IndyCar racing fires on all cylinders at Kentucky event

IndyCar racing is struggling to overcome several problems that include weak attendance and television ratings and the decision by Danica Patrick, perhaps its most popular driver, to bolt for NASCAR stock car racing next year.

But say this about the Izod IndyCar Series: It can still put on a thrilling race besides its crown jewel, the Indianapolis 500.

For the last 20 laps in Sunday’s Kentucky Indy 300, little-known Ed Carpenter raced side by side with reigning series champion Dario Franchitti at more than 200 mph.

Round and round they went only a few feet apart on the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway oval, with neither driver willing to cede the lead to the other.

Carpenter finally reached the finish line a car nose ahead of Franchitti to earn his first IndyCar victory in 113 starts over nine years.

It also marked the first IndyCar win for Sarah Fisher, now semiretired as a driver and owner of Carpenter’s team.

“Ed drove a great race,” said Franchitti, who drives for Target Chip Ganassi Racing. “We just came up a little bit short.”

Carpenter, 30, is the stepson of Tony George, who helped spark a 12-year civil war between factions in Indy-style racing when he formed the Indy Racing League in the mid-1990s.

The sides finally reunited in 2008 under the IndyCar Series banner. But by then the sport’s popularity had waned badly, especially in the face of NASCAR’s surging prosperity.

George for several years also led his own team, Vision Racing, which included Carpenter, but the driver usually struggled. Carpenter this year joined Fisher to race a partial schedule on the series’ oval tracks.

“I always believed that I belonged, known that I could win races,” Carpenter said. “Until you actually win one, there’s always going to be people that think something different, and there probably will still be people that think something different.”

Franchitti’s second-place finish Sunday vaulted him ahead of hard-luck Will Power by 18 points in the championship with one race left in the schedule, at Las Vegas on Oct. 16.

Power arrived in Kentucky with an 11-point lead and started the race on the pole. But 49 laps into the 200-lap event, Power’s car was struck by the car of Ana Beatriz on pit road, cutting a two-foot gash in the left side of Power’s car and ending his chances of winning. He finished 19th.

“We were just holding on, trying to do our best after that,” Power said. “It’s very tough, but it happens in racing.”

If Franchitti prevails, it would be his third consecutive title and fourth overall.

For Power, who drives for Team Penske, it could be the second time in as many years that the Australian has seen the title slip away. Power led the standings by 59 points last year with four races left but was overtaken by Franchitti.

james.peltz@latimes.com