Penske boys out to stop Ganassi
Helio Castroneves says he will battle hard with Penske teammate Sam Hornish Jr for the championship at Chicagoland next month, but he warned that their ultimate goal must be to prevent rivals Chip Ganassi Racing from clinching the title
Castroneves goes into the final round of the series just one point ahead of teammate Hornish, and only 19 and 21 points ahead of Ganassi's Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon respectively.
Either Wheldon or Dixon could clinch the title with a victory should both Penske drivers finish sixth or lower at the season finale on September 10.
Hornish beat Castroneves for the 2002 title by just two points when the American was at Panther Racing.
He believes his teammate will have advantage at Chicagoland, but he hopes they do not get embroiled in their own battle to such a degree that they hand the title to their main rivals this season.
"It's kind of every man for himself, there is no question about that. This is what it's going to be there," Castroneves said. "The odds, it probably helps Sam a little bit, because he's more familiar with the ovals.
"It will be very interesting. No question, we're going to try everything we can to finish and clinch this championship.
"But for one thing, we don't want to give the championship to Target Ganassi. We're going to try everything we can to win this championship, whether it's going to be me or Sam.
"My opinion, obviously it should be me, but I don't think Sam would agree with that.
"For me, I have good news: I know what he's got. The bad news: he knows what I got. That's the only difference compared to four years ago.
"I'm going to go for it. Obviously, it's been working since Michigan, when I switch my plan to instead of be conservative, to go for it. I'm going to continue doing that. I do believe we have the car to win there this year. We're going to go for it."
"But Ganassi are in a similar situation to us. Whatever finish those guys have had. I say Dan has been leading a lot of laps in the ovals, but Scott is the one that is making it happen.
"It will be a definitely good battle. It definitely is going to be interesting to see. I'm sure other guys are going to be in the mix."
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