Published: August 30, 2008 10:56 pm            

Dixon’s last step is to clinch IRL points title

Driver hopes to wrap up IRL championship today in Detroit

TERRE HAUTE — Scott Dixon again can clinch the 2008 IndyCar Series championship with a top finish in today’s Detroit Indy Grand Prix if things go better than they did in the last race or in the 2007 event at Belle Isle Park, Mich.

Today’s race and the Sept. 7 race at Chicagoland Speedway are the only points events left on the schedule. ABC will carry today’s action beginning at 3:30 p.m. from Roger Penske’s home track.

Helio Castroneves still has a chance to win the championship and cut Dixon’s commanding points lead from 78 points to 43 while winning in California on Sunday while Dixon faltered and finished 12th, his second-worst finish of the year.

It was a sub-par finish for the Target Ganassi driver who has six wins this season with five poles and has led 867 laps.

A year ago, Dixon had a four-point lead going into the inaugural event at Belle Isle. He was running when he stopped in the middle of the course and blocked the path of championship rival Dario Franchitti, who went on to win the 2008 championship.

Dixon finished eighth in the race won by Tony Kanaan.

Castroneves also had problems in the road-course race last year, dropping out early after claiming the pole in the inaugural Indy Racing League race at the facility.

The Team Penske driver snapped a 29-race losing streak by winning at Infineon Speedway and set a record by becoming the first driver in the series to win at least once in eight consecutive seasons.

Teammate Ryan Briscoe finished second in California and is fifth in the point totals. Ganassi driver Dan Wheldon is third and Kanaan of Andretti Green Racing is fourth.

Wheldon and Kanaan are separated by six points and the next five drivers are separated by 35 points.

Oriol Servia is ninth, the best position for any of the drivers who joined the series from the Champ Car Series.

He finished third in a Champ Car event at Belle Isle in 2000. Castroneves got his first win that day.

Servia feels good about the season in spite of a 15th-place finish in California. “I would like to be on the podium this week and finish in the top eight at Chicagoland,” he said this week on a teleconference.

He said Dixon has shown top concentration all season and it could be a key this week. “It is easy to make a mistake on this track,” he said.

• • •

Pit passes — Drivers and management should be the same for Andretti Green Racing next year.

Co-owners Michael Andretti, Kevin Savoree of Paris, Ill., and Kim Green again will be at the helm.

Kanaan has already signed a contract and Michael Andretti said son Marco was close to finalizing one. They will join Danica Patrick and Hideki Mutoh in the lineup.

• Tomas Scheckter made his fourth start of the year for Luczo Dragon Racing at California and will be in the lineup in the last two points races.

• Mutoh has a 38-point lead over Will Power in the race for rookie of the year in the series.

• Castroneves has 13 top-five finishes this year and has finished second a record seven times.

        

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