This coming Saturday, the IRL Kentucky 300 at the Kentucky Speedway will feature a classic points battle between road race expert Will Power and defending IRL champ Dario Franchitti. Power did win the Mario Andretti Trophy, although he has not performed well on the ovals. Of all the IRL road races, the award is given to the leader in points.

Dario Franchitti will have the edge on Will Power for the next three races, starting with the race at Kentucky, although he is a solid road racer. Franchitti has won on the Kentucky Speedway in the past, which is a one and a half mile cookie cutter track. In recent races, racing on the mile and a half tracks has proved to be nerve racking.

Much like NASCAR restrictor plate races, the Indy cars tend to race on the cookie cutter tracks. Nose to tail for most of the race, they race inches apart. It could lead to a massive pile up at high speed, if any driver flinches. Passing is not easy and the racing is tension filled.

In a race at Kentucky Speedway, the best qualifying cars have the best edge. To Penske Racing, this will give an edge to Franchitti and he won two races at Kentucky while Ganassi Racing holds one trophy at the speedway. On the Kentucky track, both Power and Franchitti are teammates that have won recently. Ryan Briscoe always puts his best foot forward for Penske Racing on these type tracks and he is also Power’s teammate. In 2008, Franchitti’s Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon also won the Kentucky race.