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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Jun 27, 2015; Fontana, CA, USA; IndyCar driver Ryan Hunter-Reay (28) leads a group during the MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 27, 2015; Fontana, CA, USA; IndyCar driver Ryan Hunter-Reay (28) leads a group during the MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /

No. 4 – 2012 Championship Battle

For the third consecutive season, Will Power led the championship standings heading into the final race of an IndyCar season. This time, he led by 17 points over Ryan Hunter-Reay heading into the 2012 season finale at Fontana, the race set to wrap up the first season in which the DW12 chassis was used.

At the time, this was Power’s largest championship lead over 2nd place heading into a season finale out of a total of three occurrences, and Hunter-Reay had not looked super strong at the track in practice or qualifying. With the two running side by side early in the race, Power experienced something similar to what he had experienced in the past two seasons: a crash in the season finale while leading the championship standings.

Because Power’s 17-point lead over Hunter-Reay coming into the race was the largest of his career going into a season finale, Hunter-Reay didn’t just need a top 10 finish like Dario Franchitti did in 2010 to come away with the championship. Instead, he needed to finish in the top 5. Given his lack of speed all weekend long, that seemed like a tall task. But he had much of the race to do it.

Hunter-Reay did end up finishing in the top 5 with a 4th place finish to win his first championship. But after Power crashed, it was a long, long race for Hunter-Reay to try to finish in the top 5 and win the title and a seemingly even longer wait for Power before he knew that he would not be the 2012 IndyCar champion.