Both of this year's remaining IndyCar championship contenders, Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves, have reason to hope for better fortune as the series returns to The Raceway at Belle Isle in Detroit this weekend, particularly after the Brazilian slashed into his rival's lead last time out.
Dixon came into the inaugural event at Belle Isle with a four-point lead in the 2007 championship having hunted down Dario Franchitti over the second half of the season, and was running third with two laps to go when the car ahead of him spun. The Kiwi, with few other options, also spun, but made contact with the wall, finishing eighth and dropping into second place in the standings.
Holding a far stronger position this time around, the 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner doesn't dwell on events last year - or the twelfth-place finish at Infineon Raceway last Sunday that saw his points lead cut from 78 to 43 by racewinner Castroneves.
“No, not at all,” said Dixon, who will be attempting to clinch a record-setting seventh victory of the season in Detroit, “You've got to take it race by race. There's no point dwelling on what happened. I think the [Infineon] weekend was just frustrating in the fact that the decisions we made were the wrong ones. I guess, after such a successful season so far, we probably deserve one that didn't go our way.
“We're still very confident, and we've still got a big lead. Forty-three points in two races is pretty hard to soak up, but I'm sure [Penske and Castroneves] are going to do the best they can to try and take over that. All in all, though, we're pretty motivated.”
Castroneves, meanwhile, is on a high having finally broken a 29-race barren streak with his first victory since St Petersburg 2007. As has been the case on several occasions in that run, he could have won at Belle Isle last season, and has has fond memories of racing there despite being knocked out of the race after starting from the pole.
![Scott Dixon leads Helio Castroneves at Kentucky Speedway [pic credit: IRL/Payne]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/478101.jpg)
