“A run like that is a direct reflection of the work that the team does at Target Chip Ganassi Racing,” Dixon insisted, “I'm fortunate enough to have a great team-mate in Dan Wheldon and an owner in Chip [Ganassi] that values your opinion and puts you in the best possible position to contend for race wins. To be honest, I don't really look at the numbers. We as a team are focused on taking one race at a time and that's all we can do each weekend.”
Race ten of the IndyCar Series just might offer a glimpse of this year's series champion as, of the past seven SunTrust Indy Challenge winners, four have gone on to claim the title in the same year, including Dixon in 2003.
While Sam Hornish Jr - twice - and Franchitti join the Kiwi on that roll of honour, other champions have enjoyed strong finishes at Richmond before taking the title, including both Wheldon and Tony Kanaan.
But, while Dixon will be looking to continue his dominance of the season so far, he will need to be wary of Helio Castroneves, who is second in the standings and has enjoyed his previous trips to Richmond with a win in 2005, pole in both 2004 and 2006, and four top ten finishes for Team Penske.
“Richmond is one of my favourite tracks on the IndyCar Series circuit," Castroneves admits, "It's one of the smallest circuits we run at, which means we're able to turn laps in about 15 seconds. Because of the speeds and the track size, it feels like you're constantly turning and, as a result, Richmond is very physically demanding. When you add in the increased car count this season, I think we will see some really exciting action on the track. With more cars in the field, it'll be tougher to move through traffic, which adds another challenge to this circuit.”
Qualifying is scheduled for 1930hrs EDT Friday with the race due to get the green flag at 2000hrs Saturday.
