Will Power led most of the way yesterday on the streets of Long Beach, Calif., winning the final race of the Champ Car World Series, the last remaining remnant of the 12-year rivalry between the newly unified American open-wheel series.

The race was run with Champ Car teams, drivers and equipment, but the points awarded were for the IRL's IndyCar Series, which ran a race in Japan because of a scheduling conflict.

Less than 24 hours after a historic IRL victory by Danica Patrick, the final race for the series that began as CART in 1979 was run before a large, appreciative crowd. That included Patrick, who arrived after a 12-hour plane ride looking refreshed and very happy midway through the event.

Power, who started third in the 20-car field, spoiled the show a bit, though, jumping into the lead with a great start and leading most of the 83-lap, 1-hour, 45-minute timed race.

Twelve of the drivers in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach do not currently have rides in the IRL, but two of them, former Formula One driver Franck Montagny, in his first Champ Car start, finished second, followed by longtime Champ Car star Mario Dominguez.

Rookie Enrique Bernoldi and Oriol Servia, both transitional drivers, finished fourth and fifth.

• Corona Mexico 200: Kyle Busch won his third consecutive race on NASCAR's Nationwide Series, holding off Marcos Ambrose by less than a second in Mexico City. Busch passed Scott Pruett on the 72nd of 80 laps to take the lead. Pruett finished third, followed by Carl Edwards.