Going in to Texas, everything was about Josef Newgarden, the IRL champion, because he was fast in qualifying. But when you go into Fort Worth, you need to be good at the end. On Saturday night, Newgarden was only able to grow a third place finish. Meanwhile, Saturday night was all about Scott “Vixen”. Once he passed the champ, it was bye bye and “on Vixen”. Dixon had a perfect sleigh to drive, so he delivered the first present of the season and the first spoil of victory. Dixon made it clear that if Newgarden wanted to grow another championship, he was going to have to go through the reindeer. Also, Mark Jaynes was not at Texas. He was back in the Indianapolis headquarters with driver analyst Davy Hamilton, which meant that Nick Yeoman and Jake Query were at Texas. Due to Mark and Davy being in Indy and Yeoman and Query being the only ones at the track, we were unable to hear the invocation and the national anthem. But other than that, I would like to thank the IRL Radio Network for bringing me a little slice of home. Dixon was able to be the top cowboy at Texas and earn himself a pair of six shooters, which are synonymous with Texas. The next time we will see Vixen and Newgarden is when NASCAR and Indy Car host a double header in Indianapolis at the Yard of Jeremiah over the Fourth of July weekend.
