Reigning IRL champ Dixon wins at Milwaukee Mile

WEST ALLIS, Wis. (AP) — Scott Dixon took advantage of the heavy Milwaukee Mile traffic to pass Ryan Briscoe and drive away to a victory Sunday at the Milwaukee Mile.

The reigning IndyCar Series champion darted past Briscoe 25 laps from the end of the A.J. Foyt 225 and was not challenged the rest of the way, beating last year’s race winner by nearly half the front straightaway on the one-mile oval.

“It was tough,” said Dixon, who also took the series points lead with his second victory of the season and the 18th of his career. “Man, what a long race. We had a lot of traffic. Traffic was key to today.”

Dario Franchitti, Dixon’s Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, was out front after a series of green flag pit stops just past halfway.

Franchitti, the 2007 series champion back in IndyCar after an aborted shot at NASCAR last year, built leads of more than 2 seconds over Briscoe and Dixon before he got held up in traffic and both of his competitors got past on lap 154.

It was a duel between those two the rest of the way, with Dixon finally getting past when the lapped car of Tomas Scheckter briefly held up Briscoe on lap 201.

“We’ve come a long way, man,” Dixon said, grinning. “I remember crashing two cars in four laps at this place in 2005, so I’m stoked that the Target car was so fast today. I’m just so happy to win at this place. It’s so tough.”

The winner said traffic was everybody’s problem throughout the race.

“Briscoe and I and everybody get caught up [in traffic] some times,” Dixon said. “I actually had a run on him several times and he kind of ran me to the bottom there. We didn’t get caught up, luckily. That’s how I got him. He tried to try to go below, then I got a run high and I got underneath him going into [turn three].”

Dixon will head into next Saturday night’s race at Texas Motor Speedway with a four-point lead over Briscoe and Franchitti in the season standings.