Six drivers in contention as IndyCar season heats up
Dario Franchitti won the Indy 500 and the past two seasons that has meant a series title as well. He has a solid shot, but there's a six-man battle brewing as the season heats up, writes John Oreovicz.
Dario Relives His Indy 500 Win
INDIANAPOLIS -- Winning the 91st Indianapolis 500 set Dario Franchitti up for stardom.
It might also put him on course for an IndyCar Series championship as the circuit heads to Milwaukee for the ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225 this Sunday (ABC, 4 ET).
Franchitti's victory in the rain-shortened Memorial Day Classic lifted him to within three points of series leader (and Indy runner-up) Scott Dixon in what could develop into a classic six-man championship showdown. After five races of 17, the top six drivers (Dixon, Dan Wheldon, Franchitti, Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and Sam Hornish Jr.) are all clustered within 33 points.
It's hard to imagine a championship chase being any closer or more competitive than the four-man clash for the 2006 IndyCar Series crown that ended with Hornish and Wheldon tied on points. The difference this year is that Andretti Green Racing has regained competitiveness on superspeedways and its lead drivers Franchitti and Kanaan are now running at the front again every weekend.
It's an especially big turnaround for Franchitti, who hadn't won an IndyCar Series race since Kanaan gifted him the 2005 season finale at California Speedway. The Scotsman said his winless 2006 only increased his resolve for this season.
And that was before he won Indy.
"After the fairly average year we had last year, my motivation came back," he said. "There's a good few years left now -- and a championship."
AGR co-owner Kevin Savoree confirmed that Franchitti questioned his future in racing a couple of years ago before he decided to rededicate himself.
"He sat down with us after Fontana at the end of '05 and basically said, 'I'm going to give this one more year,'" Savoree said. "He's always been that kind of guy, very honest with us, and that's why he's part of the family.
"Then he followed up last year and said 'I've got some more in me.' I think he showed that [Sunday]. He was very determined, he drove his butt off, and I just couldn't be more proud of him."
For whatever reason, a title has never been in the cards for the 32-year-old Scotsman during his decade in American open-wheel racing. His best chance came in 1999, when he and Juan Pablo Montoya matched point totals at the end of the CART Champ Car season, but Montoya was declared champion because he won seven races to Franchitti's three. He was third in the CART championship in 1998 and fourth in his final season, 2002, while fourth place in 2005 represented Franchitti's best performance in the IRL championship.
Franchitti's only oval win in Champ Cars came at Rockingham Speedway in England in 2002 and his efforts to adapt to the different handling characteristics of an IndyCar were hampered when his "rookie" IRL season of 2003 was cut short by a motorcycle accident. He won at Milwaukee in 2004 and Nashville and Fontana in 2005 before AGR endured a difficult 2006 that saw it comprehensively outpaced at fast ovals by Team Penske and Target/Ganassi Racing.
Franchitti often led the AGR attack in qualifying for road courses and short ovals where the driver makes the biggest impact. But those statistics didn't translate into race wins.
Now off to the best start of his IRL career with top-5 finishes in the last four races, including three consecutive podiums, Franchitti is thinking about adding a championship crown to his Indy jewel. That would continue a trend established the last two years by Wheldon and Hornish.
"We've flown under the radar all year, but we've managed to win on every sort of track now," Franchitti said. "Certainly the first year I struggled a little bit on the ovals, but then I got more and more comfortable and we won at Milwaukee. I enjoy the challenge of the short ovals."
I wanted to win the Indianapolis 500, but now we'll focus on the championship. We have Milwaukee coming up -- thankfully, pretty soon -- so we can just move on.
Dan Wheldon
Dixon hasn't won a race in 2007, but three seconds and a pair of fourths are enough to put the 2003 IndyCar Series champion on top of this year's standings. His Target/Ganassi Racing teammate Dan Wheldon is just one point behind despite finishing 22nd at Indianapolis.
"I wanted to win the Indianapolis 500, but now we'll focus on the championship," said Wheldon, who has dominated the oval portion of the IndyCar schedule so far this year. "We have Milwaukee coming up -- thankfully, pretty soon -- so we can just move on."
Castroneves is 13 points out of the lead after a third-place finish at Indianapolis, while Kanaan and Hornish are another 20 points back. Danica Patrick ranks ninth in the standings, 75 points behind Dixon.
One potential championship challenger who already appears to be eliminated from contention is Marco Andretti, who suffered his third DNF in five races Sunday and is now 102 points out. But given the way he retired from the 500 -- in a dramatic tumbling accident -- Marco is happy just to be racing at Milwaukee next weekend.
John Oreovicz covers open-wheel racing for National Speed Sport News and ESPN.com.
