Franchitti edges Power for Mid-Ohio win

LEXINGTON, Ohio – Dario Franchitti held off hard-charging Will Power to win the IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio on Sunday.

The victory was Franchitti’s second of the season. He won the Indy 500 in May.

Franchitti beat Power out of the pits twice in the race, giving him just enough room to beat Power by 0.5234 seconds, the third-closest road/street finish in series history.

The victory helped Franchitti trim Power’s lead in the points standings to 41 with five races remaining. Power, who started from the pole for the seventh time this season, still easily clinched IndyCar’s first Road Course championship.

Helio Castroneves was third, followed by Alex Tagliani and Scott Dixon.

The win capped a big day for owner Chip Ganassi, who captured the NASCAR race at Watkins Glen earlier in the day with driver Juan Pablo Montoya. It marked the second time in three weeks Ganassi cars have taken the checkered flag in NASCAR and IndyCar on the same day.

The race featured zero passes for the lead under green.