Dixon wins again at Watkins Glen
Scott Dixon celebrated his third consecutive victory at Watkins Glen International, a win that pulled him to within 47 points of the series leader at a time when he needed it most
Dixon, who started second behind Helio Castroneves, inherited the lead when Castroneves spun and crashed on the 20th lap of the 60-lap race, then maintained control for most of the rest of the race.
In the end, he won by 6.2591 seconds over Sam Hornish Jr and remained the only driver to win an IRL IndyCar Series race at the historic 3.4-mile, 11-turn road course.
"I look forward to coming to this race every year," Dixon said. "It's just been a fantastic track for myself. Every year I've come here with great cars.
"Today, everything fell our way. I was waiting in those last 10 laps for something to break. With the luck we've had in the last few races, I was just thinking something was going to go wrong."
Dixon's win was marred by a post-race fight between members of the Penske and Andretti Green Racing crews.
Hornish, angered when Tony Kanaan swerved into him on the entry to the pits after the race, confronted Kanaan after the cars stopped side-by-side on pit road.
The two had a heated exchange that turned violent when Hornish's dad, Sam Hornish Sr, pushed Kanaan. An unidentified man then tackled Hornish Sr, and crew members from both teams punched and pushed one another briefly before order was restored.
"Sam's dad bumped me, and I think that's totally wrong," said Kanaan, who was angered by an on-track incident with Hornish.
"When something happens out on the track, we need to sort it out ourselves. If we can't sort it out, then Brian Barnhart needs to sort it out. I was not going to fight with Sam. I was not going to punch him."
Hornish Jr reiterated that point, saying neither he nor Kanaan had violent intentions. The two drivers were separated after others got involved and the scene around them turned violent.
"When he drove by me and swerved into me and tried to put me into the inside wall, that's something I'm not going to take," Hornish said.
"Especially coming into pitlane with all the guys going over the wall. People aren't expecting people to have cars coming down there having problems with each other."
But the story of the day was Dixon's uncanny command of Watkins Glen's high-speed turns and dramatic elevation changes.
His first win at the track, in 2005, came when Target Chip Ganassi Racing was struggling with the final year of the Toyota engine. The latest two have come with Honda power - and they've been impressive.
"I like to keep it quiet and just get on with my job and let the results speak for themselves," Dixon said. "This year we've had situations where we've come close.
"When you have four second-place finishes so far this season, it's tough. You can't keep doing that so often. But it's definitely good that now we've come up with the win, especially in the second half of the season. We've got to step up and keep the pressure on AGR and Dario [Franchitti]."
Indeed, the victory had a mathematical advantage. Dixon shaved 18 points off Franchitti's lead in the IndyCar Series standings, from 65 points to 47, with seven races left in the season.
Franchitti held on for a solid third-place finish despite early pit problems with the No. 27 AGR Honda/Dallara.
"Second was what we were really hoping for," Franchitti said. "We lost a little bit of time in the pits and that was the difference between second and third. I'm not unhappy with the finish.
"This was a very, very tough race, maybe the toughest. I'm just going to keep battling Dixon week in and week out. He's the strongest guy in the points right now."
Hornish, who has been fending off questions lately about the possibility of NASCAR in his future, recorded the best road-course finish of his career.
"I'm supposed to be happy because I got my first top-three on a road course, and then all of this has to happen," he said, referring to his pitlane brawl with Kanaan.
"I'll just add to it my knowledge for somewhere down the road and try not to let it happen again. I'll just walk away next time instead of asking the question, 'Why did you do that?'"
Kanaan finished fourth, keeping him in the championship hunt at 75 behind Franchitti in third place, while Marco Andretti, who got out of sequence and led nine laps, finished fifth, giving AGR three cars in the top five.
Dixon's break came 20 laps into the race, when Castroneves spun in Turn 11 while leading.
"I was trying to hold my line and keep it clean there," Castroneves said. "I just over thought things and ended up spinning.
"I knew Dixon was fast in Turn 1, so I was pushing to get up there in front of him. I was thinking a turn ahead, and it cost us."
Dixon, who was pressuring Castroneves at the time, said he felt he would have eventually caught Castroneves even without the spin.
"We could have had a shot at him," Dixon said. "I could tell that he was struggling with his car, especially through high speed portions leading into the front straight and also along the back straight. If he hadn't messed up there, I think we would have got him sooner or later."
Buddy Rice finished sixth, followed by Dan Wheldon, Kosuke Matsuura, Darren Manning and Jeff Simmons. But Dixon and his mastery of the rolling, high-speed course in the hills of central New York took precedence over all.
"Luckily everything went our way," Dixon said. "I can't wait to come back here next year and try to make it four."
Pos Driver Laps 1. Scott Dixon 60 2. Sam Hornish Jr 60 3. Dario Franchitti 60 4. Tony Kanaan 60 5. Marco Andretti 60 6. Buddy Rice 60 7. Dan Wheldon 60 8. Kosuke Matsuura 60 9. Darren Manning 60 10. Jeff Simmons 60 11. Danica Patrick 60 12. Ed Carpenter 60 13. Tomas Scheckter 60 14. Scott Sharp 60 15. AJ Foyt IV 60 16. Sarah Fisher 58 17. Vitor Meira 58 18. Helio Castroneves 19
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