The championship comes down to Saturday’s finale at Homestead and that’s probably fitting since the series’ calling card has always been the 1.5-mile ovals.
By the time we get to Saturday afternoon, one of these three drivers will be crowned 2009 IndyCar Series champion. (LAT)
The IndyCar championship comes down to Saturday’s finale at Homestead-Miami and that’s probably fitting since the series’ calling card has always been the 1.5-mile ovals.
It’s a three driver, two team battle royale for the title and, while we know either a Target/Ganassi or Team Penske driver will likely be standing in victory lane, we don’t know which one.
Scott Dixon, who owns a five-point lead over teammate Dario Franchitti and is eight in front of Ryan Briscoe, would seem to have a slight advantage.
In the five 1.5-mile shows this season, Dixon has led 367 laps and come away with a pair of wins at Kansas and Japan. His average start on these ovals is third and his average finish is 2.8.
And the two-time IndyCar champion is the only one of this trio with a W at this track – last year and in 2003.
“It’s kinda surprising we’re still in this deal because we got off to a rough start and we really haven’t had much of a flow,” said Dixon, whose five wins in 2009 are the most and one away from tying his record (set last year and also held by Dan Wheldon in 2005).
“We’ve been up and down and it’s been a strange year. Team Penske seemed to have us covered on the mile and a half earlier but we’ve been getting stronger and stronger.”
Franchitti, who looked like his old self straight away following one year in NASCAR, is use to the pressure of a championship being decided in the last race.
The 36-year-old Scotsman lost the 1999 CART title to Juan Montoya on a tie-breaker and captured the 2007 IRL crown on the final lap of the season.
“It definitely prepares you for what to expect and how to handle things,” said Franchitti, with four wins in ’09 for Chip Ganassi. “It helps you improve your race craft and, hopefully, it makes you a little smarter.
“This thing has been going back and forth between the three of us and I expect Saturday to be a very close race, as usual.”
Briscoe, whose unforced error of hitting the pit wall at Japan knocked him out of the catbird seat and point lead, has nonetheless been formidable on the 1.5s with wins at Kentucky and Chicago and a second at Texas. He’s led 285 laps with an average start of 3.4 and a finish of 5.2.
“I think I’ve improved on these type of tracks and obviously I’ve had a lot of help from Roger (Penske), Tim (Cindric) and Rick (Mears),” said the 29-year-old Aussie who survived a scary flip at Chicago in 2005 while driving for Ganassi as a rookie.
“We’ve had great runs at all of them so I feel really good about closing out the season at Homestead.”
Other than Justin Wilson’s triumph at Watkins Glen for Dale Coyne, nobody else has won a race in 2009 as Ganassi (nine wins total) and Penske (six wins) continue their dominance.
Along with Andretti-Green, who had a pair of Ws in 2008 before pitching a shutout this season, the winning streak on ovals for The Big 3 stands at 46 in a row – 14 straight for Ganassi and Pesnke.
Ed Carpenter damn near ended their stronghold at Kentucky this year and Graham Rahal and Mario Moraes have been in the hunt for a win late in the past couple oval races.
But, until proven otherwise, the three-man donnybrook for the title also figures to be the storyline at Homestead, along with Helio Castroneves trying to win for the third time in ’09 and help his teammate.
“I’m sure it’s going to be a crazy race,” mused Dixon. “And it’s probably going to come down to the last lap.”
