INDYCAR: Franchitti Takes Frenetic Win

IndyCar

INDYCAR: Franchitti Takes Frenetic Win

Four-wide racing and 1000 near misses made for a harrowing race at Chicagoland, won by Dario Franchitti ahead of Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti.

Marshall Pruett | Posted August 28, 2010

Dario Franchitti took his third win of the year as his main championship rival faltered, more than halving the lead Will Power carried into Saturday night's race. (LAT)

Will Power said at Sonoma last weekend that it would only take one slip to lose big chunks of his 51-point championship lead, and that's exactly what happened Saturday night in Chicago. A miscalculation on fuel would force the Aussie to abandon a top-3 finish with just a few laps to go while Dario Franchitti drove his No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi IndyCar into victory Circle for the third time this season.

The points spread from Power to Franchitti is now 528-505 with three races remaining.

Just hours after a smart pit strategy call delivered Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas the 2010 GRAND-AM Daytona Prototype championship for Chip Ganassi, another crafty move on the final pit stop -- opting for fuel only while the majority of the front runners took fuel and tires -- gained Franchitti eight positions, putting him into the lead of the Peak Antifreeze and Motor Oil Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway.

"It's good to have Floyd (Ganassi) back at the track," said Franchitti. "He hasn't been here for a while but as usual, he brought us luck tonight. We were struggling tonight with the Breathe Right car really in traffic as we got a little further back there. A lot of crazy stuff going on. I was just more comfortable up high. That last stop was the key to this race. Chris Simmons, turns out he was the one that made the call. We had a lot of faith in the Firestone tires. He said leave the tires on and got us out front. Dan Wheldon, he was just pushing me all the time, just helping me. I was giving him room at the bottom. We were working together very, very well there. So between him and Scott Dixon pushing me around all night. This Team Target is amazing."

The night looked like it would be long to Team Penske, with polesitter Ryan Briscoe leading more than half the 200-lap race, but Power's aggressive moves kept him in play at the front of the field in the latter stages of the race. Had the No. 12 Verizon Wireless IndyCar received an extra second of fuel during the final stop, his points lead would have been mostly intact.

"That was a really intense race and man, I had a lot of fun out there in the Verizon car," said Power. "Unfortunately, we had a problem with our fuel late in the race and we had to come back in and lost position. That was just a mistake that we couldn't afford. This obviously makes things tougher for the championship, but we're still in front and we proved how competitive we can be on the ovals. We'll move on and we will work harder next week at Kentucky."

Behind Franchitti, Dan Wheldon raced his way to the lead pack and looked stronger than at any time since his runner-up position at the Indy 500. For a team whose spirits have been tested this season, it was just what the Panther Racing team needed.

"Great job by everyone at National Guard Panther Racing," said Wheldon. "We continue to work very, very hard. To be honest at the end, the reason I worked so hard with Dario (Franchitti) and just tried to stay with him was because he was so clean and professional. He is a true gentleman out there and a great driver. I have to take away with the guys on our team. They did an excellent job and it was a strong performance. I have to thank my team and the fans who were definitely on their feet at the end of the night. It was an exciting race as it should be."

Marco Andretti continued his strong form from qualifying, featuring in the top-3 for almost the entire evening. While the Andretti Autosport driver was lacking the final fraction of a second needed to win, his drive was a refreshing reminder of just how capable he can be on any given day.

"It's good to taste (success) again," Andretti explained. "It's been tough on the road courses lately so I'm happy to finish on the podium. We lost a couple spots in pit stops, so we have to really analyze what happened. It was costly."

The entire Andretti Autosport team had their most competitive showing in quite some time, with Marco in 3rd, Ryan Hunter-Reay in fourth and Tony Kanaan in fifth. Only Danica Patrick failed to finish inside the top-10, settling for 14th at the checkered flag.

With Power's unplanned stop, the top Team Penske representative was Helio Castroneves in sixth. Briscoe's charge was slowed when the Aussie got up into the marbles, forcing him to back off and lose a lot of ground. Briscoe would take 11th while Power would place 16th, one lap down.

Scott Dixon would improve on his start from 15th, taking eighth, but lost more ground to Franchitti in the championship.

Justin Wilson made a long distance drive to seventh after starting 24th in his Z-Line Designs car, while teammate Ana Beatrix retired after making light contact with the wall.

Accidents were aplenty at Chicago, with Vitor Meira ramming Hideki Mutoh as the field prepared for a restart. Mutoh then hit Alex Tagliani who was sent into the wall, ending his night prematurely. Tag was kind enough to use his fingers to tell Meira he thought the Brazilian was 'number 1' while the two were on pit lane after the incident.

E.J. "The Hitman" Viso spared his usual targets, this time taking out his teammate, Takuma Sato, as the two launched away from their pit stalls. Sato, who launched first, found The Hitman driving into his left rear wheel, bending the Japanese driver's suspension. Both cars were subsequently retired, with Sato claiming 26th and The Hitman 27th.

Results Saturday of the PEAK Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy 300 IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 1.52 mile Chicagoland Speedway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (2) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
2. (7) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
3. (5) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
4. (9) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
5. (13) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
6. (4) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
7. (23) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
8. (15) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
9. (24) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
10. (6) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
11. (1) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
12. (20) Bertrand Baguette, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
13. (8) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
14. (12) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 200, Running
15. (25) Sarah Fisher, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running
16. (3) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running
17. (21) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running
18. (28) Davey Hamilton, Dallara-Honda, 199, Running
19. (26) Milka Duno, Dallara-Honda, 197, Running
20. (11) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 179, Handling
21. (14) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 162, Running
22. (29) Jay Howard, Dallara-Honda, 161, Mechanical
23. (27) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 150, Mechanical
24. (22) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 88, Mechanical
25. (19) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 85, Contact
26. (10) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 80, Contact
27. (16) EJ Viso, Dallara-Honda, 80, Contact
28. (17) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, 4, Contact
29. (18) Raphael Matos, Dallara-Honda, 4, Contact

Race Statistics

Winner’s average speed: 169.161
Time of Race: 01:47:49.5783
Margin of victory: .0423 of a second
Cautions: 3 for 28
Lead changes: 25
Lap Leaders:

Briscoe 1–28, Andretti 29, Briscoe 30-32, Andretti 33, Briscoe 34–50, Andretti 51, Briscoe 52–54, Wheldon 55, Carpenter 56–57, Tagliani 58, Lloyd 59–61, Meira 62–63, Briscoe 64–80, Fisher 81–90, Briscoe 91–135, Power 136, Carpenter 137, Wheldon 138, Meira 139–142, Wheldon 143–149, Hunter-Reay 150–151, Wheldon 152–155, Power 156, Wheldon 157, Power 158, Franchitti 173 - 200

Point Standings: Power 528, Franchitti 505, Dixon 443, Briscoe 406, Castroneves 398, Hunter-Reay 392, Kanaan 360, Andretti 319, Wilson 316, Wheldon 309.