SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing): "We had a lot of problems in the first session with front grip in the car, and we thought we had an idea how to get that fixed for session number two. The overall balance of the car is still off though, and we're going back to discuss how to get the car where it needs to be. We were better off in the second session, but there is still work that needs to be done."
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Team Penske): "I think the track here in Edmonton is great, and it's proven to be very challenging as well. We used the practice sessions to familiarize ourselves with the course and just find the lines out there. Our main goal today was to find out what the Team Penske car can do on this circuit. Now that we know, we'll use tomorrow to see how much we can push that limit. Overall, I think we had a good day, and I'm looking forward to getting back out there. I think it's great to be racing here in Canada; it's only the first day of the weekend and the place was packed. The fans seem to be having a great time, and that is a lot of fun to see."
TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Team 7-Eleven): "It was not a very good day today. We're still trying to improve the balance of the Team 7-Eleven/Frank's Energy Drink car. We were able to find some speed, but we have to improve the balance of the car."
DAN WHELDON (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing): "The Target car wasn't where we needed it to be from when we unloaded today. I had a lot of trouble getting the front tires to bite, and I think the rear end was soft in some places. That's not a good combination when you are trying to go fast around a place like Edmonton. I think we have more in the car, and we look forward to showing that tomorrow."
Dan Wheldon was caught up in a lap 41 incident to finish 17th in round 12 of the IRL IndyCar Series at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The race began under wet conditions and finished just under the two hour time limit for the event.
The turning point of the race for Wheldon came on lap 41 when contact between Justin Wilson and Mario Dominguez started a pileup that left Wheldon stopped and stalled in the grass. Wheldon’s team would make a total of six stops on the day, keeping him in the championship hunt by making up four positions (21st to 17th) after the incident.
"A tough day for the Target team today." Wheldon said. "We were obviously on another strategy and we were doing alright and minding our own business. On the restart, Wilson and Dominguez got together and I got hit from behind. There was really nowhere to go so it’s unfortunate. We came into the pits a few more times to top off and make sure we could run the remaining laps and get the most points available to us."
Scott Dixon maintained his IndyCar Series championship lead with a 58 point advantage (455 to 397) over Helio Castroneves, with Wheldon now a single marker back of Tony Kanaan in fourth with 364 points. Up next for the Target team is the Rexall Edmonton Indy at Edmonton City Centre Airport on Saturday, July 26th (5:00 p.m. EDT, ESPN).
Scott Dixon didn't have the best car Saturday night at Nashville Superspeedway, but things worked out for him anyway. Dixon stayed out on a late caution to take the lead, and took the win in the rain-shortened Firestone Indy 200.
Dixon grabbed the lead on Lap 149 and had enough fuel to stay in the top spot until rain ended the race with 29 laps left, giving him his third consecutive victory at the Nashville Superspeedway and his fourth this season.
"It's a big night for Target Chip Ganassi Racing," Dixon said. "Every time we ran this car, I've won with it, here at Nashville and at Watkins Glen. It's been a hell of a lot of luck for us, but you could not have been luckier than we were tonight. It was a miscommunication on the pit call. That's the only reason that I didn't come in. I was angry for a few laps, but when I saw that rain coming down, I thought, 'Oh, this could work out pretty good. (Tony Kanaan) was pretty strong and he seemed to get the worst out of it."
Dixon tied an IndyCar Series record with his third consecutive victory at the 1.33-mile oval, and teammate Dan Wheldon finished second as the race was red-flagged. It was the 100th automobile racing victory for Chip Ganassi Racing (22 in the IndyCar Series), and Dixon held aloft his third hand-painted Gibson guitar trophy.
Wheldon added, "I absolutely did not (have a second-place car tonight), but sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. It's a great night for Target Chip Ganassi Racing in the end. To finish 1-2, and the rain seemed to be powered by Energizer Batteries because it kept coming down. I had a lot of drag in the car and it made it very difficult. I had to lift a lot in traffic, and as I said, sometimes it is better to be lucky than good."
Helio Castroneves, who started from the PEAK Motor Oil Pole, finished third.
"It's not the race we wanted to have, especially the way it finished. I was told that the Ganassi guys had four laps of fuel left," Castroneves stated. "That's two minutes. If the rain had come two minutes later, we would have won the race. But sometimes you have to be lucky than good. They did that, and there's nothing we could do. Team Penske did its race, and we finished third. It was good enough for what we had. The car was really tough to handle, and third is good enough for the championship."
Dixon led 53 of the 171 laps in the Honda-powered Dallara before the race was called.
"Having been a part of this team for almost seven years now, you understand exactly what it takes to win the big races and championships at the highest levels of racing," said Dixon, this year's Indianapolis 500 winner who also won the IndyCar Series title in his rookie season in 2003. "I think the tremendous amount of success the organization has seen is a direct result of the team Chip has assembled over the years. The people are the ones that truly make a difference."
Dan Wheldon joined the Chip Ganassi team after winning the 2005 Indianapolis 500 and series title with Andretti Green Racing.
"I was fortunate enough to win in my very first time in a car for Chip in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, but one of the fondest memories I have was being able to win for him in my first IndyCar race as a TCGR driver," said Wheldon, who acknowledged he's agreed to a contract extension through 2009. "He's a tough guy at times but one with immense respect for racing. My personality fits well with Chip and I'm proud to drive for him. I'm not going anywhere until I win him another Indianapolis 500."
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.
On the tail end of a frustrating first half of the IndyCar Series season, Tony Kanaan found relief on a steamy night at Richmond International Raceway.
"I'm going to enjoy my win for sure," said Kanaan of his 13th victory in the IndyCar Series, which included five in 2007. "I knew that I had to keep fighting. There's nothing else I can do. If you're going to have the season you expect every year, then it's going to be pretty boring I would say."
Team Penske's Helio Castroneves finished in the runner-up spot at a caution-filled Saturday night race at Richmond International Raceway with an impressive on-track performance. Castroneves went from an 18th place starting spot to second in the 300-lap SunTrust Indy Challenge, eventually finishing one position ahead of Scott Dixon, the only driver ahead of Castroneves in the 2008 IndyCar Series championship standings.
"I was driving the wheels off it," Castroneves said about his run in the No. 3 Team Penske Dallara/Honda. "I was trying everything I could to make up spots and we were able to have a good showing today."
Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon started fourth and sixth and survived 102 caution laps. Wheldon finished fourth in the 300-lap SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond.
"It was a tough night." Dixon said. "We had a very good car. Once again it was very tough to pass here. Even when the tires got old it was very hard to get close to people. If we were out front, I think we had a car to win. Kanaan definitely looked pretty strong tonight but I think the Target car still had a chance."
"I was trying to be aggressive while trying to finish the race and it was difficult behind the other cars." Wheldon added. " We knew there would be more than a few wrecks tonight, and that proved to be the case. The car shut off on the last lap for some reason and that's not what we need when we're trying to close the point gap."
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