As you probably know by now, the IZOD IndyCar Series is celebrating its 200th event this weekend at Kentucky Speedway (Sat., 8 p.m. ET, Versus). A lot of things have happened since Buzz Calkins won the inaugural race back in 1996 -- if you've been following along for a while, you know what I'm talking about and there's no need for exposition.

With that in mind, I find myself trying to think of my favorite speedway race and favorite road race from the last 199 events. There's been plenty of exciting ones over the years, but it didn't take long for two of them to stand out in my mind.

Best oval race: Texas II, 2002 -- Panther kills the Penske giant

In retrospect, you could call this the final race of the "old" Indy Racing League. Team Penske's arrival in the 2002 season would foreshadow the CART exodus of 2003 that saw teams and manufacturers cross over to Tony George's series. But before the IRL's DNA was altered forever, Sam Hornish Jr. and Panther Racing managed to defy the odds and take down the flagship team of American open-wheel racing for their second straight League championship. Keep in mind that Hornish could've finished second to Penske driver Helio Castroneves at the '02 season finale in Texas and still would've won the crown...yet he dueled the Brazilian anyway and won by .0096 of a second.

Two years later, Hornish would join Team Penske and eventually, he claimed his third series championship with them in 2006. He then moved to Roger Penske's NASCAR squad in 2008 and promptly descended into mid-pack status where he is today. But we'll always have this race to look back on.

It's a true classic.

Best road/street race: Sao Paulo, 2010 -- Sometimes, messy is good

Yeah, the road racing debut for the IRL in 2005 showed that the series could be just as entertaining as Champ Car on the twisty tracks. But this year's season opener in Brazil was absolutely insane. First, folks weren't sure if the event would even go off. Then when it did, drivers kept slipping, sliding and crashing on the course's main straight during practice, which necessitated an overnight diamond grinding before race day.

Finally, the race itself -- it had everything but a plague of locusts descend upon the track. You had a wild first-turn crash that ended with one car (Mario Moraes) stacked on another car (Marco Andretti), a major storm that stopped the race and knocked out the power, Ryan Briscoe throwing away a clear victory by stuffing it in the tires late, and Will Power triumphant in his first full-time run with Team Penske. Not to mention all the good racing that the nearly mile-long backstretch and final hairpin created.

A lot of people claim street racing is boring and sometimes, they're right. But this street race was far from it. For pure entertainment, the inaugural Sao Paulo Indy 300 was a blast to watch.

Saturday's Kentucky Indy 300 (8 p.m. ET, Versus) will mark the 200th event in IZOD IndyCar Series history. It's certainly a nice accomplishment and it's coming just as Will Power and Dario Franchitti engage in another classic IndyCar title duel.

But as the series looks back on its past this weekend, it also faces a future filled with challenges. From the completion of the 2012 car project to curing chronic ailments such as lacking attendance and poor TV ratings, Randy Bernard, Brian Barnhart, Tony Cotman and the rest of the Indy Racing League gang will have to solve these problems (and others) in order to ensure long-term survival for their series.

Check out my latest story on FoxSports.com to find out how I see the series as it hits a major milestone this weekend.

I'd be remiss not to pass along word about Sarah Fisher Racing teaming up with the Susan G. Komen Foundation once again. Just like last year, fans can participate in a helmet design contest -- the winning design will be on Fisher's headgear for the season-ending Cafes do Brasil Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Oct. 2.

If you want to show off your inner artist, you have until next Tuesday (Sept. 7) to submit your work. More details are over on the League blog.

Graham Rahal will suit up for his fourth race of 2010 with Sarah Fisher Racing on Saturday at Kentucky Speedway. According to Nate Ryan of USA Today, Rahal received permission from Newman-Haas Racing (whose current six-race pact with Rahal didn't include a ride at Kentucky) and will have SFR team sponsor Service Central as a backer.

Rahal ran with SFR earlier this year at St. Petersburg, Barber Motorsports Park, and Long Beach.

As Mike Conway's rehabilitation continues, Dreyer and Reinbold Racing has brought in Paul Tracy to drive Conway's No. 24 machine for the next two events at Kentucky Speedway (Sat., 8 p.m. ET, Versus) and Twin Ring Motegi (Sept. 18). The former Champ Car World Series champion will have backing from Motegi Wheels.

Tracy has raced in three events this season -- Watkins Glen with DRR, and Toronto and Edmonton with KV Racing Technology. His best finish came at Edmonton, where he placed sixth.

