RICHMOND, Va. – The field has five series champions, the reigning Daytona 500 winner, three of NASCAR’s rising stars, two newcomers and a 14-year veteran searching for his first title.

Together, they’ve combined to win 23 of the first 26 races. Alone, they’ll race against one another for NASCAR’s biggest prize.

The Chase for the Nextel Cup championship begins Sunday in New Hampshire, and the fourth installment of this 10-race title hunt promises to be the best one yet.

“It’s a stout field,” defending champion Jimmie Johnson said. “I think it’s going to be the most competitive Chase we’ve seen. You’ve got a lot of wild cards, a lot of action.”

It starts with Johnson, who is trying to become the first driver to win consecutive titles since Jeff Gordon in 1997 and 1998. His win Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway was his second straight and series-best sixth of the season, and it earned him the top seed in the Chase.

NASCAR tweaked the format this year, expanding the field from 10 to 12 drivers and seeding them based on bonus points earned in the 26-week regular season. After one of his typical summer swoons, Johnson rallied the last two weeks to lock down the top spot and take a 20-point advantage over Gordon into the Chase.

“We’re happy to be hitting our stride at this point in the season,” he said. “As everybody knows, it was a little bit of a tough summer for us. But everything is working right now. We’re strong on all fronts and I’m happy that we’re able to put it together and win back-to-back weeks like this.”

He’ll face his toughest competition within his own Hendrick Motorsports camp, where teammate Gordon has been flawless this season. He won four races, finished in the top 10 in all but five events and built a lead of more than 300 points in the standings.

It’s all gone now, but Gordon isn’t worried. The four-time series champion is a veteran of close title chases – and has even lost one to a teammate before, Terry Labonte in 1996.

“Jimmie has been putting the pressure on me for the last four or five years,” Gordon said. “Right now the momentum is on his side. We know that team is going to step it up when we get in the Chase, they always do.

“But we are excited about what we are going to be able to do because we step it up in the Chase as well. There are 10 other guys out there that are going to come in fired up and ready to do the same thing.”

Franchitti wins race, IRL title on final lap

JOLIET, Ill. – Dario Franchitti squeezed out half a lap more than Scott Dixon on their final fuel load Sunday and that’s all it took for the Scot to win his first IndyCar Series title in what might be his farewell to open-wheel racing.

The two leaders, who came into the season-finale at Chicagoland Speedway with Franchitti leading the standings by just three points, both stopped to top off their 22-gallon fuel tanks during a caution 54 laps from the end on the 11/2-mile oval.

It looked as if Dixon, the 2003 series champion, was going to pull it off, taking the lead when Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dan Wheldon ran out of fuel on lap 194 of the 200-lap event.

With Franchitti right on his rear wing and expecting to have to make a fuel-only stop that could have cost them dearly, Danica Patrick, one of Franchitti’s Andretti Green Racing teammates, pitted for fuel on lap 195 and brought out a yellow flag when she spun in the pits.

With a few more laps of caution to help them conserve fuel, both leaders tried to make it to the end.

The green flag waved with two laps to go and Franchitti drove to the outside of Dixon and pulled alongside. But he wasn’t able to get past and, as the two drove down the long backstretch at about 215 mph, it appeared Dixon had it made.

But, as they approached turn three, Dixon’s car suddenly slowed, Franchitti drove by and went on to win the race. Dixon coasted over the finish line 1.844 seconds behind, in second place in both the race and the championship. Franchitti won the title and the $1 million prize that goes with it by 13 points.

Franchitti, who also won his first Indianapolis 500 in May and walked away from a pair of wild, airborne crashes late in the season, was blown away by the finish. Dixon could hardly believe his fate.

“It’s just a shame that it came down to a fuel race,” he said, shrugging his shoulders in disappointment.

“Our car was clearly quicker all day. It wasn’t our day.”

The 27 (Franchitti) was getting better fuel mileage all day, and that’s what it came down to. It’s tough, man.”

“We had the same amount of fuel, but we just didn’t use it wisely, I guess.”