SURFERS PARADISE, Australia -- Paul Tracy is good at charging to the front, making spectacular passes and giving the media really honest sound bytes. But he's not very good at driving defensively.

So, with a 29-point lead and two races remaining in the 2003 Champ Car season, Tracy isn't coming to the annual street show at Surfers Paradise in a passive state of mind.

"I think the last couple of races before Mexico City I started thinking about the points too much and driving by the point number of my position," admitted the 34-year-old Canadian following his victory at Mexico City two weeks ago. "You know, I just went back to how I started the season and treat every race like it's the last race in the championship right now, and I have to finish and I have to score as many points as I can.

"And that's how I'm going to go into Australia, just go with everything that I can to have a good result."

With a maximum of 46 points possible at Australia and Fontana, Calif., Tracy has not clinched his first CART title, but he's got a pretty good grip on it.

"Like I said, the last couple of races (prior to Mexico) maybe I was concentrating too much on just trying thinking about points, thinking about the championship and those races did not go very well for me," said Tracy, referring to crashing out of Miami while running fifth.

"I'm focusing on what I have to do every practice session to drive the best to my ability and get the most out of the car. That's my focus on Australia, just concentrating on every practice session and not worrying about points, just do our best.

"If we're able to wrap it up, that's half the battle. If not, we keep racing until the last lap in California."

Despite leading more than 3,000 laps and winning 26 races in his 13-year CART career, Tracy has never won the championship. It's the one gem missing from his résumé.

	Paul Tracy won the 2003 season-opener in St. Petersburg, Fla.

"It's just a goal that I've had since I was a kid, since I started racing, to be a champion," he said. "I've won a lot of races. All of the individual goals that I've set for myself, I feel that I've achieved.

"But that doesn't mean as much as a championship. Until I achieve that, that's what I'm striving for."

Unless Bruno Junqueira can sweep the final two races and Tracy tanks it, the outspoken veteran will finally be No. 1 for Player's/Forsythe. But he's well aware of the uncertainty of motorsports.

"You know, there's been points in the season, a couple of points in the season where I've made mistakes -- at Elkhart and Miami. But for the most part, the team has done a great job," he said. "The car has been very reliable and I've had no mechanical troubles for the most part.

"Now at the end of the season, there's still two very important races to go, and if you run into a little bad luck, a 28- or 29-point lead could go away real quick. So we need to still continue to have good luck and reliability."

And Junqueira almost needs a miracle.

"I've got to win the last two races and get some help," said the 27-year-old Brazilian, who finished runner-up to countryman Cristiano da Matta in the 2002 CART chase. "I like Surfers, and I won the pole last year, so I need to get maximum points.

"I will try to the last race, to win this championship, though."

Robin Miller covers open wheel racing for ESPN and ESPN.com.