Following ceremonies and pre-race activities paying respects to the late Justin Wilson, the final race of the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season got underway at Sonoma Raceway.
Will Power led the field to the green and through the opening handful of laps that were run completely clean. Through the opening laps, the two biggest championship contenders, Juan Pablo Montoya and Graham Rahal, had gone +1 and -3 positions compared to where they started.
Strategies amongts the field immediately began to scatter along pit lane from the opening laps when Helio Castroneves and Sebastien Bourdais brought their Chevrolet-powered cars in in the opening few laps to past Lap 20 when the entire field has stopped at least once.
The first full course caution of the race came on Lap 33 as Luca Filippi slowed the No. 20 Fuzzy's Vodka CFH Racing Chevrolet with throttle issues.
The green flag returned on Lap 38 but was short-lived as Montoya spun his Team Penske teammate Will Power through the opening corners of the first lap after the restart. The Colombian suffered front wing damage and brought the No. 2 in as did Power and a few others under the second yellow flag period.
The green flag came back out on Lap 43; Sebastian Saavedra led Marco Andretti and Tony Kanaan to the green in the No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. At the restart, Graham Rahal ran P11.
On Lap 46, Kanaan was given plenty of room by his Ganassi teammate Saavedra who allowed him to go by for the lead. With the Penske teammates of Montoya and Power at the back of the field, things began looking a bit brighter for Rahal.
At Lap 50, Bourdais and Simon Pagenaud came in. At that stage, Scott Dixon ran as the points leader - the first of any other driver to lead the championship other than Montoya all season long.
At Lap 56, into the final 30 laps of the 2015 season, Montoya had gotten by James Jakes and Carlos Munoz in one lap to advance to 11th with his teammate Will Power a few spots behind.
On Lap 61, Newgarden brought the No. 67 CFH Racing Chevrolet in for service, but stalled as he tried to exit. Then, a small fire broke out causing his crew to frantically work to put out the flames and get the young American back on track. Finally, two laps later, he returned to the track in the GoPro-sponsored car.
The next full course yellow came out on Lap 66 of 85 as James Jakes took a wild ride from the entrance to the runoff area of Turn 7. He was not slowed down enough, slammed his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda against the cement wall then slid, still at speed, into the tire barrier.
With just 15 laps remaining, INDYCAR put out another full course caution as contact between one of the A.J. Foyt Enterprises Hondas and Carlos Munoz left Munoz stuck on top of the curb at the hairpin corner at the far end of the circuit. INDYCAR delayed making the yellow full course as the Holmatro Safety Team worked to move the Honda of Munoz but the field was approaching the corner again too quickly.
Dixon led the field to the green flag with just 12 laps to go in the race and in the season. With the advantage in the points with just laps to go, he began to pull a lead over the Honda of Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Dixon remained at the front after a stellar race, leading the field to the white flag as Montoya tried to stop Dixon from taking the title away from him.
They tied in number of points, they tied in number of races won this year, and by virtue of winning the race, Scott Dixon is the champion.
The 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season was a remarkable one. With some of the highest highs and the lowest lows, the championship ultimately came down to the very final corner of the finale round at Sonoma Raceway.
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Aaron Durant is the editor of the VAVEL USA Racing section. Follow him on Twitter at @DoubleA291.