Franchitti 2-0 at Iowa

NEWTON, Iowa -- It was Father's Day, and Dario Franchitti uncharacteristically didn't have his father, George, at the racetrack.

No matter. The former Indianapolis 500 winner had his usually reliable Ganassi Racing pit crew working his car at Iowa Speedway, a track at which he has never lost.

Franchitti won his second consecutive IndyCar Series Iowa race on the fast and racy short track by avoiding bumps in the road and bumping by others around him.

"It's all a blur at the moment," Franchitti said after the Iowa Corn Indy 250. "It was a very, very physical race with the massive G loads we pull here, and the heat or the humidity.

"I'm pretty tired, actually. I was a little bit dizzy when I got out of the car, and it's been a while since I felt that."

Seeing his father might have helped, but George Franchitti took the weekend off after traveling to last weekend's 24 Hours of Le Mans (France) to watch his other son, Marino, race.

"He's probably missed five races in my whole career," said Franchitti, who went to Le Mans, too. "This (win) is for him and all the fathers on the team and all the fathers in the (crowd)."

Franchitti wouldn't have reached victory lane Sunday without some luck.

He was preparing to make a passing attempt on Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves when the two leaders made contact on lap 18. Dixon skidded and Castroneves' front wing went flying, catching Franchitti off guard.

"That was a close one," he said.

Later, Franchitti was trailing a three-wide battle among rookie Mike Conway, Danica Patrick and Graham Rahal when the latter two banged wheels, sending Rahal reeling up the track.

"He snapped loose and went up the hill," Franchitti said. "He chopped me later in the race, which just about took me out of the race. So I'll have to have a word with Mr. Rahal about that. I wasn't none too impressed with that."

Such was the day before unexpected sunshine and a raucous crowd announced at 42,000 (a sellout). There were five accidents involving seven drivers, including two nearly identical ones on the second lap. E.J. Viso lost control of his car at nearly the same place in the fourth turn where rookie Robert Doornbos spun in Ryan Hunter-Reay's path.

Of the single-car crashes, Justin Wilson spun in the second turn of lap 34. Tony Kanaan did likewise -- for the third year in a row -- on lap 111.

The other multi-car accident came in the same location when Mario Moraes hit the wall trying to avoid the spinning Raphael Matos, a rookie.

Franchitti wasn't surprised by the mayhem given the combination of a slippery track and the bumps between the first and second turns, a result of settling asphalt. The race started with a clean surface after two days of rain washed away much of the tire rubber that helps the cars grip.

"When somebody like Tony crashes on cold tires, you know how difficult it was," he said.

There were 12 lead changes among seven drivers. Several drivers who haven't been regular threats to win this season -- Dan Wheldon and Tomas Scheckter, among them -- battled at the top.

In the end, Franchitti's crew gave him the lead over Ryan Briscoe with 50 laps to go. He did the rest, ending with a five-second margin.

"I was hoping, with the lapped traffic we were coming up on at the end, I was going to be able to catch him like the previous stint and get around him, but he actually got the luck of the draw with the traffic and was able to extend the lead," said Briscoe, the series points leader who finished second for the third consecutive race.

Hideki Mutoh (third) and Wheldon (fourth) were the only other drivers to finish on the lead lap.

The win was Franchitti's second of the season and his 10th in the IndyCar Series (20 including Champ Car).

Iowa Corn Indy 250 (Top finishers)

Series points leaders: 1. Briscoe 241; 2. Franchitti 238; 3. Dixon 226; 4. Castroneves 212; 5. Patrick 189; 6. Wheldon 184; 7. Tony Kanaan 162; 8. Marco Andretti 159; 9. Graham Rahal 145; 10. Mutoh 142.