Franchitti squeezes past Dixon for IndyCar crown

Dario Franchitti won the title and the $1 million prize that goes with it.

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — Dario Franchitti squeezed out half a lap more than Scott Dixon on their final fuel load Sunday, and that’s all it took for the Scot to win his first IndyCar Series title in what might be his farewell to open-wheel racing.

The two leaders, who came into the season-finale at Chicagoland Speedway with Franchitti leading the standings by just three points, both stopped to top off their 22-gallon fuel tanks during a caution 54 laps from the end on the 11⁄2-mile oval.

It looked as if Dixon, the 2003 series champion, was going to pull it off, taking the lead when Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dan Wheldon ran out of fuel on lap 194 of the 200-lap event.

With Franchitti right on his rear wing and expecting to have to make a fuel-only stop that could have cost them dearly, Danica Patrick, one of Franchitti’s Andretti Green Racing teammates, pitted for fuel on lap 195 and brought out a yellow flag when she spun in the pits.

With a few more laps of caution to help them conserve fuel, both leaders tried to make it to the end.

The green flag waved with two laps to go and Franchitti drove to the outside of Dixon and pulled alongside. But he wasn’t able to get past and, as the two drove down the long backstretch at about 215 mph, it appeared Dixon had it made.

Dixon falters near end

But, as they approached turn three, Dixon’s car suddenly slowed, Franchitti drove by and went on to win the race. Dixon coasted over the finish line 1.844 seconds behind, in second place in both the race and the championship. Franchitti won the title and the $1 million prize that goes with it by 13 points.

Franchitti, who also won his first Indianapolis 500 in May and walked away from a pair of wild, airborne crashes late in the season, was blown away by the finish.

After the new champion, who is expected to move to NASCAR in 2008, parked his car and climbed out, he knelt behind the rear wing for a few seconds of quiet thought.

“We came down that back stretch, and I was drafting him,” Franchitti said. “I was trying to get the slingshot. Just as I pulled out, I saw him slow down and I almost hit the back of him.

“Some good fuel saving. Some great strategy by my boys. The whole Andretti Green team, they’re the best.”