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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 22, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Verizon Indy Car driver Scott Dixon waits in the qualifying line during qualifications for the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
May 22, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Verizon Indy Car driver Scott Dixon waits in the qualifying line during qualifications for the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /

No. 6 – 2008 Championship Battle

In one of the closest finishes in IndyCar history, the 2008 IndyCar champion was decided. Sort of. The finish itself did not decide the champion, which robs this championship battle from being a few spots higher on this list, but the photo finish did feature the season’s two championship contenders.

Scott Dixon came into the 2008 season finale at Chicago with a 30-point lead over Helio Castroneves, so the likelihood that Castroneves would pass him to win the title was extremely small. In fact, even despite the epic finish that you can watch below, Dixon won the championship by a solid 17 points.

The finish itself was one of the greatest finishes in IndyCar history, but it did not affect the championship battle itself. In fact, the only thing in the last few laps of the race that would have allowed Castroneves to win the championship was if Dixon crashed, and that did not happen, giving Dixon the championship victory by the largest points margin from 2006 to 2010.

Had a crash happened, the championship victory for Castroneves would have definitely been more epic, but because it didn’t, the finish of the race itself was more epic. Because these are championship battle rankings and not just championship race rankings, the 2008 championship battle only comes in at #6 on this list.