Check out a short list of favorites for Sunday's Chevy 500 at Texas Motor Speedway:

Kenny Brack: The Swede will try to finish the season on a positive note after failing to finish five of the last six races; that came after good results in the first nine races this season; best result this season was second in Japan; scored six more top-10s; won the 1998 IRL championship before jumping to the CART series; returned to the IRL this season.

	Castroneves

Helio Castroneves: The sixth-place finish at California ties him for first place with Scott Dixon at 467 points each; two-time Indianapolis 500 winner is officially in second entering the final race based on victories (Dixon 3); winner at Gateway from the pole and Nazareth in August; was runner-up to Sam Hornish Jr. in this race last year; recorded eight top-three finishes this year, including four as runner-up; earned over $1.7 million this season.

	Dixon

Scott Dixon: Three victories earlier in the season indicated the driver from New Zealand could be a contender for the title; has finished runner-up in three of the last four races and four times this year; accumulated 467 points and based on three wins to two by Castroneves, enters the final race of year in first place in the standings; is seven points up on Tony Kanaan and 19 more than two-time defending champion Sam Hornish Jr.; also won four poles this year; most impressive win came at Richmond, where he led every lap of the rain-shortened SunTrust Indy Challenge; also won at Pikes Peak on June 15 and the season opener at Homestead-Miami in his IRL debut.

	De Ferran

Gil de Ferran: A long shot for the series championship; 30 points behind leaders in fifth place; 15th-place result at California did not help matters ahead of the Texas race; was lowest finish of the year; winner of prestigious Indianapolis 500 and race at Nashville; has not finished runner-up in any events, but was third in four including three straight; tops the table in money earned with over $2.1 million; was sidelined for Japan race with injury.

	Hornish

Sam Hornish Jr.: The two-time defending IRL champion captured the Toyota 400 at California Speedway and made history by setting a record for the fastest race on a closed course with an average speed of 207.151 miles per hour (previous was 197.995 mph in a 500-mile CART event at California Speedway in 2002); put himself in position with chance to defend his title coming to Texas where is defending champion; is 19 points behind Dixon and Castroneves in fourth place; after a slow start to the season, the champion has put together a stretch of six tremendous results to get back in contention for a third title; won three of the last four races, was runner-up twice and had a sixth during the run; despite results, announced will depart Panther Racing at end of season; IRL's all-time career laps leader with 1,799; finished out of the top 10 in just eight of the 43 races with Panther Racing.

	Kanaan

Tony Kanaan: After the non-finish at Nazareth caused him to lose the points lead, rebounded well with a sixth-place effort at Chicago and a third-place finish at California in the last race to stay in the chase for the championship; seven points behind Dixon and Castroneves coming into this event; has 12 top-10 finishes this year; winner of March race in Phoenix and also posted eight top-five finishes; started from pole three times and twice more from front row; won from pole at Phoenix, finished fourth in Miami and second at Colorado; other notable results were third at Indianapolis and second in Texas.

Scott Sharp: Set to complete sixth season with Kelley Racing; only driver with at least one victory in each of the IRL's eight seasons; this year's victory came in April in Motegi, Japan; 323 points accumulated this year puts him in ninth place; finished fourth in this race last year.

Al Unser Jr.: Sixth in the championship with 352 points after 15 races; victory at Texas Motor Speedway on June 7 was third in IRL Series and 34th career; finished fourth and sixth in starts at Kentucky and Nazareth; won Indianapolis 500s in 1992 and 1994; also won two open-wheel championships (CART) in 1990 and 1994.