MADISON, Illinois -- It started perfectly for Scott Dixon. It didn’t end that way, but all was not lost.

Dixon took the lead from the start of the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline, held it for more than half of the race, fell out of the lead but still held on to a podium finish that let him maintain his points lead with two races remaining in the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season.

“It's always tough when it comes down to the wire,” Dixon said. “But I think you have that situation throughout the season. Everybody at this level, you do everything you can to try and get one race win. It's no different week in, week out.”

Dixon started on the pole position after the field was lined up according to entrant points because of Friday’s rain-related cancellation of qualifying. He charged to the early lead, relinquishing it only during the first two rounds of pit stops.

“It was a bit of an interesting night,” Dixon said. “I think early on we were probably burning too much fuel, which I didn't think that was going to be the case, but then we pitted fairly early compared to some of our competitors.”

Dixon led 138 of the first 150 laps of the 248-lap race before Will Power passed him in Turn 1. After that, the team couldn’t decide between saving fuel and running unencumbered.

“It was kind of a split strategy to save the fuel or to go,” he said. Then for us, actually, and I'll take the blame for it, we kind of sat in no-man's land doing halfway of each trying to make a decision of where we were going. Ultimately, we lost a ton of time to (Power), and then by the time we did get after it, it made that strategy maybe not so perfect.”

The end result was a third-place effort – Dixon’s eighth podium finish of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season – and a 26-point lead over Alexander Rossi with two races remaining.

“Will was definitely fast, but they had stretched the window before (the pass on Lap 150),” Dixon said. “We started to fall into that spiral where we hadn't been getting the mileage that we needed to. It was just a bit of a sitting duck, you know. I don't think anywhere at the point through that middle part of the race anybody was going hard. It was just coasting and trying to maintain your spot without screwing yourself.”

As the final two races of the season approach – Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland at Portland International Raceway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN and Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network) and the INDYCAR Grand Prix of Sonoma on Sept. 16 at Sonoma Raceway – every decision matters, especially with double points on the line in the Sonoma finale.

“Coming down to Sonoma, there's a little bit more on the line,” Dixon said. “But strictly, you've got to treat it as any other race.”

The last time Dixon led the standings with two races to go was in 2008, when he went on to collect his second of four season championships. He came from behind to collect his third and fourth titles in 2013 and 2015.

As the chart below shows, only half of the points leaders with two races remaining in the last 10 years have held on to win the championship.