ABC To Have Live Coverage of Dramatic IndyCar Series Season Finale

After a season of tense and competitive racing on oval tracks, road courses and street circuits across America, as well as an event in Japan, the IndyCar Series championship comes down to the wire this weekend with one of the tightest points battles in series history.

ESPN on ABC will have live, flag-to-flag coverage of Sunday’s PEAK Antifreeze IndyCar 300 presented by Mr. Clean at Chicagoland Speedway at 4 p.m. ET.

Three drivers enter the season finale of the 17-race series with a mathematical chance of winning the championship, but the numbers favor series points leader Dario Franchitti and runner-up Scott Dixon, separated by just three points. Tony Kanaan is third, 39 points out of first.

“These drivers have the same mind-set going into the championship that they have going into the Indianapolis 500,” said Scott Goodyear, analyst for ESPN on ABC’s IndyCar Series coverage and a former winning driver in the IndyCar Series. “It’s the risk vs. reward ratio, and at Indy they’re willing to take big risks and go for it. The feeling is it’s all or nothing. They will try to win the race knowing that’s essentially what they need to do to win the championship.”

Marty Reid, who will call the race from the ESPN booth, expects some gamesmanship from the top contenders.

“I guarantee you they will say that they’re just going to go out and race and not worry about the points, but that will be an absolute lie because that’s exactly what they will be worried about,” Reid said. “They will be concerned about lapped traffic and just something silly that might cost them a championship.

“The pressure will really be on the crews. As always in motorsports, it will come down to who makes the fewest mistakes. When you’re running one race for a million dollars, the pressure will be very high.”

Goodyear pointed out that some lingering hard feelings from the season also could come into play during the Chicagoland race. “It’s not just these teams against each other, because it could be these teams against the rest of the teams,” he said. “There are a lot of long memories in that paddock.

“At Chicago, you really have to have a machine underneath you that’s capable of being at the front. If one of the championship contenders doesn’t have that, then just what kind of strategy will come into play? What will the teams do? That will make it very interesting.”

Joining Reid and Goodyear on the coverage team for ESPN on ABC will be pit reporters Jack Arute, Brienne Pedigo and Vince Welch.

For complete IndyCar Series TV listing, click here.