Dario Franchitti, Will Power set to duel for IndyCar title once again
Once again, it comes down to Dario Franchitti and Will Power for all the glory.
This year’s opening race of the IZOD IndyCar Series championship saw the two pick up where they left off in 2010 as Franchitti and Power finished 1-2 at St. Petersburg, Florida. Now, just one race remains to determine the 2011 title between the pair – Sunday’s 300-mile main event at the IZOD IndyCar World Championships in Las Vegas.
Franchitti holds an 18-point advantage over Power going into Sunday’s final battle (3 p.m. ET, ABC), which will close another exciting chapter in the story of what has become one of racing’s best rivalries.
Power’s weak spot – the ovals – is no longer as glaring as it was last year, when he collapsed in the final four races (all on ovals) and lost the title to Franchitti by a scant five points. This summer, he finally broke through and won his first speedway race in the second of the two Firestone Twin 275s at Texas Motor Speedway.
But the edge is now with Franchitti, who retook the title lead after finishing second at Kentucky Speedway two weeks ago while Power finished 19th after getting hit on pit road by Ana Beatriz early in the event. As a result, both men aren’t making the other guy their main focus on Sunday.
“There’s 34 cars this weekend on the grid at Vegas and any one of them can create a problem or go out there and just flat out beat us,” said Franchitti. “At this point, I’m racing the whole field, as I always have.”
“We need to win the race,” Power said. “Whatever else happens is totally out of our control.”
However, while Power will have to rally from behind in order to claim his first series title, he insisted that the lead-up to this Sunday’s race has been anything but stressful. To those who think that may be a front, remember this. Power had the field covered at Kentucky, leading the first 48 laps of the race before his ill-fated run-in with Beatriz in the pits. Afterwards, Power lamented his lost opportunity but did mention that he had the best car he had ever driven on an oval.
So, Mr. Power, are you worried?
“Actually, I’ve never been so relaxed,” said Power. “I really — I don’t know why. I guess it’s because we’ve put in all the hard work the last couple of weeks with the car. We’ve done everything we can think of…To me, I haven’t thought about it much. I’ve just gone about my fitness regime and I feel — I’ve never felt so relaxed going into a race.”
Meanwhile, Franchitti is taking nothing for granted as he aims to not only bring home another title to Target Chip Ganassi Racing, but also become just the third man in American open-wheel racing history to win three straight titles (Sebastien Bourdais, Champ Car, 2004-07; Ted Horn, AAA, 1946-48).
“You’ve got to be on your guard the whole time,” he said. “For me, you’ve got to do the same job as I would any other race, and you can’t let your concentration drop for a second. Myself, the guys in the pit stops, the guys doing the strategy — you’ve got to operate at least the same high standard as you would normally do. And if you can find a little extra, it’s all good.”
Winning it all on Sunday would continue the burnishing of his legacy, but Franchitti has said time and again that he’ll wait until after his career is over to take in all of his accomplishments. There are plenty of them: Three IZOD IndyCar Series titles, one with Andretti Green Racing (now Andretti Autosport) in 2007 and two with TCGR in 2009 and 2010; two Indianapolis 500 wins in 2007 and 2010; and 30 open-wheel wins, good for ninth all-time. But in Franchitti’s mind, all of that was then and this – the task of winning championship No. 4 — is now.
“All the stuff that was done in the past, that’s fun and everything,” Franchitti said. “But this is about trying to get the job done this weekend.”
It will not be an easy job for either Franchitti or Power, as they try to stay ahead of the biggest IZOD IndyCar Series field outside of Indy since 1997 on a track that will likely deliver more wheel-to-wheel pack racing. Both drivers compared Las Vegas Motor Speedway to Chicagoland Speedway, which was infamous for cringe-inducing packs of cars in its past IndyCar events.
That means another long list of interlopers that could keep the two out of Victory Lane. “There’s a good list of probably 10 or 15 cars could make life very difficult on Sunday,” Franchitti said.
And that all potentially means one heck of a conclusion to Franchitti and Power’s second duel for a championship.
