Scott Dixon took the lead on Lap 149 and had enough fuel to stay there until rain ended the Indy Racing League Firestone Indy 200 with 29 laps left Saturday night, giving him his third consecutive victory at Nashville Superspeedway and his fourth this seasonfourth this season.
Overall it was Ganassi’s 11th win of the season, leaving them two shy of a record 13 in 2007. The race was shortened 29 laps by rain and it was Dixon who had his Target ride out front when the race was called. The team had rolled the dice and stayed on the track when the rest of the field pitted during a moisture caution during a moisture caution on Lap 148.
Chip Ganassi’s team appeared to leave IndyCar Series points leader Scott Dixon and championship contender Dan Wheldon on the track with rain approaching Saturday night in the Firestone Indy 200 at Nashville Superspeedway, but they later admitted it was a mistake.
“We asked them to pit, but it was too late to,” said Mike Hull, the team’s general manager in charge of strategy. “Everyone on pit road was looking at the (computer fuel) numbers. Our team got caught looking at the weather.”
Dixon said his car was too high in the fourth turn when the instruction to pit came over his radio. He feared a spin if he yanked the steering wheel too quickly.
It worked in his favor when rain arrived a few minutes after the rest of the field pitted, expecting a complete race. Had the rain held off, Dixon and Wheldon would have been left without enough fuel without enough fuel in their cars to finish.
It was a nice change from a week ago when a mistake at Watkins Glen cost Dixon a chance at victory and dropped him to 11th.
“I’d like to keep winning more so everyone would forget about that,” Dixon said.
Ganassi teammate Dan Wheldon finished second after gambling that he could stretch his fuel until the rain hit. It was the 26th time in IndyCar history that teammates have finished 1-2, the fourth time for Target Chip Ganassi.
Pole-sitter Helio Castroneves took advantage of a track cleaned of the rubber chunks chewed off the tires by the concrete track to pass both Danica Patrick and Kanaan on lap 153 after the last restart. He finished third.
Kanaan wound up fourth with Patrick fifth.
Castroneves started on the pole, the first he had earned in qualifying this year. He looked strong early but lost the lead on lap 55 when Dixon passed him with Kanaan and Patrick coming with him. At least Castroneves led a lap on this track for the first time in now seven startsfirst time in now seven starts, leaving Sonoma as the only track where he has never led at least one lap.
He called it a tough night.
| 
|