The hottest championship drama this weekend belongs to the IndyCar Series, in Sunday’s season finale at Chicagoland Speedway.
There are no playoffs for the IndyCar title, so this is it for the three combatants, Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan.
They ride a wave of controversy into Joliet. When Dixon wrecked late in the race at Detroit last Sunday, his spin collected Franchitti — accidentally, they agreed. Franchitti was able to nurse his damaged car back around the road circuit for a sixth-place finish, and retook the points lead he’d lost to Dixon at Sonoma, Calif., the previous week.
But that reportedly didn’t keep Franchitti’s team owner, Michael Andretti, from confronting Dixon boss Chip Ganassi in a heated exchange afterward.
Franchitti, this year’s Indy 500 winner, leads Dixon by a scant three points, 587-584, with Kanaan still within reasonable reach, 39 behind Franchitti at 548. Franchitti and Kanaan are teammates. Kanaan drew criticism for blocking for Franchitti at Sonoma, but that would be somewhat harder and much more dangerous on Chicagoland’s high-banked, 1.5-mile oval.
The teams are longtime rivals, going back to their CART years.
“On the track, we don’t take any prisoners, either team,” Franchitti said.
Cut to the Chase
Never before has the Chase for the Nextel Cup format been a more blatant and drastic departure from NASCAR’s old season-long points system. Jeff Gordon, who has been comfortably atop the point standings since March and has a once-commanding lead of 317, will lose it all after Saturday night’s regular-season finale at Richmond.
Gordon is likely to drop into second place to begin the Chase, by virtue of teammate Jimmie Johnson’s five wins to Gordon’s four during regular season. Even if Gordon wins at Richmond, a track that hasn’t been kind to him lately, he can manage only a tie with Johnson for the top seed.
Under the old system, Gordon would be so far out front he afford to fall out early from a couple of races this fall, and still be on top of the standings.
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