by Lynne Huntting


SCOTT DIXON/#9 Chip Ganassi Racing won Sunday's Motorola 300 presented by Jackson Rancheria Casino and Hotel Indy Racing League IndyCar race at Infineon Raceway. This is his fourth win this season, third of three on a road course and tenth overall. Dixon now leads the Driver's Championship standings with 560 points.

He said: "It was a big victory for me, especially after last year when I should have won. We deserved to win, so this was unfinished business for me."

Dixon also had some outspoken remarks about fellow drivers hindering his race. "TK (Tony Kanaan) was not playing fair in the race despite being warned in the Drivers' Meeting. I guess IRL were watching a different race."

Dixon said he'd heard "that AGR told TK on the radio to hold up Dixon. There were two sections there where Kanaan was definitely going slower for Franchitti."

Second through fifth were HELIO CASTRONEVES/#3 Team Penske; DARIO FRANCHITTI/#27 Andretti Green Racing; TONY KANAAN/N#11 Andretti Green Racing - who turned the fastest race lap of 1m 17.7923s/1096.767 mph; and SAM HORNISH Jr/#6 Team Penske, now out of championship contention in fifth place with 409 points.

Sixth through tenth were DANICA PATRICK/#7 AGR; DAN WHELDON/#10 Ganassi Racing-who is fourth in the standings with 414 points but no longer in contention for the championship; TOMAS SCHECKTER/#2 Vision Racing; VITOR MEIRA/#4 Panther Racing; and KOSUKE MATSUURA/#55 Panther Racing.

Some thought the Lap 69 accident between Andretti Green team-mates, then points leader DARIO FRANCHITTI and MARCO ANDRETTI, nearly overshadowed Dixon's victory. Andretti came out of the pits on cold tyres, and was in front of Franchitti going into Turn Two, where the two tangled. Franchitti soldiered on with a broken front wing and possible suspension damage, while Andretti had to wait for the tow truck to rescue him from the gravel trap. He was seen and released from the infield care center.

Afterwards Andretti, last year's Infineon winner, said: "I gave racing room and I was hoping Dario (Franchitti) would race me clean. I hate to think he'd do anything intentional. I was saving so much fuel and my car was good enough that we were still catching them as we were saving fuel, and that was the win right there. If we would have played fair, that would have happened."

Team Owner/Dad, MICHAEL ANDRETTI, was clearly unhappy.

Castroneves said: "My car was really good towards the end. In the middle of the race, when Scott (Dixon) and I were leaving the pits, he was able to find a little bit of my track and we touched wheels. I was like, "Hey, I have nothing to lose buddy." He was racing hard and forcing it. I was like, "'You know what, I'm going for it if I have an opportunity.' I would not put a stupid move on him."