| ...that was exactly how many points Dario Franchitti lead Scott Dixon by going into this weekend's race at Chicagoland Speedway. This track is the best track for a finish, and it delivered twice for the series this year. One finish was in the Indy Pro Series, IRL's developmental series, where the margin of victory was .0005 seconds (that's five ten-thousands), or about 1.65 inches. The other wasn't quite as close, but definitely high drama nonetheless.
Despite Franchitti winning the pole for the race, he lost the race lead from the start to Sam Hornish Jr.. Dixon was soon the provision leader, passing Franchitti. Dario was unable to pass for positions, as Dixon had Dan Wheldon for assistance while his most capable wingman, Tony Kanaan, had to pit very early with a cut tire. As for his other Andretti Green teammates, Marco Andretti appropriately finished his sophomore season with a DNF after crashing into turn 4, and Danica Patrick, who while staying in the top six throughout most of the race, struggled to keep up Dario and the Penske and Ganassi cars.
By lap 137 though, Franchitti had one edge over the competition: he had found a way to make fuel last a little bit longer. On this lap Vitor Meira crashed out, bringing out the second caution of the race (Marco's accident was the first) and setting up Scott and Dario to be 1-2. Since they were in the top 5, where points are more spread out, it meant that Dixon was now in control of the title.
Things started to look really bad for Franchitti as he began to fall back after the restart, and Wheldon got back up to be a buffer. With about 10 laps to go, it was Dixon, Wheldon, and Franchitti.
One concern though remained on the track: fuel consumption. The last time the lead cars pitted was between lap 130 and lap 140. To conserve some fuel, Dixon gave up the lead to Wheldon so he could draft off the Englishman. Unfortunately, on lap 193 Wheldon moved down to the bottom of the track. He was out of fuel.
On lap 195, Danica Patrick went to pit from third place, only to spin out on pit in. This brought out the third caution of the race. With no debris, this yellow wouldn't last long, but would be a chance for the leaders to possibly make it on fuel. Not to mention, it would give Dario an opportunity to pass Scott on a restart, providing reason for conspiracy theorists to believe Danica purposely did it. In my estimation, if it was intentional, then so was Dixon's swerve last week at Belle Isle, as it seemed much more obvious.
Anyway, on the lap 197 restart Dario goes for the lead on the top side of the track, but is unable to pass (any passes in this race had to be made inside, since today the top groove wasn't working well). Dixon had the lead and the Series championship. Lap 199 - the white flag waves. Dixon is two turns away from victory and -
Dario blows right by him.
If you haven't guess or read already, Dixon ran out of fuel in turn three. He lost the race and the championship by about a half of a gallon of gas.
After ten seasons in American open-wheel racing, Dario Franchitti finally won a series championship. The question now is whether he'll be back next year.
Top 10:
 Dario Franchitti
 Scott Dixon
 Sam Hornish Jr.
 Helio Castroneves
- Scott Sharp
- Tony Kanaan
- Ryan Hunter-Reay
 Hideki Mutoh
- Buddy Rice
- A.J. Foyt IV
As for other performances of note, Japanese driver Hideki Mutoh, in his first IndyCar Series race, finished eighth for Panther Racing. He was given the opportunity after winning Rookie of the Year honors in the Indy Pro Series, and will probably have a ride for next year in the big series. Finishing ahead of him was Ryan Hunter-Reay, who won Rookie of the Year honors. It wasn't really too hard of an accomplishment, since the only other rookie with more than one race was Milka Duno, who failed to finish a single race on the lead lap (that is, when she wasn't been pulled for being to slow).
With a series title and the Indy 500, there are no major milestones left for Franchitti to chase. There was talk of him moving down to Andretti Green's LeMans series ride last season, but he stayed in the IndyCars. The current talk is now on him going to NASCAR, driving for Chip Ganassi.
It's really strange how in the last two years how many open-wheel guys are/speculated to be making the jump to the stock cars. Montoya has done it this season, and among the drivers linked to the series have been Sam Hornish Jr. (who probably is going to NASCAR next year), Patrick Carpentier, Dan Wheldon, and Jacques Villeneuve. I am intrigued by the fact that many non-American drivers have been hinted at in particular. A driver like Hornish makes some sense (see Tony Stewart for precedent).
No matter how true many of these rumors may be, it's a distressing sign for open wheel. NASCAR is the financial giant of American motorsport, and money is a key reason for it. For winning the IndyCar championship, Franchitti won $1 million. His season total was a little over $3 million. This season, 21 NASCAR drivers have earned more than Franchitti. Even if you're only somewhat successful, it pays to drive the stock cars.
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