Dixon aims for Homestead win

The Ganassi Racing ace is confident that he can fight to retain his crown, but denies that he feels any extra pressure because of his success last season.

"I'm really looking forward to defending my championship and Target Chip Ganassi Racing is working hard to that end," said Dixon. "I think winning is a good way to start the season. It gets the team motivated. I don't think you have to win the first race to win the title, but it certainly helps team morale."

Although the IndyCar Series is a tough championship to win, history suggests it is even tougher to defend. Sam Hornish Jr is the only driver to win back-to-back championships, in 2001 and 2002. But Dixon insists that he won't bow to the pressure of the task.

"I think you always have a certain amount of pressure just to perform and make sure you do well," said Dixon. "Even being with such a good team like Ganassi, I kind of like the pressure. It pushes you. I think this year with Darren [Manning, new team-mate], it will be good to have a good team-mate to do that as well.

"But I wouldn't say there's any more [pressure] this year to defend. I think we set the same goals this year ad we did for last year and that's to try and win the championship again. We know we can win. We just want to take it a step further every race weekend."