Ryan Briscoe made a mistake in Saturday’s IndyCar Series race in Japan, and Ganassi Racing capitalized.

The combination of events — Briscoe damaging his car on pit road in the middle of the Indy Japan 300 and Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti going on to finish first and second — sets up one of the most intriguing final races in series history.

The three championship contenders are separated by just eight points heading to the season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Oct. 10. Dixon leads Franchitti by five points, with Briscoe another three behind Franchitti.

The spread is the second closest among three drivers still alive for the championship with one race left. The closest was in 2003 (seven points). Dixon won that title.

In the IndyCar scoring system, the difference between first and second place in a race is 10 points.

Briscoe was positioned to be the leader heading to Homestead, having caught a break as he was on pit road when a caution came out for Mike Conway’s crash on lap 106 of 200. Even a routine stop would have kept the Australian in the lead, but he lost control of his Team Penske car exiting his pit box. Briscoe slid to the inside wall at his left, and the slight contact damaged his left front suspension. He also collected a timing cone, which he carried around the track under caution.

Briscoe had to make a lengthy pit stop for repairs, reducing him to 18th place in a 23-car field. He had entered the race 25 points ahead of Franchitti, 32 ahead of Dixon.

“Yeah, it was pretty frustrating,” Briscoe told reporters after the race. "With the accident leaving the pits, it was a huge opportunity to get the race lead.

“I just gassed it too much leaving my box and the car spun,” he said. “I hit the wall.”

Dixon took the lead from Franchitti on lap 164 during a pit stop, amassing the most points possible in an event after he won the pole (one point), led a race-high 149 laps (two points) and drove to victory lane (50 points).

Dixon finished 1.4475 seconds ahead of Franchitti.

“A fantastic day for Team Target,” Dixon told reporters. “For me, it’s tremendous.”

The victory was Dixon’s fifth of the season and record-extending 21st in the series.

The win was the ninth of the season for Chip Ganassi’s drivers, and it was the 14th time in 16 races that the points lead swapped hands. Briscoe thinks that can happen again after the Homestead race.

“The good thing is that it’s only eight points (of a deficit),” he said. “I feel real good going into Homestead. We’ve been strong on all the 11/2(-mile tracks) this year.”

Team Penske has won at three of the five such tracks this season, with Briscoe capturing two.

“It looks like it is going to be a pretty tough battle to see who can win the race,” Briscoe said.

Dixon will go to Homestead in pursuit of his second consecutive championship and third overall, both of which would tie Sam Hornish Jr.

Franchitti won the 2007 title when Dixon ran out of fuel on the final lap of the season at Chicagoland Speedway. Briscoe has never won an IndyCar championship.

Graham Rahal and Oriol Servia finished third and fourth in Japan, giving Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing one of its strongest performances of the season.

Mario Moraes, who started a career-best second, rallied to finish fifth after missing his marks on his first pit stop. The KV Racing Technology crew then had trouble fueling his car, which cost him time and position.

Danica Patrick, who last season at Motegi became the first woman to win an Indy-car race, finished sixth.

Flipped

Saturday’s race in Japan turned around the IndyCar Series championship race heading to the final event Oct. 10 at Homestead-Miami. The top three drivers, their points and positions:

[chart]
|Driver|Before|After|
|Scott Dixon|517 (3rd)|570 (1st)|
|Dario Franchitti|525 (2nd)|565 (2nd)|
|Ryan Briscoe|550 (1st)|562 (3rd)|
[end chart]