teams a chance to close the gap on the Top 10 teams without paying for expensive private testing, and provided more opportunities for rookie drivers, particularly those moving up from Indy Lights. Slight changes were made to the points system in 2009, the number of points awarded for leading the most laps in a race was reduced from three to two. A point was awarded for winning pole for a race. On December 26, 2008, IndyCar Series introduced a new exhaust design to reduce noise of Honda Indy V8 engines. IndyCar Series officials have banned formerly optional 118 and 120 inch wheelbases, requiring teams to uniformly adopt 122 inch wheelbases. This will provide cost savings for the teams as well as greatly enhancing competition on the oval tracks. On July 28, 2009, the IRL approved "push to pass" buttons on all the cars. This gave a driver a 20 hp boost for 12 seconds with a 10-second recharge time. This was available for use only 20 times during a given race. This feature debuted at the event at Kentucky Speedway on August 1, 2009. Due to several IndyCar Series teams opting for Dallara IR5 chassis, Panoz discontinued their IndyCar Series involvement after the 2008 season. With the series undergoing a development freeze until the 2011 season, IndyCar Series teams carried over chassis and engine from 2008 season but modified due to new exhaust design. The series was concentrating on 2012 new car development to save costs. Team and driver news Chip Ganassi Racing: 2007 Champion Dario Franchitti returns from NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series and is driving the #10 entry in 2009, replacing Dan Wheldon, who was re-signed by Panther Racing. 2007 Firestone Indy Lights Champion Alex Lloyd competed in the Indianapolis 500 with Sam Schmidt Motorsports in partnership with Ganassi. Penske Racing: Hélio Castroneves signed a multi-year contract extension with Penske Racing. However, on October 2, 2008, Castroneves was faced with a federal indictment, and was charged with six counts of tax evasion. Castroneves went on hiatus from the team during the trial. Will Power was named as a replacement, and drove the St. Petersburg race in the #3 car. With Castroneves being acquitted on all tax evasion charges later in the month, he returned to the #3 car starting at Long Beach, with the team running a third car, the #12 Penske Championship Racing machine for Will Power at