INDYCAR: Hunter-Reay Wins Championship By 3 Points, Carpenter Takes The Race

IndyCar

INDYCAR: Hunter-Reay Wins Championship By 3 Points, Carpenter Takes The Race

The most irrepressible driver in the IndyCar Series would not be denied his first championship Saturday night at Fontana, battling down to the final lap.

Marshall Pruett | Posted September 15, 2012

The most irrepressible IndyCar driver would not be denied his first championship Saturday night at Fontana, battling down to the final lap to edge Will Power by 3 points after 15 rounds. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

If racing through 14 rounds and ending the 2012 IndyCar Series season at a roll-the-dice-500-mile event wasn't crazy enough on its own, watching the championship duel between Will Power and Ryan Hunter-Reay go down to the 250th and final lap was downright insane.

Adding to the pressure and intensity was the self-induced crash by the Team Penske driver on Lap 55 while battling his title rival. Power started 13th but fell back immediately at the start as part of his game plan. He held station between 18th and 20th, approximately two spots behind Hunter-Reay, but got the call to catch and pass RHR as the race reached the 50-lap mark.

The two briefly traded positions before the Andretti driver edged ahead of the Penske car as they crossed the start/finish line to begin Lap 55. With Hunter-Reay taking the high line--the preferred arc through the tricky, bumpy Turn 1 and 2 complex--as Power was held low.

The combination of carrying a lot of speed on a shallow line and the seams in the track that helped two other cars to crash caught out the star-crossed Aussie who spun up the track, missing Hunter-Reay by what looked like a foot or less before clouting the barrier.

It might have been hunter-Reay's season, but it was Ed Carpenter's night at Fontana. (Photo: LAT)

Power's crew would take his tattered car back to the garage and undertake major repairs, returning the Aussie to the track 69 laps down.

The 2010 and 2011 championship runner-up put in 11 laps with an unsorted car--enough to vault himself from 25th to 24th--before parking the car, setting the stage for Hunter-Reay to finish fifth or better if he wanted to take the title.

Power, who held a 17-point advantage coming into the race, sat helpless as he watched Hunter-Reay chip away at his championship lead with every lap.

INDYCAR: Power Reflects On Lost Championship

RHR spent the rest of the race hovering close to fifth, but even by Lap 225--with 25 laps to go--he sat in sixth, one point shy of earning the championship.

But IndyCar's perennial underdog was in a familiar position. Facing a 36-point deficit two weeks ago in Baltimore, and with the odds stacked against him, he won.

With Power simply needing to finish in proximity to him, Hunter-Reay kept pressing, watched as Power spun and crashed, kept an eye on rising engine temperatures that went beyond safe levels, lived with a handling imbalance at the rear of the car and continued to push ahead.

By Lap 230, Hunter-Reay improved to fifth after passing Tony Kanaan, and then took fourth from Scott Dixon on the Lap 235 restart for Alex Tagliani's engine failure. He'd also get past Takuma Sato for third, but surrendered the spot to Dixon who found a burst of speed in the closing laps.

After three hours of constantly watching his position relative to Power's, Hunter-Reay crossed the finish line in fourth with his fist held high, three points clear of the driver who held what appeared to have an insurmountable lead three in late August at Sonoma.

"That's a team effort right there," said the 31-year-old American who claimed his first Indy car title for sponsors DHL and Sun Drop.

"This hasn't sunk in yet. I just drove 500 miles like it was for my life. I can't believe this. My dream's come true. Unbelievable."

Will Power, middle, watches as the Team Penske crew perform miracles to repair his No. 12 Verizon Wireless car. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

INDYCAR: Hunter-Reay Elated, Relieved To Win His First Title

Hunter-Reay adds his name alongside Tony Kanaan (2005), Dan Wheldon (2005) and Dario Franchitti (2007) as championship winners for Andretti. He also becomes the first American to take the IndyCar crown since Sam Hornish Jr. did it for Penske in 2006, played a central role in Chevrolet winning its first manufacturers' title since 2002, won the AJ Foyt Oval trophy, and received a check for $1 million for claiming the title.

Power was obviously dejected after 20 Penske crew members thrashed to get him back in the fight, but ultimately, his error cost him the championship on an oval in a similar manner where he crashed and lost the 2010 finale at Homestead.

"There was definitely times there it looked hopeful," said Power. "Hunter-Reay; he's a deserving champion, a great driver. If I look back at the ovals, that three crashes this (for him) year.

"It's very obvious where I lack."

PHOTOS: Click Here or on the image below to view INDYCAR: Fontana Season Finale 2012

Dario Franchitti held the lead heading into the final lap, but a daring pass by Ed Carpenter--winner of the 2011 season finale--shot the owner/driver to the front.

A crash by Takuma Sato on the last lap secured Carpenter's second career victory after the American led a race-high 62 laps.

"This feels great for a brand new team that just started in November," said Carpenter. "I probably should have won Indy but I kind of messed up a little bit. We have been trying to win ovals all year and finally got it done tonight. Good way to end the year."

Carpenter also described the pass that finally moved Franchitti off of the point.

"I got a good start, I thought that maybe that was going to be my last chance to get by him and then he just kept protecting the bottom and I started working the top where I would run all night through one and two and kept building momentum, and building momentum and finally got close enough to get a draft and get a run around him on the front stretch," he said.

Franchitti settled for second, followed by his Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon.

"Almost isn't quite good enough," said the 2011 champion, who was beaten for the second year in a row by Carpenter at the season finale.

"Ed just got a big run, I don't know if he turned to wake up or what there but he got a big run around the outside and down there had been working for me all night and the middle of the corner started to push up and it was either take us both out or and wreck us both or take left and I took left and he got passed and out came the yellow. So that happens.

"He drove a great race though I can't take anything away from him. Want to thank the Target boys, think we did a good job getting up there. Ultimately the smallest amounts, but you win by those and you lose by those."

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