MADISON, Ill. -- Four drivers have a realistic shot at winning the IRL championship with three races to go, including Sunday's Gateway 250.

Sam Hornish Jr., the defending champion, leads with 399 points. Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves has 395, Gil de Ferran 386, and Felipe Giaffone 382.

	Sam Hornish Jr., is strapping his helmet on for a heated finish to the IRL season.

A victory is worth 50 points, second place 40, and third 35.

''It's going to be very close and it's just a matter of whoever gets the best car for the last three weeks and is the luckiest,'' Giaffone said.

''It's very wide open and it's all up to each of us.''

He earned his first career victory Aug. 11 in the Belterra Casino 300 at Kentucky Speedway, holding off Hornish by 0.0932 seconds. De Ferran finished 21st to drop from first in the standings.

This week's 200-lap race on the 1.25-mile oval at Gateway International Speedway, near St. Louis, is Sunday. Qualifying is Saturday.

Hornish said he won't change his driving style to try to protect his lead.

Last year at Texas Motor Speedway, he was biding his time after a bad pit stop and wound up in an accident. So now he plans on just charging all the time.

''That's the last time I decided I'm not going to make a move if I have the opportunity,'' Hornish said. ''There's so many bad things that can happen if you're not trying to go forward.

''If you're stuck in the back of the pack, that's when bad things happen because you're not where you're supposed to be.''

Hornish had a three-race slide in April, May and early June, finishing 17th at Nazareth Speedway, 25th in the Indianapolis 500, and 18th at Texas Motor Speedway. Since then he's finished in the top seven in each of his last six starts, including a victory June 29 at Richmond, Va.

He regained the points lead he surrendered in May with a runner-up finish in Kentucky.

''It's always good to be in the lead and have people follow you,'' Hornish said. ''It only took one race to lose it at the beginning of the year and it took about six to get it back.

''If we get three top-three finishes the rest of the year, as long as nobody wins all three races, we should be fine.''

Giaffone, last year's IRL rookie of the year, has 10 consecutive top-seven finishes since March.

''I don't actually have to win everything, it just depends on what the other guys do,'' Giaffone said. ''In order to win the championship, you've got to know what's going on with those other guys.''