Simon Pagenaud cannot believe his domination of IndyCar Series

After failing to win in his first season at Penske in 2015, Pagenaud has notched up successive victories at Long Beach, Barber Motorsports Park and on the Indianapolis road course.

"It's incredible right now," Pagenaud said.

"The momentum we have now, this little domination that we are having, is incredible.

"Not only because you don't see this happen often, but also because it's the IndyCar Series and you guys saw it in qualifying: we had 22 cars within six tenths of a second.

"So when you can perfect weekends like that several times in one race season it's incredible.

"The level of talent that teams have, that drivers have, is incredible.

"Certainly it feels like being on a cloud, living a little bit of a dream."

Pagenaud's Grand Prix of Indianapolis win came in Menard colours, the long-time IndyCar team returning as a major Penske sponsor after an absence of almost a decade.

"It feels very special because of the legacy it has and associating it to Team Penske name is incredible," said Pagenaud.

"Being able to win with it was very special in the last few laps."

NO RANCOUR OVER FIRST-LAP CLASH

Reigning champion Scott Dixon is Pagenaud's closest championship rival, but could only finish seventh at Indianapolis and was involved in a first-lap crash.

Dixon moved over in an attempt not to get in Juan Pablo Montoya's way, prompting Ganassi team-mate Tony Kanaan to do likewise and pin Sebastien Bourdais into the outside wall.

"I thought [Kanaan] was on my right, but it sounded like he was actually on my left," Dixon said.

Kanaan was done for the day after the collision.

"It was a quick and unfortunate end to our day," Kanaan said.

"It's a very wide track here at the IMS road course and people were going three- and four-wide.

"Scott was trying to give me room and I was trying to do the same with others but it was just a racing incident. I don't think it was any one person's fault."

Bourdais spent lengthy time in the pits getting his car repaired before returning to the track and completing 20 laps.

"I got a run on the outside of Scott and was up against the wall," he said.

"There was still a reasonable amount of room and I was on my line.

"From what I saw, [Kanaan] just got pushed a bit to the left and that was it. Tough luck."