"I'm excited to have the opportunity to run some ovals with the team," said Tracy in a team press statement. "It's been a while since I've raced on an oval but I'm ready for the challenge with the next two races, plus I have some experience in Japan. Many thanks to [team co-owners] Robbie [Buhl] and Dennis [Reinbold] for welcoming me to their team."

"We are very happy to have Paul back with us for the next two events," Buhl said in the statement. "He's a great driver and big personality, and we are thrilled to have him driving for us in Kentucky and Japan. Paul did a great job for us in Watkins Glen and we can't wait to get him on an oval with us."

Tracy will be making his Kentucky debut this Saturday in the Kentucky Indy 300. The full DRR release can be found here.

1. White knuckle ride

Wheel-to-wheel action. Two and three-wide racing through the field. Drivers enjoying the excitement (Dan Wheldon, Marco Andretti). Drivers not enjoying the excitement (Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves). In short, typical Chicagoland. PLUS 20.

2. Championship shift

With Dario Franchitti's win and Will Power's late-race fuel woes, the championship is now up in the air with three races to go. Considering Franchitti's experience in tight points battles, you have to give a bit of an edge to him. But you still gotta love Power's guarantee of winning on Saturday night at Kentucky (find the IMS Radio podcast from last Saturday); clearly, his confidence remains firmly intact. PLUS 15.

3. (Not) my kind of (ghost) town

Potentially the last IZOD IndyCar Series event at Chicagoland played out to an attendance of 20,000 tops. And from what I've heard, the embarrassing turnout can be blamed on the track for not pushing the race hard enough. Whether that was intentional or not, I don't know for sure. But I do know that the hardcore faithful just got another reason to hate ISC (Chicagoland's parent). As if they needed it. MINUS 25.

4. Where have you guys been?

Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti have not made much of an impact in 2010, but both threw everything they had at Franchitti in the final 25 laps. Wheldon's runner-up effort was his first podium since Indy and Andretti's third-place finish was his first podium since Texas. Can they continue the momentum throughout these last three oval events? PLUS 5.

5. Vision fades

Ed Carpenter and Vision Racing returned to the track on Saturday and Carpenter quickly charged from his 11th place starting position to the lead pack. A top-five run looked promising but the American fell victim to refueling problems on a stop. Upon returning to pit road, Carpenter stalled the No. 20 machine and was then tagged with a drive-thru penalty for speeding. Hey, at least Kentucky's coming up. MINUS 3.

6. We've got issues

League CEO Randy Bernard and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing co-owner Dennis Reinbold attempted to stop rumors flying about some IndyCar owners rejecting the 2012 machine. But while Bernard and Reinbold tried to project a united front, there appears to be plenty of evidence that trouble is brewing between the League and the team owners. MINUS 20.

This week's tally: -8 beans.

Season tally (after 14 races): 15 beans.

IndyCar title fight takes a turn as Franchitti wins and Power fades at Chicagoland

Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a championship.

Will Power came into tonight's Peak Antifreeze/Motor Oil Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway with a 59-point advantage and with just a few laps to go, he was sitting in third position. He may or may not have been able to catch leader and title rival Dario Franchitti, but he'd minimize the points hit he'd take.

But with five laps remaining, Power was victimized by a refueling issue that had emerged during his final stop of the night and caused his No. 12 Verizon Team Penske machine to not take a full tank of ethanol. He was forced to come to pit road and get enough fuel to make it to the finish, knocking him out of the hunt.

That left Franchitti to ward off the twin assaults of Dan Wheldon and Marco Andretti and claim his 26th American open-wheel racing victory. As a result of his win and Power's fuel woes, the latter's lead in the IZOD IndyCar Series championship is now down to 23 points going into next Saturday's Kentucky Indy 300 (8 p.m. ET, Versus).

When Power conquered Infineon Raceway last weekend, it seemed like he had enough of a cushion to hang on in the final four events and win the 2010 IndyCar crown. That is no longer the case.

"I think we saw tonight, we see how quickly these things can change, especially on these one-and-a-half mile tracks," said Franchitti. "We're just going to keep going. It would have been easy to give up halfway through the race there when we were running in sort of 10th or whatever, and that's how you get it done, and I'm lucky to be part of Team Target.

"I've been on the receiving end of getting beaten from them sometimes when they managed to pull things out of seemingly nowhere, so it was nice to be on the end of actually winning the thing tonight."

Franchitti and his No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing team decided not to take new tires on their final stop at Lap 172, which helped enable the Scotsman to beat Power out of the pits. Shortly after that stop, word came that Power may not have gotten enough fuel to get through the final laps -- a fear that was eventually realized.

Power was credited with a 16th place finish, but his confidence clearly remains high. He told an IMS Radio Network reporter after the race that he would win at Kentucky.

