IndyCar: Who's Chasing Who?

The stage was set.

A winner-take-all finale, with the three top drivers in the sport in a 200 lap showdown.

Blasting through lap traffic, Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe drove like heroes. Briscoe ran the high line like a man possessed, and both chased the right to claim the title of IICS Champion...no matter who was chasing who on every lap.

And lurking behind, staying on the lead lap and within striking distance, was Dario. He had matched Dixon's pace early on, but lacked enough front grip to maintain the flat-out pace and dropped back behind the leaders.

Ganassi decided to take advantage and change Franchitti's fuel strategy. A bit of front wing on his first pit stop, and Dario had the grip he needed...and a four lap advantage on his pit sequences, compared to the blistering pace set by Dixon and Briscoe.

I never sat down after lap 50. The stage was set. It was magic.

You can tell me that this was another tarnished result, dependant on fuel mileage and not driving skill. Since when? Fuel strategy has been a strategic variable in every IndyCar race ever run. Varying mileage rates from different engine types, sequences altered by yellow flags...or the absence of them. Different mileage from varying levels of drag and alternate driving styles.

Stretch the interval, and you shorten the refueling time for your pit stops as the race progresses. Gain speed differential as you race with a lighter fuel load on board than your competitors. Those are factors in every race, and this was no different. Just better.

And when it was over, there sat Briscoe on the blistered front tire of his rocket. Exhausted from the heat, and the effort of a championship performance that came up short. Only then did he realize who it was he had been chasing, and how it came to be that he couldn't catch him. Magic.

If you were at the race, you might not have realized the drama that was building. Few could hear the P.A. system, or manage to sort out the leaders among the string of cars that had missed the setup by a Florida mile.

If you watched on TV, maybe you were depending on those announcers to spell it out. They missed it, until the building signs had reached the point of becoming obvious.

People, there isn't much more to say. That was good product. Maybe it wasn't explained well enough, or sold well enough to attract the attention it deserved, but the entertainment value was in full display, and it couldn't have been scripted much better.

Eddie Gossage of Texas Motor Speedway says that the Izod IndyCar Series needs a Nascar-style "Chase" for the championship. Are you kidding me?

You think any better "chase" can be contrived than the one everybody missed at Homestead? Fuggedaboutit.

I read that Mr. Gossage is a great promoter and an ally of IndyCar. Mr. Bernard holds him in high regard, and selected Gossage as the race track promoters' representative to sit on the ICONIC panel.

Right now, I hope there is a massive crowd assembling at the Texas Motor Speedway for tonight's Firestone 550K. There was almost no one in the stands last night to see who was chasing who in the Nascar Camping World Truck Series race.

Tomorrow, I hope Mr. Gossage and his boss Bruton Smith continue to plan future IndyCar oval races at Texas. And New Hampshire, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and all the tracks under the SMI umbrella. IndyCar needs them.

More importantly, IndyCar needs effective promotion that attracts the fans that they need even more. If Robby Knievel motorcycle jumps or Mark Wahlberg in the two-seater gets the job done, hats off to the guys who figured out how to run the show.

And if Texas is a success, and SMI adds even more to the Series next year, then they can have a "Chase" or whatever contrivance Messer's Gossage and Smith require.

That's all it will take. I'll be happier just to stand up and watch the show. You won't have to tell me who is chasing who.

Notes for tonight

Beware the marbles. Firestone has brought the right side tires from Kansas, which might show durability problems under the increased loads and track temperature. Two grooves shouldn't be a problem. Three-wide might be.

"Push to pass" continues to produce a thousand words of hype and a whopping 9 HP. That's why the leaders often don't even bother to use it most of the time.

This is full throttle, pack racing specs at its finest. Low aero drag, and the setup that IICS says will enable nose to tail running from the reductions to wake turbulence. We'll see.

Huge props to Alex Lloyd and Dale Coyne Racing for qualifying sixth, and for their well-earned fourth place finish at Indy (thanks to a steady drive and effective FUEL STRATEGY).

To those who decry the lack of Americans on the grid, I'm right there with you. Ryan Hunter-Reay might well be running his last race of the season. Thanks, Izod. Here's to you, Snapple. Maybe if Snapple spokesman and Poison frontman Brett Micheals was riding in the two-seater, 200,000 Snapple Facebook fans would turn on the race tonight. Nuthin' but a good time, indeed.

And that No. 19 car? Isn't that the one that Graham Rahal passed up to avoid a two year contract with a mid-pack team? Didn't Hildebrand have a shot at that seat too?

At least the Boy Scouts of America are getting the representation they deserve from Alex and Dale. That's over two million young fans and their families to please. Why the IndyCar Series hasn't done more to promote that endorsement is another example of missing the setup.

Tag, go win some money. We need you. Hideki, too. They are both stand-up guys.