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IndyCar: Ranking the Past 10 Series Championship Battles

By Asher Fair

Aug 30, 2015; Sonoma, CA, USA; 2nd place IndyCar Series driver Ryan Hunter-Reay, first place IndyCar Series driver Scott Dixon and 3rd place IndyCar Series driver Charlie Kimball raise their respective trophies after the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 30, 2015; Sonoma, CA, USA; 2nd place IndyCar Series driver Ryan Hunter-Reay, first place IndyCar Series driver Scott Dixon and 3rd place IndyCar Series driver Charlie Kimball raise their respective trophies after the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /
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May 25, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; IndyCar Series former driver Dario Franchitti walks the red carper prior to the 2014 Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
May 25, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; IndyCar Series former driver Dario Franchitti walks the red carper prior to the 2014 Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports /

No. 10 – 2011 Championship Battle

Entering the season finale at Las Vegas, Dario Franchitti led Will Power by 18 points after trailing him heading into the season finale in the prior season but winning the championship. But he didn’t really lead him heading into the season finale in 2011.

In fact, Will Power really led Dario Franchitti by 11 points heading into the season finale. And the season finale wasn’t at Las Vegas, rather at Kentucky. But no one knew it at the time. The Las Vegas race was canceled after a 15-car crash killed two-time Indianapolis 500 champion early in the race. The championship race ended up being the previous race at Kentucky because of it.

Since Will Power finished in 19th place in the race at Kentucky, Dario Franchitti took over the championship lead despite not winning and finishing in 2nd place. While the points differential from 1st place to 2nd place is the biggest of all positions in IndyCar, Franchitti’s 2nd place finish at Kentucky in one of the closest finishes ever ended up not costing him the championship since the fact that he still took the points lead meant he would ultimately stay in the lead because Kentucky ended up being the final race of the season.

So not only was there really no championship excitement surrounding the true championship race at Kentucky in 2011, but the reason that the Kentucky race became the championship race two weeks after it was held was the tragic death of Dan Wheldon in the Las Vegas race that was supposed to be the season finale.