"[The refueling problem] was just a mistake that we couldn't afford," Power said. "This obviously makes things tougher for the championship, but we're still in front and we proved how competitive we can be on the ovals. We'll move on and we will work harder next week at Kentucky."

Up to Lap 196, Power had a front-row seat to a dicey battle for second between Wheldon and Andretti that was eventually claimed by the former Indy 500 winner. It's Wheldon's first top-five finish since the Indianapolis 500.

"I tried to do what I did to Helio [Castroneves] in 2006 at Homestead to Dario, and I probably just dropped back a little bit too much to really get the run that I should have," he said. "I probably mistimed it by 40 or 50 feet, so that was my bad. But I certainly utilized the two Push-to-Passes that I had left on the back stretch to start the white flag lap, and then as soon as that ran out, I hit it again. I just left it a bit too late.

"Like I said, I was about 40 or 50 feet wrong on my decision."

Andretti came away with a podium finish after a night of riding the high groove successfully for the most part.

"...You know, if it didn't work up there, I'm not sure if I would have been able to come from seventh because we lost a few in the pits, and obviously, some guys didn't take tires," he said. "So you know, we had to come from seventh, and I normally set my car up to run there because if you're one of the few that can run up there, it's normally clean air and you can just stay flat-out. If somebody is running on the white line, you can't pass them, so [the high groove's] the only way to pass them."

Andretti and pole sitter Ryan Briscoe fought for the top spot during the first half of the race until Sarah Fisher stayed out under yellow at Lap 80 to take the lead. She held the lead at the Lap 90 restart, but lost it to Briscoe one lap later.

As Fisher battled a swarm of drivers to stay in second position, Briscoe pulled away from the two and three-wide antics behind him until Power and Franchitti managed to get by Fisher and set sail for the point.

On Lap 136, Briscoe relinquished the lead to Power for pit service. But instead of the lead cycling back to him after the green flag stops, it was Wheldon and Ryan Hunter-Reay that emerged up front.

Power then made a charge and battled for the lead with Wheldon and Andretti until Alex Lloyd spun out of Turn 4 and came to rest in the infield grass on Lap 169. This brought out a full-course yellow and set the stage for another tight Chicagoland finish.

The event featured plenty of wheel-to-wheel action that makes the fans happy but can also make the drivers cringe. Fourth-place finisher Hunter-Reay sounded off on questionable driving from some of his peers afterwards.

"I'm happy with a top four, but I'm upset with the way some guys drove," the American said. "It was crazy out there. When you put 15 fast cars in a group that you could throw a king-sized blanket over, you're going to have people who are [ticked] off. You can't do everything right."

His Andretti Autosport teammate Tony Kanaan echoed those sentiments.

"It's great for the fans, but it's hard to enjoy it as a driver," said the former IndyCar champ, who placed fifth. "For most of the night, you're in survival mode. Everybody is going to get mad at each other at one point or another in a race like this, because there is nowhere to hide.

"People were doing crazy things out there and it's a bit upsetting."

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IZOD IndyCar Series
Peak Indy 300
Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, Ill.

Final results
1. 9-Dario Franchitti, Ganassi, avg. of 169.161 m.p.h., led 28 laps.
2. 4-Dan Wheldon, Panther, -.0423 of a second.
3. 26-Marco Andretti, Andretti, -.1051 of a second.
4. 37-Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti, -.1631 of a second.
5. 11-Tony Kanaan, Andretti, -.3408 of a second.
6. 3-Helio Castroneves, Penske, -.4868 of a second.
7. 22-Justin Wilson, D&R, -.5953 of a second.
8. 9-Scott Dixon, Ganassi, -.9137 of a second.
9. 14-Vitor Meira, Foyt, -.9588 of a second.
10. 02-Graham Rahal, Newman/Haas, -.9841 of a second.
11. 6-Ryan Briscoe, Penske, -1.0185 seconds.
12. 34-Bertrand Baguette, Conquest, -1.0833 seconds.
13. 06-Hideki Mutoh, Newman/Haas, -1.3042 seconds.
14. 7-Danica Patrick, Andretti, -1.5658 seconds.
15. 67-Sarah Fisher, Fisher, one lap down.
16. 12-Will Power, Penske, one lap down.
17. 32-Mario Moraes, KVRT, one lap down.
18. 21-Davey Hamilton, DFDragon, one lap down.
19. 18-Milka Duno, Coyne, one lap down.
20. 20-Ed Carpenter, Panther, 21 laps down, fuel.
21. 66-Jay Howard, Fisher, 38 laps down, handling.
22. 19-Alex Lloyd, Coyne, 38 laps down.
23. 78-Simona de Silvestro, HVM, 50 laps down, driveline.
24. 24-Ana Beatriz, D&R, 112 laps down, contact.
25. 77-Alex Tagliani, FAZZT, 115 laps down, contact.
26. 5-Takuma Sato, KVRT, 120 laps down, contact.
27. 8-E.J. Viso, KVRT, 120 laps down, contact.
28. 36-Tomas Scheckter, Conquest, 196 laps down, contact.
29. 2-Raphael Matos, DFDragon, 196 laps down, contact.

