Franchitti, Power notch twin Indy wins

Will Power, the IndyCar Series points leader, won the second race of the IndyCar Twin 275s on Saturday after Dario Franchitti edged teammate Scott Dixon by .05 of a second in the opener. Australia's Power claimed his first victory on an oval circuit and his third victory of 2011 as he maintained his lead over Scotland's Franchitti in the series standings. New Zealand's Dixon was second in both races. Franchitti captured his 28th IndyCar career triumph, his first at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway oval in the unique format, which featured two 114-lap races worth half the usual points and prize money of a typical event. "First win at Texas feels good," Franchitti said. "From the first lap I was able to get in the lead. The biggest problem was fighting through traffic. The tires were sliding around." A crash involving US rookie Charlie Kimball and Australian rookie Wade Cunningham, who was driving the leased car that England's Dan Wheldon used to win last month's Indianapolis 500, set up a restart with 10 laps remaining. Franchitti led after the restart and held off Ganassi Racing teammate Dixon with Power third, pole-sitter Alex Tagliani of Canada fourth and Japan's Takuma Sato fifth. Franchitti's mood became decidedly less celebratory after the opening race, however, when he drew the 28th starting position in the field of 30 in the blind draw to determine the starting grid for the second race. Brazil's Tony Kanaan picked the pole position with Aussie rookie Wade Cunningham alongside on the outside of row one. Power nabbed the inside of row two. Franchitti managed to work his way up to seventh, but admitted he was irked by the random draw. "Surely racing is about skill," Franchitti said. "The second race was just a lottery." But Power needed some skill to avoid disaster in the second race. He was charging down the backstretch just before his final pit stop when he had to swerve to miss Graham Rahal, who had apparently run out of fuel. Power took the lead on the 39th lap, overtaking Kanaan and going on to beat Dixon by .94 of a second. Power entered the weekend with a 16-point lead over Franchitti, who cut it to seven points after the first race. After the second race, Power's margin atop the standings was at 21 points -- 239 to Franchitti's 218. "This means so much to me and the boys," Power said of his long awaited oval triumph. "We’ve been chasing this for so long. It was a fun race and great day." However, even Power agreed the system for determining the starting order of the second race needed to be adjusted if IndyCar sticks with the double-header format. "That was definitely unfair for Dario and Scott, anyone that was a championship contender," Power said. "For him to start 28th and me third, it just isn't fair."