Dixon up 25 points on Helio as final battle looms at Fontana - MotorSportsTalk

With one race remaining in the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series championship, only two drivers remain in the title hunt: Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves.

Dixon’s runner-up finish in today’s Race 2 of the Shell/Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston (won by Will Power) enabled him to move ahead of Castroneves by 25 points as the focus shifts to the season-ending MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway outside Los Angeles in two weeks.

If Dixon can finish fifth or better in that event, he’ll secure his third career IndyCar title (2003, 2008).

“I think we had a good shot of making the points level coming out of here, but to make that gain – I think we as a team knew we had the potential of winning both races, especially on street courses at the moment,” Dixon said. “But you can never predict how the competition’s gonna be or the problems they may have.

“It’s still going to come down to the wire – a last lap, last corner kind of situation that we all expect…It’s going to be a fun race. We have a lot of work to do, but we’ve got to go in with the mindset of winning the race. If we can do that or be on the podium, job accomplished.”

After being forced to endure a lengthy repair to replace a gear cluster in Saturday’s Race 1, Castroneves suffered mechanical issues again on Sunday – this time with the gearbox housing on his car.

His Team Penske crew was able to get him back on the track at Lap 47, but he only improved one spot during the remaining laps and finished 23rd. Still, in a tight championship battle such as this, every position counts for something.

“We’ve had great luck for most of the season,” said Castroneves, who had led the championship by 49 points going into the Houston doubleheader. “Now in a weekend, everybody’s dream has become an interesting scenario.

“I will tell you one thing: This team is a testament to never giving up, and I have faith in these guys that they are going to do everything they can to make it happen in Fontana.”

As for Simon Pagenaud, his bid for the championship came to a close this afternoon, as his sixth-place finish was not enough to keep him in contention. The Frenchman needed to be within 54 points of the leader after today’s race to have any shot going into Fontana; instead, he’s 55 points back.

Nonetheless, he’s still capable of finishing runner-up in the championship, which would mark a considerable improvement from his fifth-place showing last year.

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IZOD IndyCar Series
Unofficial Championship Points after Race 2, Shell/Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston

Scott Dixon – 546
Helio Castroneves – 521
Simon Pagenaud – 491
Justin Wilson – 460
Marco Andretti – 457
Ryan Hunter-Reay – 446
Will Power – 444
Dario Franchitti – 418
James Hinchcliffe – 417
Charlie Kimball – 406

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Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

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