Dixon wins again in Toronto IndyCar race

TORONTO -- Scott Dixon doubled up on Izod IndyCar Series victories in Toronto.

After winning the first race Saturday, Dixon delivered a nearly flawless flag-to-flag effort on Sunday to win again for his third consecutive IndyCar victory. He led all but four of the 85 laps.

Dixon also won last week at Pocono Raceway, an oval track. He'll go for a fourth in succession at the next race, Aug. 4, at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, arguably his best track on the schedule.

This weekend's doubleheader was only the second in modern IndyCar history, with the first last month in Detroit. There will be a third and final doubleheader Oct. 5-6 on the streets of Houston.

A driver winning both races of the doubleheader was guaranteed a $50,000 bonus, plus the unclaimed $50,000 bonus from Detroit. That's $100,000 for Chip Ganassi's team.

Dixon said he didn't care much about the money, especially when the Indianapolis-based team will get most of it.

"It's good, but I'd rather have the points," he said. "If you win the points race (in other words, the season title), you get a million bucks."

Dixon, who had a disappointing start to the season, is now only 29 points behind Helio Castroneves for the top spot in the points standings. Dixon is a two-time series champion; Castroneves has never won such a title.

Castroneves said he had no chance of beating Dixon even though he had a fast race car.

"He was in another league, completely different," the Brazilian said.

Said Dixon: "It's quite a turnaround in a couple of weeks."

Dixon has three race wins in a row for the second time in his career. He did it the first time in 2007 when he won at Watkins Glen, Nashville and Mid-Ohio in succession.

Ryan Hunter-Reay was the last IndyCar driver to win three in a row; he did it last year at Milwaukee, Iowa and Toronto.

This win also gave Dixon, a New Zealander, 32 victories for his IndyCar career, moving him past Dario Franchitti, Paul Tracy and Sebastien Bourdais for seventh place all-time. That makes Dixon the winningest active driver.

Ahead of him on the list are A.J. Foyt (67 wins), Mario Andretti (52), Michael Andretti (42), Al Unser (39), Bobby Unser (35) and Al Unser Jr. (34).

Bourdais wasn't all that disappointed. The former Champ Car champion, who scored his first IndyCar podium on Saturday with a second-place finish, finished third on Sunday to give Dragon Racing its second IndyCar podium, too.

Castroneves was second in Sunday's race and led two laps, giving him eight consecutive races as a leader.

The race ended under caution when reigning series champion Hunter-Reay tried to make a move on Will Power on the outside with two laps to go. Their contact sent them both to the outside wall with Takuma Sato running into the back of Hunter-Reay for the second consecutive race.

This time it wasn't the fault of Sato, who was put on probation through the Sept. 1 race in Baltimore after the pit road accident at Pocono.

Power finished 18th, Hunter-Reay 19th, Sato 20th.

Hunter-Reay blamed Power for the contact.

"I had a good run going on the outside; I was right next to him, and he was sliding across the patch," Hunter-Reay said. "I talked to him and he just said he got loose on the bottom, and he just drove right up into us. There's two lanes (there)."

This race featured the first standing start in IndyCar history. Officials aborted it Saturday after Josef Newgarden's electronics failed on the grid.

There were no such issues this time, although Toronto-area native James Hinchcliffe had to start from pit road due to a stuck throttle. Franchitti was the only driver with significant trouble at the launch; his car suffered a broken front nose, which forced him to pit.

Tony Kanaan, James Jakes and Ed Carpenter each found the wall during the race. Jakes' accident was the most spectacular as he lost control of the steering wheel running over Turn 5 curbing on Lap 62.

"The kickback (in the steering wheel) is unbelievable in these things," James said.

Kanaan said he made a mistake, his second in as many races. At Pocono, he clipped the back of Dixon's car in a pass for the lead. That ended the Brazilian's chance at a $1 million bonus.

Rookie Carlos Munoz finished a lap down in 17th place. The Indianapolis 500 runner-up and Firestone Indy Lights points leader was driving in his first IndyCar street race because Ryan Briscoe broke his right wrist in Saturday's race.