Crazy season finale for Indycar last Saturday night in Fontana. Come with me below the fold to see who was crowned champion…

Scott Dixon captures third Indycar title in attrition-filled race

Photo via NY Times by Robert Laberge/Getty Images

In the season finale, a 250-lapper that only 9 out of 25 cars managed to finish, Target-Chip Ganassi’s Scott Dixon stayed out of trouble to place 5th and secure his third Indycar Drivers’ Championship, besting Penske’s Helio Castroneves, who finished 6th and a lap down, by 27 points. Castroneves had led the Championship with steady if unspectacular performances until the Houston doubleheader two weeks ago, when the reliability of his Chevy-powered car deserted him in both races. This allowed Honda-powered Dixon to leapfrog him even though the veteran ace had an extremely up & down season, with race wins alternating with a controversial penalty at Sonoma for hitting a Penske crew member and and an inexplicable take out by Will Power on the streets of Baltimore that seemed to put the damper on his title pursuit. But the New Zealander and team Ganassi never stopped pushing in the face of adversity, including the loss to injury of Dixon’s championship teammate Dario Frachitti in the second race in Houston. In the end it was team Penske and their man who cracked and finished runner up yet again. Even the Captain himself, Roger Penske, contributed to the failure at Fontana by calling Castoneves into the pits under yellow when they were, in fact, closed.

It was somehow fitting, as the MAVTV 500 was a bizarre affair that included several big crashes, the most serious of which saw Justin Wilson get T-boned by Tristan Vautier while Oriel Servia’s Natinal Guard car got compressed into half its size in a massive melee that spread a huge debris field across a large portion of the track. Wilson, who was a long time in the car after the big shunt, was amazingly the only driver injured and was transported to a local hospital where tests revealed fractures to his pelvis and a bruised lung. But the lanky Englishman has since gone home to Colorado and should be able to recover without surgery.

Undoubtedly due to debris from that or the other crashes that littered the race at Fontana–in all 11 drivers crashed out–as well as the coarse dust that seemed to blow inland from nearby L.A., numerous cars were plagued by clogged radiators as the race wore on with the resultant overheating issues leading to several retirements. Dixon himself had to check into the pits a few times late in the race to clear debris from his radiators when his engine temperature spiked dangerously. But fortuitous yellows and clean driving ensure that it would be Dixie once again kissing the Astor cup.

Not to be overlooked, the race itself was won by Penske’s Will Power, who had the fastest car all weekend and somewhat avenged his crash out at this venue last year, which cost him another chance at a title. This year, Power had an excellent second half of the season after some bad luck early in the year put him out of contention, including several strong finishes on ovals, previously his Achilles’ heal. If the unlucky Aussie can carry this momentum into next season, along with his improved form on Indycar’s ubiquitous ovals, he may finally put all that heartache behind him and win the whole enchilada. Then again, with Juan Pablo Montoya mercifully bagging Nascar and joining Team Penske next season, Power will have to watch out not just for the Ganassi boys but his own hyper-aggressive, hyper-skilled teammate as well. Should be a fun 2014. It certainly was an exciting if at times frantic and typically seat-of-the pants 2013 Indycar season.

Top 10 Finishers at the MAVTV 500 at Fontana:

Complete race results here at Indycar.com.

Final Drivers’ standings there, too.