HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Dario Franchitti basked in Victory Lane, getting showered by an enormous amount of red, white and blue confetti.
Yellow, nowhere to be found.
How appropriate, because on a day when no caution flags came out, Franchitti reigned supreme over the IndyCar series again.
Franchitti emerged victorious from one of the closest points races in series history Saturday, winning the season-ending Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the first caution-free IRL race ever. He used a significantly different fuel strategy than the other two title contenders, Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe, and was rewarded with his second championship in three years.
"I still can't believe it," said Franchitti, the scent of champagne obvious on his soaked racesuit an hour after the checkered flag came out in his honor. "Really, I can't."
Maybe it was all in the numbers: On the 10th day of the 10th month of the year, Franchitti's No. 10 car won a championship — the 10th win of the season for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, to boot.
Franchitti's IndyCar contract with Ganassi was drawn up on a cocktail napkin. In the end, it was genius.
"There's a lot of guys who can win races," Ganassi said. "There aren't as many who can win championships."
Franchitti sat back in third place, about 25 seconds behind Dixon and Briscoe, saving fuel over much of the final 50 laps. When his two fellow contenders pitted late, the title was his.
Only a caution could have saved Dixon and Briscoe, and somehow, that flag was never needed.
"How great is my husband at being fast while saving fuel?" said actress Ashley Judd, Franchitti's wife, who shrieked and raised her arms high in triumph when it was all over.
How great?
How about better than anyone else in the field?
"I'm thinking, 'C'mon baby, don't run out of fuel here,'" Franchitti said. "And she didn't."
Dixon, Franchitti's teammate in the Ganassi garage, was second in the points standings. Franchitti finished with 616 points, Dixon had 605 and Briscoe — who led 103 of the 200 laps for Penske Racing — finished with 604.
"It's tough," Briscoe said. "But I'm young. I'll be back."
Tony Kanaan was fourth and Helio Castroneves fifth, but on this day, they were afterthoughts.
The average speed of 201.420 mph was the second-quickest in IRL history, behind only the 207.151 mph at California in 2003.
NATIONWIDE: At Fontana, Calif., Joey Logano avoided a late-race collision and held off Brian Vickers to win the NASCAR Nationwide Copart 300 on Saturday at Auto Club Speedway for his fifth series victory of the season and second in two weeks.
The 19-year-old Logano started on the pole, but fell well back after an incident with Greg Biffle early in the race. Logano steadily worked his way back to front and caught a break when Biffle and Denny Hamlin collided with less than 10 laps to go.
Logano took the lead following a caution with two laps to go, then pulled away from Vickers. The win proved to be sweet vindication for Logano, who figured he had a top-20 car at best after a scrape with Biffle sent him into the wall.
Instead, Logano found himself in the perfect spot after Biffle, Hamlin and Brad Keselowski got mixed up running three-wide out of Turn Four.
Logano moved up then pounced after another late caution set up a green-white-checker finish.