By Andrew Cutler
October 7 2009

As the IndyCar Series heads into it's season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend (race time: Saturday 4pm ET), three drivers are still in the hunt for the championship. Here is what each of them must do to claim the title for himself.

First of all, let me run down the points system: A driver earns 50 points for a victory, 40 for finishing 2nd and 35 for finishing third. Fourth spot is worth 32, with 5th-10th spots decreasing in value by 2 points each: from there, 11th-18th are worth one point less than the prior position.

That would make for a fairly strait-up & easy breakdown of who must finish where in order to be champion, but there are three "bonus" points to be had each race weekend: one for qualifying on the pole & two for leading the most laps during the race. 

The potential for a driver to grab either or both of these makes the situation a bit more complicated, but I will try to explain what the scenarios are - to the best of my ability to understand them, that is!  

The current points leader, Scott Dixon (570 points) obviously has the easiest path to the title. If he finishes ahead of both Dario Franchitti and Ryan Briscoe, he wins his third series championship. If either of them end in a points tie with Scott, he wins based on having the most victories during the season. He also wins if the other two fail to meet the criteria spelled out in the scenarios listed below.

If Dario Franchitti (565 points) wins on Saturday, he is a two-time series champion. Failing that, if he finishes second after having claimed either of the two "bonus" prizes, Dixon must finish third and bag the other one or Dario is the champion. If Dario finishes third, he must take both the pole and the laps points if Dixon finishes either fourth or fifth. If he finishes fourth or worse, Dixon must finish at least two places behind him - w/o gaining either bonus - to be champion.

Ryan Briscoe (562 points) has the hardest route to the title. Winning on Saturday is his best hope. A victory and claiming either of the bonuses secures his first series title: A victory without either bonus gives Dixon a chance win the tie-breaker if he finishes second after leading the most laps. If Ryan claims the pole but finishes second, then Dixon must finish no better than 4th (w/o the laps bonus) & Franchitti can't win or place third. For every spot from third on back that Briscoe might finish, he must be five places ahead of Dxion and two ahead of Franchitti to claim the title - w/o either claiming any bonus points.

For the third consecutive year, this is looking like a championship battle that will go down to the closing laps.