Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Hornish, Castroneves locked in points battle

Friday, Sept. 13, 2002 | 9:08 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Indy Racing League points distribution

Place ... Points

1st ... 50

2nd ... 40

3rd ... 35

4th ... 32

5th ... 20

6th ... 28

7th ... 26

8th ... 24

9th ... 22

10th ... 20

11th ... 19

12th ... 18

13th ... 17

14th ... 16

15th ... 15

16th ... 14

17th ... 13

18th ... 12

19th ... 11

20th ... 10

21st ... 9

22nd ... 8

23rd ... 7

24th ... 6

25th ... 5

26th ... 4

27th ... 3

28th ... 2

29-33rd ... 1

Two bonus points awarded for most laps led in a race.

There are scheduled to be 28 cars in Sunday's Indy Racing League season finale at Texas Motor Speedway. As far as championship contenders Sam Hornish Jr. and Helio Castroneves are concerned, there only will be two.

"There is only one guy that we're looking for, which is Sam, and we know that we have to finish ahead of him to win the championship," said Castroneves, who trails Hornish by 12 points going into the Chevy 500. "The main guy we're going to watch is going to be (Hornish) and I believe that's going to be the same case to him."

It will be, Hornish said.

"(Helio) is the person that we have to try to stay in front of," Hornish said. "We're going to go out and try to win the race ... but we will be watching to see where he is at."

With Castroneves' teammate, Gil de Ferran, out of Sunday's race as a result of injuries he suffered in a crash last week at Chicagoland Speedway, Hornish and Castroneves are the only drivers in the hunt for the title.

Neither has been out of the top three in points since the season-opening race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in March, and the two have swapped the lead four times.

Hornish led for the first four races of the season but gave up the top spot in May when Castroneves won the Indianapolis 500 for the second year in a row. De Ferran held the points lead for two races after Indy; Hornish regained it at Kentucky in mid-August; Castroneves grabbed the lead after the Aug. 25 race at Gateway; and Hornish jumped back on top after his win last weekend at Chicagoland.

"We were the hunted, now we're the hunter," Castroneves said. "It's both exciting and fun. I'm sure this championship will be decided (on) the last lap of the race. I just hope I'll be the one, so let's see what happens."

Hornish, who won the fall race at Texas last season and finished 18th after crashing there in June, said the IRL cars don't necessarily handle the same way in the fall race as they do in the night race in June.

"Texas is kind of a strange place because your car can be really set up for the June race when we run at night and you go there for the fall race and you run right in the heat of the day," he said. "Things may be a lot different; we're not really sure what it's going to take ... but it probably will be a race that's decided within the last lap or two laps."

Hornish, who raced side-by-side with Al Unser Jr. during the final 21 laps at Chicagoland before nipping Unser by a few inches at the finish line, said he hopes Castroneves' prediction of a last-lap battle for the win doesn't come true.

"Hopefully, it won't be that close because it gets your nerves going because you know that you're either going to win by a couple of inches or lose by a couple of inches and that's kind of a scary feeling to have."

Although the IRL did not specify the violations, it is believed the drivers were fined for blocking competitors in the closing laps.

Kruseman, from Ventura, Calif., will drive the No. 18 PDM Racing Dallara/ Chevrolet. Kruseman passed his IRL rookie test in February at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a top speed of 207.6 mph.

"When I was approached about working on this program I immediately realized the impact of what I would be teaching," said Lewis, a 16-time 24-hour race participant. "Knowing that what I am training may very well help protect the President is almost impossible to comprehend.

"I just hope that these agents never have to use the skills we've covered. It is one of the great privileges in my life to be able to work with these fine agents."

Lackey, who since has resigned from RYR, was fined $10,000 for his role in the altercation while Rudd received a $5,000 fine. Both were placed on probation until Dec. 31.

Lackey hit Rudd in the face with a punch and Rudd retaliated by throwing a water bottle at Lackey's head. A Fox Sports cameraman captured the altercation on tape.