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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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Jul 13, 2013; Toronto, ON, Canada; IndyCar Series driver Sebastien Bourdais (left) Scott Dixon (middle) and Dario Franchitti in victory lane after 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 Sebastien Bourdais (left) Scott Dixon (middle) and Dario Franchitti in victory lane after the Honda Indy Toronto through the streets of downtown Toronto. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports /

No. 7 – 2013 Championship Battle

The 2013 championship battle between Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves was really not as close as even the points would suggest. And the winning points margin for Dixon over Castroneves, a 27-point margin, was actually the largest since Dan Wheldon’s over Tony Kanaan in 2005 at the time.

Scott Dixon had a win robbed from him at Sonoma due to an unfair penalty caused by a pit crew member of Helio Castroneves’ teammate Will Power’s car. This allowed Castroneves to expand his championship lead over Dixon.

Then at Baltimore, Will Power, quite simply wrecked Scott Dixon. This allowed Helio Castroneves to further expand his championship lead over Dixon to the point where Dixon could not make up the entire gap in one race.

But in the following race weekend at the Houston doubleheader, Dixon finished in 1st and 2nd place, respectively, while Castroneves finished in 18th and 23rd place, respectively. This allowed Dixon to take a sizable 25-point championship lead into the season finale with regular points on offer.

In addition to finishing ahead of Dixon at Fontana, Castroneves would have needed a miracle to retake the championship lead over Dixon and thus win the championship. Castroneves could not even finish ahead of Dixon, which allowed Dixon to win the 2013 title by 27 points despite the issues with he and Will Power that cost him loads of points.