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Oct 9, 2009 4:20 pm US/Eastern
Indy Car Ends Season In Homestead On Sunday
HOMESTEAD (CBS4) ―
The Indy Racing League will wind up its season on Sunday at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. Three contenders enter the final race trying to win a $1 million bonus. Ryan Briscoe, Dario Franchitti, and Scott Dixon all are separated by only eight points as the Indy 300 starts on Sunday.
They're three different guys with three different stories, and when the checkered flag falls on the Indy 300, only one of them will collect what he came to Homestead to get. Upstart Ryan Briscoe, 2007 IRL king Dario Franchitti, and defending champion Dixon are separated by only eight points heading into the finale, one of the closest races in IndyCar history.
Dixon is the leader, five points ahead of teammate Franchitti, eight ahead of Briscoe.
There's many newsy aspects surrounding Saturday's race: Helio Castroneves putting an end to his emotional year that started in a courtroom amid tax evasion charges that he ultimately defeated, Danica Patrick's still-unconfirmed future with Andretti Green Racing or NASCAR or both, and the first time Homestead hosts the IRL finale.
They all pale when compared to the conclusion of the back-and-forth that Dixon, Franchitti and Briscoe have waged all season.
For Dixon and Franchitti, the scenario is simple: Win the race, and win the IRL title. Briscoe -- part of Penske Racing's powerhouse program -- would probably take the seasonlong championship if he wins the race, although bonus points could theoretically keep Dixon on top.
Franchitti held an overwhelming lead in the IRL standings at one point in 2007, before a series of late-season crashes gave Dixon the sliver of hope he needed to get back into contention. With two turns remaining in that year's finale at Chicagoland, Dixon was on the lead, poised to beat Franchitti in the race and cap an amazing comeback for what would have been his second IRL title.
If anyone's particularly thrilled that the finale is at Homestead, it's got to be Dixon. He has two wins and a second in his six races at Homestead.
Only once have the IRL standings been closer in terms of the points gap between first and third with one race to go, and that was in 2003 -- the year Dixon held a seven-point lead over Castroneves and Tony Kanaan and made it hold up for the championship.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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