"Heat Index" looks at the driver(s) who make the biggest advancement relative to their starting position in the race.

It was so hot at the green flag of the MAVTV 500 INDYCAR World Championships at Auto Club Speedway. How hot was it? It was so hot that you could fry an egg on the asphalt racing surface.

Actually, that has been verified (not that anyone attempted to make a late-afternoon snack).

The temperature was hot, the engines during a late-race red flag were hot and Ryan Hunter-Reay's car was blazing hot during the 250-lap race. He secured the IZOD IndyCar Series championship with a fourth-place finish after starting 22nd because of a 10-grid spot penalty for an unapproved engine change.

Charlie Kimball, driving the No. 83 Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing car, earned his sixth top-10 finish of the season by advancing 13 positions relative to his starting spot. Takuma Sato also moved up 13 positions in the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Racing car to finish seventh, though it could have been considerably higher if not for a final-lap crash in Turn 2.

“It’s nice to finish out 2012 with a top-10 for the whole Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing crew," said Kimball, who also incurred a 10-grid spot penalty for an engine change. "We had a much better car but I made a mistake in the pits and it took me too long to figure it out early in the race, but I know that the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen car is going to come back stronger next year. 

"We got this figured out.  We’re ready to go figure out the rest of our short-comings. We’ll be stronger next year, and more importantly, faster.”

Scott Dixon, who placed third in the race to gain third in the final standings, Helio Castroneves (finished fifth) and Graham Rahal (finished sixth) all moved up 12 positions. Wade Cunningham, who was drafted late in the week to fill in for Mike Conway in the No. 13 ABC Supply car for A.J. Foyt Racing, advanced 10 positions to finish 14th.

Cunningham, whose last time in an IndyCar was the Indianapolis 500 (that race was cut short because of electrical issues), had not competed in a full race since last October at Kentucky Speedway.

"I knew we were facing an uphill battle coming in," Cunningham said. "If anyone told us we'd have to battle through a crunched car (practice crash), four laps down and come back to finish 14th, well I think everyone on the ABC Supply team can hold their heads high."