IN SIGHT Good thing she's not a photographer. FOCUS: HELIO CASTRONEVES He has yet to win a major championship, but his outgoing and wacky personality -- not to mention his two Indy 500 wins -- has made Helio Castroneves one of the most popular drivers in open wheel racing. (And don't forget the fence-climbing, which has been emulated by some NASCAR boys). Castroneves won two races, three poles, had nine top-fives in 16 races this season, ultimately finishing third in points behind eventual champion Scott Dixon. And the 2004 IndyCar season could be just as good for Castroneves, who will be teamed with two-time IRL champion Sam Hornish Jr. Hornish joins Penske racing following the retirement of 2003 Indy 500 winner and two-time CART champion Gil de Ferran. The 2004 season is still more than two months away, but the charismatic Brazilian is finding ways to pass the time -- including hitting the court with a former president. "I'm so excited that I had the chance to warm-up with a United States President," said Castroneves, who volleyed with former President George Bush at the Chris Evert/Bank of America Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic this past weekend. "I've always admired President Bush and it was a lot of fun to have that personal interaction with him. This is something that I will never forget." What were Castroneves' words after his first Indy 500 win? "This is a dream come true." And after playing tennis with a former president? "What an honor. This afternoon was a once in a lifetime opportunity." Well, he's got a point. After all, winning the Indy 500 has already been a twice in a lifetime opporunity for him -- and he's still got plenty of chances to add to that. Also on hand at Chris Evert's shindig were actor Matthew Perry, comedians Chevy Chase and Jon Lovitz, and Gavin Rossdale of the rock band Bush. Castroneves and pro tennis player Xavier Malisse beat Lovitz and Vince Spadea 6-5. We're not sure if Castroneves climbed the net following the match. (Former President Bush and Evert teamed to beat Chase and Tommy Haas 8-4, just in case you were wondering). What else is filling Castronves' offseason? Sure, there was testing in Phoenix this week. But that pales in comparison to Wednesday's photo shoot for the Ocean Drive en Espanol magazine. PIT PASS A developer in Connecticut is planning to build a racetrack in the southeastern part of the state, hoping to attract Nextel Cup and/or Busch events to the Nutmeg State. "Looking at that and the great success that the casinos have been having, I think it's going to be a great success and it's going to be an asset for NASCAR," Gene Arganese told the Hartford Courant. Indeed, one might wonder what sort of presence NASCAR would want in the corner of Connecticut, but the wildly popular and successful Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos have proved that the area is viable as a tourist destination. Arganese's selling point is that the town of North Stonington is accessible from both Boston and New York. Running a race in the metropolitan New York area (possibly North Jersey) is a goal of NASCAR's, but it's a stretch to think a track in Southeastern Connecticut would fulfill that desire. After all, Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., is closer to Manhattan than is North Stonington. Arganese has already purchased land, though he does need the approval of local residents who are worried about their water supply and whether Routes 95 and 2 will be able to handle the traffic. (This is a very legitimate concern, as anyone who has attended a race at Pocono will attest. The proximity of Route 80 to the track does nothing to alleviate the horrible traffic that exists hours after a race is over). These residents might just cling (and rightly so) to the small-town, rural yet charming atmosphere. And anyone who has been to Stonington knows how horribly out of place a racetrack would be. Of course, the same was said of the nearby casinos. Whether Connecticut could support a NASCAR race is also a question mark. After all, the Hartford Whalers left in 1997 for the allegedly greener and surely warmer pastures of NASCAR country (still a sore point for some of us here at RPM.ESPN.com), though the state does enthusiastically back UConn's men's and women's basketball programs. Not that state support is entirely crucial. After all, NASCAR fans easily drive hundreds of miles to attend races. And as Arganese points out, New York and Boston -- not to mention Providence -- are nearby. Competition with New Hampshire International Speedway (in Loudon, N.H.) aside, a Nextel Cup race in Connecticut could be viable. Of course, there are no guarantees that NASCAR would even award a race to the track -- to be modeled after the one-mile circuit at Dover International Raceway. But that's not