SONOMA, Calif. — Recap by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — John Cote/IndyCar photo —

On a day when Scott Dixon needed absolutely everything to go right in his quest to claim the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series championship, quite simply — it did.

Dixon combined a stellar drive with perfectly-called pit strategy by his engineer Mike Hull to seize the lead at lap 51 of Sunday’s GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma when his teammate Tony Kanaan hit the pit lane, going on to lead 34 of the final 35 laps en route to his 38th career Indy car win and the 100th win for Chip Ganassi Racing in American open wheel competition.

More importantly, it rewarded Dixon’s spirit and unyielding tenacity right to the end with his fourth career Verizon IndyCar Series championship, won on a tiebreaker against Team Penske’s Juan Pablo Montoya — who finished sixth after leading the points battle from the very start of the season.

The pair ended with 556 points apiece, but Dixon’s third win of the season on Sunday made the difference and elevated him to the top step of the podium for the second time in three years, joining Mario Andretti, Sebastien Bourdais and former teammate and longtime friend Dario Franchitti on the list of quadruple champions in American open wheel racing.

“I can’t believe it,” Dixon said in Victory Lane after climbing from his car, stunned at the remarkable turn of events that placed the Astor Cup in his grasp. “There was still a chance and that’s what I was hoping for. I don’t know what to say. This season we had some big races, and this was the biggest. We were such a longshot.”

“I knew the car was strong, but you never know until the last lap. That’s what it came down to. You hope for it. We had to do our best job and that’s what we did today and, luckily enough, it worked out.”

The title was the 11th career Indy car championship for team owner Chip Ganassi, who lauded the accomplishments of the longest-tenured driver (13 years) in his stable after the final checkered flag had flown.

“Scott (Dixon) is obviously, I think, he’s arguably the driver of our generation — the Indy car driver of our generation, for sure,” Ganassi said emphatically. “I think his stats speak for themselves. His numbers against the other all-time winners and what have you, he’s up on the list there. There’s not anybody I’d rather have driving our cars, I can tell you. I mean, he’s just a quality driver, but a quality person, a father, a husband, just the kind of guy you want in your organization. It’s that simple. All around, on the track, off the track, he’s the complete package.”

“My hats are off to the Penske team though, they did a fantastic job this year as well. Any time you can beat them … you know you’ve done something in this sport. Scott did something great today.”

While polesitter Will Power led 26 of the first 34 laps of the event, the tide of the race — and the championship battle — turned at lap 35 when half the field stayed out under caution and forced the title contenders to restart back in traffic. On the green, which came at lap 39, Montoya and Power were racing through turn five when Montoya got into the back of his teammate and turned Power around, leaving the defending champion stranded and Montoya with front wing damage on his No. 2 Verizon Dallara-Chevrolet.

A pit stop left the pair in 22nd and 23rd for the second half of the race, and though Montoya made a valiant drive to come through the field and finish just outside the top five, he was 1.18 seconds shy of Ryan Briscoe at the checkered flag — and unable to claim his second Indy car title.

Montoya sat eighth on the final restart with 12 laps to go and made up a position when title contender Graham Rahal was turned after contact from his former teammate Bourdais in the battle for seventh. When Bourdais was assessed a drive-through penalty on lap 80, Montoya was elevated to sixth and could see the position he needed to claim the title that looked to be his from the outset of the season.

He just couldn’t get there in time.

The heartbreak was evident in Montoya’s voice after the race, forced to suffer the agony of losing a championship via the tiebreaker after winning his first championship in 1999 as a rookie on the tiebreaker (for Chip Ganassi Racing, over Dixon’s former teammate Franchitti, ironically enough).

“We gave it away,” Montoya, who was seeking to become the first driver since Bourdais in 2006 to lead the championship points from start to finish, insisted in sheer frustration and disappointment. “Honestly, it doesn’t matter what happened (in the race between he and Power). We fought all year, and it’s just a shame to have it end like that.”

