FORT WORTH — Nicknamed the “Ice Man” for his cool, quiet demeanor, Scott Dixon drove a methodical, technical race to earn his first Indianapolis 500 win last weekend and move up into first place in Indy Racing League points.

The New Zealander hasn’t slowed down since winning, being shuttled to dinners and media sessions across the country. Spending Wednesday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway, Dixon spoke about winning the race and the season so far.

Coming into Indianapolis after fuel issues at Japan and Kansas cost him chances at victory, Dixon explained how he and his team decided to sit back a couple spots during the Indy 500 to save fuel. They were not interested in leading until the latter part of the race as their car was good enough to make a run when needed.

Dixon said the key to securing the lead and the victory was the restart after the final pit stop with 24 laps to go. He said if a car starts too fast, it’ll reach terminal velocity too soon, allowing the opposition to catch up and make a pass.

Being in first, Dixon started in second gear and balked a little bit before ramping up the speed. He found it messed up second-place finisher Vitor Meira enough to get a good jump and maintain enough space to prevent Meira from getting a run on him.

“In the last 10 laps your senses seem to magnify. You start hearing things. Is the engine going bad? You feel vibrations a little bit more. It was not a good feeling,” Dixon said about the sense of dread that started to enter his mind toward the end.

“It was such a smooth month, winning the pole. You think something had to go wrong. … Coming into the front stretch on the last lap and seeing those checkered flags was like nothing else.”

Despite running a nearly flawless race, the Target Chip Ganassi driver’s day almost ended before it started on the third lap. Teammate Dan Wheldon passed him, causing him to dip low in Turn 1 and almost spin out.

“It definitely woke me up. I made sure not to do that again,” Dixon said.

Having won the points title in 2003, Dixon said a win at Indy versus clinching the championship were completely different experiences. The Target driver explained that individual race success depends on a litany of factors going right.

When it came to winning a points title, Dixon found the scope of the entire season works in a team’s favor as a driver can rally from setbacks. Things can be changed midseason and a driver has multiple chances to prove himself.

Dixon talked about the perks of being the Indy 500 winner. He received a phone call from New Zealand’s prime minister and was awarded free lamb for life from a New Zealand meat company.

“[Winning Indy] is huge. New Zealand is a small country, only about 4 million people. Most people in America think we’re part of Australia,” Dixon said about the rise in national pride since his victory. “Someone said to me that champagne sales were four times larger than usual after the win.”

Dixon also had to pose for a photo shoot to get his face engraved on the Borg-Warner Trophy. Like the Stanley Cup is revered in hockey, the Borg-Warner is one of the most cherished trophies in all of motor sports. It stands over five feet tall with the faces of each Indy 500 winner on it.

“Hopefully it’ll look good. They took 50 pictures, but I looked pretty ragged,” Dixon said. “I think I was still half drunk.”

The IRL’s next race is at Milwaukee this Sunday, and Dixon admits that due to the whirlwind victory tour he has yet to even think about the race. After Milwaukee, Texas is on tap with the Bombardier Learjet 550k on June 7.

Dixon spoke about how Texas was daunting when he first raced it on his way to clinching the points title in 2003. He didn’t like the setup but since has been able to understand the track better, growing to enjoy it.

Despite fuel strategy issues, he has found that the performance of his car in the mile and a half tracks at Homestead-Miami, Japan and Kansas has been spectacular. Having never won at Texas, Dixon is looking forward to the challenge and being competitive.

“It’s a place where the preparation of the car doesn’t seem to make as much difference as some of the easier, flat-out places,” Dixon said. “Texas is very difficult to race. If you give up a little, you are going to be trounced.”

Looking at the previous mile and a half results, Dixon’s likely competition at Texas will include the fiery Danica Patrick who won at Japan, the brash Dan Wheldon who won at Kansas and the charismatic Dancing with the Stars winner Helio Castroneves, who is 15 points behind Dixon in the standings.

When asked his about his low-key composure compared to his competitors, Dixon said, “I’m one of those guys that play things down. I let the results speak for themselves.”

TREVOR WILLIAMS can be reached at 940-566-6874. His e-mail address is twilliams@dentonrc.com.