stopping Arganese. "Even if the first year of opening we don't have a NASCAR event, we are going to have racing events," Arganese told the Courant. "There's all different sorts of organizations out there. And it will be a multi-use stadium that will allow for concerts and other things. We're going forward. We've spent a lot of money so far and we plan on continuing forward." Gas and Go woke up Tuesday to incredible news that has shaken itself to its very foundation. In case you missed it or don't wish to click on the link above, here it is in a nutshell: NASCAR is seriously considering scrapping its current championship system and creating a 10-race sprint to the Nextel Cup title. The catch? You must be in the top 10 after 26 races are complete to vie for all the marbles. Brilliant plan, you say? Ahh, so do we. What are those guys smoking, you holler? Ahh, so do we. You see, Gas and Go is torn. It loves the plan; it despises the plan. And that might be one good reason NASCAR apparently is riveted. The whole nation would be riveted, right? If 75 million fans are nice, how much better to tap into every man, woman and child alive today in the U.S.! This could be NASCAR's brilliant scheme to take over the world. And so, with all that in mind, we present to you the bipolar world of this proposal. Feel free to scream at your keyboard. It's brilliant! Brian France and company are showing they are cutting-edge hip, just like their new sponsor, Nextel. They are finally addressing the one key advantage the NFL still holds over their heads like an anvil over a watermelon: Playoffs, playoffs, playoffs. (OK, we accept the fact that some will never buy into the marriage of man and machine as much as they buy into man and pigskin or wood bat, but hey, NASCAR will never get them, right?) Without playoffs, Joe Average sports fan sees his world go fuzzy and dark sometime after the midpoint of a season. Maybe that threshold is the three-fourths point, as NASCAR has surmised (after 26 of 36 races), and thus a final 10-race shootout between its top 10 (the world loves top 10 lists, remember) would thrill Mr. or Mrs. Average fan. And what's so wrong with that? NASCAR purists -- say that without laughing uncontrollably, it's a dare -- will argue this is an outrage, somebody's getting screwed, what's the meaning of life, the sky is falling and they'll pretend to feel sorry for those sponsors who will be shut out of the top 10 a full 10 races sooner than they normally get shut out of it. Well, deal with it. Get yourself in the top 10, you've got 26 races to do it. No whining allowed. What about the fact the driver in first and 10th are on even footing starting in race No. 27? Teams are seeded in other sports, remember, making first more desirable than the lowest seed. Again, deal with it. Nothing's perfect. There's always room to complain. But this wild proposal is the kind of on-the-edge thinking NASCAR needs to fully move from its roots as a niche sport into the full conscience of American sports fans. We're talking about a series that changes several key rules in-season, for crying out loud. This shouldn't rock anyone's world. Remember how golf fans pretended to get so mad when someone wanted -- wait, no, needed -- to ride in a cart? Get over it! Starting Sept. 19 at the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway, the fun could begin. Do the right thing, NASCAR. Show that you're flying, not crawling, into the mainstream in more ways than just marketing genius. Make this change. It's nonsense! In 2002, Kurt Busch was 12th in points after 26 races. He ran off eight top-seven finishes (including three wins) in the final 10 races and ended up third in points. Under the proposed 10-race shootout system, Busch finishes 11th in the past two seasons. Not third, just 159 points behind champion Tony Stewart as he was in '02. No, 11th. That make any sense to you? Many are comparing the proposed system to a playoff format, wherein a team which squeaked into the postseason (Florida Marlins, anyone?) can topple teams which more or less dominated during the regular season (New York Yankees). And indeed there are parallels, for it doesn't matter if you dominate your division or barely claim a wild card berth. Either way, a team is in the playoffs and on even footing. But it's not a clean comparison. For the Marlins ultimately had to beat the Yankees head to head. They didn't need to worry about the Kansas City Royals running them into the Turn 3 wall during the season's third-to-last race. That's right, the other cars that failed to finish in the top-10 after the 26-race "regular season" will still be racing. What for? Well, money and wins. And that'll be terribly exciting when someone like Busch absolutely dominates the sport down the stretch but isn't in contention for a championship