Castroneves

	De Ferran

JOLIET, Ill. -- With just eight points separating the top three drivers in the Indy Racing League standings, the final two races of the 2002 season could be a high-speed, open-wheel slugfest.

The IRL teams began practice Friday for Sunday's Delphi Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway. The season concludes Sept. 15 in the Chevy 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Helio Castroneves has a one-point lead over Team Penske teammate Gil de Ferran. Defending IRL champion Sam Hornish Jr. is eight points back. First place in each race is worth 50 points with the driver leading the most laps earning two bonus points.

Both Chicagoland Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway are 1½-mile, high-banked superspeedways that may suit Hornish's aggressive style more than the Penskes.

"We haven't been able to figure out those bigger tracks," de Ferran said. "We can race hard, but we haven't been able to keep the pace for the whole race and bring home the win. We've been to circuits like this one several times this season, but Chicagoland feels quite a bit bigger than the other tracks of this length. I'd say it's somewhere between Texas and Kansas -- it's not as banked as Texas but not as flat as Kansas. Even though they may look similar, these tracks are very different from one another, and it should prove to be a very good challenge.

"With two races left, we still have to keep our heads down, the championship is still wide open. I'm under no illusions. We still have to keep our head down here, our championship is open to anyone."

With two of the best drivers in the sport taking aim at Hornish all season, the defending IRL champion has had to choose his firepower carefully.

"It seems like I always wish I was a one-car team, and they (Penske) were a one-car team," Hornish said of his season-long battle. "It's like you're always in the middle. You beat one; you get beat by the other one, so you know it's tough.

"It's been a dogfight all year long. "I've had more fun racing this year than I did last year. I led the points from start to finish last year. I was always 10 to 20 points ahead. It's a new feeling (this year) -- I was 60 points behind at one point. We've had some good races; we've had some bad races. Last year, I don't know if I fully appreciated what it was like to be a champion because we didn't have any bad times. Everything pretty much went our way."

That leaves Hornish trying to protect his title against the Penske onslaught in the IRL this season.

"Sam has done a terrific job," team owner Roger Penske said. "He said we have two bullets and he has one. There is no question that is correct. You're going to have to finish these last two races. We have not been as fast on the big tracks. For some reason, we aren't able to sustain the speed as some of the other cars have and that's something we have been unable to figure out since we went to Texas the first time. We need some of those other cars that run well on those tracks that aren't in the points race to run well and be able to take points away."

It's almost as if this title fight was pre-determined even before the season began. Consider that the young, 23-year-old Hornish began the season protecting his territory in the IRL against the most successful team in American open wheel racing history -- Team Penske. When Penske decided the future of open wheel racing in the United States was much brighter in the IRL, he pulled two-time CART champion de Ferran and defending Indianapolis 500 winner Castroneves out of CART and joined the IRL.

In the very first race of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway, however, Hornish proved why he was the dominant driver in the IRL last season with an impressive victory that left both Penske drivers shaking their head in dismay.

"Everybody said at the beginning of the year that we would dominate the championship," Castroneves said. "We were the first ones to say, 'Hold on a minute -- it's going to be a tight championship. We don't know the tracks and we only worked with the IRL equipment at Phoenix and Indianapolis last year. That's not enough.' With this attitude we have taken, other teams have raised their work, effort and competition level extremely high.

"A lot of credit should go to this series. It's a great package for this type of circuit. It shows the strength of power of the IRL and this series is getting better and better."

Castroneves got revenge in the next race by winning at Phoenix ahead of de Ferran with Hornish third. Hornish grabbed his second victory in the first three races at California Speedway on March 24 before beginning a stretch of three-straight races with finishes out of the top 10.

Hornish crashed and finished 17th at Nazareth, brushed the fourth turn wall at Indianapolis and finished 25th and crashed with Eddie Cheever in the third turn at Texas Motor Speedway, finishing 17th. By the time Hornish found his way back to the top-three with a third-place finish at Pikes Peak, he couldn't get passed de Ferran and Castroneves.

That left Hornish 61 points out of first place before the series arrived at Richmond International Raceway at the end of June. Hornish knew he had to do something soon in order to hold off the onslaught of Penske. That's exactly what he did as he made one of the best racing moves of the year when he tracked down race leader de Ferran with 1½ laps left on the short track.

Hornish made a perfectly timed pass by punching his Dallara/Chevrolet to the inside of de Ferran's car and going to victory. Hornish's recipe for success in 2001 included nine races where he finished no lower than second place. By overcoming his three-race slump and returning to the front of the field, it allowed him to get back into championship form. Consistency was the same key that allowed de Ferran to win CART championships in 2000 and 2001. If de Ferran wins the IRL title, would that count as a 'three-peat.'

"No doubt about it, I said that prior to the season starting that when I retire a few years from now and I look back, if I win one of the IRL championships, I would look at myself as a three-time Indy car champion," de Ferran said.

The savvy racing veteran has used a consistent approach to come within reach of an IRL championship. But de Ferran and Castroneves may have to rely on controlled aggressiveness to excel on the big high-banked ovals, where the racing is fast and furious. While de Ferran has enjoyed championship success in CART, Castroneves has become the master of the Indianapolis 500, winning the biggest race in the world the last two years in a row. This is really Castroneves' first experience at a season championship and the young Brazilian is making the most of it.

"With only two races to go, this race is going to be very important to the championship," Castroneves said. "I'm sure it is going to be a very exciting race and one that is decided in the last few laps. It should be a great show for the fans."

As the defending IRL champion, Hornish is prepared for the challenge and he is ready for the fight.

"In a way, I do believe that we are upholding the honor of the Indy Racing League and what it stands for, that a team with its roots in the IRL can compete against the best in the business with Penske Racing," Hornish said. "And, if we do become the first team in IRL history to win the title two years in a row, to be able to do it against the two-time CART champion and the two-time Indianapolis 500 champions means that we have beaten the best."