IndyCar: 2010 Indy Japan 300 settles oval championship [SPOILERS]

2010 Indy Japan 300 – Click above for high-res image gallery

Heading into Saturday, only two races remained in the 2010 Izod IndyCar Series season, and the championship is coming down to the wire. Team Penske’s Will Power raced to an early lead in the standings, his dominating performances on the road and street courses earning him the inaugural Mario Andretti award as the road course champ.

Team Target Chip Ganassi teammates Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon headed to Japan in second and third respectively and first and second in the oval championship standings. Power’s lead before the green flag waved at Twin Ring Motegi was 17 points over Dario, the same lead Franchitti has over Dixon in the race for the A.J. Foyt oval champ award. This weekend’s Indy Japan 300 was crucial, with the potential to end with both championships decided even though the season’s final race at Homestead is still two weeks away.

Follow the jump to see how it played out.

[Images: Jonathan Ferrey, Chris Graythen/Jiji Press/AFP/Getty, Shizuo Kambayashi, Greg Baker/AP]

Qualifying found Helio Castroneves at the top of the timing and scoring sheets, his Penske teammate, Ryan Briscoe, a tenth of a second behind him in second. Series leader Will Power was third, followed by his main title rival, Dario Franchitti. Behind Dario were three Andretti Autosports cars, but Danica Patrick was not among them. Although she won this race in 2008 to record her only IndyCar Series victory to date, the sometime swimsuit model could do no better than 12th.

As has (unfortunately) become the norm this year, within seconds of the green flag flying, the yellow was out in its place. This week’s first to go was Bertrand Baguette, the young Belgian who has shown incredible promise all season. His crash in Turn 2 brought out the yellow and several cars pitted during the cleanup. That staggered pit strategy could pay off in the end, but there were still 190-plus laps to run before we’d find out.

The restart on Lap 11 saw a back-and-forth battle begin between Dario Franchitti and Ryan Briscoe for second behind Helio Castroneves. The two swapped positions at just about every turn for a couple of laps before Franchitti remembered there were still over 180 laps to run and settled into third.

A problem with Alex Lloyd’s car brought out another yellow around Lap 42, which turned out to be the perfect time for everyone to pit. When the race went back back to green seven laps later, it was Helio, Briscoe, Dario, Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti in the top five spots. Danica Patrick had moved up to sixth just ahead of Dixon, Dan Wheldon and Will Power. They stayed pretty much in those same spots until Mario Moraes went into the wall in Turn 2, bringing out the day’s third caution.

It took track officials quite a while to extricate Mario, but he was seen gesturing so his injuries didn’t appear life-threatening. Most of the leaders used the opportunity to pit again, and on Lap 78 when green flag racing resumed, non-stopper Rafael Matos was out in front, followed by Hideki Mutoh and Helio Castroneves. By the halfway point, Briscoe and then Castroneves had moved past Matos, while Franchitti passed Mutoh for fourth.

Paul Tracy’s was the next car to make contact with the wall, although it was just a brush. Still, the powers that be decided to bring out the full-course yellow, giving all racers a chance to refuel and make up whatever gaps they were facing under green. Alex Lloyd hit the same spot around Lap 148, his car skidding along the wall and catching fire in a scene eerily similar to Simona de Silvestro’s incident earlier this year. Thankfully, Lloyd was able to get himself out much quicker.

Castroneves, Franchitti, Briscoe, Power, Patrick, Dixon, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Kanaan, Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal were the top ten when the racing back to green on Lap 168 of 200. The last laps ticked away with no major changes save one: Ryan Briscoe started slipping back. When the checkers flew it was Helio Castroneves claiming victory, followed by oval champ Dario Franchitti and Will Power, who goes into the final race of the season with a slim 12 point lead.

Join us October 2 for the final race from Miami-Homestead to see if Power can hold on and win the championship. And don’t forget to check out the full results and standings below.

Qualifying:

