Castroneves

	Hornish

It's a point race that gets tighter each week. As the season wears down, the Indy Racing League's championship chase is a see-saw battle between three drivers.

Or is it?

Through most of the year, the focus has been squarely on Roger Penske's two-car operation and drivers Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran. They have commanded the top spots for most of the year.

When Penske announced last year that he was switching to the IRL, pundits quickly predicted his team would sweep comfortably to the title and dominate the races.

It was a very premature prediction. One that didn't take into account the IRL's increasing level competition.

"Italy has Ferrari, America has Penske," owner/driver Eddie Cheever Jr. said last December when Penske announced his IRL intentions. "The mistake everybody is making is to say, 'Oh, oh, the best team from CART is coming over.' What they should say is, 'The IRL just got stronger.'"

Penske drivers started out quickly. Castroneves won at Phoenix and defended his 2001 Indianapolis 500 win with another Brickyard victory. De Ferran took the top spot at Pikes Peak in June.

In between, the dynamic duo has stitched together a season of consistency. De Ferran has nine top-five finishes and 10 top-10s in 12 races. Castroneves has nine top-fives and 11 top-10s.

In most other series, and in the IRL in other years, these stats would have put the two way out front in the championship chase. But other series don't have Sam Hornish Jr. and his Panther Racing team.

"I think at this point in time last year we were 10 points ahead of Buddy (Lazier)," Hornish said after finishing second to Felipe Giaffone last weekend at Kentucky Speedway.

That second-place effort pushed the defending IRL champ ahead of Penske's pilots and into the top spot in the standings with a four-point margin over Castroneves. Hornish is another who has used consistency to stay near the top of the charts. But his three wins are the difference.

In 11 races, Hornish has eight top-fives and nine top-10s.

"I think we've had three finishes outside of the top-three this year -- four finishes," he said. "Three of them were very bad in a row. It's been all since Indianapolis, actually before then, when we had the bad finishes. You're on a roll -- you're on or you're off. Hopefully the other guys will stay off for a little bit, let me build up a little points lead."

Don't count on it.

The IRL's record-setting victory distribution -- nine different winners in the last 10 races -- has played a big role in keeping the title chase close.

"I hope it stops happening," Hornish said. "I'd like to win some more, you know. It's so tough, I think it just shows how competitive the IRL is. I mean, how many of the last races have been won by new winners? You know, it's tough to gain an advantage in the points because a new guy wins, he starts building on his points."

Giaffone's win -- making him the sixth first-time winner this season -- has also thrust him into the title hunt. He is just 17 points off the lead. Since the event at Nazareth, Pa., Giaffone and his Mo Nunn Racing team have jelled and should make the battle to the season finale in Texas a torrid one.