On Saturday Scott Dixon won his first Pole Award of the season. Today he followed that up with his first win of 2011.
Dixon clearly had the best car all weekend, as he started on the pole and led 50 of the 85 laps in the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. His teammate Dario Franchitti was six seconds behind, giving Target/Chip Ganassi another one-two finish on the year.
Ryan Hunter-Reay got a podium finish, coming across in third place, while KV Racing teammates Takuma Sato and Tony Kanaan rounded out the top five.
It was a rough day for Team Penske, especially Will Power who came home in 16th position. All three of the team cars were running up front for most of the race, but they had an unlucky break during a caution when they tried to pit. They went to the back, and couldn’t get around all of the traffic.
Power has finished 14th or worse in three of the past four races. He now trails Dario Franchitti by 62 points heading into next weekend’s race at New Hampshire. Dixon trails by 93 points.
It was also a frustrating day for hometown kid Graham Rahal. Graham had trouble on his first pit stop, then made contact with Danica Patrick, sending him spinning off the course.
In the five IndyCar races here at Mid-Ohio, Scott Dixon has now won three of them.
With more oval races coming up on the schedule, it looks like the championship could be Dario’s to lose. Power is slightly better on the road and street courses, while Dario is a bit better on the ovals.
Next Sunday’s MoveThatBlock.com Indy 225 from Loudon, New Hampshire is set for 3:30 pm, and can be seen on ABC.