Dixon earns first win of 2009 season with victory at Kansas

04.29.09 - indycar.com - Race 3 - Reigning IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon earned his first victory of the 2009 season, taking the checkered flag in the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway .7104 of a second ahead of Helio Castroneves.

The win was the third in a row at the track by a Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver.

Dixon entered the race 17th in points after two difficult races on street circuits to begin the season. The return to a 1.5-mile oval suited him well. After starting fourth, Dixon passed pole sitter Graham Rahal on Lap 8 and went on to lead 134 of 200 laps for his 17th career victory. The win moved Dixon to fourth in the point standings as the IndyCar Series prepares for the Indianapolis 500.

Castroneves nearly duplicated his back-to-front victory from last September at Chicagoland. In that race, Castroneves won after starting 28th. Sunday, he worked his way up from the 21st to second.

Tony Kanaan finished third. The only driver to record top-five finishes in each of the first three races this season, Kanaan moved into the points lead, one point ahead of Ryan Briscoe, who finished fourth.

Kanaan led an Andretti Green Racing contingent that placed all four drivers in the top 10 for the first time since Milwaukee 2006. Danica Patrick finished fifth, Marco Andretti sixth and Hideki Mutoh eighth.

Rahal finished seventh and two-time defending race winner Dan Wheldon finished 10th.

Post Race News and Notes

· Scott Dixon earned his first win of the season and the 17th of his IndyCar Series career. This is the 49th top-five finish of his career and the 69th top-10 finish of his career.

· This is Dixon's first victory since last season at Kentucky.

· Dixon has led 279 of the last 400 laps and 295 of the last 600 laps at Kansas Speedway.

· Dixon has led laps in each of the last four races at Kansas, however this is his first victory at the track.

· This is the third consecutive victory for Target Chip Ganassi Racing at Kansas. Dan Wheldon won the last two races at the track for the team.

· Target Chip Ganassi racing drivers have led 518 of the last 600 laps at Kansas.

· Two-time defending race winner Dan Wheldon finished 10th, his second top-10 finish of the season.

· Helio Castroneves finished second after starting 21st, nearly duplicating his performance the last time he raced on a 1.5-mile oval. Last September at Chicagoland, Castroneves started 28th and went on to win.

· This is Castroneves' 67th career top-five finish and 90th career top-10 finish.

· Tony Kanaan takes over the series points lead with a third-place finish. This is his third top-five finish of the season and the 69th top-five finish of his career, the most in IndyCar Series history.

· Ryan Briscoe finished fourth, his second top-five finish of the season.

· Polesitter Graham Rahal finished seventh, his best career finish on an oval.

· Hideki Mutoh finished eighth, his first top-10 finish since last year at Mid-Ohio.

· All four Andretti Green Racing cars finished in the top 10 for the first time since Milwaukee 2006 when Tony Kanaan finished first, Marco Andretti fifth, Dario Franchitti sixth and Bryan Herta seventh.

· Ed Carpenter finished ninth, his first top-10 since last year at Kentucky.