Beyond the Flag
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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; Three time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti along with car owner Chip Ganassi work in their pit box during qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports
May 22, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Three time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti along with car owner Chip Ganassi work in their pit box during qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Thomas J. Russo-USA TODAY Sports /

No. 5 – 2010 Championship Battle

Heading into the 2010 season finale at Homestead, Will Power led Dario Franchitti in the championship standings by 12 points, a margin that had been decreasing over the past couple of races. In the second half of the race, Power hit the wall, which ended his race.

At this point, it became a waiting game to see who would end up being crowned the 2010 IndyCar champion. With Franchitti having had a great race up to that point, it appeared likely that he would end up coasting away with the championship by a sizable gap in the points. However, that did not end up being the case.

After Power crashed, Franchitti knew what he needed to do to win his third championship, and that was simply bring home a top 10 finish. While there was certainly pressure to do that, Power was not in the race to apply that pressure.

But because he simply started managing his race to win the championship as opposed to driving hard to win the race, which he had been doing all night long up until Power crashed, Franchitti was almost involved in a wreck late in the race that would have ended his championship hopes. He was in 9th place at the time of the accident.

Franchitti ultimately did end up finishing the race in 8th place to claim his third IndyCar championship, but there was a lot more pressure than he or anybody would have expected to do so given the fact that Power had crashed out of the race.