Dario Franchitti still in hunt for IndyCar title after tyre decoy

Sep 2 2010 West Lothian Courier

DARIO FRANCHITTI took a massive bite of out Will Power’s IndyCar Championship lead after a tyre gamble which paid massive dividends.

Going into the Motor Oil Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway Power was a whopping 59 points clear at the top.

But after an incident-packed race the Bathgate-born star is just 23 behind following a 36-point swing.

The key moments in the race both came in the pits with the first coming on lap 173 after everyone came in following a full-course caution.

Franchitti’s team followed their rivals lead by laying out four tyres but it was a decoy.

They left the Scot’s tyres on opting instead for just a fuel top-up before sending him back out onto the track ahead of the rest.

The call proved to be a winner as the team would lead every remaining lap of the 200-lap race.

Meanwhile, a faulty fuel hose cost championship leader Power severely when he was forced to pit five laps from the end.

This saw him drop from third to 16th to the delight of Franchitti who picked up his third victory of the season.

Franchitti said: “It’s good to have Floyd (Ganassi) back at the track. He hasn’t been here for a while but as usual, he brought us luck tonight.

“We were struggling tonight with the Breathe Right car really in traffic as we got a little further back there. A lot of crazy stuff going on. I was just more comfortable up high.

“That last stop was the key to this race. Chris Simmons was the one that made the call. We had a lot of faith in the Firestone tyres.

“He said leave the tyres on and got us out front. Dan Wheldon was just pushing me all the time, just helping me. I was giving him room at the bottom.

“We were working together very, very well there. So between him and Scott Dixon pushing me around all night. This Team Target is amazing.”

With the finish, Franchitti remains second in the championship with 505 points.

Up next for Team Target is Round 15 of the IZOD IndyCar Series at Kentucky Speedway on September 4.