Motorsport: Breezing in the Bahamas just the ticket for leader Dixon

Scott Dixon contests his 300th IndyCars race today. Photo / Getty Images

Kiwi Scott Dixon is in a good spot, both mentally and in the IndyCar Series standings.

He took a family holiday to the Bahamas after winning the most recent race, at Toronto, on July 15. The four-time series winner has a 62-point lead over defending champion Josef Newgarden.

"It's nice because it's a change of speed, right?" said Dixon, who turned 38 last Sunday. "It's great to sort of break away and have that change of pace, change your mindset and recharge your batteries and get back at it and start racing for the final five races."

Dixon will be getting back into racing mode in today's Honda Indy 200 on a track where he has had plenty of success. He won at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2014. He has had 11 top-10 finishes among his 13 races on the 13-turn, 90-lap, 3.6km course.

Today marks Dixon's 300th IndyCar start but he will have to go hard after qualifying ninth on the grid yesterday.

"I was told a couple of weeks ago Mid-Ohio would be my 300," he said. "It's fitting. It's one of my favourite tracks.

"It's got elevation change, it's got fast corners, it's got technical corners, it's got big braking spots, but especially when you get to qualifying, the grip level is really high, so you really have to manhandle and hustle the tyres around.

"It suits my style. I've always enjoyed it."

Most of the time, anyway.

Last year, he had all sorts of problems and finished ninth, a result he called "dreadful". He entered the weekend with a three-point lead in the series but Newgarden won at Mid-Ohio to overtake him and Dixon dropped to third.

Dixon never recovered and finished the season third behind Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud.

"The strategy was off a little bit," Dixon said of the 2017 race. "We had a top three or four car, then we had two really bad pit stops. One was about 12 seconds longer than it should have been."

There have been other blips but more success for Dixon in his 17-year relationship with Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon earned series titles in 2003, 2008, 2013 and 2015. He also won the 2008 Indianapolis 500.

"I feel really fortunate and blessed and love to do what I do and probably didn't think I'd ever get to 300 races," Dixon said. "I'd like to keep building on that number."

Driving the No9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing car with a Honda engine, he has three wins this year and 44 in his Indy career, eight shy of tying Mario Andretti for second but well short of leader AJ Foyt's 67.

"For us, it's keeping our heads down and focusing on the next one for the last five races, and keeping that mindset," Dixon said.

His rivals know they will need luck to deny Dixon a fifth series championship, which would leave him behind only Foyt's seven.

"He's had a great run this year," said Will Power, who trails Dixon by 93 points. "He's been very consistent but if he has a little bit of a bad run here and we have a great run, it's absolutely possible to catch him."

- APAP