“We had two ways to win the championship, and we just blew it. We had a competitive car today, one that was capable of doing what we needed it to do, and just couldn’t close the deal. It’s racing. When you put double points on the last race, then it doesn’t matter what you did all year. You know, we had one bad race, where it’s double points, and we’re out of the championship. We’ll be back next year even stronger.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay used a second-half charge to finish second for Andretti Autosport, which was reeling from the loss of Justin Wilson a week ago in Pocono. The finish for Hunter-Reay capped a run of two wins and four top 10s in the season’s final four races that propelled him to a sixth-place finish in the season standings.

“It was a good finish to the season, that’s for sure,” Hunter-Reay said with a smile. “We won two of the last four races — we finished second today — so it’s been a really good streak. Today we jumped a few spots in the championship … we finished sixth, which is crazy coming from 11th in the championship this morning. It’s been a great run and it’s great that it ended on a high note like this headed into a busy off season.”

Dixon’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammates, Charlie Kimball and Tony Kanaan, followed in third and fourth, with Briscoe rounding out the top five.

Montoya, Power, Takuma Sato, Rodolfo Gonzalez and Mikhail Aleshin, in his first IndyCar Series start since the season finale at Fontana in 2014, were the balance of the top 10.

Power ultimately finished third in the standings, while Rahal, who entered the day second in points (34 behind Montoya), was relegated to 18th in the finishing order and a (still) career-best fourth in the final standings.

“Unfortunately our car was pretty terrible today from the start,” Rahal admitted. “The guys did a great job in the pits to kind of keep us in it, frankly, because we didn’t really deserve to be in that position. Obviously the (Sebastien) Bourdais thing hurt us, and dropped us from third to fourth in the championship, but what can you say though? It’s been a great year, we have nothing to be ashamed of and have a lot to be proud of.”

“We proved to people that this team (Rahal Letterman Lanigan) can contend and that we belong in a championship hunt. I just wanted to maintain third and it was looking good until Bourdais punted us. Finishing fourth in the championship is not the worst but obviously we hoped for better. I’m proud of the effort the team put in and I’m proud of the effort I put in and we have a lot to improve on yet.”

Of note, Oriol Servia finished 12th at the wheel of the No. 25 Dallara-Honda formerly driven by the late Justin Wilson, while championship contenders Helio Castroneves and Josef Newgarden finished 15th and 21st, respectively.

Newgarden lost a lap late in the going after his car stalled during his final pit stop to spark a small fire, which was quickly extinguished.

RESULTS: Verizon IndyCar Series; GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma; Sonoma Raceway; August 30, 2015

1. (9) Scott Dixon, Chevrolet, 85, Running
2. (3) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 85, Running
3. (7) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 85, Running
4. (11) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 85, Running
5. (17) Ryan Briscoe, Honda, 85, Running
6. (5) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 85, Running
7. (1) Will Power, Chevrolet, 85, Running
8. (18) Takuma Sato, Honda, 85, Running
9. (24) Rodolfo Gonzalez, Honda, 85, Running
10. (14) Mikhail Aleshin, Honda, 85, Running
11. (8) Marco Andretti, Honda, 85, Running
12. (19) Oriol Servia, Honda, 85, Running
13. (10) Sebastian Saavedra, Chevrolet, 85, Running
14. (21) Gabby Chaves, Honda, 85, Running
15. (15) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 85, Running
16. (4) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 85, Running
17. (20) Stefano Coletti, Chevrolet, 85, Running
18. (6) Graham Rahal, Honda, 85, Running
19. (25) Jack Hawksworth, Honda, 85, Running
20. (16) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 85, Running
21. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 84, Running
22. (12) Carlos Munoz, Honda, 84, Running
23. (23) Tristan Vautier, Honda, 82, Running
24. (13) Luca Filippi, Chevrolet, 80, Running
25. (22) James Jakes, Honda, 63, Contact

About the Writer

Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network. Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s. He is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for both the United Sprint Car Series and the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.

Email Jacob at: [email protected]

Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77