IZOD IndyCar Series: Cafés do Brasil Indy 300

Topics:  Cafés do Brasil Indy 300

Scott Dixon
October 2, 2010

HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. We are now joined by tonight's race winner, Scott Dixon. Scott, yesterday you were asked what were you racing for tonight and you said 3rd against Helio, and you did it. Talk about tonight's race.
SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, it was obviously, I think, the main goal for the team was to get the championship. And straight out of the box it seemed to go as planned. Dario had a stronger night. To be honest, I don't have to help him very much. Sat behind him when I could. TK was pretty aggressive there in that first spin.
And I was kind of like, well, I'm going to let you go and have at it. So didn't get involved with that too much. And kind of just cruised around. We worked on the car for long runs in traffic.
A little bit loose to start with on the high line, and we seemed to fix that. And kind of just waiting for the opportunity.
I think towards the end, you know with so much yellow, another stop to go into obviously being a fuel race, which was very hard to monitor. Some people had pitted. We hadn't. We'd already been through two gallons just sitting under yellow, and yet you knew it was going to be about 50 laps to go.
So that was definitely the tough part. But obviously once the yellows came again, we had a couple of fumbled restarts which definitely helped us as well with mileage.
It was a clear run. It saved the push-to-pass. I think we had 13 to 15 of the things left. And obviously pushed in towards the end and the car was pretty well hooked up and away it went. So nice way to finish the year.
We had definitely a rough year. Lots of missed opportunities and felt strange coming down to the last race and not really racing for a championship.
So it was the best we could get out of it for the last race, and obviously with the team winning, it was a huge day. So everybody's pretty excited and pretty happy.
THE MODERATOR: Now a really important question. Dario going into the pool tomorrow night? Are you plotting it already?
SCOTT DIXON: That was TK's deal last year, when he kind of like somehow got me involved in it when we threw him in the pool. I think it will be fair to throw him in again, he's just getting greedy now.
THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Speaking of greedy, Dario with three titles, getting greedy here. Talk about his place and kind of this generation of IndyCar.
SCOTT DIXON: He's definitely a fierce competitor. And he's been fantastic to have at the team. And I obviously learned a lot off him. I don't know. I think the whole team, when they haven't or didn't have great days coming out, they just grabbed the opportunity of going off strategy or having a great pit stop to pull it through. Look at Chicago, it was a perfect example of that.
So that side has been working together fantastically and it's good to see. When we couldn't pull our weight, obviously he was there to do it. And obviously winning the 500 and the championship in the same year, which makes lots of people happy. So it's been definitely a turn for him. Obviously leaving in 2008 and then coming back and getting two championships in a row, it's definitely nothing to sneeze at. So Tiger will definitely be on his back next year.

Q. Three victories, three in the points, what does that say when it's a disappointing season about the standard you guys have set?
SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, it was disappointing. Right from the get-go I made a lot of mistakes. The team as a whole made a lot of mistakes. There's so many, especially coming down to the last few races, we just couldn't hit it. It was terrible.
That's the problem, when you're used to such a high level, I think the past four or five years I've had a chance at the last race to win a championship and this year not coming into it is definitely a shock.
And we didn't perform. We can see in many areas where we just didn't get it right. So that's the strong part of obviously fielding two cars and two competitive cars, if your side can't do it, the other will do it. For me, straight up disappointing year. Third in the points is still great. But it's not where we're used to, and at least we finished it on a high.

Q. You've seen so much of Dario over your career. You joined a little bit late in his career. Would you say he's just getting better with age?
SCOTT DIXON: You would have to say that. You know, I think he's definitely come on. They say that kind of about triathletes, your mid-30s are kind of your peak. He's getting close to 40. So he's stretching the window.
And I think it's good for a lot of us guys that have been around for a while. Because it at least gives the team owners some hope that we can still continue to do it.
But, yeah, I think the determining factor for a lot of people when they get to that age, if they have the will to do it, and you know whether they want to get up and train and do those things and make it worthwhile. And Dario, still you can see the fire. And you can see that he's an extremely competitive person. Right now you'd have to say that he's at his peak?

Q. When you were both in kart and you were the young kid in kart, the youngest winner in kart history, what did you think of Dario? What kind of dynamic did you have with him back then?
SCOTT DIXON: You know, I didn't really know those guys. They were kind of the high rollers, and I was just the kid coming in and checking it all out. Dario and I definitely hung out later in the year of 2002. Australia was always a good trip to have a few drinks after the race and catch up with people, learn what they're all about.
That's when I definitely made friends with Dario. And we've raced together ever since. I wouldn't say we're immensely tight. We're definitely great friends now and have a great relationship and work probably the best I've ever worked with a teammate before. So it's definitely come a long ways. But it was a lot different from the early days.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.