Franchitti praises Kanaan's teamwork

Franchitti was struggling with a damaged car in the latter stages of the race after he tangled with teammate Marco Andretti, but Kanaan held station behind his fellow Andretti-Green driver to allow the former championship leader to hang on to third place.

"Tony really helped me out," said Franchitti. "I'm sure he could have punched at any point, but he didn't."

Kanaan admitted after the race that he was trying to protect Franchitti, who is now four points behind Scott Dixon in the standings with just two races to go.

"Since Tony came to the team, I've been amazed at how much of a team player he is," Franchitti added. "It's a pretty cool relationship.

"When he was going for the championship in '04 there were a couple of races where I kind of sat back and helped him out.

"I would do that again for him in a heartbeat. Here we are the positions are reversed, and you can see, he'll do it for me."

Kanaan is still in with a shot of the title as he is 64 points behind Dixon at the moment, but he has admitted that he will do all he can to help Franchitti secure the title for Andretti Green.