Kanaan wins as Franchitti and Dixon crash on final lap

Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Tony Kanaan easily captured the Detroit Indy Grand Prix on the Belle Isle street course. Meanwhile, series points leaders Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti had final lap incidents which jumbled the drivers standings.
The No.11 Andretti Green Racing driver crossed the finish line 0.4865 seconds ahead of Danica Patrick.
The victory was Kanaan's fifth of the season and 12th of his IndyCar career.
Helio Castroneves brought the field to the green flag for the penultimate IndyCar event of 2007. Early on it appeared that most drivers were satisfied to stay in position. Certainly at the top where Franchitti was following pole winner Castroneves. Behind the lead pair were Kanaan, points leader Dixon and Marco Andretti.
Castroneves' lead was 1.3249 seconds after 10 of 90 laps around the tight, 2.125-mile, 14-turn Raceway at Belle Isle course. As they got later into the green-flag run, Franchitti began to eat into the margin cutting it under one second.
While Franchitti was closing slightly on Castroneves, the top-four cars, including Kanaan and Dixon, had pulled away by more than 12 seconds from the remainder of the field.
On lap 20, as the leaders began to close on lapped traffic all, but Castroneves decided it would be a good time to pit. The three came out in the same order they entered, Franchitti, Kanaan and Dixon.
Castroneves struggled with getting by the slower traffic on the narrow course and by the time he came in on lap 25, he ended up being 14.4829 seconds behind the trio.
"I called him in, but it may have been too late," said Team Penske's Tim Cindric.
Luckily for Castroneves, a full-course caution on lap 27 allowed the No.3 Penske driver to close on the leaders. The race got underway on lap 30, but only for a second, as Vitor Meira, Sam Hornish Jr. and Patrick got together on the restart.
They finally cleaned the track and got underway with still more than 50 laps to go. But Castroneves wasn't able to keep up with the three leaders and he was fading back by about three seconds.
At the halfway point, Franchitti and his AGR "wingman" Kanaan were still one- two and 2.2 seconds ahead of Dixon.
Another caution flag and when everyone except Buddy Rice, Patrick and Wheldon made a pit stop, Kanaan beat Franchitti back onto the track. But Kanaan's pit crew only got 13 gallons into the tank, meaning he would have to stop again...and soon.
Rice, who had stopped earlier, was the new leader. With the number of caution- flag laps, it appeared that it might be a "timed race" - not make the advertised 90-lap distance. Should that happen all pit strategies would change drastically. Rice planned to pit in about 10 laps, but then could go until the maximum time for a timed race and maybe "steal" a win. The No.15 peeled off and made it's stop falling to eighth overall.
Patrick, Wheldon and Franchitti now led the way as the field passed the 60- lap mark. Dixon was fourth, still clinging to his championship points lead.
Wheldon pulled into pit lane on lap 63 and Franchitti slipped into second place behind Patrick, who also still had to pit. One lap later Patrick went for fuel and tires and Franchitti inherited the lead with Dixon and Kanaan just behind.
On lap 67 Castroneves and Tomas Scheckter collided in turn one to bring out a full-course yellow. Both championship leaders took the opportunity to get additional fuel and this time Dixon beat Franchitti off pit lane. Dixon came out third, behind Kanaan and Rice. Franchitti was sixth with 20 laps to go. The race went back to green on lap 71.
Franchitti flew around A.J. Foyt IV for fifth and then slid past teammate Patrick for fourth. He was within 1.8 seconds of Dixon, but could he catch and pass him?
Dixon was not just watching Franchitti, but was also gaining on Rice, the second-place car. By lap 76 all four lead cars, including leader Kanaan, were within 1.7 seconds of each other.
Officials announced 10 minutes to go (on lap 80) and the four leaders were still nose to tail. Just two minutes left and it was still Kanaan, Rice, Dixon and Franchitti.
On the final lap, Dixon tried to get past Rice and they collided. While they were spinning, Dixon collected Franchitti as the caution flags flew.
Kanaan went on to win his fifth victory of the season with Patrick avoiding all of the incidents and taking second. Franchitti crawled across the finish line in sixth and Dixon finished eighth.
"I'm protesting this," said Michael Andretti. He indicated that Dixon intentionally took Franchitti out after the incident with Rice.
Franchitti will take a slim three-point lead (587-584) into the season's final race. That event is set for Sunday, September 9th at the Chicagoland Speedway.