Scott Dixon hold aloft his guitar trophy after winning the Firestone Indy 200. Photo Gallery

Ryan Briscoe crashes while Kiwi Scott Dixon wins the Firestone Indy 200 to further his lead in the series.

Australian Ryan Briscoe's luck ran out yesterday as New Zealander Scott Dixon won the IndyCar race in Nashville, Tennesee, for a third consecutive year.

Briscoe was taken out on the third lap when Marco Andretti lost control of his car and slipped into the Aussie coming out of a turn.

The crash sent Briscoe's car backing into the wall and he was unable to return despite the best efforts of his Team Penske mechanics to fix the damage.

Dixon notched his fourth victory of the season and the 100th Indy-car victory for his Chip Ganassi Racing team, stretching his lead atop the driver standings.

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 refuelling but Dixon and teammate Dan Wheldon of England stayed out, gambling that 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,” Dixon said.

Full-speed racing resumed but heavy showers began 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.”

Australian Will Power finished 11th.

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.

Briscoe is eighth on 243.