HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Discount what Dario Franchitti said Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Sometimes driving a race car is not about collecting a check.

Franchitti earned one of those hokey oversized ceremonial checks signifying $10,000 by winning the pole for today’s season-ending IndyCar Series race.

But what could matter more was the championship point that accompanied it. The season tallies of Franchitti, Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe are so close that a single point could be the difference in crowning the series champion.

“To get one point is handy,” Franchitti said with a smile. “(Now) the hard work begins.”

The green flag for today’s Firestone Indy 300 will be at 5 p.m. Available to be won are 50 points for the winning driver and two for the one who leads the most laps.

The difference between first and second place in IndyCar races is 10 points. The only three drivers still in the hunt for the championship are separated by just eight. Franchitti trails Dixon by just four points, although Dixon has the tiebreaker (most wins this season).

Briscoe arguably needed the pole point more than his rivals as the spreads between finishers are less the lower a driver winds up. Briscoe will lose a tiebreaker with Dixon.

He qualified third.

“Not bad; it’s just Dario was really fast,” he said.

Franchitti’s four-lap qualifying average was 212.696 mph. Dixon was second at 212.160, with Briscoe at 212.137. Briscoe noted that he hadn’t experienced laps as fast as Franchitti’s even in the draft during practice.

“I thought, ‘Where is this coming from?’ " he said.

Briscoe, seeking his first title, admitted that Team Penske put extra effort into qualifying Friday, simulating two runs in the afternoon in a bid to nab the point.

The pole was Franchitti’s fifth of the season and third on an oval. Ironically, Dixon had been the quicker of the Ganassi cars in practice.

“We weren’t that great in practice, but we found some problems,” Franchitti said. “The first three laps were perfect in terms of the balance of the car. The fourth lap was a little bit of a slip.”

It was the third sweep of the front row for Ganassi Racing this season. Dixon said his car wasn’t good enough in the corners to catch his teammate.

Dixon tried to shrug off the importance of the pole point until he considered the possibilities.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come down to that,” he said.

It often does in the IndyCar Series. The 2006 season ended with Sam Hornish Jr. and Dan Wheldon having the same number of points, with Helio Castroneves only two points back. Hornish captured the title because he had won more races.

In 2007, Dixon roared down the backstretch at Chicagoland Speedway with Franchitti stepping in his tracks. The championship seemed to be Dixon’s until his engine sputtered in a gasp for fuel, handing Franchitti his first major title.

Even a single point would have given the 1999 CART title to Franchitti rather than Juan Pablo Montoya, who won the tiebreaker.

Even last year’s IndyCar chase was a nail-biter, as Castroneves used a late- season charge to nearly overhaul Dixon, whose title wasn’t secured until he completed the last lap. They finished 1-2 in the race, with Castroneves winning in a photo finish. Dixon received his second series title. Today he tries to match Hornish’s record total.

With the points this close, the pressure is as thick as the Florida humidity that is suffocating fans, crews and drivers. Temperatures in the low 90s are expected again today.

Dixon just hopes to have a good night’s sleep and then go for it.

“I think it’s really easy to overanalyze this and your mind starts running,” he said. “Most of the planning and preparation has been done. (The champion) might be the person that makes the least mistakes.”

Good point.