Sept. 5 newsstand

A champion to be decided
ESPN.com: No love lost between AGR & Ganassi
Bruce Martin gives us some juicy stuff on another installment of As The Vision Turns.

Apparently, Michael Andretti & Kevin Savoree made a visit to the Ganassi folks after Dixon backed into Dario's path (Michael said he thought it was intentional).

Says TCGR's Mike Hull: "I think Michael Andretti and Kevin Savoree overreacted to what they saw on television, which happens. What I thought was a classless act was the way they treated Mr. Ganassi. I won't repeat what they said ... They accused Chip that we tried to take Dario out. We don't race like that. It's too bad they react the way they do. I think that's a pretty classless way to act. Kevin Savoree was trying to get Chip to swing at him, but Chip wouldn't bite."

Dario's version: "I don't think Scott did anything on purpose. He went for a gap when Buddy ran out of fuel, he spun, was going left and going right. I chose the wrong way and he rolled back as I was going that way."Sometimes you can't do right for doing wrong."

Scott's version: "I had no control of the car -- it spun out. It's just unfortunate what happened. ... I tried to get on the inside, and it looked like (Rice) sped up again, so I tried to brake and he came down a little bit. My rear hit him and then I spun."How was it intentional? I was better off; I would have made five points on the guy if I kept going."

Tony Kanaan's version: "Do I think it was on purpose? Yes. But you know what, like he always said last weekend, too, what goes around comes around. So here we go. He lost the championship lead. He's not sleeping very well this week and I'm coming."

SpeedTV: IndyCar title coming down to epic fight again
Robin Miller checks in.

Says Robin: "Whether it's parity, the right number of races or luck, the Indy Racing League again has wound up with what all sports desire -- a championship decided in the last round. And it didn't need a contrived playoff like NASCAR, the NHRA or PGA. ... This Sunday's showdown between Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon (Tony Kanaan also has a heartbeat) at Joliet, Ill. is the third time in the past five years the IRL title is up for grabs going into the finale. ... Better yet is the fact it's become downright hateful."

Robin also checks in on Danicagate -- her testing a variable-rate steering rack during a couple of road races -- and the controversy involved, and defends Danica. Says RM: "When Danica wins her first race, it's going to put the IRL on another plateau with the national media, if not the general public. She remains open wheel racing's only meal ticket out of anonymity. ... She's turned in some superb drives this year without any "unfair advantage" so chew on that."

Scotsman.com: No old pals act for Franchitti
TK says he's going for the title, so it's no more Dario's wingman. "I was never out of the championship and now I'm right back in the hunt. It's obviously going to be very difficult but I want to win this thing." If that were the case, Tony, why not pass Dario at Infineon?

FYI, here's how the standings would look if TK had passed Dario at Infineon and, let's say, passed Helio to move up to 2nd (and Dario would've finshed 7th, which is likely): Dixon 584, Franchitti 578, Kanaan 556. Still a longshot for TK, but a much closer possibility than this week, where he has to win and both Dixon & Franchitti have to crash out on the first lap.

AP: Great Scott, can he win it?
Last week, there were about 5 stories per day from the Detroit newspapers on the upcoming race. This is the first one I've found in a Chicago-area paper, and we're five days from the green flag dropping.

IndyCar.com: Battle-tested contenders
All 3 have been here before. A look back at their championship (or near-championship) seasons.

Yesterday, we had several stories about how NASCARworld had discovered the action in the IRL, who didn't have to throw a competition yellow on the season and give a bunch of Lucky Dog passes to generate an exciting championship battle. Now, IRLworld checks in, courtesy of Jack Arute.

Points possibilities for the contenders
Print this out and stick it next to your TV so you can beat Marty & Scott to the "if the apocolypse happened RIGHT NOW and the race ended, here's how the standings would look." At least they admitted it was a frivolous graphic last week.

Official IRL news & notes
Lots of points chase battle updates & history, including the history of close points battles in other series.

Chicago race previews
IRL Chicago pre-race press release
Everything you wanted to know about the Peak Antifreeze Indy 300.

Entry list: 22 cars entered for Chicagoland (the usual 18 + Duno, Roth, Chesson & Mutoh. Herb did not enter as was initially anticipated).

How drivers have fared at Chicago
You know you want to know Will Langhorne's best finish at Chicagoland, don't you?
For the record, Kanaan's best finish is 3rd, his worst is 7th in four races at CLS. Franchitti has only run there twice, finishing 20th in 2004 and 12th in 2005 (he missed last year's race due to injury). Dixon has two seconds -- including last year -- a 7th and a 19th.

IndyCar.com: Chicagoland by the numbers

More driver stories
Jupiter (FL) Courier: Patrick passes Sharp in standings
An update from Scott Sharp's adopted hometown newspaper.

IndyCar.com: Four questions with Tomas Scheckter
We learn about the South African's swimming habits.

IPS love
MyNameIsIRL had this last week, but there were a couple of releases this week about 5-time Indy 500 starter and former IndyCar regular Jimmy Kite getting into the Indy Pro Series.

More IPS news: Alex Lloyd has the title, but several other positions are up for grabs, according to IndyCar.com.

And finally ...
If you've got $75 laying around, Dan Gurney's Eagle Racing Cars is on the market. Motor Trend gives us a brief review of a book highlighting some of the most successful racecars to run at Indy. Of course, Gurney is also known for being a driving force behind creating Split No. 1, but we'll conveniently forget that today.