Dixon wins IRL in Alberta

Associated Press

EDMONTON, Alberta

New Zealand driver Scott Dixon won a bizarre Honda Edmonton Indy Sunday after rival Helio Castroneves crossed the finish line first, but was penalized for blocking his own teammate, Will Power.

An enraged Castroneves, who was pushed down to 10th, stormed from his Dallara Honda car after the race to yell at IndyCar officials at the flag stand.

He then grabbed the IndyCar security chief by the collar and shook him before others moved in to restrain him and lead him away.

“Pretty strange to not run a lap and actually win the race,” said Dixon afterward. “[But] rules are rules, man.

“It was obvious Will had a pretty good run. The only way to stop him was blocking.”

It was the second win of the year for the 30-year-old racer with the Target Chip Ganassi team. Dixon won in Edmonton in 2008 en route to six victories and the overall points championship.

Dixon raced around the 1.96-mile, 14-turn City Centre Airport track at 114.326 miles per hour at a best time of one minute 2.13 seconds.

Power ended up 2.67 seconds behind Dixon but retained the lead in the overall points race. Dixon’s teammate Dario Franchitti was third, 3.28 seconds behind.

It had been Power’s race to lose. The 29-year-old Australian was coming off two consecutive wins, had run the fastest in practice and in qualifying and had led the entire race until Castroneves nipped underneath him with 18 laps to go to take the lead.

As Castroneves moved high to block Power, Dixon, charging hard in third, suddenly found himself with a wide open lane on the inside of the track. He took it and passed Power for second.