The 2010 Indy Car season is starting to wind down and the points race is starting to get closer and more dicey than it has been all season.  On Saturday the Indy Car grid lined up at Chicagoland speedway for an oval battle royal (there are no more road courses for the rest of the season).  This race was Will Power’s chance to increase his points lead and give himself a cushion going into the last few races of 2010 but his plans for that were totally dashed when Power was forced to give up fighting at the front to come into the pits for a splash and go since a malfunction in a previous pit stop prevented him from getting the fuel he needed. 

It was none other than Dario Franchitti who took advantage of Will Power’s misfortune to take the lead and eventually the win.  With Dario’s win and Power finishing 16th Dario was able to shorten his gap to Power by a scant 22 points.  This is a dangerous position for Will Power since there are only two races left (Twin Ring Motegi, Japan and Homestead Speedway, Florida).  It looks like things have gotten interesting again folks..

Miss the Indy 500 over the weekend?  Did you record it?  If you did you should immediately stop reading this post!  Go to another one, or better yet go watch your recording so I don’t have to keep worrying about spoiling it!  If you didn’t record it and you live in a cave then read on.

I’ll start off by telling you that this year’s 500 had the most cautions I’ve seen in a while!  It was almost like the track was angry at the drivers for some reason.  Heck, there was a crash in the first lap and even the last lap with plenty of other incidents sprinkled in-between.  Because of all the cautions, the strategy boiled down to fuel and pit stops.  It was all about picking the right sequence and predicting yellow flags to make sure you had more fuel than the other guy.

In the last 20 laps or so it came down to a battle between Dario Franchitti, Dan Weldon, and Marco Andretti.  Marco fell just short enough on fuel that he couldn’t fight with Dario and Dan.  However Dario was also running pretty low on fuel since he built up a huge cap but as he came on lapped traffic he was forced to slow down during the last 5 laps while Dan who was more than adiquate on fuel tried hard to work his way through the traffic and catch Dario.  Alas he Wheldon couldn’t quite make it, then a horrific crash involving Ryan-Hunter Reay and Mike Conway turned the white flag lap yellow thus solidifying Dario’s second career Indy 500 win.  Check out the race highlights below.

Before you know it the LBGP will be descending upon So Cal again and I personally can’t wait.  The last few years I went I was lucky enough to have pit lane access and it was awesome.  Unfortunately most people can’t share in that without having a media pass or some other special badge.  However if you’re lucky you might have a shot at pit access and a ton more.  The National Teen Leadership Program is holding a $5 raffle for pretty pit package for the 2010 Long Beach Grand Prix.

The raffle winner gets a lap around the track in a two-seater indy car, 2 tickets to race day, 2 tickets to practice day, a one on one meet with Dan Weldon, and a pit area tour!  That is a pretty sweet prize for a 5 dollar ticket!  You can get more info on the raffle HERE.  Good Luck.

For those who are unaware the term “Grand Prix” typically means a combination of different motorsports over a weekend.  Last weekend was the Indy Grand Prix Of Sonoma and for the first time Formula D was a part of the Indy Car festivities.  This provided a rare opportunity for a meeting between two highly popular figures in two disciplines.  Formula D points leader Chris Forsberg and Indy Car Series driver and Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon are both sponsored by NOS Energy Drink.  So they got a chance to hang out with each other for a while and ask questions about their respective motorsports.  Here are a few quotes from the meeting.

Chris Forsberg:

“We’re thrilled to be able to bring the Formula DRIFT big show to the IndyCar crowd. It gives us a chance to showcase our professional sport to the IndyCar Series and their fans. We wish Dan, my NOS Energy Drink teammate, the best of luck this weekend.”

Dan Wheldon:

“It’s always good to meet with somebody else that has a great relationship with NOS, and it’s always interesting to meet with some body that’s in a different racing discipline from you and to be able to answer the questions they have about the IndyCar Series and like wise I had questions for him. It was an interesting experience for me, and Chris is in the latter stages of what will hopefully be his first championship, so it was nice to be able to give him some words of encouragement and I wish him all the best for the weekend. And as a fellow NOS drinker, he’s a great person and somebody that I’ll continue to follow with a lot of interest.”

In what some are calling “open wheel musical chairs its been announced that 2007 Indy Car Series champion and Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti will be leaving NASCAR and returning to Indy Car.  Dario will replace another Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon at the Target Chip Ganassi team (the same team Franchitti raced for in NASCAR).

It was also reported at the same time that Dan Wheldon will be replacing Vitor Meira at Panther Racing, the team that Wheldon made his Indy Car debut with a few years ago.

While many are happy that Dario is coming back and Wheldon isn’t leaving the series many fans including myself are frustrated at the fact that Vitor will possibly be out of a ride if Panther can’t find sponsorship to run a second car.

Hopefully things will work out and we’ll see all three very talented drivers running in Indy Car next year.