Motorsport: Live updates - Scott Dixon on the hunt for fifth IndyCar crown at Sonoma

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Thank you so much for joining me this morning. Awesome job by Scott Dixon. Just an absolute pro who never faltered.

Scott Dixon 2018 IndyCar Champion: It's all over in Californa. Dixon comes home in second to claim his fifth title.

Final Lap: Here we go folks. Only disaster will stop Dixon now.

Lap 83: Two-to-go. Power has given up on passing the Kiwi. Dixon closing in a little on Hunter-Reay - three seconds back.

Lap 82: Three-to-go. Rossi now slips to seventh. His tyres are shot.

Lap 81: Rossi has all-but given up the chase. 13 seconds and three cars between him and the Kiwi. Dixon four seconds behind the leader with a second advantage over Power. Four laps to go.

Lap 80: Not much to report. Dixon is holding off Power with Hunter-Reay speeding off into the distance. Dixon now five laps from a fifth championship.

Lap 76: Status quo - Hunter Reay, Dixon, Power. Rossi in sixth almost 10 seconds behind the Kiwi.

Lap 74: Rossi has lost a spot as he tyres strat to go away. Dixon a second in front of Power in second spot. 11 laps to go.

Lap 70: Dixon four seconds back from the leader with Power right behind him. Rossi is a further eight seconds behind.

Lap 68: Will Power closing in on the Kiwi for second- Dixon's team have told him there is no need to defend the position.

Lap 67: If we hae no more yellows then Dixon should be fine if he keeps the car in one piece. But motorsport is a cruel game so lets just see what happens. 18 laps top go.

Lap 65: As it stands: Hunter-Reay, Dixon, Power, Pagenaud, Rossi. The Kiwi has a seven second gap back to Rossi and two very quick Penske's between. 20 laps to go.

Lap 63: Hunter-Reay pits from the lead and rejoins three seconds in front of the Kiwi - Rossi is four spots back from Dixon - nine seconds away.

Lap 62: Dixon ninth, Rossi 15th but still a ton of cars to pit.

Lap 61: Dixon covers Rossi and is in the pits -quick stop from the Kiwi too. 

Lap 59: Rossi pits - smart move because if a yellow comes out he will inherit the lead when everyone else dives in. Massive two-or-three laops coming up.

Lap 58: Just a reminder - all Dixon needs from here is to finish in front of Rossi and the Championship is his. As it stands he would win the title by 59 points but Rossi is on the move.

Lap 57: Top three: Hunter-Reay, Dixon, Pagenaud. Rossi in seventh but he has a few big guns, including Will Power, in front of him. 28 laps to go.

Lap 54: Rossi is a man possesed - up to eighth now as he passes a struggling Tony Kanaan.

Lap 53: Rossi now in ninth- 12 seconds behind Dixon. He is coming up behind Dixon's teammate Ed Jones.

Lap 51: Hunter-Reay and Dixon four seconds ahead of fourth - Rossi is on a charge - up to 11th. 

Lap 50: Rossi jumps a few spots at the restart as he avoided a but of carnage in front of him. Dixon is challenging Hunter-Reay for the lead at the front of the pack - they have jumped the rest of the field by a couple of seconds. Rossi now in 14th.

Lap 49: So to catch you all up while we wait for the track to clear, Rossi had an incident at the first corner, damaging his wing and deflating his  right front tyre. Dixon has ran a smart race - staying close to the leader, Ryan Hunter-Reay the entire race. As it stands the Kiwi would win the title by 89-points. 35 laps to run.

Lap 45: Rossi will be at the tail of the field when the race resumes. He has jumped back into the pits for a splash of fuel so he has a shorter stop later in the race. Dixon second as we remain under caution.

Lap 43: Top three as it stands after pit stops: Hunter-Reay, Dixon, Pagenaud.

Rossi currently 21st as the yellow flag comes out. Big break for Rossi as the pack will close up. Graham Rahal has stopped on the side of the track. 42 Laps to go.

Lap 40: Hunter-Reay and Dixon pit. No dramas for either. That'll be their second last of the race. As it stands the Kiwi would win the Championship by 89-points.

Lap 39: Hunter-Reay lets Rossi go by so the American is back on the lead lap. Dixon slipped to almost four seconds behind the leader. 

Lap 38: Dixon in traffic now so needs to cautious. He has slipped to almost three-seconds behind the leader.

