Published: September 03, 2008 11:40 pm            

On verge of wrapping up points title, Dixon heads to track he’s dominated

TERRE HAUTE — The odds are pretty good that Scott Dixon will wrap up the 2008 IndyCar Series championship in Sunday’s PEAK Indy 300, the final points race of the season.

Dixon takes a 30-point lead over Helio Castroneves into the action at Chicagoland Speedway, a 1.5-mile track.

Dixon has won three of five events on 1.5-mile tracks this season. He and Castroneves neither have won at the Illinois track but Dixon has finished second

three times.

One of those second-place finishes was last year when he ran out of fuel on the final turn of the final lap, losing the race and championship to Dario Franchitti.

Dixon notes he goes into this year’s race with the 30-point lead while he trailed Franchitti by three points going into the 2007 event.

“The [Target Chip Gannasi Racing] team has been motivated ever since that finish, the way we lost. Dario had a fantastic season,” Dixon said on a teleconference this week.

He says his approach to the race will be the same as it has been all year. “We will try to be fastest and be on the pole and try to win the race. We won’t be conservative,” said the 28-year-old New Zealander who is gunning for his second title in the series.

He said Chicagoland Speedway provides for great racing with more cars in the lineup this year. “It could be nail-biting. That’s what the fans like,” he said.

He said it is frustrating to have been so close without winning at the track. “We need to have a good finish and just want to beat one driver,” Dixon said.

Dixon has six poles this year and has won a record four times from the pole including at Kentucky, Texas and Homestead-Miami speedways, all 1.5-mile tracks. He finished third at two other 1.5-mile facilities.

He has led 867 laps and has 13 top-five finishes in the 16 races. He finished fifth at Detroit on Sunday and was frustrated because he felt he had a good car.

Other positions will be decided in the last non-points race.

Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon are separated by 17 points in third and fourth places.

Danica Patrick, Oriol Servia, Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Hideki Mutoh, Justin Wilson, Vitor Meira and Ed Carpenter are separated by 49 points for sixth through 13th.

Mutoh has a 13-point lead over Wilson in the rookie standings. Wilson was the winner at Detroit. The top rookie will claim a $50,000 bonus.

The Firestone Indy Lights champ also will be decided. Raphael Matos has a three-point lead over Richard Antinucci going into the last race of the season.

One race remains on the IndyCar Series schedule — a non-points event in Australia.

Panther Racing officials announced this week that Dan Wheldon, now with Target Chip Ganassi Racing, will be their driver next year. He drove for the team early in his Indy Racing League career and will replace Meira.

Wheldon and Meira figure to drive for their current teams this week. Franchitti will take Wheldon’s place with Ganassi in 2009.

Sunday’s race will be carried live by ABC-TV starting at 3:30 p.m.Qualifications are Saturday.

        

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