IN SIGHT Waltrip's way of cooling off. FOCUS: PATRICK CARPENTIER Patrick Carpentier grew up a stone's throw from Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal. So it's a safe bet that the Team Player's teammate of CART series point leader Paul Tracy will be ready to fly Sunday when the Champ Cars hit Quebec for the third and final Canadian stop this season. Carpentier is coming off a strong week, finishing second to Tracy at Mid-Ohio on Aug. 10 to give his team its first 1-2 podium finish this season. For fans in general, it might actually be a good thing that it was Tracy finishing first; last year at Mid-Ohio, Carpentier was victorious and he ran naked with a flag wrapped around himself to celebrate. No offense to Carpentier, who keeps himself trim at 5-feet-9 inches, 147 pounds. But the fact remains, he ran naked save for a flag. Yikes. Things weren't quite as rosy for Carpentier last season in Montreal, where in his first race in front of his home crowd, Carpentier suffered mechanical problems and completed only 27 of 80 laps. "It's something I will never forget," Carpentier said. "I wanted to do well so badly, it was a huge disappointment when we were unable to finish the race, after getting into second place at one point. "It was a great thrill for Paul when he returned home to Toronto and won there last month. I want to do the same thing in Montreal, to reward the fans and Player's for the support they have given me over the years." The Molson Indy Montreal will mark the final race in Canada for Team Player's, which must bow out due to Canada's federal government ban on tobacco-company sponsorships. And since Tracy has won the first two Champ Car races this season in Canada, he's got added incentive, saying another 1-2 finish with Carpentier is possible. "Sweeping all three races in Canada would be absolutely great," Tracy said. "I can't think of a better way for Player's to mark its final race in Canada than to have a 1-2 finish in Montreal. "Finishing 1-2 in consecutive races is certainly a tough thing to do, but we had the fastest cars at Mid-Ohio and if we can be quick right from the get-go in Montreal, anything can happen. We're certainly going to give it our best shot." Carpentier, meanwhile, could jump higher than his current fifth-place spot in the standings. His second-place Mid-Ohio finish helped him close in on Sebastien Bourdais, who has 126 points to Carpentier's 114. Carpentier's victory on the circuit this year came back in June in Monterrey, when he held off Bruno Junqueira and Tracy to earn his fourth career victory. Tracy maintains his overall lead with 184 points, Junqueira sits in second with 164 and Michel Jourdain is third with 137. PIT PASS More than respectable: Just behind F1's Big Three sits a strong Renault team, which has amassed more than four times the number of contructors points as fifth-place BAR. And while Spaniard Fernando Alonso's aggressive driving and 44 points have garnered most of the attention, Italian Jarno Trulli has been solid. Trulli, who with teammate Alonso has been re-signed by Renault for 2004, has 22 points and is currently eighth in the F1 driver standings. And Trulli has been particularly good as of late, finishing sixth at Silverstone and following that with a third-place finish at the German Grand Prix -- though Trulli was completely exhausted after the race and failed to make it to the post-race press conference. The series heads to Hungary this weekend, and Trulli knows it won't be easy to score another podium. "Hungaroring is a challenging track: it can be tricky because the circuit is very narrow, with a lot of corners in quite a short lap," said Trulli, who finished eighth at the race in 2002. "The track surface also used to be quite bumpy, although that may have changed for this year, and it is often dusty because it is not used much during the season. That makes it a difficult lap, and interesting for the drivers." But coming off that podium finish, the 29-year-old is eager for another strong performance. "Hungary has always been a strange race for me: it is one of those places where I have never managed to score points, even though I like the circuit a lot. This year, I think we have a good car for the track, and the testing on Friday morning will allow us to try a bigger range of setups to get it exactly right. "I scored my first podium for Renault at the last race, so I am more motivated than ever." And that motivation could carry through to 2004. Team managing director Flavio Briatore is confident it will. "This driver lineup provides us with a perfect balance." Well, we never thought Jimmy Spencer's words and actions would take up this space two G&Gs in a row, but ... go figure. Brief recap: Sunday's race at Michigan ends. Spencer hits Kurt Busch's car in the garage. Spencer gets out and punches Busch in the face. NASCAR fines and suspends Spencer and puts both Spencer and Busch on probation. We'll get to the punishment in a second. But first, some amusing irony. Spencer spewed his typical ripping of road courses and road course experts at Watkins Glen a couple of weeks back, basically saying that real men race at Bristol -- exactly where Spencer, who won last year's Busch race at the track which is one of his favorites, will not be racing this weekend (pending Wednesday's appeal). Robby Gordon said Busch had it coming. While nobody has that coming, the sentiment that other drivers are tired of Busch's arrogance isn't solely Gordon's. Of course, it's funny that Gordon -- not exactly the most beloved driver in the garage -- of all people spoke out on the incident. Overall, based on their past history and the temperaments of each driver, Sunday's confrontation is not surprising in the least bit. NASCAR's reaction, however, is. The