Kiwi IndyCar driver Scott Dixon's pendulum ride in the 2012 championship continued at the weekend with his first "did not finish" in nearly two years. The Kiwi had led most of the laps, 133 of them, until series leader Will Power sneaked past on lap 171 as Dixon's tyres began to wear causing severe understeer.
Two laps later the rear end of Dixon's car snapped around and he slid into the barrier on Turn Four. The car was too damaged to carry on and Dixon had his first non-finish since Toronto in 2010.
The Kiwi has had an up and down season so far with the last two races being a high, having finished second at the Indianapolis 500 and following that with a win at Detroit. No such luck in Texas, though.
"We had been getting loose at the end of stints," said Dixon in a post-race interview.
"For the last 10 laps of that last stint I was just really fighting to hold on. That time there I kind of got into the middle of few people we were trying to lap and I was trying to get back up to Power. I turned in and the rear just started to slide and I kind of dipped down onto the apron and shut around again."