Franchitti survives crashes to win third title at Honda Indy

Dario Franchitti of Scotland celebrates after winning the Toronto Indy in Toronto on Sunday July 10, 2011. (Chris Young / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

TORONTO - Dario Franchitti survived a crash-filled race and a repealed penalty to win his third title Honda Indy Toronto title Sunday.

The Scottish driver held off Graham Rahal on a late restart, then beat teammate Scott Dixon on the 1.75-mile temporary street course at Exhibition Place.

Ryan Hunter-Reay finished third.

Franchitti previously won the event in 2009 and 1999 and increased his lead atop the IZOD IndyCar points standings.

Franchitti got a lucky break after his team managed to repeal a drive-through penalty that kept rival Will Power from defending his title.

As he chased Power into a corner on the 57th lap, Franchitti nudged Power into a spin that stalled the pole-sitter's car. Franchitti kept going, while Power had to try to recover from 18th.

"I'm always racing clean, he's always racing dirty. ...," Power told the Versus network during the race. "He never gets a penalty from IndyCar. Just not right."

Power's day was done on the 66th lap after getting banged into the wall from behind by Alex Tagliani of Lachenaie, Que.

Power finished 24th in the second straight race he failed to finish after suffering a mild concussion in a crash at Iowa last month.

Toronto's James Hinchcliffe finished 14th, while Paul Tracy managed a 16th-place finish before the hometown crowd.

Unlucky accidents dashed any hopes by the crowd for a Canadian victory.

Tagliani was launched into the air and slid on two wheels after Danica Patrick was pushed into his car on the 72nd lap.

Tagliani had survived an early collision on the 29th lap by Helio Castroneves, a hit that effectively took Castroneves out of the race after the Brazilian's car required repairs that dropped him several laps back. It also hurt Power, Castroneves' teammate, who had been leading but was forced to pit on the ensuing caution flag.

That allowed Franchitti, who had made a pit stop right before Tagliani's idle car raised the caution flag, to take his first lead of the race.

Hinchcliffe and Tracy hurt each other during a close battle on the 38th lap after their cars clipped, causing a flat tire for Hinchcliffe and sending Tracy to the pits for a new front wing. Tracy suffered in the collision, dropping him two laps back.

Tracy's hopes for a victory were completely dashed after he bumped into Vitor Meira on the 45th lap, dropping the 40-year-old driver three laps out of the pack.

Hinchcliffe, meanwhile, was taken out of contention with nine laps to go after being involved in a five-car collision when Marco Andretti turned into Oriol Servia. Andretti escaped the pile up that involved Hinchcliffe, Charlie Kimball and ended the day for Mike Conway.

Patrick had a rough day after starting 21st. She was pushed off the road by Japan's Takuma Sato in the seventh lap, puncturing one of her wheels although she was back on the road after a pit stop. It was more costly for Sato, who suffered wing damage and was stuck in the pits to fall six laps down before getting back on the track.

Brazil's Tony Kanaan made an early exit. Ryan Briscoe clipped Kanaan's back wheel rounding a corner, sending Kanaan airborne into the wall just three laps from the start.

Kanaan pointed at his head and yelled at Briscoe from the side of road as the Australian passed by the wrecked car.

Karma caught up to Briscoe on the 55th lap when he was bumped by Mike Conway and dropped back.

NOTES: Canadian actor Dan Aykroyd served as grand marshal of the race. ... The next stop on the circuit is the Edmonton Indy on July 24. ... Justin Wilson's brother, Stefan, won the Firestone Indy Lights developmental race Sunday to give both Wilson brothers victories in Toronto.