league did react swiftly and decisively -- kudos to NASCAR prez Mike Helton for that. But they both overreacted and underreacted. Last year, Kevin Harvick was suspended for a race weekend for rough driving. Rough driving. Seems that's part of the sport. Too rough and you get parked. That's fine. This time around, however ... "This was a very unfortunate situation," Helton said. "Emotions are a part of every sport, NASCAR Winston Cup racing included. However there is a fine line. In this instance, that fine line was crossed." Fine line? Are you kidding? Only a fine line separates getting into someone's bumper and slugging them? What a joke. Now we're not putting Spencer on trial here. Maybe he's got some crazy side of the story that justifies his actions, maybe not. But for now, we'll operate under the same presumption and/or determination of guilt and responsibility that NASCAR seems to be operating under. Given that ... Spencer, for actually punching a fellow driver, got the same punishment as Harvick did last year for being too aggressive. Heck, Dale Earnhardt didn't get suspended for blatantly spinning Terry Labonte back in 1999. We don't want to get into whether there were different standards for Earnhardt. Rather, we're demonstrating that the fine line Helton speaks of is between aggressive driving and overagressive or reckless driving. The fine line is not, however, between on-track banging and off-track slugging. Fine line? There's an Indy frontstretch worth of room between the two. NASCAR established precedent for degree of punishment with Harvick. Based upon that, Spencer's one-race penalty is obscenely light. Busch, on the other hand, was put on probation through the end of the year. The reason? NASCAR's press release explains: "Busch has been placed on probation until Dec. 31 for his actions. He was in violation of Section 12-4-A (Actions detrimental to stock car racing: Involved in an altercation with another competitor in the garage area after the completion of the event) of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series rule book." Punished for being punched in the face. Amazing. Just amazing. Spencer made a fool of himself and a joke of NASCAR on Sunday. On Monday, NASCAR made an even bigger joke of the situation. Update: OK, so now there is a tape of Busch admitting he was "trying to flatten the 7 car fender" during Sunday's race. Does this shift some responsibility to Busch? Yes. Does this somewhat excuse Spencer's post-race actions. Not a chance. C'mon, people, he punched the guy. NO justification for that. As for the reason behind Busch being put on probation, NASCAR did not say it was for overaggressive driving. Read above. Here's the reason: "Involved in an altercation with another competitor in the garage area after the completion of the event." So for anyone claiming Busch deserves his probation ... well, maybe he does. But not for the reason NASCAR imposed it. EXHAUST FUMES Stocking up: So Sam Hornish Jr. is likely following in the footsteps of Tony Stewart and leaving the IRL for NASCAR. Good for him. The move will hinder Hornish's efforts to achieve his greatest dream -- winning the Indy 500. But at 24, he's already won two IRL championships. And if a deal with a NASCAR team affords him a good opportunity to take an annual crack at the 500, why not make the move? "You start off as an amateur, you move to a race winner, you move to a champion and someday you hope to become a legend," said Hornish. Becoming a legend. In past decades, that could be done in open wheel racing. In the future? Sure, why not. But right now NASCAR is where the fame, the admiration, the money and the prestige live. Sure, an Indy 500 win is bigger than any other race win, including Daytona, Le Mans and Monaco. But Tony Stewart has proved that a driver can become a household name in NASCAR while still keeping the Indy dream alive. And if he's driving for Roger Penske at Indy, that dream will be very much alive. Guys who have won both the Indy 500 and Daytona 500? A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti. Legends. If that's the group in which Hornish wants to be included, moving to NASCAR is the way to do it. MAILBAG

If so many drivers in the IRL have Formula One dreams, why would they seem to waste their time on only ovals when CART is famous for helping guys get to F1? Bill Thomas Florence, S.C. Very fair point. CART obviously provides a better gauge as to a driver's ability on roads and streets -- necessary for Formula One -- than does the all-oval IRL. And a few years back, it would have been far more irregular for drivers with F1 aspiriations to head to the IRL. But after the mass migration of major teams (not all of them, mind you) from Champ Cars to IndyCars, drivers can now receive better exposure in the IRL. Plus, there's arguably more money to be had for the drivers -- though that is debatable -- so while F1 might be an ultimate goal, drivers can also think about the short term. If CART survives, however, it'll still be more likely that the Bruno Junqueiras of the world will get calls from F1 than, well, the Sam Hornishs. Got your own questions about what's happening in the pits? Ask away, and we'll answer a question or two in the next Gas&Go. Name: E-mail address: City, state: Your comment: OVERHEARD Sam Hornish Jr. On leaving his IndyCar Panther Racing team. "The opportunities I've been given are too good." Kurt Busch On NASCAR fining and suspending Jimmy Spencer . "I appreciate that NASCAR has recognized that Jimmy's assault went beyond the level of a 'racing incident.'" John Force On his first-round, redlight loss at Brainerd. "Driver error, that's all. Not much more to say than that. Driver error."

RPM.ESPN.com's Gas and Go appears each and every Tuesday on ESPN.com.