Franchitti had left IndyCar for stock cars last season

Dario Franchitti sealed his second IndyCar series championship in three years after winning the season-ending Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The Scot had entered the race four points behind defending champion Scott Dixon, with Ryan Briscoe also in with a chance of the overall title.

Briscoe finished second and Dixon third leaving Franchitti delighted to regain the crown after a year in stock cars.

"When we did the deal, I did not expect to be standing here," he said.

"My first goal was to try and compete with Scott, who I think is one of the very best, and I was able to do that.

"And so the fact that we're standing here is pretty cool."

To beat those guys, it really makes me very proud to have managed to have achieved that Dario Franchitti

Franchitti, who had started on pole, used a significantly different fuel strategy than the other two title contenders to take the chequered flag.

But it was Dixon, his New Zealand team-mate in the Ganassi garage, who jostled for the lead for most of the afternoon with Briscoe, the Australian leading for 103 of the 200 laps for Penske Racing.

Franchitti sat back in third, content to let the others battle it out - and the race and the championship was decided on fuel strategy.

Briscoe and Dixon pitted together with 56 laps remaining, whereas Franchitti came in six laps later.

The leading pair came in again for fuel with about seven laps left and Franchitti stayed on the track, thinking he had enough to get to the finish.

Franchitti was congratulated by his actress wife Ashley Judd

Franchitti finished with 616 points, Dixon had 605 and Briscoe finished with 604.

"Every week, they're up front and you've got to, if you want to win races of the championship, you have to go through those two it seems right now," Franchitti said of his two rivals.

"And to beat those guys, it really makes me very proud to have managed to have achieved that."

Franchitti earned a £600,000 bonus for ending the year on top of the points standings and, following a disappointing season in stock cars, plans to defend his title next season.

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