Castroneves wins in Chicago but Dixon wins 2008 IRL title.
September 7, 2008
Helio Castroneves won the race in the second closest finish in the history of the IndyCar Series, but it wasn’t enough to stop Scott Dixon from taking his second championship.
Castroneves came from last place Sunday to win the PEAK Indy 300, but Dixon, who knew coming in he only had to finish eighth or better to win the title, took the lead with a perfect pit stop late in the race and nearly held off Castroneves for the victory, crossing the finish line inches behind the winner.
It was sweet redemption for Dixon, who lost both the race and the championship to Dario Franchitti last year at Chicagoland Speedway when he ran out of fuel two turns from the finish.
Dixon became the fourth straight Indianapolis 500 winner to go on to earn the series championship, following Dan Wheldon, Sam Hornish Jr. and Franchitti.
The champion gave Target Chip Ganassi Racing its sixth open-wheel title, including four in the now-defunct CART/Champ Car series. Ganassi’s team of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas also wrapped up the Rolex Grand-Am Sports Car Series championship a week ago.
Dixon added the title to the one he won in 2003, his first year in IndyCar, by racing all season with consistency. He finished with a record-tying six victories and 14 top-five finishes in 17 starts.
Things looked bright for Dixon and particularly bleak for Castroneves on Saturday when the Brazilian qualified fourth, but was penalized to the rear of the 28-car field for driving under the white out-of-bounds line at the bottom of the banked 1.5-mile oval on each of his four laps.
But the determined Castroneves, trailing Dixon by 30 points and knowing he had to win or finish second and lead the most laps to have any shot at his first series title, gave himself a chance by charging from the green flag.
His No. 3 Team Penske Dallara sliced through traffic, moving quickly into contention. Castroneves got to 10th on lap 20, passed Dixon for third on lap 66 and took the lead by beating teammate Ryan Briscoe out of the pits during a caution flag stop on lap 78.
Meanwhile, Dixon, who had a seemingly unbeatable 78-point lead with just three races to go, came into the last points race of the season knowing he was vulnerable again, thanks to a late-season charge by Castroneves, who finished with two victories and eight second-place finishes.
The 28-year-old New Zealander started next to pole-winner Briscoe but fell as far back as 11th in the middle of the race and never led until 15 laps from the end after he came out of the pits about three feet ahead of Castroneves after their final stops.
From that point to the end, it was a two-man race, with Castroneves chasing Dixon. He finally got alongside Dixon on lasp 199 and each got a nose ahead several times until Castroneves somehow managed to lead at the finish line. It took a photo finish camera to make the determination.
Castroneves did lead a race-high 80 laps, earning the 3-point bonus, but Dixon wound up 17 points ahead in the title chase.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
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