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Scott Dixon thinks his win last weekend at the Long Beach Grand Prix was a bonus. "I'd say our weakness is probably street courses right now, so that was exceptionally good for us," said the three-time Verizon IndyCar Series champion. "We did a lot of testing at the start of the year, but five or six days were at New Orleans [NOLA Motorsports Park], and that didn't work out. "I don't think we actually did a test this year with the street course tire, so I think the road courses are kind of our strong suit right now," he said. "We have to see how that plays out with Barber and Indy coming up." Strong runs this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park in the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, and May 9 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, could put Dixon on track for a fourth IndyCar Series title. He and Chip Ganassi Racing traditionally close the season strongly, but for whatever reason, often struggle for results in the early to middle portion of the championship. The unexpected victory at Long Beach could be the start of a reversal to that trend. Now the IndyCar series heads to Barber, a track where Dixon has never finished lower than third in five career starts, but also where he has never won. "I think it might be all second places and one third, so I think we are due for some success," Dixon said. "Hopefully I can try to move up and to get to that top spot at Barber. I love going there and we've always qualified and raced well. Hopefully this year could be the year." Team Penske has won three of the five IndyCar races at Barber, with Helio Castroneves claiming the inaugural event in 2010 and Will Power triumphing the following two years. In addition to his two wins at Barber, Power has started from pole position three times. Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay won at Barber in 2013 and 2014 and the American star hopes that he and his team are able to find a bit more speed in their Hondas this weekend. Over the past decade, only five IndyCar drivers have been able to win races three years in a row at the same track. "[Chevrolet] certainly came out of the gate stronger than us, but we're making some inroads into what we know and what we think we want from the car in order to get the most out of it," said Hunter-Reay, who finished seventh at St. Petersburg and was involved in a crash at NOLA Motorsports Park. "It's not been the easiest equation to figure out, and I think the results have kind of spoken to that," he added. "But I think we're making some progress," Hunter-Reay said. "We're trying to get the car to achieve a balance that allows for you to push it and drive it really hard on the edge, and we haven't been able to find that sweet spot just yet. This weekend in Barber will be another step in that direction, and it's a completely different track." Hunter-Reay followed up his victory at Barber a year ago with a second place finish in the Indianapolis road course race and his first triumph in the Indianapolis 500. "It was a pretty good stretch for us as a team, and hopefully we can get going on the same tone here this year," he said. Power, the defending IndyCar Series champion, is coming off a forgettable weekend at Long Beach. He made a mistake in qualifying and started 18th, then stalled his car entering the pits en route to a 20th-place finish. "After a weekend like we had at Long Beach, I want nothing more than to get back to the racetrack as quickly as possible," Power said. "It's never fun having to go through a weekend like that, but luckily for our team, they don't happen very often. "However, all that adversity makes me very motivated to make up for it over the next couple of weeks, starting with Barber this weekend," he added. "We know that we can run a quick pace and challenge for the win there because we have done that on multiple occasions in the past." Penske's Juan Pablo Montoya and Castroneves lead the championship standings, ahead of Ganassi's Tony Kanaan and Dixon. Power is sixth in the points chase, while Hunter-Reay has already dropped 68 points behind Montoya in 14th place. "My teammates have been very solid and very consistent over the first few races and I need to be back on track this weekend to stay with them," said Power.
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