Long Beach, CA (My Sportsbook) - Dario Franchitti's return to the IndyCar Series this season has turned out to be a success so far as the Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver won Sunday's Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Franchitti, the 2007 IndyCar champion, dominated the race by leading 51 of 85 laps, but two key pit stops helped him score his first victory in the series since the '07 season-finale at Chicagoland, where he clinched the title.

"The time of the first stop, (the team) called it perfectly," Franchitti said. "That got us track position. We were saving fuel, but still getting good lap times. And at the end, it was like okay, let's go here."

Franchitti was the first to pit on lap 16, just after rookie Mike Conway spun and made contact with the tire barrier.

After holding a three-second lead, Franchitti pitted early on lap 53 for his second and final stop. Will Power, Tony Kanaan and Danica Patrick also came in sooner than expected as part of their race strategies.

The gamble paid off on lap 54 when the full-course caution came for an incident involving Conway again. Franchitti re-inherited the lead when the remainder of the leaders came in for their final stops. He never relinquished the top position from there.

"To get a win for the Target team today is awesome, and it's a lot of fun," he said.

Franchitti recorded his ninth career IndyCar victory but his first on a road/street circuit. His win at Long Beach came on the same day his wife, actress Ashley Judd, turned 41 years old.

In 2008, Franchitti spent most of the season in NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series competition, but his efforts in stock car racing did not go as well as he and Ganassi expected. Franchitti's Sprint Cup team at Ganassi ceased operation due to lack of sponsorship in the middle of last year.

Franchitti rejoined Ganassi's IndyCar team in September, replacing Dan Wheldon in the No.10 car.

After an impressive run in the October exhibition race in Australia and then near top-of-the-chart speeds in recent pre-season testing at Homestead and Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL, Franchitti appeared to have settled back into open-wheel racing quite well.

Power, who switched from Team Penske's No.3 car to the team's No.12 entry due to Helio Castroneves' return, finished an impressive second. Power started on the pole and led the first 16 laps.

"The problem is we had no telemetry and no radio," Power said. "It was a good race and a good finish, considering some of the problems we had,"

Andretti Green Racing teammates Kanaan and Patrick finished third and fourth, respectively, while Dan Wheldon from Panther Racing completed the top-five.

Castroneves finished seventh in his return to racing after being acquitted of federal taxes evasion charges on Friday.

"To see this crowd gave me such a great positive energy," an enthusiastic Castroneves said. "I'm just so happy to be back. I thought I was really going to be tired, but I'm ready for the next race."

Castroneves lost control of his car and slammed into the wall in turn one during Saturday's qualifying at Long Beach. He complained of a headache shortly after the incident. Indy Racing League officials cleared the Brazilian driver for the race after he showed no signs of a concussion. Castroneves started eighth.

Defending series champion Scott Dixon had a difficult day in Long Beach after being involved in two separate incidents. Dixon ran into EJ Viso in the early- going, with Viso the first driver to retire from the event.

"Scott had a terrible exit from the previous corner, and I just braked him in the outside because I wanted to overtake him in the next corner," Viso said. "But he just changed his line. It's one of the first things they repeat several times in the driver's briefing, but he did it."

Shortly after Ed Carpenter lost control of his car and nosed into the tire barrier, forcing a full-course caution, Ryan Briscoe and Dixon were involved in a bizarre accident. Briscoe ran into the back of Dixon, causing him to spin. Both drivers were running in the top-10 at the time.

Briscoe, who had to pit for a new front nose, was slapped with a 30-second penalty for aggressive driving. Dixon fell back in the field and ended up finishing 15th.

"Ryan and I are good mates, and obviously he's not going to do anything like that on purpose," Dixon said.

Briscoe and Dixon were involved in a similar incident on the road course at Watkins Glen, NY. Dixon spun and Briscoe hit him after the two drivers bumped into each other.

Dixon has struggled in the first two races this season, finishing 16th two weeks ago at St. Petersburg.

The next race is scheduled for Sunday, April 26, at Kansas Speedway.