Backstretch Motorsports

DIXON CLOSING IN ON 2008 CHAMPIONSHIP
BIA LOOKS TO CASH IN ON SSM PAST KENTUCKY SUCCESS
Four races remain in championship battle

With four races remaining in 2008, Scott Dixon holds a 65-point lead over Helio Castroneves. Dan Wheldon is 115 points back, and Tony Kanaan trails by 118. Dixon has five wins this season, while Castroneves has six second-place finishes. Can Dixon extend his lead or will his competitors close the gap?

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LEBANON, Tenn., Friday, July 11, 2008 - Helio Castroneves won his 24th career IndyCar Series pole at Nashville Superspeedway, extending his series record to seven consecutive seasons with a pole.

Castroneves, who ranks second in points, turned four laps on the 1.33-mile, concrete oval in 1 minute, 31.5320 seconds, 204.519 mph to win his first pole since last September at Belle Isle. The all-time pole leader won it for the first time in seven starts at Nashville.

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Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen : Dixon eyes record-setting fourth consecutive win at The Glen

Four-time winner?

Scott Dixon will attempt to win his fourth consecutive race at Watkins Glen. If he wins, Dixon will become the first IndyCar Series driver to win four consecutive races at one track. Dan Wheldon entered the 2008 season as the only other driver to win three consecutive races at one track (Homestead-Miami). Wheldon finished third in his bid to four-peat earlier this season. Dixon has won after starting fourth twice and second once. Can Dixon make history with a fourth consecutive win at The Glen?

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(Ed. note — This interview was conducted prior to qualifying at Richmond )

THE MODERATOR: Danica Patrick, why don’t you go ahead and talk about you came here last week to test. And that was something that you really haven’t had an opportunity to do a lot of this year, you’d said. So it was hopefully giving you an advantage here maybe this weekend.

DANICA PATRICK: Yeah, you know, when we did the little availability at lunch, I hadn’t been on track yet. And so it was very productive day from our standpoint. Any time you get a chance to practice on tracks that you’re going to race on, you just — you always make strides and you always figure things out.

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FORT WORTH, Texas, June 6, 2008 — Scott Dixon topped the record-tying 28-car field to win the PEAK Motor Oil Pole Award presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts for the Bombardier Learjet 550k with a four-lap cumulative time of 1 minute, 37.5063 seconds (214.878 mph average).

Dixon, driving the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car, was 0.0462 of a second ahead of Helio Castroneves, who will join the reigning Indianapolis 500 winner on the front row. Castroneves, who has won twice at Texas in the No. 3 Team Penske car, recorded a 214.777 mph average (1:37.5525).

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INDIANAPOLIS, Friday, May 9, 2008 - Fast Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway lived up to its name as a familiar name topped the charts.

Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon turned the fastest lap of the month to date (39.6531 seconds; 226.968 mph) to lead practice the day before Pole Day for the second consecutive year.

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KANSAS CITY, KAN., Sunday, April 27, 2008 - Dan Wheldon won for the first time in a year, taking the checkered flag in the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway to become the first two-time winner in eight IndyCar Series races at the track.

Wheldon, the 2005 Indianapolis 500 champion, hadn’t visited Victory Lane since winning at Kansas last April when he led 177 of 200 laps.

This year, the Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver led only the final 49 laps, but it was enough for his 14th career victory.

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“In recognition of Danica’s talents, she did a good job. She passed me fair and square. I didn’t have enough fuel, even if I wanted to, to fight with her, and today I guess it’s part of history again. Last race in this car, and now she wins the race.
She was very competitive. Any driver that comes with a good package and a good organization, they can put a good job and they’ll be competitive.” ~~ Helio Castroneves on Danica Patrick’s win at the Japan 300.

A huge part of auto-racing is strategy. One of three key elements , equipment, personel and execution of plan. Any crew chief or race strategist will tell you that end of a race is a chess game, thinking backward from the checkered flag to the final pit stop. Knowing how and when you could and should make your move for the best possible finish position.

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