QP	Car	Driver	Sponsor	Team	Time	Speed
1	3	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske	Team Penske	54.1803	201.992
2	6	Ryan Briscoe	Team Penske	Team Penske	54.2873	201.594
3	12	Will Power	Verizon Team Penske	Verizon Team Penske	54.3226	201.463
4	10	Dario Franchitti	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	54.4574	200.964
5	26	Marco Andretti	Team Venom Energy	Andretti Autosport	54.6689	200.187
6	11	Tony Kanaan	Team 7-Eleven	Andretti Autosport	54.7169	200.011
7	37	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Team IZOD	Andretti Autosport	54.8233	199.623
8	8	E.J. Viso	PDVSA-KV Racing Technology	KV Racing Technology	54.8606	199.487
9	4	Dan Wheldon	National Guard Panther Racing	Panther Racing	54.9329	199.225
10	5	Takuma Sato (R)	Lotus-KV Racing Technology	KV Racing Technology	54.9423	199.191
11	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	54.9844	199.020
12	7	Danica Patrick	Team GoDaddy.com	Andretti Autosport	55.0130	198.935
13	34	Bertrand Baguette (R)	RACB Conquest Racing	Conquest Racing	55.0520	198.794
14	14	Vitor Meira	ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt Racing	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	55.2867	197.950
15	19	Alex Lloyd (R)	Boy Scouts of America	Dale Coyne Racing	55.3969	197.556
16	02	Graham Rahal	NHR/Quick Trim	Newman/Haas Racing	55.4402	197.402
17	06	Hideki Mutoh	Formula Dream/Panasonic	Newman/Haas Racing	55.4517	197.361
18	22	Justin Wilson	Team Z-Line Designs/DRR	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	55.5956	196.850
19	2	Raphael Matos	HP de Ferran Dragon	de Ferran Dragon Racing	55.6061	196.840
20	32	Mario Moraes	KV Racing Technology	KV Racing Technology	55.7060	196.460
21	36	Roger Yasukawa	CWE Conquest Racing	Conquest Racing	55.7524	196.296
22	24	Paul Tracy	Motegi Racing Wheels/DRR	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	55.9198	195.709
23	77	Alex Tagliani	FAZZT Race Team	FAZZT Race Team	55.9844	195.483
24	78	Simona de Silvestro (R)	Team Stargate Worlds/HVM	HVM Racing	56.5403	193.561
25	18	Milka Duno	CITGO	Dale Coyne Racing	56.8439	192.527

Finishing Order:

FP	Car	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Status	Points
1	3	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske	200	02:04:04.4780	Running	53
2	10	Dario Franchitti	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	200	02:04:09.0526	Running	40
3	12	Will Power	Team Penske	200	02:04:09.5523	Running	35
4	6	Ryan Briscoe	Team Penske	200	02:04:10.9605	Running	32
5	7	Danica Patrick	Andretti Autosport	200	02:04:12.0837	Running	30
6	9	Scott Dixon	Target Chip Ganassi Racing	200	02:04:12.8421	Running	28
7	11	Tony Kanaan	Andretti Autosport	200	02:04:13.8873	Running	26
8	02	Graham Rahal	Newman/Haas Racing	200	02:04:16.1943	Running	24
9	37	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	200	02:04:16.6905	Running	22
10	4	Dan Wheldon	Panther Racing	200	02:04:16.9500	Running	20
11	26	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	200	02:04:19.9787	Running	19
12	5	Takuma Sato (R)	KV Racing Technology	200	02:04:20.5473	Running	18
13	77	Alex Tagliani	FAZZT Race Team	200	02:04:22.1554	Running	17
14	06	Hideki Mutoh	Newman/Haas Racing	200	02:04:22.7591	Running	16
15	8	E.J. Viso	KV Racing Technology	200	02:04:23.2129	Running	15
16	22	Justin Wilson	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	200	02:04:23.9073	Running	14
17	14	Vitor Meira	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	200	02:04:24.5827	Running	13
18	2	Raphael Matos	de Ferran Dragon Racing	200	02:04:25.7126	Running	12
19	18	Milka Duno	Dale Coyne Racing	197	02:04:15.8904	Running	12
20	36	Roger Yasukawa	Conquest Racing	195	02:04:17.7167	Running	12
21	19	Alex Lloyd	Dale Coyne Racing	131	01:27:00.3441	Contact	12
22	24	Paul Tracy	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	114	01:08:35.9412	Contact	12
23	78	Simona De Silvestro	Team Stargate Worlds/HVM	85	00:58:30.2743	Mechanical	12
24	32	Mario Moraes	KV Racing Technology	66	00:39:41.1934	Contact	12
25	34	Bertrand Baguette	Conquest Racing	1	00:00:30.9661	Contact	10

Driver’s Standings:

CP	Driver	Champ Lead	Oval Champ	Road Champ	Points	Gap
1	Will Power	X		X	587	0
2	Dario Franchitti		X		575	-12
3	Helio Castroneves				501	-86
4	Scott Dixon				497	-90
5	Ryan Briscoe				450	-137
6	Ryan Hunter-Reay				426	-161
7	Tony Kanaan				418	-169
8	Dan Wheldon				366	-221
9	Marco Andretti				366	-221
10	Justin Wilson				349	-238

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