Notes from the 2006 Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 Presented by Mr. Clean at Chicagoland Speedway

Notes taken during the ABC broadcast of and at the track during the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 Presented by Mr. Clean at Chicagoland Speedway.

pressdog is in the house! Section 431 at Chicagoland Speedway. Keeping a low profile. Hanging with my peeps. Hobknobbing back by the haulers. Marco Andretti nearly ran me over several times with his scooter, for example. I felt something pass between us. I'm sure I'll be added to Marco's myspace as a special friend soon.

I even had a Danica sighting from a distance. I saw her gossamer white carriage made from a pumpkin and knew she had to be near. Saw her by an RV, giant sunglasses in effect. Hair fully pony tailed. Danica. Love ya, but the big shades make you look kind of like a bug. Ditch 'em! Go for the skinny ones. Much cooler. (Unless you get money to wear them. Then rock on!) Or let us see those fabulous eyes of yours. If Danica ever met the pressdog she'd probably say "Lose some weight, lard-ass!" Fair enough, D.P. Love the fire!

Anyway, the pressdog beer of the race is a $6, 16-ounce Miller Light I bought from the vendor while sitting in section 431, Row 20, Seat 8. BAM. Cold and refreshing. And Bitburger Beer, German draft beer and sponsor of my peeps at Dreyer and Reinbold Racing. Sarah Fisher says, "What up, pressdog posse?" Kidding. Sarah didn't say that. But, you know, I bet she was thinking it. Had a chance to chat with Sarah. She's cool. She's hip. Fabulous role model for my daughters. She's most definitely sidepod worthy. If I had a zillion dollars, she'd have "pressdog" on her pods.

Rain in Joliet race day morning. But, it clears off in time to get this party started. No practice sessions or warm ups due to a wet track. Rusty Wallace, who thinks morning practices are an instrument of Satan, is relieved.

Starting lineup: Sam Hornish Jr., Scott Dixon, Dan Wheldon, Helio Castroneves, Scott Sharp, Vitor Meira, Tomas Scheckter, Kosuke Matsuura, Buddy Rice, Jeff Simmons, A.J. Foyt IV (Quatro is in the house!), Ed Carpenter, Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti, Danica, Sarah, Jeff Bucknum, Bryan "World of" Herta, Marty Roth. A traffic jam of 19 cars! Some may be driving their last IRL race if the teams go belly up. Sad. I need a big drink of beer just thinking about it.

Today is all about the points, baby. The Big Four all have a chance to win it. Helio leading by 1 over Sammy. Wheldon is in it. Dixon gotta shot. ABC/ESPN will be all over the Points Battle all day.

pressdog clearly has issues with setting the VCR. I need a TiVo but am too cash challenged to spring for one. TiVo needs to sponsor my blog! So my tape comes on with Jerry Punch, M.D., interviewing Dixon trackside.

Dixon -- We gotta push as hard a we can without crashing, of course. Try to get a win and bonus points and hope to come away with it. Need some help.

Marty Ried in the booth -- Goes over how the IRL gives out points for finishes. Difference between first and fifth is 20 points. Get three bonus points for leading the most laps.

Up to the booth with Marty, Rusty "The Old Super Deuce" Wallace, Scott Goodyear. Just a note here: My boy Russ, who may or may not work for ESPN/ABC, once beat Scott Goodyear in go karts. I saw the proof over the weekend. OK, the win happened back in 1970-something. "Goodyear: Oh geeze, he's got that (magazine showing the results) out again? But who won the national championship that year? Ask him that." Russ couldn't recall. And even though Russ got third and Scott got 9th, Scott got his photo in the race article. Seems fair. Rumor has it Russ is a candidate for one of the AGR rides next year, but you did not hear it from me.

Back to the booth -- Goodyear -- the big four were already doing some banging in practice. Penske car has never won at Chicagoland. May have to win to win the title. It could get a little road-course-like with the thumping on the track.

Marty sets up the agony/ecstasy montage! Season montage including video of Wheldon yanking his arm away from mean old Jamie Little (get her in a car!). Sam and the milk. Helio stomping pissed. Brain lock in the Ganassi pit. Marco winning.

Those two seconds of Wheldon with his "stop touching me" move with Jamie are in the permanent Montage Folder for use in all future montages. ABC/ESPN cannot love that video more. Shout out to my girl Jamie for chasing Dan down after Texas and getting that interview. pressdog Pit-side Interview of the Year Award winner!

