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.

Franchitti on pole at Infineon

Sonoma, CA (Sports Network) - Dario Franchitti's first session time held up through the Firestone Fast Six shootout and he captured the pole for Sunday's Motorola Indy 300. The No.27 Andretti Green Racing driver circled the Infineon Raceway course in one minute, 16.7017 seconds.
The pole victory was Franchitti's second of the season and sixth of his IndyCar career.
"Track conditions changed a lot from this morning, but the car has been fast all weekend and we did it when it counted," said Franchitti.
Starting alongside Franchitti will be Danica Patrick who posted a second-best time of 1:17.1486. Patrick was the only driver to improve a time in the Firestone shootout.
"I was a little bit worried because...it didn't really feel very good and I made quite a few mistakes, but it was enough," said Patrick.
Tony Kanaan (1:17.1932) and Helio Castroneves (1:17.2608) will make up row two.
Franchitti was fastest in the first qualifying session and he led a group including Kanaan, Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Sam Hornish Jr. and Patrick.
Two races ago, Kanaan was virtually a bystander in the championship race. He was 111 points behind AGR teammate Franchitti and 77 points behind Dixon.
Worse, neither Franchitti nor Dixon had made a misstep all season and it looked as if the gap was too large to bridge.
The series traveled to the Michigan International Speedway and Kanaan collected his first win of the season. Better still, Dixon faltered with handling problems finishing 10th and Franchitti finished 13th after a frightening upside-down ride.
Two weeks ago Kanaan won his second consecutive race, at the Kentucky Speedway, while points leader Franchitti again struggled. Kanaan is now just 52 points behind Franchitti and 44 out of second place.
The race is set to drop the green flag on Sunday at 3 p.m. (et).

Dixon wins third straight race

Lexington, OH (Sports Network) - Scott Dixon captured Sunday's inaugural The Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio road course and in the process collected his third consecutive victory. The No.9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver crossed the finish line 2.6917 seconds ahead of Dario Franchitti.
The victory was Dixon's third of the season and ninth of his IndyCar career.
Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan and Danica Patrick completed the top-five.

Castroneves upsets AGR for Mid-Ohio pole

Lexington, OH (Sports Network) - Brazilian Helio Castroneves beat out five other drivers, including all four Andretti Green Racing teammates, in the "Firestone Fast Six" to capture the pole for Sunday's inaugural The Honda 200 at Mid-Ohio IndyCar race. The No.3 Penske Racing Honda driver circled the 2.258-mile road course in one minute, 06.8375 seconds.
The pole victory was Castroneves' sixth of the season and 23rd of his IndyCar career.
"This team is fantastic, they never let me down," said a happy Castroneves. "We've been struggling a little bit."
Starting alongside Castroneves will be Danica Patrick who posted a second-best time of 1:07.1257.
"This is by far the best that I've done on a road course," said Patrick. "I'm really proud of the team. It feels good to have the Motorola car in the front row, not on an oval, but on a road course."
Tony Kanaan (1:07.1757) and Marco Andretti (1:07.3931) will start in row two.
Andretti was quickest in the one-lap preliminary qualifying session and led Dario Franchitti, Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Patrick and Castroneves in the six- person "Firestone Fast Six" shootout.
But it was Castroneves who laid down the best lap and though everyone took a shot at the time, no one could surpass it.
Dixon, starting sixth, so far this year has a win (Watkins Glen) and a second place (St. Petersburg) in two road course starts. It's not a fluke either. In 2006 Dixon earned a first, second and fourth in the three road course events.
Dixon seeks to improve on last year's fourth-place overall finish. In 2006 he collected two wins and nine top-fives. He already has those numbers in 2007 with still six races left on the schedule and is working on a two-race win streak.
"To come back and repeat at both (Watkins Glen and Nashville) is fantastic," said Dixon. "To be honest, things seem to come a little easier for me. I think it is a confidence level. Coming into these two races that were back to back, we've proven ourselves (at Nashville) last year, so you do come into a race weekend with more confidence."
Series points leader Franchitti has made the most starts at Mid-Ohio, but has little success to show for it. In six starts, Franchitti has just one top-10 (third in 1999) and finished 16th or lower four times.
The IndyCar driver with the most success on the 2.258-mile circuit is Castroneves. In four CART starts between 1998-2001 the Brazilian collected three top-10s including back-to-back wins in 2000 and 2001.
The race is set to drop the green flag on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. (et).

Dixon wins IndyCar qualifying in Nashville

Lebanon, TN (Sports Network) - Scott Dixon captured the pole for Saturday night's Firestone Indy 200 at the Nashville Superspeedway. The No.9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver circled the 1.333-mile oval in 22.8947 seconds (204.414 m.p.h.).
The pole victory was Dixon's second of the season and eighth of his IndyCar career. Dixon, the defending Firestone Indy 200 champion, won last week's road course race at Watkins Glen, his third in a row at the upstate New York site.
"The car has been fast all weekend," said Dixon. "It's good for what we need. You know we need to put the pressure on the AGR guys any time we can, leading sessions and leading qualifying. Hopefully we'll have a good car in the race tomorrow."
Dario Franchitti will start alongside Dixon on the front row after a best lap of 22.9555 seconds.
Franchitti has been great all season and it shows in the standings. He has three wins, including the Indianapolis 500, and has yet to finish below seventh. Franchitti has been even better over the last three weeks winning two times and finishing third in the other.
Franchitti has taken a close championship race that had at least six drivers thinking titles and turned it into a two-man, maybe a three-man, race.
The Edinburgh, Scotland native owns a 47-point lead over Dixon. Franchitti's Andretti Green Racing teammate Tony Kanaan is in third place, 75 points back.
Kanaan (22.9668) and Sam Hornish Jr. (22.9815) will make up row two.
The race is set to drop the green flag on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (et).

Scott Dixon wins at Camping World Watkins Glen Grand Prix IndyCar race

Watkins Glen, NY (Sports Network) - Scott Dixon captured Sunday's Camping World Watkins Glen Grand Prix IndyCar race on the Watkins Glen International road course for the third consecutive year. The No.9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver crossed the finish line 6.2591 seconds ahead of Sam Hornish Jr.
The victory was Dixon's first of the season and seventh of his IndyCar career.
"Our car was bloody fast," said Dixon.
Helio Castroneves led Dixon to the green flag for the first of 60 scheduled laps. Dixon tried to go to the inside at the first turn, but couldn't get it done. In fact, Dario Franchitti got even with Dixon and almost completed a move around the outside of the No.9 Target Chip Ganassi car.
Castroneves quickly built his lead to almost half-a-second in the opening laps. By lap 10 the gap had increased to 1.0611 seconds. Franchitti was hanging close, but fourth-place Tony Kanaan had fallen more than six seconds off the pace.
The top-three stayed in close proximity and all three pitted together on lap 16. They returned to the track in the same order they entered. Marco Andretti inherited the lead, but he had yet to make his first stop.
After the stop, Dixon seemed to be a little quicker than Castroneves as he closed the gap to just a few car lengths. On the other hand, Franchitti dropped back almost three seconds from the leaders.
They were coming out of turn 11 and heading to the start/finish line to begin lap 21 when Castroneves got loose and slammed the outside wall. Dixon avoided the incident, ducking to the inside and assumed the race lead.
Castroneves got out of the car, unhurt, but frustrated. It was his third DNF this season compared to 2006 when the Brazilian had one for the entire season.