Briscoe wins thrilling Chicago race

The polesitting Penske driver recovered from a mid-race pit delay to beat his Ganassi title rival by just 0.077 seconds - as the top 13 cars finished within a mere eight tenths of a second.

KV driver Mario Moraes claimed his first IndyCar podium by edging past Ganassi's Dario Franchitti for third, with Graham Rahal, Ed Carpenter and Oriol Servia completing the top six.

Briscoe had controlled the first half of the race, fending off huge pressure initially from his team-mate and front row partner Helio Castroneves, and then from the charging Dixon.

The champion did manage to jump Briscoe at the first pitstops, but only held the advantage for a handful of laps before the Australian slipped back ahead.

It was only when the four-car Ganassi and Penske lead pack got into heavy traffic that Briscoe's night went awry, as a wild moment among the lapped cars on lap 75 saw the leader fall back to fourth as Castroneves shot from third to first.

A parking miscue then cost Briscoe more ground at the second stops, which came under yellow following a big crash for Andretti Green's Hideki Mutoh. Having stopped too far from his crew, Briscoe was down at the foot of the top ten when racing resumed, leaving Castroneves and Dixon to battle for the lead.

Another yellow for Marco Andretti brushing the wall followed soon after, and most of the leaders chose to pit again - although Tony Kanaan (Andretti Green) and Tomas Scheckter (Dreyer & Reinbold) opted to stay out and briefly led at the restart.

Castroneves lost ground in the pits and then struggled to get back out of the midfield, and with Briscoe still mired in the pack too, it was Ganassi duo Franchitti and Dixon who shot to the front during the next stint, ahead of Moraes.

Proactive use of the push to pass button eventually got Briscoe back among the leaders, and he was able to get between the Ganassi duo at the final stops, as Franchitti dropped back to fourth when his air gun began entangled.

A late final stop saw Castroneves - who had been running as low as 12th - get back to third, but then a problem at the rear of his car sent the Brazilian into the wall with 16 laps to go, prompting a final yellow and setting up the spectacular finish.

Briscoe attacked Dixon throughout the remaining nine laps of green flag racing, repeatedly sneaking ahead on the outside out of the final corner, even though Dixon tended to lead on the other side of the track.

While the leaders went wheel to wheel, a stream of rivals tried to join the fight, with Moraes and Rahal both managing to go three abreast with Briscoe and Dixon at times.

On the last lap, Briscoe again moved in front out of the final corner, doing just enough to pip Dixon to the line, as Moraes did likewise to Franchitti right behind them. The result stretched Briscoe's championship lead to 25 points with two rounds to go.

Rahal slipped back to fifth ahead of Vision's Ed Carpenter, who had run as high as third early on after charging through from the midfield. The American split the two Newman/Haas/Lanigan cars, as Servia came home seventh for his best result since returning to the team.

Scheckter claimed eighth ahead of top rookie Raphael Matos (Luczo Dragon) and Justin Wilson - the latter producing one of his and Dale Coyne Racing's strongest oval showings since joining the IndyCar Series.

Andretti fell back to 11th in the final shootout, although he had previously recovered to fourth despite having to make an extra pitstop due to a fuel rig problem, and then making minor contact with the wall. He was the best of the AGR cars, as Danica Patrick and Kanaan followed him home.

Pos  Driver             Team                      Time/Gap
 1.  Ryan Briscoe       Penske               1h42m34.3051s
 2.  Scott Dixon        Ganassi                  + 0.0077s
 3.  Mario Moraes       KV                       + 0.0699s
 4.  Dario Franchitti   Ganassi                  + 0.0997s
 5.  Graham Rahal       Newman/Haas/Lanigan      + 0.1295s
 6.  Ed Carpenter       Vision                   + 0.1668s
 7.  Oriol Servia       Newman/Haas/Lanigan      + 0.2612s
 8.  Tomas Scheckter    Dreyer & Reinbold        + 0.2683s
 9.  Raphael Matos      Luczo Dragon             + 0.3356s
10.  Justin Wilson      Coyne                    + 0.4344s
11.  Marco Andretti     Andretti Green           + 0.5224s
12.  Danica Patrick     Andretti Green           + 0.5840s
13.  Tony Kanaan        Andretti Green           + 0.8269s
14.  Sarah Fisher       Fisher                   +   1 lap
15.  Ryan Hunter-Reay   Foyt                     +   1 lap
16.  Mike Conway        Dreyer & Reinbold        +   1 lap
17.  EJ Viso            HVM                      +  2 laps
18.  Robert Doornbos    HVM                      +  3 laps
19.  Jaques Lazier      3G                       +  5 laps

Retirements:

     Helio Castroneves  Penske               184 laps
     Milka Duno         Dreyer & Reinbold    155 laps
     Dan Wheldon        Panther              95 laps
     Hideki Mutoh       Andretti Green       90 laps