Jamie trackside -- Marco won last week (couple weeks ago, but we get it) and (at 19) was the youngest person to ever win in big-league open-wheel. Back in Nazareth, PA, the Andretti Hometown. Marco's mom Sandy said the neighbors put up posters and stuff and threw a party for Marco. It was like when Mike was racing. Jamie -- "Today, back to reality. Marco is starting 14th." Owie. Marco is still trying to get those ovals down.

Rusty -- Yesterday his son Steve won the ARCA race at Chicagoland. (He also made a huge burn out at the start finish that the safety guys had to come out and scrub off. Much swearing among the safety guys, I'm thinking). So, Sonoma is Rusty's favorite race because he can relate to how Mike felt when Marco won.

Scott -- favorite finish is Indy 500 when Sammy came charging back and got young Marco in the home stretch.

Marty -- favorite/most memorable finish was Homestead -- Bitter/sweet because of Paul Dana's death in warm-ups. Paul Dana's legacy is the fact that IndyCars will run on 100% ethanol next year. (E100, baby! Made from corn. Iowa leads the nation in production. Stick that in your oil well, buddy.) Marty -- We remember Paul Dana today and next year every time we start engines on 100% ethanol.

Props to Marty for a nice shout out to Paul Dana. Everybody fill up with some E10 today. The pressdog drove home from Chicago on E10 and ripped down a sparkling 32 mpg in my flaming Ford. Most any car made after 1980 runs fab on E10 (gasoline with 10% ethanol). So put something racy in your tank today. Get it? ethanol? RACY? HAR.

Speaking of, the ethanol posse had about a zillion people running around at Chicagoland. Major hospitality space. All sporting the ethanol e. Striking.

Danica Peak Commercial plays right here. Danica -- "220 mph? Any time. Take corners at over 4 gs? Anywhere. Like peak, you've got to be tough enough to take it." Dude, they were playing this under the grandstands at Chicagoland all the time, but it was kind of in isolated zones. First time I heard it I thought Danica was speaking to me in a vision or some shit. Then I figured out it was clever marketing. Those nutty marketers. Many tricks. Both Peak and Mr. Clean are Danica sponsors, so this was the Indy 300 brought to you by Danica's Sponsors.

I am Indy Montage. HEY!

Gridding. Marty points out due to the threatening weather, race could end early. It's an official race at lap 101, so that will figure into everyone's strategy.

Jim Shea, EVP for Auto Zone lights 'em up: "Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines."

It's 67 degrees outside. Track temp is 79 degrees. Shout out to my boys and girls in the B-Unit! That's the ABC/ESPN truck that does the graphics like that stunning weather one I just saw on my tape. They are all freaked out and WIRED on caffeine (or something) in a semi-trailer-sized B-unit trailer. pressdog shout outs to New Guy for "the hat" (the crawl that goes across the top) and to Karen, Bud, Kelly, Heather, Steve and Mike. When you hear a car MASH into the wall, that's all Steve's audio prowess there. Killer.

Goodyear -- Rain washed all the rubber off the track. Starting with a clean track. Have to watch it the first few laps to let the tires get hot and make sure nothing is squirrely.

Marty draws our attention to positions crawling across the top of the screen. The New Guy's crawl get's a shout out! Soon enough Jamie Little will be asking for New Guy's number.

7 on-board cameras. Sarah, Danica, Marco, Simmons, Vitor, Danno and Dixon. The Penske twins are cameraless? Nutty.

Jack "The Root" Arute with Roger Penske. Roger -- Don't need to race the first 30 laps. Need to be there at the end.

Jerry with Chippy Ganassi -- Chipster -- gotta lead the most and win the race and squeeze some cars in between us and Penske. Awesome summary of what has to happen, Chip. Seriously. But good luck with that Chipster. Maybe Vitor if he's strapped some military surplus JATO (jet-assisted take-off) tubes to the back of the flamin' Dallara. Otherwise, let's not hold our breath.

