Brack

The Swedish driver would like nothing better than to leave Bobby Rahal and company a little going-away present -- a victory in the Toyota 500.

With the CART championship already in Gil de Ferran 's pocket, the season-ending race doesn't hold much suspense. It will pay $1 million to the winner of the 500-mile race on California's 2-mile oval.

There's also the bragging rights that go along with winning one of the toughest races of the season.

Brack, who leads the series with four victories this season -- all of them on oval tracks -- is still somewhat disappointed he couldn't at least carry the championship race with de Ferran into the season-ending event, as he did last year.

Brack, who is moving to Chip Ganassi Racing next season, said, "We've had a tremendous car on the ovals this year. To be honest, our car was good last year, too. We came to Fontana on a mission. We had to lead the most laps and win the race to have a shot at the championship. We led the most laps, but we had a mechanical problem that ended the day.

"With our success this year on ovals, I expect us to be at the front at Fontana," he added. "We thought we would come to the last race just like we did last year. But it didn't work out. ... We just have to settle for second in the championship and just try to win the race."

De Ferran, who wrapped up his second straight FedEx Series title with a fourth-place finish last Sunday in Australia can relax and enjoy this one.

"Last year at the Marlboro 500, our strategy was biased to win the championship versus the race," he said. "The big difference this year is that we can play our cards to win the race."

In other 500-mile race on the CART schedule -- at Michigan International Speedway -- Brack and Rahal teammate Max Papis collided while battling for the lead and were both knocked put out of the event.

"We were fast at Michigan this year, and only an incident with Max kept us from a possible win," Brack said. "That's hard for both of us. I think both Max and myself could have won Michigan and I think we'll be right there now again.

"After the tough race at Michigan, I know Team Rahal is anxious for the California race," he added. "The team has been so close to winning a 500-mile race in the last three years. I have been fast and I know should have won a couple of those races. So, I expect us to be racing for the lead at the end again."

Patrick Carpentier earned a heart-thumping victory at Michigan, while Helio Castroneves, de Ferran's Marlboro Team Penske teammate, won the rival Indy Racing League's Indianapolis 500 for Roger Penske.

Carpentier, one of a record-tying 11 winners in 20 races this season with the Forsythe-Player's team, said, "It would be great to cap the season with a win at Fontana because that would deliver another message that we're going to be a major force in the 2002 series.

"Besides, the $1 million bonus for winning would be a nice reward for all the guys on Team Player's who have played such a big role in our success this year."

Castroneves, a three-time winner in CART this year, hit the wall late in last year's California race.