WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — It appears Helio Castroneves is staying put.
The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner says he is close to signing a contract extension to stay with Penske Racing’s IndyCar Series team.
“We’re in the process of getting there,” said Castroneves, who confirmed he is well into negotiations with Penske team president Tim Cindric.
With former teammate Sam Hornish Jr. and 2007 series champion Dario Franchitti having left the IndyCar Series for NASCAR, there had been some speculation that Castroneves would follow them to stock car racing.
The Brazilian raised his profile and that of the open-wheel series last year by winning the “Dancing with the Stars” TV program. Losing him would have been blow for IndyCar, which is hoping to make a big comeback now that the two American open-wheel series have unified under one banner.
But Castroneves, who has yet to win a series title, said he believes he has unfinished business in IndyCar. And he also noted that Franchitti lost his NASCAR ride last week because of a lack of sponsorship in a tough economic climate.
“I don’t think the opportunity right now of going to NASCAR is the best one,” Castroneves said. “Right now, I’m looking to be in Team Penske for quite a long time.”
HITTING THE FENCE: Nineteen-year-old IndyCar rookie Graham Rahal hasn’t had much luck since becoming the youngest winner in the series’ history.
Rahal crashed in the Champ Car finale, the only street race since he took the checkered flag earlier this season in St. Petersburg, Fla., and also crashed on the ovals at Indianapolis, Milwaukee and Richmond.
The road course at Watkins Glen was supposed to be the cure for his racing ills, but the son of three-time CART champion and Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal crashed again during practice Saturday morning — forcing his Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing team to cannibalize a backup car to get Rahal back on track.
“I just don’t have a good understanding of why I am crashing every weekend. It’s frustrating and embarrassing,” Rahal said. “I feel bad for all the work I have added for the guys. They are going to work hard to fix the car and I’ll do my best to reward them with a good result.”
RACING AGAIN: Pacific Coast Motorsports has returned to the IndyCar Series after missing two races while preparing for the remainder of its schedule and building a backup car for driver Mario Dominguez.
Dominguez last raced at Texas on June 7, finishing 21st.
The Mexican driver was excited to race at Watkins Glen for the first time.
“It’s a track that I have always wanted to compete on,” Dominguez said. “We’ve spent the last month strengthening our program and I’ve been training up to three hours every day. The last time we were on a road-street circuit, we finished on the podium (in third), which was the Champ Car finale in Long Beach in April.
“Even though we’ve been racing on ovals most recently, I’ve logged hundreds of miles in my go-kart, practicing the road course techniques.”
PCM plans to run in five of the last seven races on the schedule, skipping the oval events at Nashville and Kentucky.
GREEN TRACK: Officials from Watkins Glen International have announced that the track in upstate New York will be the first major U.S. motor sports facility to use renewable sources for all of its energy needs.
The track has purchased 1.03 million kilowatts of electricity — enough to power the 1,500-acre facility for one year — from Juice Energy. The New York-based company uses wind and solar power to provide electricity to its clients.
The agreement will guarantee the use of green energy at WGI for the next three years.
Officials said the deal with WGI will prevent 804 metric tons of carbon dioxide from being produced. That is, according to the announcement, the equivalent of taking more than 170 cars off the road each year.
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