Scott Dixon needs to only look at the second half of the 2007 IndyCar Series season to make him alternately smile and shudder as it relates to this year's championship race. He was 65 points arrears of leader Dario Franchitti exiting the Richmond race, but rattled off four victories in the final eight to outscore Franchitti 370-331 and set up a season-ending duel for the series title.
The momentum hasn't slowed. The driver of the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing entry has eight top-five finishes in nine races, including three victories, and holds a 43-point advantage over Team Penske's Helio Castroneves at the halfway point of the season. Dixon's teammate, Dan Wheldon, is 52 points behind.
Dixon isn't comfortable with the cushion, especially with six of the final nine races on road/street courses. First up is the Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen (July 6) on the 3.4-mile Watkins Glen International circuit.
Dixon's steady results netted the 2003 title when he was a freshman in the series, and similar results have bred confidence throughout the No. 9 car crew. Castroneves hasn't forfeited many points though he's looking for his first victory since April 2007 and his first IndyCar Series title. The No. 3 entry has finished in the top five in eight of the nine events, including runner-up four times.
Tony Kanaan is fourth in the title search (82 points back) and teammate Danica Patrick is fifth (131 behind). AGR driver Hideki Mutoh leads the Bombardier Learjet Rookie of the Year standings and is sixth overall. Marco Andretti, Ryan Briscoe, Oriol Servia and Ed Carpenter also are in the top 10.
Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s (TCGR) Dan Wheldon celebrated his birthday in victory lane Sunday by winning his second race of the season at Iowa Speedway in the Iowa Corn Indy 250. Teammate and polesitter Scott Dixon finished fourth in the No.9 Commit Honda Dallara to extend his lead in the IndyCar Series championship race from 35 to 48 over Helio Castroneves.
Wheldon started third on championship points after qualifying was rained out and took the lead out of a caution flag with 60 laps to go after his team made the decision not to pit. The move paid off, as Wheldon held off Andretti Green Racing drivers Hideki Mutoh and Marco Andretti down the stretch.
“What a great day for Target Chip Ganassi Racing," Wheldon said, "and a great birthday present. My wife and I drove from Chicago to Iowa earlier this week and we saw the flooding and it was just heartbreaking. Scott and I are glad we could help out as best we could this weekend. I hope the race today put a smile on the faces of the people of Iowa and took their minds off the challenges and most difficult times they are facing.”
Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s (TCGR) Scott Dixon started from pole, led 58 of 228 laps and claimed his third win of the season at Texas Motor Speedway Saturday night. The race ended under caution after Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay made contact while battling behind Dixon for second place with five laps remaining. Dixon was a contender from the drop of the green flag in the No.9 Target car, running in the top-three for the majority of the event. Flawless pit work again was the theme for the Target team as Dixon was able to stay out front and survive eight caution periods for 52 laps. The turning point of the race came when he passed Andretti on lap 222 – just before Andretti and Hunter-Reay tangled and brought the race to its conclusion under the yellow flag.
Results from Texas
1. Scott Dixon, No.9 Target Honda Dallara 2. Helio Castroneves, No.3 Honda Dallara 3. Ryan Briscoe, No.6 Honda Dallara 4. Dan Wheldon, No.10 Target Honda Dallara
Terry Blount of ESPN thinks...the IndyCar Series needs to take a hint from NASCAR on this one and think about a green-white-checkered overtime finish.
"I was thinking about that," said Helio Castroneves, who finished second. "I definitely had the car to make something happen. But we can't compare ourselves to what NASCAR does. It would be a mess."
If ever a driver was due for luck, it was Ryan Briscoe. Over the last two weeks, he hasn't hesitated cashing in. After an early season of bad breaks, culminating at the Indianapolis 500 with his now infamous contact with Danica Patrick while exiting the pits (which knocked them both out of the race), Briscoe was in desperate need of something positive to happen. His racing fate changed June 1 at The Milwaukee Mile when he won his first-ever IndyCar Series race. Briscoe finishes third in Fort Worth.
Dixon's teammate Dan Wheldon rebounded from a practice accident in the No.10 Polaroid car, made up seven positions on a sore ankle and finished fourth. Wheldon’s weekend started with a practice crash on Friday which sent him into the turn four wall and eliminated the No.10 team’s primary car. The team rallied to prepare the backup car for qualifying and Wheldon came from the infield care center to qualify the car 11th. Wheldon had moved up to fourth by just lap 11 but had to restart near the rear of the field after Briscoe stopped in his pit stall under yellow. Briscoe would serve a penalty for the incident and Wheldon managed to rebound up through the field to finish fourth.
Thanks to the rain, Brian (Barnhart) has decided to line 'em up by entrant points - giving Helio Castroneves the first starting position for the third year in a row. The question we got now: Can Helio (Castroneves) bring it home first like he did in 2006, or will he fade (to seventh) like 2007?
Castroneves didn't have to do anything (this week) to earn the pole for the Indy Japan 300. That was taken care of during the first two IndyCar Series races of the season.
"I'm sitting in the right spot in the championship to be in this situation and I'll take it," said Castroneves, who has won nine of the 30 races in which he's started from the pole. "We feel we have a consistent car. In the last few years we were very fast here, and I feel we can continue."
Scott Dixon, who won the season opener on the Homestead-Miami Speedway oval, will be making his third front-row start at Twin Ring Motegi. He was on the pole in 2003, led 45 laps, but finished 15th because of a crash. Andretti Green Racing teammates Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti will share Row 2, while Dan Wheldon and Danica Patrick will be on Row 3.
After second-place finishes at TRM in each of the last two seasons, Wheldon will attempt to return to Victory Lane - the place he called home in both 2004 and 2005. In five starts at Motegi, Wheldon has led 354 of 1,000 laps (35.4%). Can he become the series first three-time winner at the track?
SONOMA, Calif. (Aug. 26, 2007) - Canadian Club driver Dario Franchitti finished third in Sunday's Motorola Indy 300 at Infineon Raceway. Franchitti now trails Scott Dixon by four points in the IndyCar Series championship. Team 7-Eleven driver Tony Kanaan is in third, trailing Franchitti by 58 points.
Dario Franchitti, #27 Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone “The day was going really well for the Canadian Club team until Marco (Andretti) and I got together in Turn 1. Tony (Kanaan) and I had a similar situation on the stop before that and Tony opened up the door and gave me the room. I really want to look at it and talk to Marco. We're teammates. We look after each other and that shouldn't happen. I'm going to talk with him, look at the video and we'll see from there.”
For more of the officially cleansed recap of Dario's race on Sundaywritten by andrettigreen.com see...
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