IZOD IndyCar Series: Iowa Corn Indy 250 Presented by Pioneer

Topics:  Iowa Corn Indy 250 Presented by Pioneer

Scott Dixon
June 25, 2011

NEWTON, IOWA

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by our third place finisher, Scott Dixon of Target Chip Ganassi Racing. This is Scott's best finish at Iowa Speedway. Scott started 23rd to finish third. Talk about making up those 20 spots.
SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, it actually felt like a win today. It was a tough weekend. You know, we missed obviously big time in qualifying and nearly crashed on the first lap, so had to lift, and once you lose some momentum at this place you really lose a lot of speed and obviously a lot of positions.
Starting tonight it was a bit of mayhem to start with. It's always fairly easy to get past the first sort of ten going off, sort of like Texas a few weeks ago, but once you get up to the competitive cars and people sort of jostle for position, it was extremely tough, and we didn't have the best car. We had to work on it all night. Started out with quite a bit of understeer and then got a bit worse in the middle stints and started to fall back at the second to last stint just because the car was so loose.
Luckily we caught the yellow there, made adjustments to the car. At the end was the best it was all night, still not as good to obviously compete with maybe TK or Marco. But huge credit to Marco; it was a hell of a race he drove and it's a very deserving win.
THE MODERATOR: Also important tonight with the finish it moves you up in the points. If you can talk about how important it is to get these kind of finishes.
SCOTT DIXON: It's very important. When you have your bad weekends, if you can sort of extract the best points or the best finishing position, that's what you need to do. I think that's what Dario has been very strong at throughout the last few years; where they maybe haven't had the best car, they've still come up with a hell of a good finish at the end.
For us it was a lot of work. This track is evolving to be a very difficult circuit with all the low grip, or the lack of grip throughout the winters and obviously the years where the tart has just lost grip and obviously the bumps over the tunnel are getting more challenging and caught a few people out tonight.
It's a good night for points for both of us. Obviously Will having a crash there and losing a lot of points was definitely good for Dario in the championship and also helped us a bit, too.

Q. Do you think they should do something about the bump in turn 2?
SCOTT DIXON: You know, it adds character to the track. You know, there's a lot of tracks that could have things fixed or improved, but it doesn't always make the racing better. It's a challenge of what this place is.
I think everybody remembers when we came here in 2007 everybody just sat on the bottom and followed the leader. It's nice that the track has actually had a bit of wear and tear, and it makes it tough to drive around. As you can see, it's catching out the best of people, and the good cars go to the front and the cars that are slightly off balance are quite challenging.
I think this year obviously with the bump getting a bit bigger, the lack of grip from the track, and Firestone bringing a harder tire, it's a tough race to drive.

Q. I don't know what the points situation is, but you gained a couple points on Dario tonight and you're probably 70, 80 points back. Is the championship still something you're thinking about? Is it realistic?
SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, you know, obviously Dario is a master of -- just keeps knocking out results. You know, I've had four or five races this year where I've scored hardly any points, and Will and Dario until tonight have been pretty scot-free as far as having bad results.
I remember in 2008 when I won the championship, I think with five races to go I was 86 points ahead and nearly lost the championship. You know, it's a tough championship; if you get into a bit of a rut and even get mixed up in the wrong programs, you can lose a lot of points quickly. If you have a good weekend it's 53 points as opposed to somebody maybe making 12, so you can close the gap pretty quickly.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. Congratulations on the podium. We'll see you in Toronto.