"I think, with how it ended up last year, it does make you extremely aggressive for the season just because we came up so short," says Dixon, "It went right to the wire, and it hurt even more so that it came down to a fuel race. I think we feel that, as a team coming runner-up the last two years, we've definitely got some unfinished business. Even with Dario gone, it's not going to be any easier. With unification, there's going to be a lot more drivers out there, and you've still got a lot of great competitors who maybe didn't have the best of runs last year. We've got to try to keep it together, but there's going to be so many people trying to beat us."
If the Ganassi team - which should also field IPS champion Alex Lloyd in selected events - heads to Florida in good heart, however, AGR won't be the only IRL powerhouse hoping to break Wheldon's hold on the event.
There wasn't a lot of quiet at Team Penske's shop this off-season, as the squad attempted to find the final building blocks in its attempt to return to the top of the pile. While veteran - and double Indianapolis 500 winner - Helio Castroneves was helping to put the series on the map via the US version of
Dancing with the Stars, the team was welcoming Ryan Briscoe to its set-up in place of Hornish, hoping that pairing the energetic and outgoing Brazilian with the affable Australian will bring a second IndyCar title in 2008.
"The 2008 IndyCar Series season is starting with considerable momentum provided by the unification of the two open-wheel series," says team owner Roger Penske, "but we're confident that we are poised for success this year."
![Dan Wheldon - Target Chip Ganassi Racing and Marco Andretti - Andretti Green Racing, Homestead Open Testing [Pic credit: IndyCar Media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/410802.jpg)
