Scott Dixon took advantage of a pair of tire failures for rivals Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya to take the win at Desert Diamond Valley Grand Prix. He held off late runs by Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, and Tony Kanaan, who closed in as Dixon was stuck behind lapped traffic, but could not find a away around him. "The biggest thing was just maintaining," Dixon said of the battle up front. "I was trying to keep pace of who was in back and front and I was just trying to figure out what we needed and try to put ourselves in the right position toward the end. I can't give Team Target enough credit. They did an amazing job."

Graham Rahal rebounded from his qualifying woes to finish fifth, holding a fast closing Josef Newgarden in the process.

The race began with polesitter Helio Castroneves leading the way, while Ryan Hunter-Reay rocketed from 12th to 7th on the opening lap. However, the field quickly settled into a single file formation, with Castroneves unable to move around lapped traffic. His night was then derailed on lap 40 when he cut a right front tire on the front stretch. "There was never an indication there was any problem with the tire so by the time we realized it was going flat, it was too late," he said afterward. However, did make it back around to the pits for new tires and was able to finish 11th at race's end.

Juan Pablo Montoya then assumed the lead before the first caution flew on lap 49 for a Luca Filippi spin exiting turn two. Montoya held the lead on subsequent pit stops. Behind hi, though Josef Newgarden suffered a slow stop when his team couldn't get the fuel hose connected, which dropped him to 20th.

Racing resumed on lap 64 with Montoya retaining the lead while Hunter-Reay continued his charge forward, passing Will Power for fourth. Up front, though, Montoya soon suffered the same fate as Castroneves, as a right front tire went down on lap 96, forcing him to pit under green, though he did recover to eventually finish ninth.

Montoya's trouble allowed Dixon to assume the lead and the race green until lap 119, when Carlos Munoz stopped on track with a broken right rear suspension. The caution proved a tough break for Hunter-Reay, who had just pitted prior to the yellow.

Dixon continued to lead on a lap 131 restart, though the green flag was out only briefly for a third caution flew, this one for contact between Charlie Kimball and Josef Newgarden. Newgarden had moved inside of Kimball, but Kimball squeezed him down and made contact, sending him into a spin and damaging Newgarden's wing. Newgarden pitted under yellow for repairs, but stayed on the lead lap, while Kimball was assessed a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact.

Racing resumed on lap 143, but again only briefly, as Sebastien Bourdais drifted high in turn four on lap 16 and brushed the wall, bringing out a another caution. However, his car was not damaged and he continued on, eventually finishing eighth.

A lap 153 restart saw Dixon hold the lead from Will Power and Tony Kanaan while Ed Carpenter ran fourth with Hunter-Reay back up to fifth. The order stabilized until green flag stops began on lap 192, with Kanaan, Hunter-Reay, and Newgarden the first of the leaders to pit. However, Carpenter brought out another caution when he tried diving inside of Power entering turn three, only to wash up the track and crash exiting turn four. "I got a run on Will out of (turn two), thought I was maybe going to be able to get inside in (turn three). It wasn't going to happen," Carpenter said of the incident". (Will) raced me hard, but clean. And, when I backed out to fall back in line. I just picked up a little bit of understeer and got the marbles, which is a shame for the Fuzzy/s Vodka car."

Subsequent pit stops saw Dixon hold the lead, while Simon Pagenaud climbed all the way up to second ahead of Power, Rahal, and Max Chilton, who both advanced in the order by staying out under green.

Dixon continued to hold the lead on a lap 209 restart while Kanaan, Newgarden, Hunter-Reay, Rahal, and Chilton battled aggressively, with Kanaan eventually moving up to fourth ahead of Rahal and Newgarden.

However, no one could make a move on Dixon, who held everyone at bay even though he was stuck behind lapped traffic in the final laps. The victory on lap 248, when caution flew for debris off the car of Ryan Hunter-Reay, who brushed the wall a few laps previously. Dixon led home Pagenaud, Power, Kanaan, and Rahal, with Newgarden rebounding to sixth at the end while Hunter-Reay faded to tenth. "Some of the best starts I've ever had, some of the best restarts I've ever had, and to come away from it with 10th is a pretty dejecting result.," Hunter-Reay said post-race. "We should have finished second tonight. You have to move on and keep a good attitude about it. I wanted a better result for DHL and Honda, but racing is like that sometimes."

The win is Dixon's 39th of his career, which ties him with Al Unser for fourth on the all time list, and he credited pit stops and fuel management for keeping him up front. "The pit stops were flawless and we stretched out the fuel where we needed to and managed to put some good cars laps down early on. So I think it was good race and a good start for us coming back to Phoenix for the first time," said the 2015 champion.

For his part, Pagenaud was equally happy finishing second, which gives him the points lead as the Verizon IndyCar Series heads to Long Beach. "I am super happy to be able to finish second here in Phoenix and I want to give a huge thanks to my team," said the Frenchman. "The No. 22 Devilbiss guys were just fantastic. This is a team sport and we really proved it tonight. We saved a lot of fuel running in traffic and my guys just made it happen for us on the pit stops."

[IMG4] Power was pleased to finish on the podium after missing the opening race of the season. "It feels pretty good to finish this race and come away with a top-three finish in the Verizon Chevy. I was a bit nervous before the race because I missed the first one of the year and was just wanting to get through this but as the race went on I got more and more energy," said Power.

The Verizon IndyCar Series now takes a week off before the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 17.

Phoenix Raceway