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Kanaan Wins the IRL Crown

© Thomas M. Sampson

Adrian Fernandez won the Toyota Indy 400 at the California Speedway Sunday, racking up his third victory so far in the 2004 season. The first year driver in the IndyCar series won the last two events in a row, marking his third win in five weeks. Fernandez is the only owner/driver in the series, coming over from the CART Series one race before the Indy 500 in May. Tony Kanaan finished second by a mere three feet, clinching his first IndyCar Championship.

Following Fernandez and Kanaan across the finish line in the top ten were Dan Wheldon, Sam Hornish Jr., Buddy Rice, Dario Franchitti, Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Townsend Bell, and Mark Taylor. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Helio Castroneves -- #3 Toyota -- finished 7th
2. Scott Dixon -- #1 Toyota -- finished 8th
3. Sam Hornish Jr. -- #6 Toyota -- finished 4th
4. Darren Manning -- #10 Toyota -- finished 22nd
5. Adrian Fernandez -- #5 Honda -- finished 1st
6. Vitor Meira -- #17 Honda -- finished 21st
7. Buddy Rice -- #15 Honda -- finished 5th
8. A. J. Foyt IV -- #14 Toyota -- finished 19th
9. Bryan Herta -- #7 Honda -- finished 17th
10. Dario Franchitti -- #27 Honda -- finished 6th

Even though there is still one event left in the IRL season, Tony Kanaan has clinched the IRL crown for the 2004 season. Kanaan has accumulated 578 points, and is 80 points ahead of second place driver Dan Wheldon. The most points a driver can get during an IRL event is 50, so Kanaan is automatically the winner as Wheldon can't possibly surpass him at this point.

Wheldon, however, is in a position to lose second place to Buddy Rice. Wheldon has 498 points and third place driver Rice has 473 points, recording only a 25 point difference. Depending on how the season finale at Texas shakes out, the second and third place driver's positions could easily change. Adrian Fernandez is in fourth place with 415 points, which is more than 50 points away from third, so he isn't a threat to assume that position.

The fifth place driver, Helio Castroneves, is however, in a position to assume fourth place away from Fernandez because he is listed with 408 points, only seven points down from fourth. The same can be said for the remainder of the top ten, who are all less than 50 points apart. There can be a huge shake-up for the top ten driver's point's money in the season finale, giving the driver's something to shoot for even though the championship has been clinched.

The copyright of the article Kanaan Wins the IRL Crown in Indy Racing League is owned by Thomas M. Sampson. Permission to republish Kanaan Wins the IRL Crown in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.