Dixon: IndyCar title fight not over yet

Dixon was 65 points behind Dario Franchitti this time last year, but won four of the eight remaining events to take the championship to the final round. He predicts that he could have to fight off a similar charge from Castroneves this season.

"Having a lead does help your confidence, but there's a long way to go so we have to take it one weekend at a time until we get down to those last few that will determine the championship," he said. "Now is the time to press on and gain as many points as possible.

"You still have to treat it race by race and go for the win, but if you can't win, don't push it too much because you're going to lose a ton of points by crashing."

The New Zealander is typically strong on road courses, which make up six of the remaining nine rounds starting with Watkins Glen this weekend, but he believes Castroneves has the ability to be just as quick on circuits.

"I really feel I have to push on the ovals because Helio is extremely strong on the road courses," added Dixon. "I think we're going to be fairly well-matched at a lot of those places (road courses) and you do put those things in your mind to try to work out where you need to be better than other people."

But Dixon is in a rich vein of form having won seven of the last 17 races, stretching back to this time last year, as well as the last three events at Watkins Glen, while Castroneves is looking for his first victory in over a year with four second places so far this season.

"It's been one of those seasons when things seem to go my way more often than not," Dixon said. "Hopefully we can keep the ball rolling, but I think if you talk about how fantastic you are too much, it's going to fall over on you.

"Things can turn on you pretty quickly, so you have to try to ride the wave for as long as you can and hope you don't fall off until you win the championship."