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NOTES: With his win in last year's inaugural IZOD IndyCar Series race in Long Beach, Dario Franchitti helped propel himself to the series championship. Franchitti, the 2007 and '09 IndyCar champion, outlasted pole sitter Will Power by over three seconds to register the win. He dominated the race by leading 51 of 85 laps, but two key pit stops helped him score his first victory since joining Chip Ganassi Racing. In the last 13 seasons, the winner of the fourth race of the season has captured the series title just twice. Dan Wheldon won Motegi, Japan and clinched the championship in 2005, while Sam Hornish took the Indianapolis 500 and claimed the title the following year. Long Beach will serve as the fourth event on the 2010 IndyCar season schedule. In 2008, Power took the checkered flag in Long Beach, in what was the series- ending race for Champ Car, which unified with IndyCar at the start of the '08 season. Power, who started fourth, vaulted to first at the start of the race and then cruised to a 5.094 seconds victory over Franck Montagny. He led all but two of the 83 laps. Long Beach is known for its final turn, a famous hairpin leading onto the front straightaway where drivers climb from first gear coming out of the final turn all the way to nearly 200 m.p.h. before breaking for the newly-widened first turn. The Southern California street circuit originally ran as a Formula 5000 race in 1975, moved up to Formula One from 1976-83, then became a CART/Champ Car event from 1984-2008. The circuit has been through nine different iterations, ranging from 1.574 miles to 2.129, but all have included the hairpin turn. Today, the 1.97-mile, 11-turn circuit winds its way around and under gleaming hotels, a famed Convention and Entertainment Center, a popular Aquarium and the sparkling new Pike at Rainbow Harbor complex. That first race circuit measured 2.02 miles in length and featured the famous "Linden Leap," when cars would barrel down Ocean Blvd., then turn hard right onto Linden - occasionally becoming airborne in the process. The circuit stayed at 2.02 miles until 1982, when the Queen's Hairpin gave way to a series of new turns to accommodate construction of the Hyatt Hotel, upping the circuit length to 2.129 miles. Construction altered it again in 1983, to 2.035 miles, taking the cars off Ocean Blvd. for the first time. When Champ Cars arrived at Long Beach in 1984, the circuit was shortened to 1.67 miles in length, then was shortened again to 1.586 miles until 1999. That year, the 25th Anniversary of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach saw a revamped, 1.85-mile circuit, with a longer front stretch on Shoreline Drive and new Turn 1, winding past the new Aquarium of the Pacific. The 2000 race saw the circuit reconfigured to its present format. Mario Andretti won in his first Champ Car start at Long Beach in 1984, and his son, Michael, in his last start there in 2002. The pole sitter has fared well at Long Beach, winning 12 of the previous 35 races. The May 1st Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway is the next IZOD IndyCar Series event. Scott Dixon won last year's race there. 04/13 18:03:14 ET