Having missed out on four-in-a-row at Watkins Glen with a rare mistake a week ago, Scott Dixon bounced back to claim a hat-trick on Nashville's concrete superspeedway - and gave Chip Ganassi his 100th win as a team owner.
The Kiwi didn't have the best car in Saturday night's rain-affected Firestone Indy 200, but he did have the best 'strategy', electing to stay out on a late caution, and taking a lead that ultimately strengthened his advantage at the head of the points table. Ganassi team-mate Dan Wheldon added to the team's celebrations by crossing the line behind the Energizer blue car for the IndyCar series' 26th 1-2 finish. The win was the team's 22nd in IndyCars, with the balance coming in other disciplines, including NASCAR and Grand-Am.
Dixon grabbed the lead on lap 149 and had enough fuel to stay in top spot until the rain arrived to end the race 29 laps short of its 200 target, giving him a third consecutive victory at the Nashville superspeedway - and his fourth this season. The red flag win tied an IndyCar Series record as Dixon claimed another hat-trick and took away
another hand-painted Gibson guitar as his prize.
“It's a big night for Target Chip Ganassi Racing," the Kiwi celebrated after racking up his fourth win of the year, "Every time we run this car, I've won with it - here at Nashville and at Watkins Glen. It's been a hell of a lot of luck for us, but you could not have been luckier than we were tonight."
Dixon and Wheldon were running second and seventh respectively when the yellow flag flew on lap 138 as rain rolled over the track. At the time, Tony Kanaan held a 3.5secs lead over the Kiwi and appeared to be on course for his second victory of the season. Still under caution two laps later, the Brazilian led virtually the entire field into pit-lane for a final fuel and tyre stop - but the call from the Ganassi team came too late for Dixon, who was past the pit-lane entry point and had to stay on track, with Wheldon following suit.
"It was a miscommunication on the pit call, that's the only reason that I didn't come in," Dixon admitted, "I was angry for a few laps but, when I saw that rain coming down, I thought 'oh, this could work out pretty good'. [Kanaan] was pretty strong and he seemed to get the worst out of it. I feel for Tony. We were fast by ourselves, but TK was definitely stronger in traffic. It wasn't looking pretty for us until the rains came back."
The light rain quickly disappeared, and racing resumed on lap 152 but, just as it looked as if the Ganassi drivers would be forced to pit under green, a much heavier shower arrived on lap 166, and the race was eventually red-flagged on lap 171.
While his team-mate took a series-leading fourth win of the year to date, Wheldon's second place was his eighth top-five of the season and helped him to close back in on both Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan in the standings after being forced into an early retirement at Watkins Glen.
“I absolutely did not [have a second-place car tonight], but sometimes it's better to be lucky than good," he said, echoing Dixon's sentiments to confirm Ganassi's struggled at the concrete oval, "I had a lot of drag in the car and it made it very difficult. I had to lift a lot in traffic but, as I said, sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. It's a great night for Target Chip Ganassi Racing in the end."
