"Especially having a big thing to deal with in switching to Honda. Getting that podium at St. Pete was good for us with the new engine and learning the Honda aero kit, which was also new to us. And it's not like everything has gone perfect this year, so there's a lot we can improve before the season's over."
Dixon grabbed his 41st career race win in Iowa to be one-off third-placed Michael Andretti in the all-time wins list but has struggled in the last two races to see his championship lead evaporate to just three points.
"I typically try not to focus on the 'coulda, shoulda, woulda' scenarios, but I can see how our lead might be bigger if some things had gone differently - but I imagine it's the same for every driver," he said. "I'm not saying we deserve anything more than what we've gotten, but you can look at Indy and see we had a top-five car before the crash.
"We hurt ourselves on strategy at Long Beach, I just got caught up with Will [Power] at Toronto which didn't help either of us, and there are other races where we left points on the table unnecessarily.
"Points are tight right now, and there aren't many races left, so we can't afford any additional disappointments."
There are just four races left after this weekend.
