A week earlier, though, Dixon would have liked to have had the chance to finish that race going full speed.
The last two IndyCar Series races have ended under caution after crashes in the closing laps. Dixon won late Saturday night in the Bombardier Learjet 550k, six days after his runner-up finish at the Milwaukee Mile, where the yellow flag flew as he drove the final three laps behind Ryan Briscoe.
When you've raced lap-after-lap at 210 mph and more -- and often side-by-side -- on the 11/2-mile, high-banked Texas track, crossing the finish line at well less that half that speed is anti-climatic.
"I saw some of the fans walking out before the checkered (flag) even fell," said Chip Ganassi, Dixon's car owner. "It's just disappointing. They come to see a show, and the deserve to see a show. They deserve to see a good finish. They deserve to seen an exciting finish."
Ganassi believes it's time for the IndyCar Series to figure out a way to finish races under green-flag conditions.
NASCAR has green-white-checkered finishes, extending races after late cautions to provide at least an opportunity to finish under green. The NASCAR Craftsman Trucks race at Texas on Friday night ended with a green-white-checkered finish, its fifth straight at the track.
"Obviously, (Saturday) I wouldn't have liked to be in that situation, but maybe last week in Milwaukee I would have liked a different situation," Dixon said. "But, I totally agree with Chip. ... If they can do something to help that, I think it's going to be better for everybody, and it's going to work for you one week, and it's not going to work for you the other."
Dixon, the series points leader by 35 over Helio Castroneves, passed Marco Andretti to reclaim the lead on the 222nd of 228 laps at Texas.
A lap later, Ryan Hunter-Reay was on the bottom of the track under Andretti. But Hunter-Reay, who said he was pushed too low trying to avoid contact, suddenly darted up into Andretti. That sent both cars into the wall and debris all over the track. IndyCar officials couldn't get the mess cleaned up in time for another restart.
Penske teammates Helio Castroneves and Briscoe, who both overcame earlier pit-row penalties that left them a lap down, managed to avoid the wreck and finished 2-3. Dan Wheldon, Dixon's teammate, who was driving with a sprained right ankle after a crash in practice Friday, was fourth.
"Today, I was thinking about that," Castroneves said laughing, when asked about the need for green-white finishes.
"But you know, you can't compare both series. NASCAR, you're stopping on the racetrack, turn it off, turn it on," Castroneves said. "For us, it would be a little bit of a mess, stopping in the pits, turning off the cars."
Ganassi, who also owns NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide teams, understands the difference between the cars and why some people believe such attempts wouldn't work in IndyCar.
"But I think there's a way to do it, and I just think we need to sit down and get our heads together and figure out how to do it so it makes it fair for everybody," Ganassi said.
It was only the fourth of 19 Texas races that didn't end up in green conditions. The last had been the 2003 IndyCar season finale, a race that ended under a red flag -- and five laps shorter than scheduled -- after Kenny Brack was involved in a horrific crash that destroyed his car.
Since the IndyCar Series started in 1996, 23 of the 158 races (15 percent) have ended under caution. There were only three races finished under caution all last season, and the only time there were more than that was 2003, when there were five.
Four of the last seven Indianapolis 500s have ended under caution, though two of those were races shortened by rain.
Castroneves led a race-high 85 laps at Texas, where he is a two-time winner. He is the only driver to finish in the top five of every IndyCar race this season, but is still without a victory after not having the chance to overtake Dixon following the late crash Saturday night.
"Hey it's the rules. It's something that you cannot change. But right now, to be honest, it was a shame," Castroneves said. "I mean, that crash happened in the end, and definitely I was in a position that I had a good car, but unfortunately it didn't happen."
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