Marco Andretti’s car goes flying on the first lap after making contact with his teammate Tony Kanaan (11) on Sunday, during the IRL Honda 200 auto race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. Associated Press Photo.

LEXINGTON, Ohio - Scott Dixon has won three races in a row and is threatening to overtake what once seemed an insurmountable lead by Dario Franchitti in the drivers' points race.

Week in and week out, the races are close, exciting and unpredictable.

Yet the IndyCar Series can't seem to escape another kind of series - a string of off-the-track flare-ups and on-the-track controversies.

“The fact that we're all in the same car, same engine, same tires, same everything - it creates some extremely close racing,” said Danica Patrick, one of the biggest headline-grabbers on the circuit. “It does make for some emotion.”

Maybe it's more than just the tight competition, she said while stifling a laugh.

“It must be something in the air,” she said. “Maybe it's been a couple of full moons this year, I'm not sure.”

All some people know about the IndyCar Series is that the drivers sometimes behave like WWE combatants.

“The sad part is that often you could have the best race and not get any coverage, but if you have a confrontation, then it's all over the place,” Sam Hornish Jr. said. “I guess that's just how life is.”

Patrick had a postrace blowup with Dan Wheldon at Milwaukee, grabbing his arm and voicing a complaint about their on-track collision. She pushed him lightly as he walked away from her without responding.

IRL president Brian Barnhart acted as mediator in the dispute, sitting down with both to iron out the conflict.

Then Hornish - and his father - got into a skirmish with Tony Kanaan at Watkins Glen that resulted in fines or punishment for everyone involved.

Kanaan cut off Hornish after the checkered flag because he was upset that Hornish bumped him while trying to pass earlier in the race. Hornish ended up second, Kanaan felt the contact prevented him from finishing higher than fourth.

After the race, Hornish's father pushed Kanaan and was knocked to the ground by Kanaan's crew members. He was suspended from pit lane for the next week's race in Nashville and placed on probation through the end of the year.

Kanaan subsequently apologized.

“We had a nice conversation,” Kanaan said. “Everything is cool. We're all professionals.”

But Hornish doesn't sound as if everything is all that cool.

“Race car drivers have memories like elephants,” he said before last week's Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. “He apologized for running into me after the race was over. And I said I should have just got out of the car and gone the other direction. But on the other hand, if you just walk away everytime, they're going to just keep doing it to you, to a point you have to stand up for yourself.

“As far as I'm concerned, I forgive Tony for doing that. But do I forget that it ever happened? No.”

Huge crowds and great racing were featured at Mid-Ohio. Down by 65 points to Franchitti less than a month ago, Dixon now trails by just 24 points after tying the IndyCar Series record of three wins in a row.

Yet even his latest tension-filled win had its moments of controversy.

Patrick, who qualified second, was behind pole-sitter Helio Castroneves going into turn 4 of the first lap when, all of a sudden, she and Andretti Green teammates Kanaan and Marco Andretti were almost wiped out in one mass fender-bender.

Patrick's car appeared to slide in the turn, Kanaan bumped her into the grass and then ricocheted off of Andretti's car, which flipped on its top. Andretti wasn't hurt, although his day of racing was over.

Franchitti, yet another Andretti Green driver, blamed the accident on the pace car.

“(It was) a ridiculous situation of the pace car blocking the outside lane as Helio started to accelerate,” Franchitti said, biting off his words. “I saw all my teammates starting to spin.”

It figures. Even when the IRL drivers aren't fighting and feuding with themselves, the pace cars are getting in the way.