindric, who calls strategy for Newgarden at Team Penske, says they got all the fuel they needed on that past start despite the struggles they had.

[Jul 17, 2022 at 4:49 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Back to green-green-green at Lap 67 and Dixon leads the field around followed by Herta, Rosenqvist, McLaughlin and Rahal, who makes a move and gets past McLaughlin and into fourth.

[Jul 17, 2022 at 4:42 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

That hands the race lead over to Dixon followed by Herta, Rosenqvist, McLaughlin and Rahal.

[Jul 17, 2022 at 4:41 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

VeeKay will pit under the yellow at Lap 61, taking on the soft "reds" and gets a turn on the wing. He comes back out behind Power and in 15th race.

[Jul 17, 2022 at 4:38 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Green flag at Lap 59 and the field is strung out on the restart. VeeKay is the leader followed by Dixon, Herta, Rosenqvist, McLaughlin, and that didn't last very long as the yellow is out once again with the coming together of Johnson and Kyle Kirkwood.

Cautions breed cautions. It likely won't be the last one we see.

[Jul 17, 2022 at 4:31 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Yellow has come out for track debris, which looks like chunks of concrete. So it appears the track surface is taking a beating here, too.

[Jul 17, 2022 at 4:28 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

In so many races, Herta has lost his composure in situations such as these, but right now he is looking composed and on the attack on Dixon in third. 

[Jul 17, 2022 at 4:26 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

A pit lane speed violation has dropped Grosjean all the way back to 22nd.

[Jul 17, 2022 at 4:25 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Lap 50 and VeeKay, on "reds," is the leader, followed by Daly, Dixon, Herta and Rosenqvist, all on "blacks."

[Jul 17, 2022 at 4:24 pm ET · Richard Biebrich Jr.]

Field pitting at Lap 37, with VeeKay and Daly staying out and running 1-2. Newgarden looks to have not pitted quite close enough and there is a problem getting the fuel line locked in, but they manage it. Question is: Did they get enough fuel loaded to make the rest of the race?