A fourth place finish for Scott Dixon wasn’t enough for the Kiwi to claim his fifth IndyCar crown in the final race of the season in California on Monday (NZ time).
Penske driver Simon Pagenaud took the chequered flag at Sonoma raceway as teammate Josef Newgarden claimed second place and with it, his maiden IndyCar crown.
The 26-year-old Tennessean wrapped up the championship in his 100th career start, becoming the first American to win the title since Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2012.
"That's awesome. So cool," Newgarden said after the race.
"I am so proud of these guys. I don't even know what to say - it was all year. It took a lot to make this happen. Thank you to my teammates. They were giving me a lot of help today.
"It is a dream come true."
He finished the season with four race wins and 642 competition points. Pagenaud, the defending champion, finished second overall in the championship on 629 points while Dixon was third on 621 points.
Dixon previously won the championship in 2003, 2008, 2013, and 2015. A fifth title would have put him second all-time, behind legend AJ Foyt who won seven during his career.
Post-race, the 37-year old Aucklander reflected on a challenging season.
"It was a strong season - obviously not where we wanted to finish in the championship," he said.
"We should have won more races and got crashed out of a few too and those are all valuable points. You can look back and blame it on 10 different things.
It is rumoured that fellow Kiwi Brendon Hartley will join Dixon at Chip Ganassi Racing in 2018.
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