HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Before Dario Franchitti signed a cocktail napkin as a commitment to drive Ganassi Racing’s IndyCar Series car this season, Chip Ganassi insisted on hearing the commitment in Franchitti’s voice.

“If he says, ‘Well, let me think about it for three days,’ it’s like this guy doesn’t really want it,” Ganassi said.

Franchitti clearly did.

The decision to compete for the title Franchitti won Saturday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway came during last year’s Labor Day weekend race in Detroit. Ganassi had just learned he was losing Dan Wheldon to Panther Racing, and he needed a proven winner to pair with series champion Scott Dixon.

Franchitti, whose NASCAR program had recently disbanded due to a lack of sponsorship, knew he belonged in IndyCar. All that remained was finding a team. Ganassi was already his employer.

Still, the boss had to be convinced. After all, Franchitti was about to be 36 years old with nothing left to prove. He had taken a couple of nasty spills in crashes late in the 2007 season at Michigan and Kentucky, and many wondered if he was past his prime for a sport as dangerous as open-wheel racing.

They were logical inquiries all.

“He sat me down and grilled me pretty hard,” Franchitti said of Ganassi. "Why do I want to come back to IndyCar? Was I up for the challenge and ready to do it again and give 100 percent?

“I’m just glad they invited me back to come and play.”

The championship was the second in three years for the 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner and cements his place in Indy-car history. Only Sam Hornish Jr. (2001, ’02) and Dixon (2003, ’08) have won multiple IndyCar titles, and Franchitti now has 23 wins when combining CART and the Indy Racing League.

Franchitti collected a $1 million bonus for his Indianapolis-based team during Sunday night’s awards ceremony at the W Hotel in South Beach. The season exceeded his expectations.

“I didn’t think I’d win five races and a championship in my first year back,” he said. “I knew driving for (Ganassi) that I’d have good equipment, it was just a question of if I could get back into it and compete at a level that I had already.”

Franchitti said the championship was “sweet” on several levels. First, it made amends for the aborted NASCAR season that critics deemed a failure. It was humbling at a minimum and painful at its core.

Franchitti not only broke his ankle in a crash at Talladega, he saw the staff of about 70 released.

“It was something that’s happened to my friends a lot but it was the first time it had happened to me,” he said. “It was a good lesson (to see) what the other side of the fence looks like.”

Franchitti’s title also came with former driver Chris Simmons as his engineer — “If you ask Chris, I stole his ride,” he said, laughing — and it’s 10 years after Franchitti lost CART’s title on the day his best friend, Greg Moore, was killed in the same race at California Speedway.

“I think about Greg Moore all the time,” Franchitti said. “He won his last race here (at Homestead). We had the party to end all parties after that one. That was quite something.”

So was this season.

Matos top rookie

Raphael Matos received $25,000 at the awards ceremony for being IndyCar’s Rookie of the Year, but he said it was worth more in terms of vindication after his difficult start to the season.

Matos said he learned from a failed passing attempt that knocked Danica Patrick out of the season-opening race in St. Petersburg, Fla. He also crashed with Vitor Meira in the Indianapolis 500. Meira suffered vertebrae fractures that ended his season.

“I definitely made some rookie mistakes, (and) I wouldn’t make those mistakes again, especially the one from St. Petersburg.”

Graham Rahal received the Tony Renna Rising Star Award while Indy Lights champion J.R. Hildebrand was named the Greg Moore Legacy Award recipient.