indycar.com photo

By Andrew Cutler
October 3 2010

With only an eleven point differential between them as they headed into Saturday evening's race, it was clear that Dario Franchitti and Will Power would likely have to race for the win at Homestead-Miami Speedway in order to fulfill their championship asperations; and, for most of the event, they did.

Franchitti, who was the pole-sitter, jumped out to the early lead, with his Ganassi teammate, Scott Dixon, in tow. The Scot would lead over one half of the 200 laps, picking up two bonus points. Meanwhile, Power was hanging around in the top five, dialing his car in and waiting for his chance to pounce.

It all came undone for the Aussie on lap 135, however, when he tried to pass a lapped car on the outside and got into the 'marbles' (bits of tire rubber) that inevitably collect near the top of an oval track over the course of a race. Power's car slid up the track and brushed along the retaining wall for several feet. Although it looked to be a 'glancing' blow at a parallel angle, it was enough to damage the suspension on both right-side wheels.

Power lost five laps as Team Penske fixed the rear suspension, but when he went out again the car still pulled to the right, so he came back in and parked it, ending his night (photo above). “The championship is won over 17 races, not one," Power said afterwards. “Obviously, I’m very disappointed with the outcome. I really wanted to win this championship. It was at a point in the race where I felt I really had to push because Dario had led the most laps and was leading the race.

With Will out (he would be classified as finishing in the 25th spot), Dario only needed to notch a top-ten result to clinch his third IndyCar Series title. Whether he then deliberatly eased up or his car began to develope handling issues is uncertain, but he soon fell back as far as ninth, where he found being in the middle of 'the pack' a bit unnerving: At one point, Milka Duno spun out and slapped the wall just infront of him!

Franchitti would eventually finish in eighth, which good enough to secure the championship by five points over Power. ".. To come away with a championship after a season like that is very satisfying.  And we look back to Iowa and think to that gear box (18th place), that took a lot of points away, and from then on it was a real struggle. But nobody on the Target team gave up.  We did our best every single week. We find ourselves here again tonight.  It was pretty cool. Great to be out there enjoying that feeling and that moment with my family, my friends, my teammates, it doesn't get any better than that."

Scott Dixon would win the race itself, with Andretti Autosport teammates Danica Patrick and Tony Kanaan finishing second and third after a close, exciting battle over the last fifteen laps.

Here are the complete race results: http://www.indycar.com:8080/var/assets/CafesDoBrasilIndy300BoxScore.pdf

Earlier in the day, the Firestone Indy Lights Series also held it's season finale. Frenchman JK Vernay claimed the championship simply by taking the green flag, and Brandon Wagner won his first series victory after a close back-&-forth, multi-lap duel with James Hinchcliffe.