Jamie. Perky. Energetic. Pony tail in full effect. Jamie has a feeling that this will be a close race. In 2002 Sam beat Little Al by .002 of a second. Gonna be wheel-to-wheel, two- and three-wide the whole way. Jamie says this will be one of the best of the year. Rock on Jamie. The hardest working pit reporter in the biz and the only one who can take a motorcross bike 15 feet into the air and live tell the tale. Bust out the boots Jamie!

Marty -- does threat of rain effect strategy? Goodyear -- yep. Gotta go for it from the first green because it might rain.

Let's light this candle. pressdog says the time for all the yappin' and interviewing and hanging with the sponsors and driving scooters through the pits and talking smack is over. It's time to strap in, hook up the HANS, set the adrenal glans to full rich and settle this thang on the track. Hey beer man! We are green-green-green-green.

Woooooooo-who. The green flag start at an IRL race is something you gotta see. 19 cars coming out of turn four and getting freaky. Makes every hair you got (and I do mean EVERY hair) stand up and salute. If you've never gone to a race, you gotta go. 83-year-old grandmas who see this can't help saying "Holy f*cking shit" when those cars come by.

Target is 1-2 by turn three. Goodyear advises them to get in line and check out. This track is all about drafting and two or more can go faster than one. My girl Sarah's car is a bit pigged out today so her only hope is to get into a group or catch a tow from a faster car. At the track I'm listening to Sarah's spotter, Robbie "Increda" Buhl who is killer on the scanner. Worth the scanner rental fee all by himself. He's the shizzzzzzz.

Rusty -- Not smart going side-by-side because if you touch you could go end over end (I'm paraphrasing). Holy Shit! The target cars touch wheels. WTF? Chip has to peeing himself. THEY TOUCH AGAIN on lap 3. I gotta think Chip is using many words that begin with the letter "f" on the radio right now and choking on his own vomit.

Sam declines to make it three wide, but he's poised to take advantage of any carnage.

Goodyear -- Kosuke Matsuura is rumored to not be secure in his #55 ride for this year so he's got something to prove. Might be a wild-card out there. Might get nutty, take chances and cause The Big One. Not Kosuke. Naaaaaaah. We got several of those kinds of cases in the field for this race. Drivers who are driving to audition for next year.

Punch -- Ganassi says "you guys have got to get in line," but he didn't say who should go first. So they are still side-by-side.

Jack -- Penske says to Sam to watch himself and wait. Got plenty of laps.

Lap 6. Helio is back 6th. Marty updates us of how the point championship would go if everyone stays in the same position until the end. This is on lap 6. We got some racing to do yet, Marty.

Rusty -- Drivers very nervous about Chicago. Track is fast. Lots of grip. Plus the pressure of winning a title. Plus the nothing-to-lose drivers. The combo may make people take crazy chances they shouldn't. Rusty seems to believe we are only seconds from having car shrapnel everywhere in a replay of 2005's Briscoe Fence Climb.

Marty -- Both Dixon and Wheldon need to lead the most laps to get the three extra points which may explain the side-by-side insanity for Target. Killer point, Marty.

Lap 10 -- Wheldon, Dixon, Hornish, Matsuura, Helio, Kanaan, Sharp, Scheckter, Marco, Vitor.

Tony up to 5th from 13th. Rusty -- These guys running every single lap like it's the last lap.

Goodyear -- gotta be the right mix of caution and aggression. Not aggressive you get back in the pack and then you got a bunch of drivers with nothing to lose.

Lap 13 -- Yellow yellow yellow. Rusty says we had blue smoke on the track from the rubbing. Replay. Scheckter gets high into Vitor off turn 1 and they bang, causing Vitor to do some major (for an IndyCar, anyway) fish-tailing. Awesome save of the car.

Many most-excellent replays, including some choper cam stuff. Video of safety guy picking up a mirror.

Rusty -- "Those cats cheated disaster." Four-wide off turn four. Rusty has a bad feeling.

Marty -- may have thrown yellow to calm the drivers down. Rusty -- calm them down? I gotta sit down. I'm going crazy. Everybody in the grandstands if flipping out. This race is unbelievable. They are flying out there right now.

Pitting. Fuel only. 4-something second stops. Ganassi beat the Penskes out.

Quatro leads! AJ in for Dario Franchitti who suffered a concussion last week in a vintage car race in England. Dario was well enough to tool around on a motor scooter at the race. AJ leads under yellow.

1 lap to go 'til green. Vitor pits for a second time. May have some big damage after trading rubber with Scheckter.

