Dixon leads Ganassi 1-2 at Kansas

The duo had run behind polesitter Ryan Briscoe (Penske) at first, swapping places in his wake when Dixon got too close to the Australian's rear wing and slid wide on lap 14.

But Dixon soon repassed Franchitti and then hunted down Briscoe, taking the lead shortly before the first pitstops and then charging away from the field - leading by as much as seven seconds at times.

Franchitti jumped Briscoe for second at the first stops then ran close behind Dixon for most of the rest of the race.

Penske's Helio Castroneves got between them at the last stops, but Dixon had a cushion of lapped cars behind him at the final restart, so had no difficulty pulling away again, while Castroneves was muscled back to fourth by Franchitti and Andretti Autosport's Tony Kanaan in the final four laps.

Briscoe's chance of victory disappeared when his car shed a wheel under yellow. He got back to the pits and rejoined in the midfield, from where he fought back to sixth, just behind Andretti's Ryan Hunter Reay - who made great progress from his lowly grid slot.

But it was a poor race for championship leader Will Power in the third Penske entry. Never on the lead pace, the Australian fell right down the order after missing his mark on the first pitstops and losing a lot of time as his crew struggled to complete refuelling. He finally finished 12th.

Hideki Mutoh (Newman/Haas/Lanigan) and Takuma Sato (KV) were battling for top six finishes after very strong drives until they collided while preparing for the last restart. Sato had previously escaped a pit exit collision with Milka Duno and had flown on his oval racing debut.

While EJ Viso - who briefly ran fifth until getting a pit speeding penalty - also went out with damage having brushed the wall, Mario Moraes at least gave KV a seventh-place finish.

Underdog qualifying stars Alex Tagliani (Fazzt) and Vitor Meira (Foyt) both came away with top ten finishes. Tagliani had tumbled down the order in the first stint then later fought through to eighth, while Meira held fourth, chasing the leaders, in the opening laps before slipping back to 10th. They were split by returnee John Andretti, making a strong debut for Andretti Autosport ahead of his Indianapolis 500 outing.

Pos  Driver               Team                         Time/Gap
 1.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi                 1h50m43.1410s
 2.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi                     + 3.0528s
 3.  Tony Kanaan          Andretti                    + 3.2210s
 4.  Helio Castroneves    Penske                      + 3.8300s
 5.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti                    + 6.1133s
 6.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske                      + 6.7951s
 7.  Mario Moraes         KV                            + 1 lap
 8.  Alex Tagliani        Fazzt                         + 1 lap
 9.  John Andretti        Andretti                      + 1 lap
10.  Vitor Meira          Foyt                          + 1 lap
11.  Danica Patrick       Andretti                     + 2 laps
12.  Will Power           Penske                       + 2 laps
13.  Marco Andretti       Andretti                     + 2 laps
14.  Mike Conway          Dreyer & Reinbold            + 2 laps
15.  Dan Wheldon          Panther                      + 2 laps
16.  Raphael Matos        Luczo Dragon/de Ferran       + 2 laps
17.  Sarah Fisher         Sarah Fisher                 + 2 laps
18.  Justin Wilson        Dreyer & Reinbold            + 3 laps
19.  Alex Lloyd           Dale Coyne                   + 3 laps
20.  Bertrand Baguette    Conquest                     + 3 laps
21.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM                          + 3 laps
22.  Mario Romancini      Conquest                     + 4 laps

Retirements:

     Hideki Mutoh         Newman/Haas/Lanigan     186 laps
     Takuma Sato          KV                      186 laps
     Jay Howard           Sarah Fisher            172 laps
     Milka Duno           Dale Coyne              84 laps
     EJ Viso              KV                      71 laps