KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Scott Dixon followed his first Indy Racing League championship by going into a funk, dropping to 10th the next season. Two middle-of-the-pack finishes to start this season had Dixon wondering if he was headed down the same road after his second series title last year.

All it took was one race to change his outlook.

Dixon took advantage of Ryan Briscoe’s tough-luck pit stop with 47 laps left, then held off Helio Castroneves down the stretch to win the Road Runner Turbo Indy 500 on Sunday.

“We needed something, even a sniff of something, because so far all we had was a sniff of the tail-end of the field,” Dixon said. “That’s frustrating and I was starting to look back on 2004 and how that was a dismal season after winning a championship. I know the team can do it; we just need to get everything right.”

They did on Sunday — and got a little help from Briscoe.

Dixon and Briscoe controlled the race from the start, holding the lead for 137 of the first 152 laps in difficult conditions. Briscoe had led for 54 laps when he decided to go into the pits for tires and fuel on lap 153. Just as he crossed into the pits, Dario Franchitti slammed into the wall, sending up the caution flag. Track officials didn’t allow Briscoe to stop and he circled back, returning to the track in fourth after pitting with the rest of the field.

Briscoe never improved and ended up fourth, behind Tony Kanaan.

“It’s bad timing and luck that Franchitti had to crash,” Briscoe said. “Otherwise, we’re looking golden.”

Team owner Roger Penske wasn’t so magnanimous.

“He went into the pits before it went yellow, then they said we couldn’t work on the car,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. We were in the pits before it went yellow, so I think the officials really have to take a look at that. It may have cost us the race.”

Dixon was the beneficiary.

The New Zealander had a tough start to the season, finishing 16th and 15th on the road courses in St. Petersburg and Long Beach after decent qualifying runs in the IRL’s first two races. He was solid in qualifying at Kansas, starting fourth, and was steady all race day, leading 134 laps.

The Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver took advantage of Briscoe’s bad break on a difficult day of passing, using a quick stop to beat Castroneves out of the pits for the lead. He kept up the momentum, cruising to his 17th career IndyCar victory and first at the 1.5-mile oval at Kansas Speedway after several near-misses.

Just like that, Dixon turned around his season and became one of the favorites in next month’s Indianapolis 500, where he’ll be the defending champion.

“This is a big boost for my confidence, the team’s confidence and a lot of momentum going into the month of May, which is our biggest race,” he said.

The weather didn’t make it easy.

Strong winds hampered practice and qualifying, and a line of thunderstorms Saturday afternoon wiped out the NASCAR trucks race and produced a tornado a few miles from the track.

More big storms moved toward the track Sunday afternoon, but didn’t arrive until after the race. The wind was still a factor, steady at 25 mph, gusting to 35 to make the drivers feel like they were trying to maneuver big rigs around Kansas Speedway.

The wind was particularly tough on turns 3 and 4, and all but took away the high line on the track. Surprisingly, on a day the drivers expected multiple cautions because of the conditions, the yellow flag went up just three times.

“In situations like this, everyone’s so concerned that they don’t take a lot of risks and you don’t see as many yellows,” said Kanaan, who moved into the series points lead with his third straight top-5 finish. “As drivers, we get less greedy because we respect the track a lot more.”

Button wins third race

SAKHIR, Bahrain — Brawn GP’s Jenson Button has won the Bahrain Grand Prix, giving the Briton his third win in four Formula One races this year.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel was second, and Toyota’s Jarno Trulli took third at the Sakhir circuit on Sunday.

The result gives Button a 12-point lead in the drivers’ championship, with a two-week break before the series heads to Europe.

Defending champion Lewis Hamilton was fourth for McLaren, ahead of Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello.

Kimi Raikkonen finished sixth to give Ferrari its first points of the season, with Toyota’s Timo Glock and Renault’s Fernando Alonso seventh and eighth.

Ragan gets first victory

TALLADEGA, Ala. — David Ragan has earned his first NASCAR victory by passing Ryan Newman right before the finish line in the Nationwide Series race at Talladega Superspeedway.

It is Ragan’s first win in any of NASCAR’s top three series.

Newman started from the pole and led the field on a final restart for a two-lap sprint to the finish. He had his hands full with Dale Earnhardt Jr., who followed him bumper-to-bumper as he looked for a chance to pass.

But Newman and Earnhardt made contact as Earnhardt tried to dart around him on the final lap. Ragan then squeezed by Newman for the win.

Earnhardt, who was shuffled back to fifth, waited for Ragan on pit road to congratulate him on the win.

Newman finished second, Joey Logano was third.