Franchitti flies in Michigan.

IndyCar Series points leader Dario Franchitti was lucky to escape unscathed from a high-speed accident during the Firestone Indy 400 at Michigan.

Franchitti was on the outside of race Dan Wheldon going down the back straight when the front right of Wheldon's Chip Ganassi entry made contact with the left rear of the Canadian Club-backed AGR car.

The result saw Franchitti sent airbourne where his car flipped before landing upside down before being collected by both Scott Dixon and AJ Foyt IV. Luckily for all concerned, none of the drivers were injured, with Dixon and Foyt even rejoining the race before handling issues forced them into retirement.

"We touched and the next thing I knew I was upside down going backward," Franchitti said. "I thought, 'This isn't good.'

"I hit Dixon on the way down and I have to thank Scott because he definitely softened the blow! I talked to Dan about it and he bobbed when I weaved and we just got together. I do want to see the replay of it though.

"I'm glad everyone is OK. I said to Scott, 'We have to stop meeting like that.' We've been running side-by-side in so many races recently. When I stopped and realised I was in one piece, I couldn't believe it. I'm a lucky guy."

The incident would also lead to the retirements of Sam Hornish Jr, Ed Carpenter and Tomas Scheckter, who were caught up in the debris and spinning cars littering the circuit.

"Honestly, it was one of the scariest things I've seen," Scheckter said. "I don't even know who I hit. I just brought the car back in and it had a piece of someone's driveshaft stuck in it. I'm just lucky to make it out and glad nobody is seriously hurt. Unfortunately, we were having a really good race and were getting ourselves in position for a good finish."

Although Dixon was classed ahead of Franchitti in the results, three bonus points for the Scot for leading 101 laps of the race means he retains a 24 point lead heading to Kentucky next weekend.