Point standings
1. 12-Will Power, 528.
2. 10-Dario Franchitti, 505.
3. 9-Scott Dixon, 443.
4. 6-Ryan Briscoe, 406.
5. 3-Helio Castroneves, 398.
6. 37-Ryan Hunter-Reay, 392.
7. 11-Tony Kanaan, 360.
8. 26-Marco Andretti, 319.
9. 22-Justin Wilson, 316.
10. 4-Dan Wheldon, 309.

Next race
Sept. 4 -- Kentucky Indy 300, Kentucky Speedway, Sparta, Ky.

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All quotes in this article were taken from Saturday's post-race press conference transcript and trackside report.

The IZOD IndyCar Series championship took another twist tonight as Dario Franchitti held off Dan Wheldon by .0423 of a second to win the Peak Antifreeze/Motor Oil Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway.

But even more importantly, the Scotsman emerged with a major gain on championship leader Will Power with three races left in the 2010 season. Power was running in the top five when he was forced to pit with less than five laps to go for a splash of fuel. He was credited with a 16th place finish and his lead in the championship over Franchitti is now just 23 points.

Franchitti and his Target Chip Ganassi Racing team took a gamble on their final stop of the night by foregoing tires. But the decision enabled him to beat Power out of pit road and from there, he was able to keep Wheldon and Marco Andretti behind him for the final 22 laps to claim his 26th victory in IRL/Champ Car competition.

Andretti Autosport drivers Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Tony Kanaan went third, fourth, and fifth respectively. The top ten was completed by Helio Castroneves, Justin Wilson, Scott Dixon, Vitor Meira and Graham Rahal.

More to come later tonight...

A few days after Robin Miller first reported that several IZOD IndyCar Series owners were leaning toward rejecting the 2012 next-generation IndyCar on the basis of cost, Indy Racing League CEO Randy Bernard and Dreyer and Reinbold Racing team co-owner Dennis Reinbold said that League officials (including 2012 car chief Tony Cotman) and team owners will work together to ensure that the new machines will be the best they can be.

IndyCar.com has put out a report stating that Cotman will provide updates on the project to the team owners during next weekend's event at Kentucky Speedway and that the team owners wanted answers on cost-effectiveness, replacement parts and technical rules.

The report also gives some new details on League officials' forthcoming trip to Europe. Bernard, De Ferran Dragon Racing team owner Gil de Ferran, and ICONIC committee member Tony Purnell will head across the Atlantic on Aug. 31. After meeting with officials from chassis supplier Dallara, the trio will meet with more officials from multiple European car/engine makers.

Will tonight see IndyCar's final show at Chicagoland?

Some of the best racing in IZOD IndyCar Series history has come at the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway, site of tonight's PEAK Antifreeze/Motor Oil Indy 300 (7 p.m. ET, Versus). But the ISC-owned facility appears less and less likely to be a stop on IndyCar's 2011 schedule.

The series may not have any events at ISC tracks next season according to The Indianapolis Star's Curt Cavin, who writes today about why IndyCar will probably not be able to find a suitable 2011 date at Chicagoland. Recently, Chicagoland got word that it would host the opening race for the 2011 NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship and their other events got shuffled around as a result. As such, IndyCar could be the odd series out.

It's just one more sign that the 2011 campaign will be sporting a much different look with new tracks such as Baltimore and New Hampshire, as well as the recently announced night race at Iowa Speedway.

If tonight sees the last event for the IndyCars at Chicagoland, it will be a shame considering how much wheel-to-wheel excitement has been created there over the last decade. But it also will not be a surprise considering that ISC has its own priorities (i.e. NASCAR) to take care of.

With the seemingly imminent end of an era on tap for later on, I've posted a video of Sam Hornish Jr. taking down Al Unser Jr. by .0024 of a second at Chicagoland in 2002. It remains the closest finish that the IZOD IndyCar Series has ever had.

History was made that day and history could be made again tonight. Unfortunately, it might not be the good kind.

Video credit: "rbb9753" on YouTube.