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IndyCar: Ranking the Past 10 Series Champions

By Asher Fair

Sep 18, 2016; Sonoma, CA, USA; Hewlett Packard Enterprise driver Simon Pagenaud (center) celebrates his win and the title with Verizon Team Penske driver Juan Pablo Montoya (right) and Steak’n Shake driver Graham Rahal (left) after the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 18, 2016; Sonoma, CA, USA; Hewlett Packard Enterprise driver Simon Pagenaud (center) celebrates his win and the title with Verizon Team Penske driver Juan Pablo Montoya (right) and Steak’n Shake driver Graham Rahal (left) after the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jul 13, 2013; Toronto, ON, Canada; IndyCar Series driver Dario Franchitti during the Honda Indy Toronto through the streets of downtown Toronto. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 13, 2013; Toronto, ON, Canada; IndyCar Series driver Dario Franchitti during the Honda Indy Toronto through the streets of downtown Toronto. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports /

No. 8 – Dario Franchitti, Chip Ganassi Racing, 2010

With Will Power having dominated the championship standings for pretty much all of the 2010 season, it appeared as though 2010 Indy 500 champion Dario Franchitti’s chances to win his third title were slim. But Franchitti was able to hang tough with eight consecutive top 5 finishes, including seven podium finishes and two wins, in the eight races preceding the season finale.

With just one finish all season lower than 12th place all season long leading up the season finale, Dario Franchitti truly had been great all season long. Will Power had just been better. But in the season finale at Homestead, Franchitti appeared to be in a position to steal the championship from Power.

That was even before things went wrong for Power, and a wreck took him out of the race for his first DNF of the season. At this point, Franchitti simply needed to finish the race in the top 10, and he had had one of the top 2 fastest cars all night long. There was definitely pressure on him to win that third championship, but like for Ryan Hunter-Reay on the previous slide, Power wasn’t there to apply that pressure.

After not driving as hard and slipping back in the field, Franchitti’s decision to not go all-out nearly cost him, as he was nearly caught up in a wreck. Franchitti ended up slipping all the way back to 8th place for his third-lowest finish of the season to win the championship by five points over Power.