For a while, it looked like Will Power would be helpless to hold off Dario Franchitti for the Izod IndyCar Series championship. Franchitti, who entered the race trailing power by 12 points, had gotten the pole (1 point) and was well on his way to leading the most laps in the race (2 points).
Had Franchitti won the race, those three bonus points would have made it impossible for Power to win the title even if he finished second, as even then the gap would be 13 points.
However, Franchitti started to look vulnerable, dropping out of the lead. But Power had problems of his own. Much bigger problems.
While attempting to go around Ryan Hunter-Reay, Power pushed up towards the wall. At first it looked like a whitewall, something that a simple change of tires could fix. Instead, Power's Team Penske crew found that the impact broke the suspension. Power's race was over.
Because of that, Franchitti was able to be conservative, electing to play it safe on fuel because there were only nine cars on the lead lap. He finished eighth, five points ahead of Power.
It was Franchitti's second straight IndyCar title after returning to the open-wheel series after a brief foray into NASCAR. Everyone's favorite IndyCar driver, Danica Patrick, who's currently dipping her toes into the NASCAR waters, finished second, nipping teammate Tony Kanaan at the stripe. Franchitti's teammate Scott Dixon, who won the 2008 IndyCar championship, won the race.
Related: Danica Patrick, Dario Franchitti
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