Links - Franchitti wins at Homestead and claims IndyCar ti - North River Minor Hockey Association

Franchitti wins at Homestead and claims IndyCar title LOGINREGISTERHELPYOU ARE NOT LOGGED IN NHLNBAMLBCFLNFLCurlingTennisGolfSoccerNASCARFormula OneIndyCar NASCAR Canadian Tire SeriesNationwideCamping WorldAuto RacingWorld JuniorsSpengler CupMenS WHCWomenS WHCHockey CanadaAHLBoxingCanada GamesCHLCISECHLFigure SkatingLacrosseMMANCAASkiingSummer SportsWinter SportsMoreOlympicsFantasyDaily LineShowsTSN TalentCommunityMainScheduleStandingsChampionsAllTime WinsAuto Racing on TSNeotText SizeHomestead FL (Sports Network) One year after his return to the IndyCar Series following a brief stint in NASCAR Dario Franchitti captured the 2009 series title by winning Saturdays seasonending Firestone Indy 300 at HomesteadMiami SpeedwayFranchitti the pole sitter capitalized on a laterace pit strategy and then held off Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe from Team Penske in the final laps to score his fifth victory of the season The 300mile race was the first cautionfree and second fastest in series history With the victory Franchitti clinched his second IndyCar championship finishing the year 11 points ahead of Dixon and 12 in front of Briscoe He became the third driver with multiple titles joining Dixon and Sam Hornish Jr I cannot believe it Franchitti said Its been so much fun Scott and I raced each other the whole season and it just came down to this Im bloody delighted right now Franchittis first championship came in 2007 He led Dixon by just three points heading into the seasonfinale at Chicagoland Dixon held the lead on the last lap but gave it up to Franchitti when he ran out of fuel on the backstretch Dixon coasted across the finish line in second and lost the title by 13 points Like 2007 I just had to try to save some fuel and stay on strategy said Franchitti who last pitted with 50 laps remaining The car was a bit unbalanced on the first stint and that allowed Scott and Ryan to get away a little bit We made it a lot better the second stint and the car was really good but by then we were fuel conservation mode Briscoe and Dixon pitted at the same time on lap 143 with Briscoe beating Dixon out of the pits and reclaiming the lead However both drivers had to pit again with less than 10 laps to go allowing Franchitti to take command for good Its pretty frustrating said Briscoe who finished second It was one of the best races Ive ever run I just hate that it came down to fuel strategy I thought it was going to be between Scott and me I guess Dario had the advantage Briscoe finished in the runnerup spot for the eighth time this year tying a series record Dixon who entered the race with a fourpoint lead over Franchitti and an eightpoint advantage on Briscoe finished third All three drivers ran among the topthree throughout the race Tony Kanaan finished fourth while Helio Castroneves came in fifth H...