Lap 17. Green. Restart on side-by-side (with a commercial). Quatro back to 5th in a hurry. Helio is back in 13th. Got a black flag for pit lane speeding violation. Sucks to be Helio. Only good news is he's has one of four competitive cars in the race so he'll be rocking through the field in short order. Gives us something to watch as he picks cars off.

Lap 23 -- Points as of Lap 23 graphic. So far Sam is winning the points.

Top 3 are checking out. Buh-bye. Marco has gone from 13th to 7th and is looking at Matsuura.

Lap 25 -- Wheldon, Dixon, Hornish, Kanaan, Sharp, Matsuura, Marco, Simmons (!), Quatro (!), Buddy Rice (!). Helio is already up to 12th. Danica 14th. Sarah 16th.

Rusty -- Hondas are awesome.

Lap 29 -- Helio around Simmons and into 8th. Only hitch is Helio is working through the second group while the first group, the leaders, are gone. Gah-on. Gone. You have the lead pack. The middle pack and then the back pack with some track separating each.

Goodyear -- Helio wants to win. He's up early in the morning.Thinking about it all the time. Obsessing.

Rusty -- Crystal Hornish (who must talk to Rusty before every race, because he always had the Crystal Hornish Report for us) said Sam is nervous, focused, not chit-chatty. Wants the title as well.

Lap 32 -- Time to be patient. Doc -- Chip implored drivers to be smart. Dixon gotten in line and try to do some teamwork and run 1-2 and hold off Penske.

Helio charging forward, but he's in the mid-pack, so it'll be tough. Goodyear -- Helio looks maxed out. Can't get around Kanaan. Helio's peeps are on the radio to TK asking for help. Good luck with that.

Aerial of cars going around Marty Roth like passing him on the interstate. Marty was lapped by lap 14 and is probably many more than one down right now.

Jack -- Penske says he thought this might be a fuel strategy race.

Lap 50 -- Wheldon, Dixon, Sam, Helio, Sharp, Kanaan, Helio, Ed, Marco, Matsuura, Simmons. Danica 14th. Sarah 17th.

Marty Roth is now 19 laps down on Lap 50. He must have been in the pit for a while or something.

Jerry -- Chip says Dan has "all the patience of a lit fuse." Dixon is very cerebral. Patient. Calm. Cool, etc.

Lap 56 -- Sarah is about to be lapped. Here I briefly consider winging my half-drank Miller Lite bottle as far as I can to get it onto the track and bring out the yellow. But, I restrain myself. (I hear the Joliet jail isn't all that pleasant. No pressdog readers in there, I'm thinking.)

Lap 60 -- Marco pitting. Jamie -- Marco has a flat right rear. Went from 6th to 14th.

Replay. Goodyear gives a shout out to Marco for getting out of the throttle without getting totally out of the throttle. Veteran move there.

Jerry -- Dan picking up where he left off last year (he won at Chicagoland in 2005). Jack -- Hornish likes his car. Being very conservative. Dixon getting good mileage.

Lap 75 -- Wheldon, Hornish, Dixon, Helio, Dixon, Kanaan, Simmons, Rice, Ed, Scheckter. Danica 12th. Sarah 18th.

Lap 83 -- Helio is 12.5 seconds back in fourth. That's half a track.

Miera (in 13th) is about to get lapped. Doc says Vitor reports his handling is going. Left rear tire after the impact is screwy.

Goodyear -- when cars touch early he worries that it might cause some damage that takes a while to actually fail. A sort of slow-mo mechanical issue.

Marty -- Leaders approaching traffic. About to put laps on the middle pack. Chip and Penske are eating Rolaids over it.

Lap 93 -- Danica lapped. Only six cars on the lead lap now. Kanaan is the next one to be lapped.

In-car camera of Danica getting lapped. Did I spy a logo for Jackie O Sunglasses? No. Just my imagination. Earlier I speculated that Danica and teen singing sensation JoJo may be the the same person. But after Dancia sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at the Cubs game on Thursday, I know now that I was mistaken. I understand from my various sources that Danica got some crap over her performance from the vocal experts on ESPN. Pfft. Whatever. Danica had cajones for getting up there and giving it a shot. Ease up on her or Danica will go Power Yoga on you and kick your ass.

