Pole-sitter Scott Dixon waited patiently before taking control 24 laps from the finish and then coasted to an easy victory over teammate Dario Franchitti in the IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio on Sunday.
The victory gave the New Zealander wins on the road track in the last three odd-numbered years.
''I prefer every year,'' he said with a laugh. ''We'll work on that from now on.''
Dixon, who dominated qualifying to capture his first pole of the season, stayed on rookie James Hinchcliffe's tail until the Canadian finally pitted for the first time on lap 53. Dixon skirted a challenge from Franchitti and took command on lap 61 of the 85-lap race to pull away.
Franchitti was coming out of pit row under a yellow flag when he pinched in on Dixon who was coming out of the home straight. Dixon took the edge, fought off several close calls in the next few laps and then was never headed.
''He was in a different zip code today,'' said Franchitti, the leading driver in the series standings.
Both Dixon and Franchitti race for Target Chip Ganassi.
Dixon has wins in 2007, '09 and now '11 in the 200-mile IndyCar event's five years at the tight and twisting course.
Franchitti, chasing his third driver's title in a row, finished 7.6508 seconds back in second. He was followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay, Takuma Sato and Tony Kanaan.
Danica Patrick led briefly after putting off her first pit stop but faded to 21st. Patrick Hinchcliffe also delayed his initial pit stop and held off the hard-charging Dixon before he finally had to leave the track for tires and fuel.
The victory was Dixon's 25th in his nine years in IndyCar.
Dixon came into the 12th race of the 18 on the schedule ranked third in the driver standings, with Franchitti first and Will Power second. Power finished 14th. No. 2 qualifier Ryan Brisco was 16th and Hinchcliffe spun out late to lose precious seconds and fell to 20th. Local favorite Graham Rahal, who started sixth in the starting grid, ended up 24th after running off the track once and stalling his car in the pits another time.
Hinchcliffe started seventh, but fell far off the pace after he was forced onto the grass by Alex Tagliani on the very first lap. He had never led an IndyCar race until lap 30.
Dixon waited and waited for Hinchcliffe to finally hit the pits, and then took advantage.
Dixon has three wins, a third and two fifths in his last five starts at Mid-Ohio, which is located midway between Cleveland and Columbus.
