Dixon Captures Third-Straight Homestead Victory For Chip Ganassi Racing

HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Scott Dixon, who barely lost last year’s IndyCar Series title, laid claim that he is the driver to beat in 2008 after winning Saturday night’s season opener in the Gainsco Auto Insurance Indy 300.
Dixon captured the victory in a most unusual way, however.
Tony Kanaan was on his way to the victory before Ernesto Viso crashed.  As Viso’s car was sliding down the track, it clipped the Dallara of Kanaan, who was trying to avoid the crashed car with six laps remaining.
Kanaan was able to stay in front under caution despite the fact the left-front suspension had collapsed.
But when the green flag waved with three laps to go, Kanaan had to drop to the low side of the track, allowing Dixon to speed by and take the lead.

OPENING NIGHT: Scott Dixon (9) leads Tony Kanaan (11), Helio Castroneves (3) and the rest of the IRL IndyCar Series field Saturday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Steve Snoddy/IRL Photo)

Dixon went on to score his second win at Homestead. He won his first IndyCar start here in 2003.
Kanaan finished eighth after his unfortunate incident snatched victory from his grasp.
“We were catching him quick but TK (Kanaan) had a great car,” Dixon said. “We got the win and that is what counts. This is fantastic, a great way to start the season.”
Dixon defeated Marco Andretti by 0.5828 second. Dan Wheldon, Dixon’s teammate, was third, followed by Helio Castroneves. The top four cars were all on the lead lap. Fifth place went to Ed Carpenter, who was one lap down.
This was the first IndyCar Series race since the sport was unified with teams coming over from Champ Car.
“The guys that came in from Champ Car were fantastic out there,” Dixon said. “They gave everybody tons of room. I didn’t really have a problem with anybody. I’m sure there were some others that did. But the problems I had were with a couple of guys that we run with week in and week out.
“I think with the inaugural unification of the two series it’s great to win. But to be honest, we haven’t really given them a fair shot at it. They’ve had to try and come around quick and get cars together. I think next year is going to be the real championship of the unification. Those guys can have strong showings at different places throughout the year, but to be fair, they haven’t had much time to prepare.”
Oriol Servia was the highest-finishing driver from Champ Car and was 12th, five laps off the pace.
Andretti led three times for 85 laps, the most in the race, but Dixon was in front three times for 67 laps. There were 12 lead changes among five drivers.
There were only three yellow flags for 24 laps, which boosted the average speed to 171.248 miles per hour.
The first caution for an on-track incident came on lap 128 when Milka Duno spun out of the second turn and drifted up the race track, barely clipping the rear wing on Ryan Briscoe’s car.
“I was having such a great race. It was going the way we wanted it to do and I was taking my time out there, working my way through traffic. It was perfect, but it’s a shame I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Briscoe said. “I’ve been pretty impressed.
“A lot of the new teams coming over aren’t up to speed yet, but the drivers are doing a great job, making it easy for them to go by them.”
Visio helped determine the outcome of the race by taking out Kanaan while he was in the lead.
“I’ve been around a long time and the race is not finished until the checkered flag,” Kanaan said. “This was a misfortune — yes. But how many times have I won races because some other guy was unlucky? With 10 laps to go, I was looking around and I was thinking, ‘This looks too easy.’
“When somebody spins and he’s doing 230 miles an hour, you’re like, ‘Where should I go?’ I slowed down. He was on the bottom, so I went to the top. Then, all of a sudden, he started to go to the top and I was trying to go to the bottom, so there was nothing I could do about it. The way I look at it, this is right where I finished in 2004 and we know the way that year turned out.”
It was Dixon’s 11th-career IndyCar Series win and his first victory since Infineon last August. It was Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s 17th victory in the IndyCar Series and the team has won the last three races at Homestead-Miami and four of the eight events contested at this track.