Dixon wins in Japan; Power takes points lead

The IndyCar championship race is going down to the wire - again.

Scott Dixon won the Indy Japan 300 from the pole Sunday in Motegi, Japan, and Will Power finished second to take the points lead from Dario Franchitti, whose uncharacteristic slip-up helped set up a reprisal of last year's tight title race going into the final two events.

"I've got to give a lot of credit to Team Target," said Dixon, who won the Honda Indy 200 last month. "They gave me a great car with great pit stops and great fuel strategy."

Team Penske's Power moved into first place in the standings with 542 points, 11 ahead of Franchitti, who finished eighth after being penalized for hitting Ryan Briscoe's car on the 26th lap.

"It was a good day for us points-wise in the championship, but I'm really not worried about points right now," said Power, who finished 3.4375 seconds behind Dixon. "I just need to keep finishing in front of (Franchitti) the rest of the way and we'll be fine. We'll keep chipping away like we have been."

Marco Andretti finished third, Alex Tagliani was fourth and Oriol Servia took fifth.

Dixon's second IndyCar win of the season kept him in contention for the title, 59 points behind Power in third going into the races on ovals at Kentucky and Las Vegas.

Franchitti's chances of holding onto the points lead took a hit when he made contact with the right-rear of Briscoe's Team Penske car entering Turn 1.

"It was a stupid move on my part," said Franchitti, who started ninth. "I did a lot of hard work to get from ninth to fifth, and I'd been saving fuel the whole first stint. I thought there was a gap and Ryan was going wide on the entry and that was that."

Indy Japan 300

Sunday

At Twin Ring Motegi (Road Course)

Motegi, Japan

Lap length: 2.983 miles

(Starting position in parentheses)

1. (1) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

2. (2) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

3. (10) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

4. (15) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

5. (16) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

6. (14) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Honda, 63,

Running.

7. (19) J.R. Hildebrand, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

8. (9) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

9. (20) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

10. (11) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

11. (23) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

12. (3) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

13. (8) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

14. (26) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

15. (5) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

16. (18) Giorgio Pantano, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

17. (25) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

18. (22) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

19. (21) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

20. (4) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

21. (13) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

22. (6) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

23. (7) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 63, Off Course.

24. (17) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 63, Running.

25. (24) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 61, Off Course.

26. (12) Joao Paulo de Oliveira, Dallara-Honda, 19, Mechanical.

Points: Power 542, Franchitti 531, Dixon 483, Servia 397, Kanaan 353, Briscoe 340, M.Andretti 327, Hunter-Reay 317, Rahal 302, Castroneves 302.

• NASCAR

Sunday's rain at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., forced NASCAR to postpone the opening race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

NASCAR rescheduled the race for today at 9 a.m. PDT (ESPN).

The forecast didn't look good from the start, but because the facility has lights, NASCAR waited all day for a window to dry the track. Officials got the window and had the track almost dry, but the sky opened again roughly six hours after the scheduled start.

It marks the first Chase race since the championship series debuted in 2004 to be postponed.

• NHRA

Matt Hagan backed up his record-setting run by beating points leader Mike Neff in the Funny Car finals for his first victory of the season at the NHRA Nationals in Concord, N.C.

Antron Brown (Top Fuel), Kurt Johnson (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also won in their respective categories in the first event of NHRA's six-race playoffs to determine the world championships.

On Friday, Hagan recorded the fastest-ever Funny Car run, clocking 3.995 seconds. Hagan also moved 22 points behind Neff in the standings.