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DIXON ON PACE TO EQUAL A RECORD
Today was Scott Dixon’s fifth win of the 2008 IndyCar Series season (but his first on a road or street circuit). He is the fourth driver in series history to win five races in a single season, the others being Tony Kanaan and Sam Hornish, who each won five in 2007 and 2002, respectively, and Dan Wheldon who set the single season victory mark in 2005 with six wins.

CASTRONEVES TOO
Somewhat less exciting is the fact that Helio Castroneves is also on pace to tie an unofficial record, that of friend and former teammate Gil de Ferran. Driving for Walker Racing, de Ferran racked up a total of eight second-place finishes in the Champ Car World Series and, ultimately, finished second to Alex Zanardi in the points race.

Today marked Castroneves’ sixth second-place finish of the season and he’s not overly anxious to get any more.
“I spoke with Gil last week in Mid-Ohio and he told me he’d finished second eight times in one season,” said Castroneves. “So two more and he and I will be tied!
“But you can’t let it bother you. This race we said we’d go for it and we did. It was just so difficult to get out of the pits on that last stop. If that yellow didn’t happen it would have been fantastic. But if, if, if, if...”

TOUGH DAY FOR AGR
It was appropriate that race day proved a day Andretti Green Racing would just as soon forget, as it capped a weekend that brought little joy to the team. How else to describe a weekend in which the highwater mark was Tony Kanaan’s ninth-place finish? Or a race where Marco Andretti’s right-front tire tagged Danica Patrick’s left rear, sending her off course while she was running in ninth place and damaging his nose cone, necessitating a pit stop and, later, plunging off course and nearly collecting Dan Wheldon, Justin Wilson and Oriol Servia? Or a race that saw Hideki Mutoh tattoo the tire wall in the final chicane, inflicting serious damage on the Formula Dream Dallara-Honda?

“After the first pit stop, I felt the rear of the car was sling a lot, so I was trying me best to control the car,” said Mutoh. “However, when I got to Turn 13 I couldn’t turn the car and lost it.”

CONFIDENCE GAME
Want to motivate Paul Tracy? Bet against him. And let him know it.

While Tracy had plenty of reason to be motivated just by getting a ride here at the Rexall Edmonton Indy, he got a little extra boost when he found some of his old teammates were better against him.

“I came into this weekend and I learned that guys who were on my crew last year at Forsythe Racing were making bets that I wouldn’t crack the top twenty,” he said. “They felt it was me that was the problem at Forsythe. So that definitely gave me some extra motivation to prove that, hey, I can still do this. I can run up front with these guys that are a lot younger than me.

“It wasn’t big bets. It was only 20 bucks, five hundred bucks on another one. But it’s just the point of it. If there was no confidence there now (by the Forysthe crew), there probably wasn’t last year. So it’s gratifying to me this is probably one of the best races I’ve do ne in the last year or so. It feels good.”

SHOW OF SUPPORT
Tracy freely admitted he would be surprised if his showing -- and that of the Walker-crewed Vision Racing team -- didn’t result in additional rides in the remainder of the ’08 IndyCar Series season. If Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves have anything to say about it, Tracy’s debut will not also be his swan song.

“He did an incredible job to finish fourth,” said Castroneves. “I mean Paul’s a talented driver. We all know that. Hopefully he’ll be able to find a ride because definitely he’ll be entertaining here in this series. It would be great to have him in this series full time.

“He’s a guy we need in the series,” echoed Dixon. “He’s a big name. He’s fantastic to watch, especially on a circuit like this, he’s an animal.

“It’s a pleasure racing with him. I didn’t really get to race him today, but to come from 15th to fourth, I know strategy plays into it at some point, but you’ve still got to be quick to get there. Bloody good to see, man. Good to see.”