By Andrew Cutler
October 10 2009

If Friday's qualifying session for the season-ending IndyCar Series race at Homestead-Miami is any indication, the 2009 championship battle will - as it has in the past two years - go down to the closing laps: The three top grid spots were taken by the title contenders.

Dario Franchitti, second in points, got the one bonus point on offer for claiming the pole with a four lap average of 212.696 mph. Points leader - and teammate - Scott Dixon will start alongside in 2nd after posting a mark of 212.160. Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe, will line up behind Dario after putting in four laps around the 1.5 mile oval with a 212.137 average.

There will be some other drivers looking to finish the season with a strong showing - maybe even a win - who could get up front and cause fits for the title contenders. Vision Racing's Ed Carpenter and Alex Lloyd, driving in a "one-off" with Newman-Haas-Lanigan, made impressive qualifying runs, and will start four and fifth, respectively.

Here is the complete starting line-up for the Firstone Indy 300, which will start at 4pm ET on Saturday:

http://www.indycar.com/stats/startinglineups/2009/homestead_10092009.pdf

After the IndyCar qualifyiong was over, it was time for the Firestone Indy Lights Series to hold it's 2009 season finale. Mario Romancini notched his second victory of the year, beating '09 season champion J.R. Hildebrand by 0.0057 of a second.