Chevrolet dominated qualifying for IndyCar’s biggest race with a sweep of the Fast Six and also looked to have the edge in the first week of practice.

Dixon hit back for Honda in Carb practice, for whatever that may be worth, and did agree that the gap might have closed between the two marques.

The 2008 Indy 500 winner is still pessimistic about the prospects of those powered by the Japanese brand, but holds out hope of a win.

“It’s kind of hard to tell in race trim, to be honest,” he said.

“I’d say it seems more level, but they still seem to pull off and come back from fairly far back.

“It will be interesting to see how it is in the race. Obviously I’m sure nobody was stressing the engine too much in that session, as well.

“Many a time, the fastest car doesn’t win, so you’ve just got to try and tick all the boxes, make sure you’re covering everything, and see what the last sort of 20 or 40 laps give you and go from there.

“But, I think we’re in with a shot, and that’s all you need.”

Dixon is set to start a career-worst 21st on the starting grid, but insists there is no firm strategy for how he will try and make his way to the front.

“I think you’ve just got to roll with it,” said the New Zealander.

“If you go in with any kind of preset notion of what you want to do, it just takes one person to change that.

“I think just going in with an open mind, trying to be quick on your feet, and I think that’s true for the whole strategy for our race is just ready for change because I think there will be a lot of change going on.

“Especially with the weather conditions, there’s a lot of things outside of your control. Just do the best that you can and see where it plays out.”

Race start is estimated for Sunday at 12:45 ET/Monday at 02:45 AEST.