Hornish Jr.

JOLIET, Ill. -- Sam Hornish Jr.'s victory in Sunday's Delphi Indy 300 has put him in prime position to become the first driver in Indy Racing League history to win the season championship twice.

The defending IRL champion takes a 12-point lead into the final race of the season, next week's Chevy 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, where he is the defending race winner.

"I don't feel any pressure," Hornish said. "I know all I've got to do is go out there, drive the car, and if I do the right thing on the day, then that's good. If I don't, then I've got to think about it until next March.

"We'd like to say, 'Yeah, we are going to go in there and win the race and we're going to lead from start to finish,' but it's not likely that that's going to happen. We are going to have people in there, and it's just going to be staying out of trouble."

Last year, Hornish's Pennzoil Panther Racing team raised the competition bar in the IRL. With the arrival of Marlboro Team Penske from CART, the bar was raised even higher this season. So far, Hornish's team has responded to the challenge.

"We started out the year and we had the bar set pretty high," Hornish said. "We won two out of the first three races; that was definitely in the right direction. And then the next three were very bad. ... I think it was just the fact that those were three races that things didn't go right and we had everybody had to kind of step back and look at what we were doing, and it was more myself than it was the team."

Hornish is hoping history can repeat itself with the team winning the fall race at Texas Motor Speedway for the third straight year. Scott Goodyear won at Texas in 2000 in his final race for the team and Hornish was the winner last year in the closest 1-2-3 finish in Indy car history.

"Everything should work out fairly well at Texas," Hornish said. "Pennzoil Panther Racing has won last two races there, the last two fall races. We think we have a very good setup. We thought we had a really good setup at St. Louis and didn't win that, either.

"You just have to take it day by day, and it's just amazing what some people come up with. They aren't there all day long, and then the last 15 laps, here they are sticking their nose in there."

Buddy Lazier, the 2000 IRL champion who finished third Sunday, believes the points race is so tight, it's hard to pick a winner. However, he believes Hornish's team may have a slight edge because of its experience at Texas Motor Speedway.

"That's tough because both of those teams, both of those drivers and engineers have so many strengths, but certainly, in terms of most experience at Texas, you've got to lean toward the Panther team," Lazier said. "But that's not taking anything away from the other team. They have got a lot of resources and a lot of experience to draw from, too.

"The more experience you have on these high banks, the more experience you have running wide open in packs, drafting the way that we do, IRL-intensive experience. I think that will weigh a little heavier."

Al Unser Jr. finished second Sunday. He was well aware of what was on the line in his intense battle with Hornish, because the last thing he wanted to do was take another driver out of contention for the season championship.

"I think he did a super job," Unser said. "There's two races within a race here. There's a lot of guys that want to turn their season around and win. Every race you want to win, you're going to give it everything you've got. But there is a championship race here, too.

"If you're anywhere even close to being able to win the race, you go for it. But you don't want to affect the championship negatively. So it's a factor when you are racing with guys. These guys are in the championship chase. You're still going to take every inch you can take, but it plays on your mind. You don't want to bump wheels with a guy who is going for the championship and affect the championship negatively. It just doesn't make sense."

Unser predicts another fantastic finish next weekend as Hornish and Helio Castroneves will determine the championship. Gil de Ferran is still in mathematical contention but trails by 38 points, with a maximum of 52 available.

"It's going to be an exciting championship," Unser said. "It looks like those two have been real patient, and it's going to be a great race in Texas for the championship."