Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Castroneves set for hot finish in points race

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2003 | 9:35 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.

When Indy Racing League points leader Helio Castroneves took part in an open test last week at California Speedway, it was a typically mild Southern California fall afternoon with temperatures hovering around 80 degrees.

When the IndyCar Series returns to the Fontana track this weekend for the Toyota Indy 400, however, the raceday forecast calls for a high of 94 degrees. That did not come as welcome news to Castroneves, who holds a 12-point lead over Scott Dixon going into the penultimate race of the season.

"With those kind of temperatures -- extremely hot -- for sure, in the aerodynamic aspect, it's going to be extremely tough," Castroneves said. "You lose downforce when you have heat like that and you probably lose a little bit of power."

Although he came away from the test saying he felt his Marlboro Team Penske crew had a solid baseline for Sunday's race, Castroneves said the latest weather forecast likely would force his team to alter the setup on the car.

"But those conditions are going to be the same for everyone," he said. "Whatever guy chooses to take a chance and try to go with less downforce, he might get in trouble in the middle of the race.

"But it's 400 miles -- it's a long race. With a situation like this, it might turn out to be maybe in your favor or against you. Hopefully, we're going to know what we're going to do."

Castroneves leads Dixon by 12 points, Tony Kanaan is 14 points back in third place and Gil de Ferran is fourth, 17 points off the pace. Two-time IRL champion Sam Hornish Jr. is 41 points behind Castroneves in fifth place.

The close championship battle comes as no surprise to Castroneves.

"I actually predicted this kind of situation after the end of last year," Castroneves said. "I said there were going to be around four or five guys battling for the championship in the last race, the last lap -- and so far, that's what will be happening."

Castroneves lost last year's IRL championship to Hornish by 20 points as the title chase came down to final race of the season.

Villeneuve said he believes BAR's partner, Honda, is leading the charge to replace him with the Japanese driver.

"I am working hard on it and I know a lot of people are working hard on it but there are also people working hard against it," Villeneuve said of his efforts to remain with the team. "No decision has been officially taken by the team and it doesn't look too good, but that doesn't mean it is finished.

"I guess it depends on who wins the battle but there is a big push for Sato coming from Honda."

The victory was Kinser's seventh in seven races on the 3/8-mile track and the 493rd of his career.