Dixon triumphs in Kansas

By Jeff Olson

Scott Dixon took the lead early, caught a break on a controversial pit stop by Ryan Briscoe, and went on to win a windblown RoadRunner Turbo Indy 300 on Sunday evening at Kansas Speedway.

The victory ended a brief season-opening slump for Dixon, the defending IndyCar Series champion who finished 15th in the 2009 opener at St. Petersburg and 16th last week at Long Beach. Dixon came into Sunday’s race 17th in the standings, but left in fourth place.

“We needed something,” Dixon said. “We needed a sniff of anything because all we’d had was a sniff of the back of the field. That’s frustrating. I was starting to look back to 2004 and how we had a miserable season after we won the championship. I knew the team could do it; we just needed to get everything right.”

Dixon took the lead from pole winner Graham Rahal on the eighth lap of the 200-lap race and held it until the 99th lap, when Briscoe took the lead in the pits. However, Briscoe caught a bad break when entered the pits just as Dario Franchitti crashed on the 153rd lap, letting Dixon pit under caution and retain the lead while Briscoe settled for a fourth-place finish.

Helio Castroneves, who ran into the back of Vitor Meira’s car on the 15th lap, recovered to finish second. Tony Kanaan was third, Briscoe fourth and Danica Patrick fifth. Marco Andretti finished sixth, followed by Rahal, Hideki Mutoh, Ed Carpenter and Dan Wheldon.

Meira blamed the incident on Mutoh, who dipped unexpectedly in front of Meira, causing him to lift quickly. “He entered high and just tried to use the whole track in front of me,” Meira said. “I couldn’t go anywhere, so I had to lift. I would understand if that was 15 laps from the end, but not 15 laps from the start.”

Castroneves’ crew quickly replaced the car’s nosewing and got the No. 3 back into the chase. By the 40th lap, he was back into the top 10. By the 69th lap, after many of the top challengers had pitted, Castroneves was second behind Dixon.

“No question, we had a much better-prepared car this year than last year,” Castroneves said. “I’m very thankful for that. The crews did an incredible job with pit stops. Ryan was right there, and the top four cars all could have won the race. Whoever got into the lead was going to be the guy to beat.”

Kanaan ran steadily among the top five throughout much of the race and took the lead in the championship for his effort. His Andretti Green Racing team, maligned for its slow start in St. Pete and qualifying at Long Beach, has made a statement in the last two races. This time, all four AGR cars finished among the top eight.

“Consistency is definitely the key, but we need to work a lot harder to get this car to win races,” Kanaan said. “In the meantime, we keep finishing where we need to be. It feels good, but it’s so early in the season.”

In the end, Dixon celebrated victory at a venue that isn’t necessarily his favorite, put himself back in the championship race, and made a statement in the final race before next month’s Indianapolis 500.

“Road courses and street courses are my favorite races, and to start off the season with two DNFs at street races has been frustrating,” he said. “It hurts you in many areas -- the spot in pit lane, for example. I’m very happy. The win catapulted us to fourth in the championship. We’re still within a shot to win the championship, and we’re definitely strong going into Indy.”