The latest rumor is that Wheldon and the Geiko Gecko are the same person. Gotta say I don't believe it. Wheldon has a solid foot on the Geko. Although when he wore the green Fuji Film racing suit, I could kind of see it. I think it's mainly due to the accent. For today's race he's wearing stunning yellow race booties.

Mega in-car from Danica. Jamie says it's the last race for Danica with RLR. Wants it to count. Wants a win. Ever since she announced she was going to Andretti Green in 2007 things with the team have been a little tense. They're not treating her the same. She wants to go out and get a win for RLR but she's excited to look ahead to AGR. Looks forward to the unveiling of her new sponsors on Tuesday. Been a good, long road for her and Bobby (Rahal). Rahal "brought her to America" (Like Danica is from Uganda or something. Jamie is talking about Rahal bringing her over from Formula Fords in England to race in Toyota Atlantics) and into the Indy Racing League so Jamie imagines there are going to be some hard feelings.

Check out my boy MoneyCJ's blog So. Damn. Indy. to hear Jeff Simmons' pr guy go off on Danica.

Lap 95 -- Hornish montage.

Lap 100 -- crossed green and checkered flags (half way point in the race) -- Wheldon, Hornish, Dixon, Helio (shocking, I know), Sharp, Kanaan (last car on the lead lap and not for long) Simmons (!), Ed, Carpenter, Matsuura. Danica 11th. Sarah 15th.

Marty with the race summary -- Team Ganassi very aggressive right out of the chute. Sam is steady and consistent and biding his time. Helio was penalized for pit speed violation and is now back to 4th. Marco was up to sixth when the right rear went down.

Wheldon voiceover during the action. Doesn't care to come second, third or fourth. In 2004 he got second. Do I remember that season? Not really. (Heavy drinking?) Do I remember 2005 when I won? Absolutely.

Rusty -- Wheldon often looked like he had the race locked up this year only to have something go south on him.

Lap 107 -- 6th place Kanaan is about to get lapped. If this stays green they may put a lap on Helio in 4th because he's about a half a track back from the leaders.

Doc -- Dan -- Says it's a little to draggy entering the corners. Want to free it up a little. Free it up? Wheldon talking bout his car being draggy is priceless. I'm amazed that he can drive such a pig.

At the track Buhl advises Sarah to "Get on Tony's aaaaassss" and catch a tow from him. Works pretty well for about 25 laps. Sarah rocks her way around Bucknum and Herta moving from 15th to 13th following Tone. At one point there was only Matsuura between her and Danica. Sarah could probably smell the perfume.

Penske on the radio telling Hornish not to worry about laps led but worry about second or third place.

Lap 111 -- Marco in.

Lap 114. Pitting. Helio 10.6 seconds. Wheldon is a blistering 8.6! Rock on.

Hornish pit. Jack -- Very calm. Sam and Helio will lose "Marlburo" on their cars next year. Will simply say "Team Penske." Will stick with the red/ornage and white, though.

Sam pits. 10.2. Dixon is getting the MPGs. He can stay out a couple laps longer than everyone. Pits at lap 121. Dixon is going 52 laps between stops. Punch. Right front tire changer is Ricky Davis. Right front guy gets major air. Must be related to Punch or slipped him General Grant ($50) in the pre-race.

Well, OK, Sarah's fueler is Pat (shout out to the fuelers, the center of the storm during pit stops) and her left front tire changer is fiance' Andy O'Gara. So there.

Laps led recap. Quatro led 3 (under yellow, but still). First three of his Indy Car career. First non-grandfather car he's driven too. Hmmmmm.

Goodyear -- Quatro -- lot of talent. Didn't have the right cars under him. Scott was talking to Mike Andretti and Mike said he had his eye on Quatro for some time. Might be considered to sit in the seat next year in place of Dario. (!)

Is Dario outta there? Is this a news flash from Scott? I thought it was up in the air still. Scott is adding value!

Rusty -- Both Ganassi cars beat both Penske cars in the pits.

Jack -- Penske suffered from some fueling challenges. Very deliberate. That's the difference between 10 seconds and 8 seconds. Descretion is the better part of valor on this deal here.

Rusty -- Something is going on with Penske and the time it takes them in the pit.

Lap 125 -- Wheldon, Hornish, Dixon, Helio (last car on the lead lap), Sharp, Kanaan, Simmons, Rice (!), Vitor, Scheckter.

