Even while leading last weekend's race at Kentucky Speedway, Will Power found himself often consumed by one thought.
Where's the 10 car?
In IndyCar parlance, the 10 car means Dario Franchitti, and Power is thinking about him for good and understandable reasons. When it comes to deciding the Indy Racing League's yearlong championship, Franchitti has proven to be the king of end-of-season comebacks.
''Yep, you're very aware of what Dario's doing,'' Power said.
With good reason.
In 2007, with two races remaining, Franchitti trailed Scott Dixon by four points. After a one-year stint with stock cars, Franchitti returned to the IRL ranks in 2009 and trailed Ryan Briscoe by 25 points entering the season's last two events.
Both times, he made up the deficit and won the IRL title.
This year, Franchitti is in second with two stops left again, now 17 points behind Power. And given that Power hardly ever finishes ahead of Franchitti on ovals, the final two races of this season - at Japan on Sept. 19 (technically, it'll be Sept. 18 on race night in the United States), then the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Oct. 2 - seem to set up well for the Scot once again.
''We know it's doable,'' Franchitti said Monday. ''Every single person at Team Target knows it's doable, from Chip Ganassi right on down. People say things about it, but my focus is so tight on doing the job and what we have to do in order to win it, I don't even think about outside issues like that right now.''
And not even a return to Homestead, where he saved fuel early and ended up winning the first caution-free race in IndyCar history to clinch the title to close last season, could disrupt that focus.
''Nothing that's gone before is going to make any difference,'' Franchitti said. ''It doesn't matter what happened last week. It doesn't matter what happened last year. However we can do it, it's about getting to the finish line first. I've said it before - we can only control our stuff, what we do with the 10 car. Will and his team will take care of their stuff, and it's up to us to try to beat them.''
Franchitti, Power, Dixon - who also remains mathematically in title consideration, though just barely - and Briscoe were at Homestead on Monday hoping to do some testing in advance of the finale. The session was postponed because of work being done to one of the track barriers.
If anything, the delay might have been another shot to Power's chances.
Power was the IRL's behemoth on road courses this year, piling up 412 points in the nine races that weren't on ovals - 105 more than Franchitti.
But in the races where it's nothing but left turns, everything goes right for Franchitti. He leads the IndyCar oval standings with 228 points in six events, while Power has managed just 140.
Motegi and Homestead are both 1 1/2-mile ovals. Advantage, Franchitti, right?
Not everyone thinks so.
''Will's done a great job,'' Briscoe said of his Team Penske teammate. ''He'll definitely finish in front of Dario.''
Power led for nearly half of the 200-lap event in Kentucky last weekend, only to make some mistakes late and finish eighth.
''I've definitely got my confidence up on ovals,'' Power said. ''Just got to put it all together one time - or two times.''
The defending IndyCar king feels the same way.
''I'm looking forward to coming back here,'' Franchitti said, looking around the Homestead facility, ''and let's see what happens.''
