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Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 Preview

Sep 9, 2007 - 10:24 AM

September 9, 2007 
Chicagoland Speedway 
Joliet, Illinois 
Race 17 of 17 in the 2007 IndyCar Series season

TV: ABC, 4 p.m. EDT

Length: 200 laps 
Race length: 300 miles 
Track length: 1 1/2-mile tri-oval

Qualifying record: Richie Hearn, 223.159 mph, 2003 
Race record: Dan Wheldon, 194.828 mph, 2006


DRIVERS TO WATCH
----------------

Scott Dixon 
Team: Target Chip Ganassi Racing 
2007 Earnings: $2,056,767

Enters the final race of the season trailing leader Dario
Franchitti by three points; holds a 36-point advantage over
third place Tony Kanaan; finished eighth at Detroit last week
after a controversial late crash, which also involved
Franchitti; has a four wins this season; bounced back from a DNF
at Michigan by finishing second to Kanaan at Kentucky; enjoyed
a stretch of three straight wins earlier in the season; took the
checkered flag at Mid-Ohio for his ninth career IndyCar series
victory; also won at at Nashville after starting on the pole to
became the first repeat winner there; started his winning streak
on July 8 at Watkins Glen; has finished out of the top 10 just
twice this season; has been a runner-up five times this year;
earned his only other pole of the season at Iowa but finished
10th; finished second to Dan Wheldon at his race last year.


Dario Franchitti 
Team: Andretti Green Racing 
2007 Earnings: $2,896,183

Was involved in a late crash with Dixon at Detroit, but still
managed to limp across the finish line in sixth place to reagin
the lead by three points; ran third at Sonoma two weeks ago, but
gave way to Dixon atop the standings after the event; finished
eighth at Kentucky prior to the race at Infineon; was involved
in a violent wreck at Michigan, where he flipped upside-down
before landing on the cockpit of his car; miraculously walked
away from the crash uninjured, but did not finish the race;
finished second to Dixon for the second straight race at
Mid-Ohio; has three wins this season - Richmond, Iowa and the
Indy 500; has been runner-up four times this year and has been
remarkably consistent, finishing in the top five in only 12 of
16 starts; did not compete in this race last year.


Tony Kanaan 
Team: Andretti Green Racing 
2007 Earnings: $1,708,669

Continued recent solid stretch by winning in Detroit after
running third at Sonoma; sits 39 points out of the lead; in
order to win the title needs to win the race, pick up the three
bonus points for leading the most laps, and have Franchitti not
finish higher than 13th and Dixon not higher than 16th; followed
up his win at Michigan by starting and winning from the pole at
Kentucky; holds 99-point cushion over fourth-place Dan Wheldon;
has a series-best five wins this season, also taking the
checkered flag at Milwaukee and Japan; started second at the
Indianapolis 500, but finished a disappointing 12th; has
finished fourth three times - at Watkins Glen, Richmond and
Mid-Ohio; captured pole at Kansas, yet finished 15th; finished
seventh at this race last season.


Danica Patrick 
Team: Andretti Green Racing 
2007 Earnings: $1,141,255

Posted a career-best second-place finish at Detroit; started
second at Sonoma but finished sixth; was involved in an accident
and finished 16th at Kentucky; struggled to a disappointing
seventh-place finish at Michigan; posted her second consecutive
top-five finish with a fifth place showing at Mid-Ohio; took
third at Nashville prior to that; has four top-five finishes
this season, including a third at Texas on June 9; remained
seventh in the standings, but is a distant 182 points behind
Franchitti; started second at Mid-Ohio, but had started no
better than sixth in eight races before that; placed 12th here
last year.


Sam Hornish Jr. 
Team: Marlboro Team Penske 
2007 Earnings: $1,253,939

Finished 12th at Detroit after a fifth-place showing at Sonoma;
failed to finish the previous two races prior to Sonoma after
being involved in accidents; in addition to completing just 35
laps at Kentucky, also failed to finish at Michigan after
getting involved in wild multi-car wreck; defending series
champion finished 14th at Mid-Ohio but remains fifth in the
standings, 160 points off Franchitti's pace; placed fourth at
Nashville and second at Watkins Glen before the disappointing
finish at Mid-Ohio; lone win this season was at Texas Motor
Speedway in June; made headlines at Watkins Glen with a
post-race altercation with Tony Kanaan; finished third here last
year to clinch title, breaking a tie atop the standings with
Dan Wheldon with a 4-2 victory margin.


Dan Wheldon 
Team: Target Chip Ganassi Racing 
2007 Earnings: $1,298,355

Finished third at Detroit a week after taking seventh at Sonoma;
was another top driver who had not finished the two races prior
to Sonoma after wrecking at both Kentucky and Michigan; had
finished out of the top five in a six-race stretch prior to
Detroit; was third at Richmond eight races ago; dropped to
fourth in the standings after Mid-Ohio, and is currently 138
behind Franchitti; has two wins this season, starting and
finishing from the pole in the season opener at Homestead; also
won at Kansas; won this race last year.


2006 Top 10
-----------
 1. Dan Wheldon (10)
 2. Scott Dixon (9)
 3. Sam Hornish Jr. (6)
 4. Helio Castroneves (3)
 5. Ed Carpenter (2)
 6. Vitor Meira (4)
 7. Tony Kanaan (11)
 8. Jeff Simmons (17)
 9. Scott Sharp (8)
10. Tomas Scheckter (4)

Past Champions
--------------
2006  Dan Wheldon, 194.828 mph
2005  Dan Wheldon, 169.160 mph
2004  Adrian Fernandez, 140.825 mph
2003  Sam Hornish Jr., 184.294 mph
2002  Sam Hornish Jr., 146.319 mph
2001  Jaques Lazier, 172.146 mph