IndyCar Racing
Dixon Fifth, Wheldon 20th at Raceway at Belle Isle
Results from Detroit
1. Justin Wilson, No.02 Honda Dallara
2. Helio Castroneves, No.3 Honda Dallara
3. Tony Kanaan, No. 11 Honda Dallara
5. Scott Dixon, No.9 Target Honda Dallara
20. Dan Wheldon, No.10 Target Honda Dallara
DETROIT, Mich. (September 1, 2008)-Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s (TCGR) Scott Dixon grabbed his seventh pole of the season, led the first 18 laps in Detroit and scored his 13th top-five finish of the year. Target teammate Dan Wheldon started 11th and went off pit sequence on lap 11 of 87, but contact with another car on lap 19 would contribute to a 20th place result.
1. Justin Wilson, No.02 Honda Dallara
2. Helio Castroneves, No.3 Honda Dallara
3. Tony Kanaan, No. 11 Honda Dallara
5. Scott Dixon, No.9 Target Honda Dallara
20. Dan Wheldon, No.10 Target Honda Dallara
DETROIT, Mich. (September 1, 2008)-Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s (TCGR) Scott Dixon grabbed his seventh pole of the season, led the first 18 laps in Detroit and scored his 13th top-five finish of the year. Target teammate Dan Wheldon started 11th and went off pit sequence on lap 11 of 87, but contact with another car on lap 19 would contribute to a 20th place result.
Dixon, who maintains a 30-point lead in the championship heading into next weekend’s finale in Chicago, took control from the start but shuffled back to 18th after his first pit stop. He ran a clean race from that point but was not able to advance through traffic on the tight 2.07-mile Raceway at Belle Isle Park. His 885 laps led this season leaves him just five short of breaking Tony Kanaan’s record for laps led in a season set in 2004.
On lap 18, Wheldon tangled with Jaime Camara in turn 9 and spun, damaging the No.10 Target Honda. The team continued the fight and recovered from falling down a lap until Wheldon went nose-first into the turn 7 tire barrier on lap 66. With the car stuck in second gear, Wheldon climbed out and settled for a 20th place finish.
With his fifth place finish, Dixon’s IndyCar Series championship lead stands at 30 points over Helio Castroneves with one race remaining. Dixon could clinch his second IndyCar Series title in the final race of the season with a finish of eighth or better. Wheldon slipped to fourth in the standings, 142 points back of leader Dixon.
Up next for the Target team is the PEAK Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway (1.5-mile) on Sunday, September 7th (3:30 p.m. EDT, ABC).
TCGR has won all four rounds of the IndyCar Series contested on 1.5-mile ovals this season (Homestead-Dixon; Kansas-Wheldon; Texas-Dixon and Kentucky-Dixon).
TCGR Quoteboard:
Scott Dixon: "I don't think it was much of a race, to be honest. The car was clearly quicker than anybody's. We were saving a ton of fuel up front and sort of having a merry old day, and that changed pretty quickly. We left with a half tank after that caution. I think I was probably the only person or maybe a couple of others. It's just a hard situation when you're in that position when nobody else pits and you have a lot of slower guys that pitted early on and have a lot of fuel and you have to try to pass them. That was pretty much the race. From that point on, we were just trying to pull up there. My anger is clearly through frustration. It's not the calls, we win as a team and we lose as a team. We clearly had the quickest car today."
About Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, Inc.
With 14 wins in 2008, the team is enjoying its most successful season in history as it continues to add to its tally of 103 trips to victory lane. Chip Ganassi created his own one-car IndyCar team in 1990 and established a partnership with a new sponsor, Target. Today, his teams include two IRL IndyCars, and along with Felix Sabates he has two cars in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, one entry in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and a Daytona Prototype in the world of Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series racing. Ganassi’s IndyCar teams have amassed five Championships and 64 wins since 1994; his NASCAR teams have 12 wins and two Rookie-of-the-Year titles; and the Grand American team has won two Rolex Series Daytona Prototype Championships and are the three-time defending Champions of the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Chip Ganassi Racing operates out of state-of-the-art race shop facilities in Indianapolis, Ind., and Concord, N.C., with a corporate office in Pittsburgh, Pa.
For more information log onto http://www.chipganassiracing.com/