Scott Dixon‘s good Indianapolis 500 fell aside when the six-time IndyCar Sequence champion ran out of gasoline earlier than his first pit cease Sunday.

The pole sitter was on monitor for a often scheduled cease when Stefan Wilson crashed as he entered pit highway to carry out a warning 33 laps into the race. The warning closed pit highway for service and delayed Dixon’s plan to cease for service.

As his Chip Ganassi Racing gasoline cell finally ran dry, Dixon coasted down pit lane for a splash of gasoline. Then the Honda would not restart and Dixon fell a lap off the tempo.

He plummeted to thirty first within the operating order as Dixon, who was among the many quickest and most constant drivers within the buildup to the race, pursues his second Indy 500 title. He received the race in 2008 and has completed second 3 times, together with final 12 months.

Alexander Rossi, the 2016 winner, had his personal points on the pit sequence and dropped to thirty second. He pulled alongside Dixon underneath warning and motioned to his rival as the 2 apparently tried to agree upon a technique to work collectively by the visitors.

Dixon made his method again to the lead lap when Graham Rahal crashed after his left rear tire got here off the automotive following a pit cease and finally completed seventeenth, dropping the sequence factors result in 500 runner-up Alex Palou. Rossi wound up twenty ninth.

“We have been cruising,” a pissed off Rahal mentioned after being checked and launched from the infield care middle. “We had it at present, and like I mentioned, I am simply sorry we did not win this factor as a result of we should always have.”

Wilson, in his first Indy 500 since 2018, was the primary driver out of the race.

“Acquired referred to as into the pit slightly late,” Wilson mentioned. “Simply devastated. This isn’t how I needed it to finish.”

The Indy 500 was in entrance of 135,000 spectators, about 40% of grandstand seating capability, making it the biggest sporting occasion on the earth because the begin of the pandemic. The delayed race final August was held with out spectators for the primary time.

Roger Penske, who bought Indianapolis Motor Speedway in January 2020, nervously paced a walkway above the speedway half-hour earlier than he gave the command to start out engines. However the 84-year-old has been thrilled to be a part of reopening America.

Greater than 90,000 individuals have been vaccinated on the speedway since March, and admittance into the Gasoline Alley and the paddock was granted solely to totally vaccinated rivals and visitors.

“We’re able to go,” mentioned Penske, whose plans for the speedway have been hit onerous by the pandemic roughly eight weeks after he closed the sale. “The 135 [thousand] which might be right here, we have now one other 60,000 which might be prepared to come back subsequent 12 months. In order that simply reveals you the power this place has. It is one thing I had by no means realized in any respect, the dedication that folks need to have right here.”

The Related Press contributed to this report.