By Andrew Cutler
September 2 2009

Ryan Briscoe and Scott Dixon put on another classic Chicagoland wheel-to-wheel duel this past Saturday night. In the end, it was Briscoe putting the nose of his Dallara in front, notching the 4th closest IndyCar Series finish. This gives Chicagoland Speedway five of the six closest margins in series history.

The Aussie wasn't even sure if he had won until team owner Roger Penske told him so over the radio. Ryan's win keeps him atop of the championship points standings for the second consecutive weekend, something that has proven difficult so far this season for any driver, but he is not relaxing one bit. "The Target cars (championship rivals Dixon and Franchitti) are going to be there in Motegi and Homestead, so we just have to stay focused. We've had good cars on all the mile-and-half ovals this year. We've just got to keep it together. We had a couple of mistakes tonight, but were able to come back. We've just have to try to avoid those situations."

For Dixon, this was his fourth consecutive runner-up finish at Chicagoland. KVRT's sophmore driver Mario Moraes posted a career-best third place result.

Earlier in the day, Daniel Herrington won the Chicoland 100, his first Firestone Indy Lights victory, while J.R. Hildebrand's fifth place finish was good enough to sew up the 2009 FIL championship.

Next up for the IndyCar Series: the annual trip to Motegi, Japan, for the Honda Indy 300 on September 19th.