Scott Dixon narrowly wins 2015 Grand Prix of Long Beach

Scott Dixon, who entered the weekend with just one top-five finish in eight Grand Prix of Long Beach starts, won the 41st edition of the historic street race by just 2.2221 seconds over runner-up Helio Castroneves.

The key moment of the race occurred on Lap 29 when Dixon beat Castroneves off pit lane on the first service stop to take the lead.

During the crucial pit stop, Castroneves was held in his pit box by chief mechanic Travis Law to avoid contact with an incoming Tony Kanaan. The extra second was critical and ultimately allowed Dixon to take command in a race that had only one caution flag during its 80 laps.

"This is huge," Dixon said. "I love the event, but as far as coming here and doing well it hadn't been on that list. That pit stop exchange definitely helped us get to the lead but the car was fast and all we had to do was maintain that lead."

Dixon's victory was his 36th overall, breaking a tie with Bobby Unser for fifth on the all-time Indy car list. Al Unser is fourth with 39 victories.

Castroneves earned his second consecutive runner-up finish and 37th of his career to tie Bobby Rahal for second on the all-time list (Mario Andretti with 56 is first). He closed to within three points of front-runner Juan Pablo Montoya as the IndyCar Series heads to Barber Motorsports Park for the April 26 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.

"The guys did a great job in the pits and especially the incident between me and Ganassi," said Castroneves.  "It was just perfect. It was better to be safe than sorry, but it was a great job overall for Team Penske. At the end of the day, second place is not bad."

Montoya placed third, Simon Pagenaud finished fourth, and Kanaan also earned his second top-five finish of the young season.

"Third or fourth place, yeah, great we got a podium but it's more points," said Montoya.  "It's about being consistent and being smart. I said as long as I don't have to risk the car to protect the points, it will be fine. And it worked well."

Below are the results of the Grand Prix of Long Beach with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (3) Scott Dixon, Chevrolet, 80, Running
2. (1) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 80, Running
3. (2) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 80, Running
4. (5) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 80, Running
5. (7) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 80, Running
6. (9) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 80, Running
7. (6) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 80, Running
8. (10) Marco Andretti, Honda, 80, Running
9. (12) Carlos Munoz, Honda, 80, Running
10. (11) Sebastian Saavedra, Chevrolet, 80, Running
11. (8) Graham Rahal, Honda, 80, Running
12. (13) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 80, Running
13. (4) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 80, Running
14. (16) Jack Hawksworth, Honda, 80, Running
15. (15) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 80, Running
16. (17) Gabby Chaves, Honda, 80, Running
17. (21) Conor Daly, Honda, 80, Running
18. (20) Takuma Sato, Honda, 80, Running
19. (19) James Jakes, Honda, 80, Running
20. (18) Will Power, Chevrolet, 79, Running
21. (22) Francesco Dracone, Honda, 78, Running
22. (14) Luca Filippi, Chevrolet, 77, Running
23. (23) Stefano Coletti, Chevrolet, 69, Running

Winners average speed:   96.800 mph
Time of Race: 01:37:35.2353
Margin of victory: 2.2221 seconds
Cautions: 1 for 4 laps
Lead changes: 5 among 4 drivers

Lap Leaders
Castroneves 1 - 29
Hawksworth 30 - 33
Dixon 34 - 53
Castroneves 54 -55
Bourdais 56
Dixon 57 - 80

Point Standings: Montoya 119, Castroneves 116, Kanaan 93, Dixon 87, Hinchcliffe 83, Power 80, Pagenaud 73, Newgarden 66, Bourdais 66, Rahal 62.

By Staff of TheDailySportsHerald.com and news services