Lap 37: Dixon has a wee moment out of corner five and Rossi has unlapped himself.

Lap 36: Pagenaud and Rahal pit as the second round of stops begin.

Lap 33: Dixon pulling away a bot now from the lapped Rossi - making a statement? The gap to Hunter-Reay has grown the three-seconds with Pagenaud 10-seconds behind the Kiwi.

Lap 32: Rossi right on Dixon's tail at the moment as he looks to get his lap back. Dixon doesn't look too keen to let him by which is well within his rights.

Lap 31: Top three: Hunter-Reay, Dixon, Pagenaud.

Lap 29: Dixon just holding that gap to Hunter-Reay at two-seconds. Doesn't need to do anything silly at this point. Rossi now a lap behind the Kiwi.

Lap 26: Rossi losing three-seconds a lap with this strategy but his pain is now over as he pits, so he can go full tilt from here with just one more stop - he hopes.

Lap 24: Top 10 as it stands: Hunter-Reay, Dixon, Pagenaud, Andretti, Rahal, Power, Bourdoais, Jones, Newgarden, Veach. Rossi currently 23rd - 51 seconds behind Hunter-Reay.

Lap 22: Rossi is in fuel save mode now as his team look for a hail mary so that he only needs to pit twice. He is losing time on the leaders.

Lap 20: Rossi makes another mistake with an off at corner two. Lost another four-to-five seconds.

Lap 19: Hunter-Reay has kept his lead, Dixon second and Pagenaud has jumped seven spots to third.

Lap 18: Disaster for Newgarden who stalls in the pits - lost about 20 seconds. Will Power pits from the lead.

Lap 17: Dixon pits as does Hunter-Reay. No dramas for either. Newgarden takes the lead but is due in this lap.

Lap 15: Rossi up to 19th after many have pitted in front of him - he has closed the gap to the leader to 57 seconds. Sato looks to be done with a blown engine but no yellow flag as he makes it back to the pits so good news for Scott Dixon.

Lap 14: Dixon four seconds back from Hunter-Reay with Newgarden a second further back.

Lap 13: Simon Pagenaud first into the pits - this will take a while to work out where everyone ends up as everyones strategy becomes clear.

Lap 12: So as it stands, Newgarden would jump Rossi for second in the championship - Dixon would win the title.

Lap 10: Top 10 as it stands: Hunter-Reay, Dixon, Newgarden, Andretti, O'Ward, Rahal, Power, Bourdoais, Sato, Pagenaud.

Lap 7: The Kiwi is about two-seconds behind Hunter-Reay with a two-second gap over Josef Newgarden's Penske. Rossi losing time on the leader at the back of the pack - 62 seconds back.

Lap 4: Dixon holding firm in second quite comfortably. Rossi is over a minute behind race leader Hunter-Reay.

Laps 1-2: Alex Rossi had a moment at the start - damaged his front wing and has pitted! Dixon in second behind Hunter-Reay. Rossi almost a lap down.

10.45am: Twitter is blowing up right now with this host broadcaster staying with the NASCAR coverage. IndyCar look to have decided to start the race before the coverage starts on TV. I'll do my best to keep you up to date via social media until ESPN goes live.

10.40am: There is a slight delay in California due to NBC's coverage of the NASCAR race in Las Vegas running overtime due to a plethora of yellow flags. We shouldn't be too far away from a race start.

10.33am: Welcome to the coverage today - Scott Dixon with a chance to jump Mario Andretti in the all-time championshiplist with five titles.

It would leave the Kiwi behind only AJ Foyt who has seven and Rick Mears with six.

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Kiwi Scott Dixon's fifth IndyCar Championship crown is within reach as the teams prepare for the Grand Prix of Somoma in California.

The 38-year-old is locked into a battle for the title with American Alexander Rossi, but secured a great qualifying result on Saturday.

Dixon was on track for pole position, before being pipped at the flag by American Ryan Hunter-Reay, but he will start on the outside of row one.

Rossi will start from sixth as he looks to hunt down the Kiwi.

The equation for Dixon is a simple one – finish ahead of Rossi and inside the top six and the championship is his.

The other permutations we will get into as the race advances - there is the outside chance that Australian Will Power or defending champion Josef Newgarden could spoil the party, but that would require both Dixon and Rossi to finish outside the top 10.

Newshub.