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INDYCAR: Dixon ‘finally got it right’ in Long Beach

The 2015 season wasn’t off to a great start for Dixon. He had finished 15th in the season opener in St. Petersburg and was only marginally better at the inaugural Grand Prix of Louisiana, where he ended up in 11th place.
The weekend started on a positive note for Dixon at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, when he qualified in third place for the race. It ended even better when he dashed beneath the checkered flag to win his first-ever race on the California street circuit.
“This is huge,” Dixon said. “I love the event, but as far as coming here and doing well, it hadn’t been on that list.”
Dixon has three IndyCar titles to his credit, but had struggled in the Long Beach race throughout his career. Dixon’s best finish in the race came in 2010, when he finished fourth. That is, until Sunday.
“I guess I finally got it right,” he said of his 36th career win.
Finishing second in Long Beach was Helio Castroneves, who had started the race in the pole position.
“I was really pushing hard, but, with his experience, I knew he wasn’t going to make a mistake. At the end of the day, second place is not bad,” said Castroneves, who had to be held up by his crew preventing a pit-road incident with Ganassi driver Tony Kanaan. “The guys did a great job in the pits and especially the close call between me and (Kanaan). It was better to be safe than sorry.”
Juan Pablo Montoya placed third in the race and maintains the lead in the Verizon IndyCar Series driver standings. He made his move to place on the podium when he passed teammate Simon Pagenaud. Montoya admitted that his move was more calculated now that he is a veteran driver.
“When you’re young, you’re greedy. You want to beat everybody and you don’t want to help anyone. At Team Penske, the No. 1 thing is the team and we understand that,” he said. We are all mature enough. We’ve done this long enough. That makes it easy.”
He was, however, also a bit impressed with his own skill.
“I thought the move I made was pretty cool, I’ll be honest,” said Montoya.
As has been the case in three races this year, Team Penske has been dominant. They placed four in the top five in St. Petersburg and had three drivers in the Top 7 in Louisiana. This weekend, Penske drivers captured places two through four in the race.
By capturing the pole and placing second, Castroneves narrows the gap at the top of the IndyCar driver standings. Montoya holds on to the top spot, but Castroneves is now only three points behind him. Kanaan is third, 26 points back of the leader.
The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama is the next race on the Verizon IndyCar Series schedule. The race will be held at Barber Motorsports Park on April 26, 2015.

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