THE POWER OF CONFIDENCE; Dario Franchitti is on cruise control and racing to the IRL title.(Competitions of car racing)

Byline: CURT CAVIN

Dario Franchitti likes what Scott Dixon says about race-car drivers: They get paid to do the PR fluff; they race for free.

At the going rate, Franchitti is due for a raise in both categories. His win in the SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway was his third in the past five Indy-car races, giving him a commanding 65-point lead over Dixon with eight races left in the season.

Franchitti, of course, also won the Indianapolis 500 and the Indy Racing League's event at Iowa Speedway, making him arguably the land's hottest driver.

Those pesky PR appearances are coming along for the ride. In June, he appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, ESPN's Pardon the Interruption and more local and regional TV and radio shows than he can count.

Franchitti keeps winning with substance and style. He led 242 of the 250 laps at Richmond, only to climb from his machine and promptly credit his Andretti Green Racing crew. And the man who was always cordial with the media, but never too close, suddenly seems at ease with everyone.

Franchitti got Richmond's top starting position after rain washed out qualifying. But in spite of having only the sixth-fastest car in the two practice sessions, he zoomed around the three-quarter-mile oval during the race as if Honda had given him two V8s.