New Zealand's Scott Dixon won his third consecutive Firestone 200 auto race, stretching his lead atop the IndyCar Series driver standings on Saturday night.

It was the fourth victory of the season for Dixon and the 100th Indy-car victory for his Chip Ganassi Racing team.

The race was halted by rain after 171 of 200 scheduled laps around the Nashville Superspeedway oval and it was the storm that helped decide the race.

Brazil's Tony Kanaan led the race when light rain stopped falling and teams were allowed to make pit stops. Kanaan led most teams into refueling but Dixon and team-mate Dan Wheldon of England stayed out, gambling showers would return.

Dixon said the call to follow Kanaan came too late, but it worked out.

"When they called me to follow Kanaan I was way past the (pit) lane," said Dixon.

Full-speed racing resumed but heavy showers began only a few laps later, just soon enough to allow Dixon and Wheldon to nurse low fuel loads to victory and second place. Brazil's Vitor Meira was third.

"The luck is going our way," Dixon said. "We didn't have the best car but it's definitely a shot for us in the chanpionship."

Dixon leads the series with 420 points, stretching his margin over Castroneves from 48 to 63 points. Wheldon is third, 69 points behind Dixon, with Kanaan fourth, 81 points off the pace.