Dixon, who jumped from his pole position to a hefty lead over the rest of the field, plunged to 11th place on lap 51 of the 80-lap race when an air jack malfunctioned during a tire change.

``That pretty much blew our chances for the race win and likely the championship,'' he said.

He worked his way back through the field to finish fourth, but remained fourth in the standings _ 21 points behind leader Helio Castroneves.

Hornish made a fuel-only stop, also on lap 51, but came in too far from the wall for the fuel hose to reach and had to come back and try again.

That and a spin dropped him from seventh to 13th. While he recovered to finish ninth, he lost his points lead to teammate Castroneves. He led the standings by seven over Castroneves going into the race and came out a point behind.