WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Justin Wilson called Sunday’s IndyCar Series victory at Watkins Glen International “the most important” of his driving career. Imagine how his team owner felt.

Dale Coyne, a former driver, had never won a race in the sport in 25 years of trying. Not in the Champ Car World Series, not in the Indy Racing League.

That’s 558 starts.

“How many?” a stunned Coyne said as his small crew crowded at the pit wall, European-style, to congratulate their driver as he crossed the finish line 4.99 seconds ahead of Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe. “That didn’t take long, did it?”

It took a commitment that will make it the feel-good story of the season that is now at its midpoint. Coyne and his wife, Gail, made the decision during the offseason to make upgrades beyond any they had made before. They hired Wilson, who won last year’s Detroit Grand Prix for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, and respected engineer Bill Pappas.

That might not sound like much to Roger Penske or Chip Ganassi, but this is a mom and pop team that works out of a small race shop in Plainfield, Ill. They have only 16 or 17 employees, although the boss wasn’t sure.

“We didn’t build a new house; we bought an engineer,” Coyne said.

The line of congratulations figures to last a while. Coyne, who turns 55 Wednesday, and Wilson were to take the winning wreath given to Watkins Glen winners to historic Seneca Lodge in exchange “for whatever they give us,” Coyne said with a smile.

Said Wilson: “This is so cool for Dale. I can’t imagine what he and his team have been through over the years.”

Coyne said it’s an inspirational message for any team trying to compete with the Penske and Ganassi teams that had won all eight races this season, 10 in a row over two years and 15 of the past 16 since Ryan Hunter-Reay won here last year for Rahal Letterman Racing.

“It shows you can come (to the IRL), get the pieces you need, get the drivers you need, and do the job,” Coyne said. “Like we have.”

Wilson won in style, too. He was on pace to capture the pole Saturday before a Dario Franchitti crash sapped valuable time at the end of the session. But with a second-place-starting car, Wilson had an extra set of Firestone’s alternate “red” tires to use.

Those tires, which are softer and have more grip than the company’s primary compound, allowed him to pull away from Briscoe on the final six-lap shootout. Briscoe had the primaries on his ride.

“It just made it easier,” Wilson said. “Gave me some comfort.”

Wilson led 49 of the 60 laps and won for the sixth time in his U.S. career. The former Formula One driver won four times in Champ Car.

The irony of Sunday’s finish was that Wilson was poised to win the season-opening race on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., when Briscoe passed him on the final restart. Briscoe was no match this time, in part because of the difference in tires.

Said Wilson: “We’ve been saying for quite a while that this team is coming. Here we are.”

Scott Dixon took the points lead by finishing third as Franchitti went off course in the middle of the race, fell a lap behind and finished 15th. Dixon leads by 19 points over Franchitti and Briscoe.

Mario Moraes started a career-best fourth, but he didn’t finish that high. He was assessed a penalty for aggressive driving after bumping Ed Carpenter, contact that led to Franchitti’s slide off course.

Paul Tracy’s three-race run with KV Racing Technology didn’t start well. He lost control off the seventh corner, hitting the barrier with the car’s rear. Milka Duno crashed in the same spot in the morning practice. Hideki Mutoh found trouble there, too, late in the race.

Richard Antinucci spun off the course in his IndyCar debut. On the first lap, Hunter-Reay and series rookie Raphael Matos had contact, ending Hunter-Reay’s race.