Dixon led much of the race's second half to clinch the bonus points for most laps led and clinched the championship on a tiebreaker, his three wins besting Montoya's two after the Penske driver could climb not higher than sixth in the final laps.
The day began with Power leading the field from the pole, while title contender Graham Rahal struggled from the outset. The Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver was swamped heading uphill to turn two and fell back to ninth. Fellow championship contender Helio Castroneves saw his hopes dashed in the early laps after contact damaged his front wing. He pitted for a new nose on lap three and was never a factor for the rest of the day.
As expected, tire wear and strategy played a heavy role and the leaders began pitting on lap 15. However, Sebastian Saavedra and Marco Andretti led a handful of drivers who stayed out to run a full stint. When they pitted, Power reassumed the lead from Josef Newgarden, who stalked him through the opening 30 laps.
However, the complexion of the race completely changed on lap 33. A slowing Luca Filippi brought out the race's first caution, resulting in a split strategy. The leaders all pitted, with Dixon critically beating everyone out, meaning he led everyone on that strategy. However, Saavedra, Andretti, Kanaan and other stayed out, meaning Dixon would restart outside the top ten.
Racing resumed on lap 42, with Kanaan surging into the lead on lap 45 after outbraking Saavedra into turn seven. Meanwhile, Dixon, Newgarden, Rahal and others were trying to charge through the field to make up ground. Kanaan held the lead until he pitted on lap 51. His stop vaulted Dixon into the lead for the first time, with Newgarden following. Charlie Kimball was also on the move, passing Rahal on the outside as they approached turn two. Back in the pack, Montoya was fighting hard to make up ground and moved up to 11th on lap 60 before Kanaan challenge him on fresh tires.
Newgarden and Kimball were the first to peel off for the final time, doing so on lap 61. Unfortunately for Newgarden, his day came completely unraveled here, with the car stalling and not refiring. While he did rejoin the race, he lost a lap in the process and could no better than 21st at race's end.
Dixon retained the lead as stops cycled through, hut a lap 65 caution interrupted the sequence. James Jakes, in the wildest looking incident of the day, suffered a mechanical failure entering the chicane and spun into the outside wall and then slid into the tire barrier. He emerged unhurt, but a full course caution was necessitated.
Dixon led the way when racing resumed, with Ryan Hunter-Reay emerging in second after the pit cycle ahead of Kimball and Kanaan. Ryan Briscoe also surface in the top five after some slick pit strategy, running fifth in the final stint.
Racing resumed only briefly before another caution flew for a spinning Carlos Munoz, who was punted off the nose of Jack Hawksworth. Hawksworth received a penalty, which allowed Montoya to move forward.
When the race restarted with 15 laps remaining, Montoya was running eighth and needed to finish fifth in order to clinch the championship. His efforts got a boost when Sebastien Bourdais spun Graham Rahal as they battled for sixth entering turn seven. Bourdais received a drive-through penalty for the contact, while the spin put an end to Rahal's championship hopes.
Their contact moved Montoya to sixth, tying him with Dixon on points. However, a Dixon victory would give him three wins to Montoya's two, meaning Montoya needed to pass Briscoe to retake the points lead. However, he was never close enough and had to settle for sixth.
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