Dixon may be the year’s best driver

Scott Dixon

If Helio Castroneves doesn't win the (final) "Izod" IndyCar series championship this Saturday night in the MavTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway, it will be the fourth consecutive year a Roger Penske team driver has blown the title near season's end. But if Scott Dixon takes the trophy — and even if he doesn't — Dixon deserves very serious Driver of the Year consideration.

Even the NASCAR-centric media voters should take a long, deep look at Dixon. (Along with Donny Schatz, who has 22 World of Outlaws feature wins — and, yes — Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson.)

Right from the year's first race, on the streets of St. Pete, Dixon has been maximizing what he had to work with. He went from 20th on the grid to fifth at the end there. Let's remember Honda was clearly behind Chevrolet early on and certainly at Indianapolis. But Dixon, sometimes starting deep in the field, was turning in solid points results. Not that it was widely noticed by the national media "experts." So when he was able to start winning at Pocono and Toronto, those early gritty points runs suddenly took on even more significance.

I doubt many people would have thought Dixon, coming out of Indy, would come to the finale in position as championship leader. But that's what he is. No matter the result in California, to me, he has the look of maybe the season's best racer. Spindoctor500