Helio may get lapped. He's running all alone and cars alone are slower than cars in a pack at this race. The front three are in a line and freight training away, coming up on Helio.

Rusty sees that the mirror from the first debris caution was from Marty Roth and they now have it taped back on there. I have trouble believing that, Rusty. That they'd tape a mirror back on? Maybe. We got no video of it, though.

Helio is going 213 and is about 15 seconds behind the leaders.

Root -- Helio has to go as fast as they can an pray for a yellow.

Punch -- Dixon is going to pop out of Stoic Racer mode here and get a little more mental here in a minute. Has a four-lap advantage on fuel.

Jack -- Last stop could be fuel only. At 200 mph, one second is (say it with me) is 100 yards on the track.

Lap 145 -- Marty is now 22 laps down. I swear.

Rusty looks like a short-fill situation coming up. Goodyear -- It's a timed deal. They know how fast the fuel flows so they time it and when there is enough sometimes there is a light that goes on in the fueler's helmet but alot of times they just smack the fueler with a stick on the back or the helmet to let him know that's enough. Jack says Penske's fueler-smacking stick is chrome. God I love that tidbit, Jack. Shout out for getting it.

Marty -- Helio is now 20 seconds back and, given a lap is something around 25 seconds here, about to get lapped.

Lap 148 -- Yellow yellow yellow. All that short fill stuff just went out the window. Extremely convenient yellow for Helio. I think I saw a Penske PR person tossing Bud bottles onto the track. ABC shows the safety guys picking up something. Uh-huh. Sure.

Pitting. Wheldon -- 7.9, Hornish 7.2, Dixon, 9.5.

Rusty -- Helio should go out and kiss that piece of debris. Yes he should, Rusty. And whoever threw it.

Replays show Dixon right front changer drops his tire on the last stop. The tire changers is pissed! Major head bob that can only be an F-bomb.

Restart coming. Helio has to go through a bunch of lapped traffic. Lap 154 after yellow. Sarah is 14th. Got a smoking' pit stop from Pat, Andy and the posse. Sarah on the radio: "Nice stop. Good job guys."

Goodyear -- NASCAR does the two-wide restart to get the lapped traffic out of the way. Rusty prefers that. So does Goodyear. Too bad this ain't NASCAR. Rusty says the yellow saved Helio from getting lapped but other than that it didn't really help him. (?) Still in trouble a little bit.

I'd prefer to be in a restart with 6 lapped cars between me and the leaders than being 20 seconds back and about to be lapped, but that's just me, I guess.

Marty -- Wheldon led the most in 6 races and hasn't won any of them this year.

Restart with Hornish in the lead. Lap 156- GREEN. We're onboard with Wheldon as they come around for the restart and just as Wheldon is going to make his killer move under Hornish we cut to the flag man. What the? Missed the killer move!

Arute says Penske says there are team orders, but all they are is "don't crash each other."

Helio moving up. 2 seconds behind leaders.

Lap 160 --Wheldon, Dixon, Sam, Helio (last car on the lead lap), Kanaan, Dixon, Simmons, Ed, Vitor, Danica.

Helio is 1.5 seconds back. Rusty -- He can smell it, he can feel it, he can taste it, he wants it.

Lap 170 -- Arute -- Helio is being told to save his tires.

Dixon out in front.

Penske Mini Montage. Sam video -- Roger has won a bunch of things and this is something you can give him that he can't buy.

Well, Sam, ask the have-nots if Penske bought the title. Answer: Sort of.

Lap 175 -- Wheldon, Dixon, Sam, Helio, Kanaan, Sharp, Ed, Vitor, Simmons, Scheckter.

Helio is back to the lead group. Goodyear says he did a "masterful" job coming back up through the field.

Rusty (I think) says Tony is way pissed at Helio. Not sure why. Not happy.

Target guys are like a foot apart and side-by-side.

Tony goes around Helio. Yeah, there's some rage there. Kanaan is a lapped car and still going around a car on the lead lap. Not a sign of friendship.

Lap 186 -- Simmons goes low and almost gets into Ed.

Lap 190 -- Wheldon, Dixon, Hornish, Helio, Kanaan, Ed, Vitor, Sharp, Simmons, Scheckter. Danica 12th. Sarah 16th.

