JOLIET, Ill. — Points leader Ryan Briscoe went wheel-to-wheel with fellow championship contender Scott Dixon on the last lap and came out on top, winning Saturday night’s IndyCar race at Chicagoland Speedway by only 0.0077 seconds.
Dixon finished second by a nose, followed by Mario Moraes and another championship contender, Dario Franchitti — keeping the series title fight tight going into the final two races of the season. Graham Rahal finished fifth.
Briscoe’s Penske Racing teammate, Helio Castroneves, appeared to break a suspension part and hit the wall with 16 laps to go.
It was the fourth-closest finish in series history. Three of the series’ four closest finishes have come at Chicagoland.
With his third victory of the season, Briscoe leads Franchitti by 25 points and Dixon by 33 points going into the final two races.
That’s not much of a lead — but it’s more comfortable than the five-point cushion Briscoe had in the standings coming into Saturday. Briscoe said extending his lead slightly won’t change his strategy in the final two races.
“No different, really,” Briscoe said. “We’ve seen how quickly that can turn around.”
Dixon was unhappy that his Chip Ganassi Racing car didn’t seem to be a match for Briscoe’s Penske car.
“Pretty simple — we didn’t have enough speed,” Dixon said.
Footnotes.
Hard-charging Marcos Ambrose turned a fast lap of 80.905 mph over the rainswept 2.7-mile Circuit Gilles Villenueve street course in Monteal to capture the pole for today’s Nationwide Series race. He easily beat Carl Edwards, who was more than a second slower.
• Giancarlo Fisichella gave Force India its first Formula One pole during qualifying for today’s Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps.
The Associated Press
Today’s races
NASCAR NATIONWIDE NAPA Auto Parts 200
Site: Montreal
TV: ESPN2, 12:30 p.m.
Track: Circuit Gilles Villeneuve (road course, 2.709 miles)
Race distance: 200.466 miles, 74 laps
Next race: Degree V12 300 on Saturday, Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga.
On the Net: www.nascar.com
FORMULA ONE Belgian Grand Prix
Site: Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
TV: Speed Channel, 6 a.m.
Track: Spa-Francorchamps (road course, 4.35 miles)
Race distance: 191.415 miles, 44 laps
Next race: Italian Grand Prix on Sept. 13, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Monza, Italy
On the Net: www.formula1.com
