By Andrew CharmanThe Indy Racing League is coming down to crunch time. There are just three rounds to go in the 2004 series, beginning with this weekend's Delphi Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway, and as the drivers begin the final run-in the one question in the paddock is – can anyone beat Tony Kanaan?
Andretti-Green driver Kanaan comes to Chicago jealously guarding a 72-point advantage at the top of the series standings, and with a mere 50 on offer for a race win, it would look as if he is well in control of his destiny. He's led the standings ever since the Indy 500 back in May - now all he needs to produce is a fifth-place average at Chicago, Fontana and the finale at Texas to secure his first IRL title. Note too that Kanaan has been very good this season at keeping his average high - when he's not been winning, he's been up in the top places, to the frustration of his championship chasers.
Kanaan himself is taking a relaxed approach to the final run-in, saying that his season game-plan hasn't changed at all. "Chicagoland is a fast track and we expect the car to be strong," he said this week. "My thoughts are still to take it race-by-race, and I hope to extend my points lead this weekend."
Adding spice to the battle is the fact that Kanaan's closest pursuer is now his own team-mate. Brit Dan Wheldon moved past Buddy Rice into the championship second spot with victory last time out at Nazareth. Wheldon, 2003's rookie of the year, has really matured in his second full season on the ovals, and his Nazareth success tied him with Kanaan and Buddy Rice with three wins each this season.
Wheldon is convinced that some of his less impressive results this year have been due to circumstances out of his control, and that's why he's not at the top of the standings. "If it can't be me I'm glad it's one of my team-mates," he said, adding, "I still think I have a chance of winning this championship and I'm going to take every risk necessary in order to achieve that dream." At least he will be in familiar territory this weekend - he made his IRL debut at Chicagoland with Panther Racing two years ago.
Wheldon can't afford to be conservative in his efforts to claw back Kanaan's lead, and neither can Buddy Rice, currently third in the series just four points behind the Brit. Just a few races ago Rice was being touted as the favourite for championship success, as his Rahal-Letterman team hit a rich vein of form sparked by success in the League's blue riband event, the Indy 500. More recently that form seems to have deserted them, but Rice cannot be counted out in the title chase, and he's looking forward to the challenge. "Chicagoland should be a real shootout," he said this week. "Some of the closest races in Indycar history have been run there - I finished ninth in 2002 and I was half a second off the pace."
Even if Rice doesn't claim the big prize, he cannot fail to be satisfied with what he's achieved this season. The man who started the year as a temporary replacement for the injured Kenny Brack repaid Bobby Rahal's faith in him, and while Brack is still on the sidelines it became clear long ago that had he returned Rice would have remained as his team-mate. He's turned five pole positions into three wins and leads the series on money won, his $2,558,440 almost a million dollars more than second highest earner Kanaan, though admittedly helped greatly by that Indy success.
The 2004 champion will be one of these three. Fourth-placed Helio Castroneves is 68 points back on Rice in what has been a poor season for Penske. But the 'Captain' - Roger Penske - can permit himself some high hopes for this weekend, particularly in Castroneves'team-mate Sam Hornish, a driver with a lot of success in Chicago. He took second here in 2001 and with it the IRL title, and he won the race in both 2002 and 2003. Of course none of these were in a Penske but there's every reason to suppose he can transfer his form to the red and white cars and clock up a hat-trick on Sunday. "I'm excited to go back to Chicago, and Marlboro Team Penske is really hoping to turn things around this weekend,” Hornish told us this week. “I've always done pretty well there, so hopefully my success at the track will continue this year. It's a great track where we've always had close finishes, so I'm sure the fans are in for quite a show."
Others will aim to improve their season with a win here. Andretti-Green's Dario Franchitti has finally found his rhythm in his first full IRL season with two wins, but both were on one-mile ovals - now he needs to prove himself on the 1.5 miles of Chicago. Darren Manning would like to show that there's a third Brit out there capable of race success, while his Target Chip Ganassi team-mate Scott Dixon would just like to rediscover the form that brought him last year's title. And Tomas Scheckter would just like some luck please. He's been quick for Panther Racing on many occasions this season, but has seen the chequered flag on far fewer occasions.
So a title chase that's boiling up nicely, and plenty of other stories right down the 22-car field. The Delphi Indy 300 takes the green flag at around 1.55pm Eastern Time on Sunday, that's just before 7pm in the UK. Stay tuned to Crash.net for updates and a full report throughout the weekend.