Rusty -- After 14 races it came down to two drivers tied. (Rusty anticipating the finish here.) Never seen that kind of competition in a long time.

Winner gets $1 million extra cash.

Rusty -- Tell ya what. That cat is going to buy the beer, that's for sure. (pressdog Quote of the Race Award Winner!)

Goodyear -- About now you're mashing the accelerator so hard your foot is going numb.

Lap 194 -- Wheldon and Dixon Touch! Holy shizzzzz. Replay. Dixon's front wing touches Wehldon's rear tire. Sam moves into second. Dixon recovers and passes Sam again. Sam let's him go. Third is the place to be for Sam.

White flag. One more lap. Wheldon will win the race and Sam will win the championship barring air strike. Ganassi and Penske get air.

Wheldon wins. Sam wins. Lap 200 -- Wheldon, Dixon, Sam, Helio, Ed, Vitor, Kanaan, Simmoins, Sharp, Scheckter. Danica 12th and one lap down. Sarah 16th and two laps down.

Jack with Penske -- Just at the end I didn't want them to get too racy. Sam is great.

Jamie with Dan -- Jamie is out of breath. Must have been sprinting over to victory lane. Wheldon -- Good race. Been tough. Frustrating. Wasn't going to let this one slip away. Roger Penske put together a fun-tastic organization and obviously so did Chip. Two teams are a step ahead of the rest because of a dedication to winning (and an ass load of cash). Sounds a little froggy. No, he's not the gecko. He's had a cold/flu or whatever.

Hornish out of his car. Gets his jumbo $1 million check.

Root. Helio-- Give Sam congrats. Best driver on an oval I know. No question. Deserved it. It's about one pushing the other. Sam pushes Helio on the ovals. Helio pushes Sam on the road courses. Helio is classy. Shout out to him. Doesn't scream "SECOND SUCKS" into the mic.

Marty gives props to Ed Carpenter who got fifth. Rusty gives props to Vitor and Tony.

Sam -- Just about as excited as I've ever been. To win the 500 was the highlight of my career and this is a close second. The first two (championships) came easier. This one special to give to Roger. Unbelieveable season. Team Penske worked very hard.

Penske -- this guy is some driver. No mistakes. We're even now. He got Indy and we got a championship. Penske thanks the fans.

Brian "Iron Hand of Justice" Barnhart gets air. Presents check. Gives congrats to Chip. Thanks the fans. Really glad people are thanking the fans here.

Final points: Sam by virtue of a tiebreaker (most wins), Dan, Helio -2, Dixon, Vitor, Tony, Marco (7th), Dario, Danica, Scheckter.

Dixon -- Plenty of mistakes for everyone all year. To be honest I think the best car did win. Congrats to Penske. (Dixon will obviously never be great because he didn't say SECOND SUCKS!). I like Dixon. Very honest. Doesn't get all freaked out about everything. He may be sidepod worthy.

Dixon -- tired to race side-by-side like we did all day (late in the race) but Dan seemed to have a problem with that so, whatever.

Here we get a comercial every 19 seconds, it seems. Went commercial free for most of the race so they have to pack them in now. Gotta pay some bills here. I'd rather to it this way than break away for commercials every five laps while we're green.

Final thoughts -- Rusty -- Unbelieveable season. Dramatic. Loved it. Goodyear -- Most competitive series anywhere in the world (if you consider just those top four cars, sure. But top-to-bottom? Not so much).

Who will replace Rusty when he bolts to ABC/ESPN NASCAR next year? I vote strongly for Robbie "Increda" Buhl. Does a good job on the IPS races. Bring him up to the bigs ABC/ESPN!

Closing montage. Simmons waving the flag at Homestead, Helio climbing the fence, Danica's "Cheever -- is an idiot" moments. Mario fist shake. Danica hopping mad. Helio hopping mad. Wheldon pulling his arm away from mean old Jamie. Hornish getting Marco at the stripe at Indy. Shifter cam. Pit circus. Sam and the fuel hose break. Dario mashing his guys into the wall.

Game over for this year. Thanks for reading. A few more Champ Car recaps to go and then it's offseason for pressdog. Word to your IRL posse. Send my girl Sarah some sponsors, OK? See ya next year or as humor-worthy IRL stories warrant.

p-dog