Fort Worth, TX (My Sportsbook) - Scott Dixon captured Saturday night's Bombardier Learjet 550 at the Texas Motor Speedway. The No.9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver crossed the finish line under caution ahead of Helio Castroneves.
The victory was Dixon's third of the season and 13th of his IndyCar career.
Ryan Briscoe, Dan Wheldon and Tony Kanaan completed the top-five.
With 62 laps left in the race the sixth caution flag flew for debris. The top- eight drivers took their last stops during the caution period. Vitor Meira, on a different strategy, inherited the lead by not stopping. He led Dixon, Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Wheldon to the restart with 52 laps left.
Meira held onto his lead on the restart. Meanwhile, Hunter-Reay quickly passed Andretti and Dixon to take over second. Andretti would fall all the way to fifth. Dixon and Castroneves followed Hunter-Reay for third and fourth, respectively.
With just 28 laps of racing left, the margin for Meira passed two seconds. Andretti fought his way back and on lap 203 passed Dixon for second. Hunter- Reay and Briscoe rounded out the top-five.
Andretti inherited first when Meira made his way to pit road for his final stop with 21 laps to go.
With 15 laps remaining the caution flag flew for a Enrique Bernoldi crash.
After a long cleanup the race went back to green with nine to go. The race- winning pass came with six to go when Dixon got around Andretti.
The drama continued on the next lap when Hunter-Reay, on the inside lane, slid up the track and sent Andretti into the wall. Andretti and Hunter-Reay finished 19th and 20th, respectively.
There was too much debris from the crash to allow for another restart and it gave Dixon a comfortable drive into Victory Lane.
Dixon, the Indianapolis 500 winner, led the field to the green flag for 228 laps of racing.
Dixon didn't lead for long as Castroneves got past him for the lead on the first lap. Castroneves and Bruno Junqueira traded the first position back-and- forth early the race.
Castroneves was leading Dixon, Hunter-Reay, Hideki Mutoh, and Danica Patrick when Justin Wilson brought out the third caution flag on lap 39. The leaders made their way down pit road under the caution.
Junqueira, on a different pit strategy, inherited the first position by not stopping. Dixon, Castroneves, Hunter-Reay and Patrick followed behind the new leader to the restart.
The top-three drivers made things interesting on the restart as they went three-wide. Junqueira fell back as Castroneves took over the top spot. Hunter- Reay, Mutoh, Dixon and Ed Carpenter settled behind Castroneves. Oriol Servia brought the caution flag out a few laps later. Junqueira took his pit stop under the caution period.
After another caution flag, Castroneves held off a charging Hunter-Reay when the race went back to green on lap 61. Hunter-Reay dropped back as Dixon and Marco Andretti passed by him. Castroneves held onto the inside lane as Dixon pulled up beside him to battle for first. On lap 72 Andretti made it three- wide with a push on the outside. Castroneves won the battle as Dixon and Andretti battled behind him.
Castroneves lost his lead when he got caught up lap traffic, allowing Andretti to use the outside lane to take over first. A few laps later, a cycle of green flag stops got underway. Ryan Briscoe led a few laps before he made his pit stop. Castroneves was caught speeding on pit road and had to serve a drive through penalty.
When the stops were complete, Andretti led Dixon, Tony Kanaan, Hunter-Reay and Carpenter. The next lead change came on lap 117 when Dixon got past Andretti.
With 100 laps remaining, the top-five read: Dixon, Andretti, Kanaan, Hunter- Reay and Wheldon.
The top-five stayed relatively in tact after another round of green flag stops. The only change had Hunter-Reay and Wheldon gaining a spot with Kanaan falling to fifth after a slow stop.
That's when the excitement started with first Meira and then Andretti taking the lead. But neither driver could hold off the points leader and it in the end he won for the third time to expand his lead to 35 points over Castroneves (284-249).
The next race the series is set for Sunday, June 22nd at the Iowa Speedway.