THE LINE - JULY 17, 2013

(Photo by Shawn Grtizmacher/INDYCAR)
Scott Dixon (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) dominated the Honda Indy Toronto INDYCAR weekend, winning both Saturday and Sunday's races. This makes it three in a row for the talented Dixon - who won the week before at Pocono - and it served notice to the competition that when Dixon gets hot like he is right now, things will get very interesting from here on out. Dixon streaked away from the first standing start in IZOD INDYCAR Series history in Race 2 on Sunday and led 81 of the 85 laps, which is as dominant as it gets. Dixon, who won Race 1 of the Honda Indy Toronto by 1.7 seconds over Sebastien Bourdais, won Race 2 under caution because of a late accident to sweep the weekend doubleheader and earn the $100,000 SONAX Perfect Finish Award. "It's been a long time since I've had such a dominant day," said Dixon, a two-time series champion who will celebrate his 33rd birthday July 22. Dixon also earned his 32nd Indy car victory to overtake Dario Franchitti, Bourdais and Paul Tracy for seventh on the all-time list.

(Photo by Chris Jones/INDYCAR)
Toronto was a huge weekend for Sebastien Bourdais (No. 7 Dragon Racing Chevrolet) and car owner Jay Penske. Bourdais, the four-time Champ Car champion, finished second on Saturday in Race 1, and third on Sunday in race 2, the best-ever result for the Jay Penske organization.

(Photo by Shawn Gritzmacher/INDYCAR)
Helio Castroneves (No. 3 Team Penske Hitachi Chevrolet), here spraying the obligatory champagne on Sunday, finished sixth on Saturday in Race 1 and second on Sunday in race 2. Castroneves may have been celebrating Sunday, but the writing is on the wall with Dixon's surge. Castroneves entered the weekend with a 39-point lead over Ryan Hunter-Reay (No. 1 Andretti Autosport DHL Chevrolet) in the INDYCAR championship standings, now he leads Dixon by 29. And next up for INDYCAR? Mid-Ohio, where Dixon is damn-near unbeatable. Here's what Chip Ganassi said after Sunday's race: "Not bad, three in row. We were 92 points out in Pocono, and now we're 29 out of the lead. That's pretty fired up there. The kid is on a roll. It means a lot to us. It's good for Honda. It's good for the team, every employee we have in Indianapolis and Charlotte. It pumps everyone up. We're looking good for Mid-Ohio."

(Photo by Shawn Gritzmacher/INDYCAR)
2013 Indianapolis 500 Chase Rookie of the Year Carlos Munoz replaced Ryan Briscoe as the driver of the No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing Chevrolet for Race 2 after Briscoe suffered a broken right wrist during Race 1 on Saturday. Munoz, 21, from Bogota, Colombia, started dead last and finished in seventeenth position in his first outing in an Indy car on a road course. Another impressive outing for the kid, who stayed out of trouble and didn't do anything stupid, which is half the battle on street circuits. "It was a long race and a hard race for me," Munoz commented afterward. 'It was basically my first time in an Indy car on a street course, and I didn't know what to expect to be in a race here with so many cars out there. We continued to drop lap times and I got more and more comfortable with each lap, and by the end we put together quite a good lap, which are all positive things. It's good work from the National Guard crew and my goal was to finish, and I finished, and I'm very happy to have this opportunity today." That Munoz will find his way into a full-time INDYCAR ride next year is no surprise, but with whom?

(Photo by John Cote/INDYCAR)
Jack Hawksworth (No. 77 Schmidt Peterson c/w Curb-Agajanian) earned his second victory of the season, winning the Firestone Indy Lights' Toronto 100 from the pole. With bonus points attached for the pole and leading the most laps to the victory and championship points front-runner Carlos Munoz placing fourth, Hawksworth slid into title contention through eight of 12 rounds. Peter Dempsey (No. 5 Belardi Auto Racing), overtook Gabby Chaves (No. 7 Schmidt Peterson with Curb-Agajanian) on Lap 46 for second and finished 14.4 seconds back.

(Photo by Lesley Ann Miller, ©2013, LAT Photo USA)
Brian Vickers (No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota Camry) stunned everyone to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway Sunday. Vickers, running a very limited program with MWR, finished ahead of Kyle Busch (No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry) by .582 seconds in a green-white-checkered-flag finish to win the Camping World RV Sales 301. The victory was especially sweet for Vickers, who endured blood clots in his legs and lungs that threatened his life and sidelined him for the second half of the 2010 season. After recuperating, Vickers ran a full Cup season for Red Bull Racing in 2011 but lost his ride when Red Bull left the sport. The third victory of Vickers’ career was his first since August 2009 at Michigan. Jeff Burton (No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Caterpillar Chevrolet SS) came in third, his first podium finish since July 2012 at Daytona. "It was difficult not to think about that those last 50 laps or 30 laps or whatever it was," Vickers said. "I just tried to live in the moment as much as possible, turn by turn and not think about the past or the future or what could or couldn't happen. But once it was over, it was… I think it was a sigh of relief with everything that had happened, to finally, clinch another victory after so long and after so much, and it was a lot of thankfulness. I don't know if that's the best… that's definitely the feeling I have. I just don't know if that's the right word to articulate it. Just thankful for everything that had happened and everything that didn't happen; that I was able to get back into a race car, and that I had the support of family and friends to get through everything and to get back in the car." Watch all of the video highlights here.

Editor-in-Chief's Note: My colleague Gordon Kirby corrals Scott Atherton at Lime Rock Park and gets him to talk about the United SportsCar racing series. I'm in total agreement with Gordon's summation although I will be even more emphatic  - it is the last chance for big time sports car racing in America to get it right. - PMD