Scott Dixon need only look at the second half of the 2007 IndyCar Series season to make him alternately smile and shudder as it relates to this year's championship race.
He was 65 points behind eventually champion Dario Franchitti exiting the Richmond race, but rattled off four victories in the final eight rounds to outscore the Scot 370-331 and set up a season-ending duel for the title.
That momentum hasn't slowed, as the #9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara has rattled off eight top-five finishes in nine races, including three victories, and holds a 43-point advantage over Team Penske's Helio Castroneves at the halfway point of the season.
Dixon's team-mate, Dan Wheldon, is 52 points behind in third, but the Kiwi isn't comfortable with either cushion, especially with six of the final nine races on road or street courses.
“It's been one of those seasons when things seem to go your way more often than not, from the end of last season and through to this year,” he said, “It's even little things like Iowa, when we didn't have the correct car but got rained out and got pole. That definitely helped. Thank God we kind of sorted the car through the race and we were somewhat competitive.
“Hopefully, we keep the ball rolling, but I think if you talk about how fantastic you are too much it's going to fall over on you. It can turn on you pretty quick, so you have to try to ride the wave as long as you can and hopefully it never falls off until we win another championship.”
Dixon's fear for the second half is somewhat ironic given that he has triumphed at Watkins Glen, the next stop on the schedule, for the past three years, but he knows that consistent results - such as those which helped him net the 2003 title as a newcomer to the series - will continue to breed confidence throughout the #9 crew.
“It does help your confidence going into the weekend,” he said, “There's a long way to go, so we have to treat each weekend as it is until you get down to those last few to determine where you work out for the championship. Now it's the time to press on and gain as many points as you can.
“At the moment, I really feel I have to push on the ovals because Helio is extremely strong on the road courses. I think both of us are going to be fairly well-matched at a lot of those places, and that's almost half of the remainder of the season. It's those things you put into your mind as well to try to work out where you need to be better than other people. I think you still have to treat it race by race and go for the race win but, if you can't win, don't push it too much that you're going to lose a ton of points by crashing.”
Castroneves hasn't forfeited many points this season, although he's still looking for his first victory since April 2007 - and his first IndyCar Series title. The #3 Team Penske entry has finished in the top five in eight of the nine events, including being runner-up four times, and Castroneves advanced from 18th on the grid to finish second to Andretti Green Racing's Tony Kanaan at Richmond on Saturday night.
As Dixon notes, anyone can put together a run similar to his last year and quickly close the gap he enjoys over the field. At Watkins Glen last year, Castroneves was the polesitter and led the initial 19 laps before crashing at turn eleven. Dixon, who started second, led the final 17 laps to post the victory.
“I want to redeem myself from last year, and we know that we have more competitors,” Castroneves said, aware of the road racing talent imported from the Champ Car series, “We know we are going to have a lot of guys doing good on road courses -- that was proved in St Petersburg - but it's good for the championship to mix it up a little bit.”