because he was 11th with 10 to go. In essence, it doesn't even matter who the best driver is over the final 10 races -- and that's partly because there's no head-to-head racing in NASCAR. Yes, there are two- and three-car battles on track during a race, but it's not like we're talking about only having the top-10 drivers compete against each other down the stretch. Now that would be something, but it'd make absolutely no sense when fans, sponsors and television viewers aren't seeing their drivers out there. So if the best doesn't face off against and beat the best, how would the champion be determined? It's still about consistency; 10 top-18 finishes might be enough for the guy who was eighth in points after 26 races to beat out the other nine drivers -- including the one who comes in to the stretch with six or seven wins and the other guy who was leading the ninth-place driver by 800 points after 26 races. And really, the biggest complaint about the current system is that it rewards consistency over wins. So what would be accomplished? Rewarding consistency over a 10-race span rather than a 36-race span? Doesn't the latter seem a bit more impressive? Let's also take a quick look at the schedule. Unless NASCAR shifts a bunch of races around, the second Loudon, N.H., race -- as the Charlotte Observer's David Poole correctly points out -- would be more important than the likes of the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, Pepsi 400, Coca-Cola 600 and the Bristol night race, just because Loudon kicks off the 10-race sprint. R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S. Yes, the new plan would generate excitement, and that is important. And this isn't about grasping to the sport's roots (we're not exactly running moonshine up here) and resisting change. Rather, change can be good. It just needs to make sense. Does this plan? Hard to say. EXHAUST FUMES First, he said the points system would be scrutinized. Later, he said NASCAR was happy with the points system -- and while it would be looked at as it is every year, it wasn't necessarily likely that changes would be made. Now, there's a report that NASCAR is seriously considering a major overhaul to how the championship is decided. Yes, the Brian France era has begun. Brian France took over from his father as NASCAR's top exec earlier this year -- and the differences betweeen Bill France Jr. and Brian France are already crystal clear. While it typically takes NASCAR eons to repond to trends and make significant changes (we're not talking about tweaks to car chassis), Brian France is already mulling massive changes to the points and championship. And while Bill France Jr. did often play things close to the vest, he has at the same time been pretty straightforward with his intentions and relaying those intentions to fans and the media. And while consistency (at least for now) wins championships in NACAR, Brian France, doesn't seem to be overly concerned with maintaining a consistent message. Don't get us wrong -- it's way too early to judge the younger France. And really, a fresh face, new perspective and sweeping changes might be just what NASCAR needs. And the younger France is establishing an agenda, which is exactly what he's supposed to be doing. And while it's unclear how he'll go about setting that agenda, one thing about Brian France is certain: Same bloodline, new blood. MAILBAG

Regarding Mr. Andrews' comment: Think what you want about Jack Roush but you are sadly mistaken about Mark Martin being "over the hill." Any NASCAR fan with any real intrest in the sport knows Mark Martin is the most prepared driver to hit the track each week. Donald Poore Saco, Maine The good news, Donald, is that Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte proved this season that the older drivers in NASCAR can still get the job done. The bad news for is each driver in the top-seven is in his 20s or early 30s (eighth-place Bobby Labonte is 39). So competing for a top-10 finish could still be in the cards for the 44-year-old Martin, who finished a disappointing 17th in points in 2003. But battling for a championship will be extremely tough -- unless, of course, NASCAR blows up the points and championship system. 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 D. Earnhardt Jr. On being NASCAR's most popular driver: "That's cool. I like big trophies. ... No, really, this means a lot for me. It's a powerful thing to know how much fan support I have." Matt Kenseth While in New York for the NASCAR banquet: "This is the coolest feeling in the world. I never could have thought something like this would happen." Bill Elliott On his '04 schedule: "We had a lot of fun the last third of the season. ... But realistically, I'm at a point in my life, I'm getting close to 50, and I need to slow down."