IRL finale has winner-take-all overtones

MOTEGI, Japan -- Target Chip Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti head into the final IndyCar race of the season in a go-for-broke showdown.

Things are a little more complicated for Ryan Briscoe after a mishap in the Indy Japan 300 dropped the Team Penske driver to third place in the standings.

Dixon, the 2008 champion, won the next-to-last race of the season in Japan to move into first place in the standings ahead of Franchitti and Briscoe.

For the fourth straight year, the championship will come down to the final race of the season, which will take place at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Oct. 10.

"It's what we expect for IndyCar," Dixon said following his big win in Japan. "It's going to come down to the final lap, the final corner of Miami."

Dixon leads the standings with 570 points followed by Franchitti, who has 565. If either driver wins the final race, he will take the championship title.

Briscoe went into last Saturday's race at Motegi with a 25-point lead over Franchitti and a 32-point lead over Dixon, but saw his chances to win in Japan -- and perhaps take his first championship -- dashed by a miscue midway through the race when he ran over the large cone marking the end of pit lane and sideswiped the inside wall.

Briscoe, who was leading when the incident occurred, finished 18th, picking up only 12 points. Even so, he remained positive about his chances heading to the last race of the season.

"I'm going to put this behind me," he said. "The good thing is that it's only eight points to Scott. I feel real good going into Homestead. We've been strong on all the (1.5-mile ovals) this year, but it's going to be a tough one."

Briscoe, who is in third place with 562 points, can win the title but needs to win at Homestead-Miami and score some bonus points.

If Briscoe wins the race but doesn't score any bonus points, Dixon can win the title if he finishes second and leads the most laps. Dixon will win any tiebreaker with Briscoe.

The eight points between first and third is the second-closest margin in IndyCar Series history with one race remaining, and the five points between first and second is the fourth-closest.

Franchitti improved his chances for the title with a second-place finish at Motegi.

"We knew what we had to do (in Japan) and we did it," Franchitti said. "We are both still in the fight and it's going to be one hell of a show at Homestead."