JOLIET, Ill. — Things just got a lot tougher for Helio Castroneves in his quest to overtake Scott Dixon for the IndyCar Series championship.
Castroneves, who has been trying hard to get into Dixon’s head as he chases the New Zealander in their title duel, was penalized after Saturday’s qualifying for driving under the white out-of-bounds line at the bottom of the banked Chicagoland Speedway oval.
“He didn’t just do it once,” IndyCar spokesman John Griffin said. “He did it numerous times.”
That negated a solid fourth-place qualifying effort for Castroneves, whose Team Penske teammate, Ryan Briscoe, knocked Dixon off the pole and into second place in the 28-car field.
Now, Castroneves has a much more difficult task in his effort to overcome a 30-point Dixon lead in Sunday’s PEAK Indy 300 race, the last points-paying event of the season. The penalty doesn’t change the fact that Castroneves needs to win or finish second to keep his hopes alive, while Dixon can wrap up his second title — and first since 2003 — by finishing eighth or better.
All the Brazilian can do now is try to get to the front and hope that Dixon has one of his rare off days.
In the first 16 races this season, Dixon has a record-tying six victories and 13 finishes of fifth or better. But he does have three finishes of 11th or worse, too.
Castroneves was not available to comment on the penalty and, after dashing to the IRL hauler, team president Tim Cindric quickly returned and said, “They (the IRL) didn’t want to talk about it. We have to start from the back.”
The way Castroneves ran his four-lap qualifying run surprised Dixon, who commented on it before the penalty was announced.
“We’re told even before we go out in qualifying just keep it above the white line,” Dixon said. “In the drivers meeting, the same thing. He was clearly below it. They never say what the penalty is for it, but it doesn’t really matter, to be honest.”
Castroneves also was penalized last week at Detroit, where he was ordered to let eventual race-winner Justin Wilson past after the Brazilian was called for blocking. That cost Castroneves, who went on to finish second, 10 very important points.
This latest turn of events probably negated the effectiveness, if any, of Castroneves’ efforts to do a psyche job on Dixon.
Over the past few weeks, each time Castroneves saw Dixon, he would walk up with a big smile, poke him in the shoulder and say, “You feeling the pressure, buddy?”
And the fun-loving Brazilian wasn’t letting up a bit as the last points race of the season approached.
Friday night, the two title contenders were asked to each say a few words at a tribute to a friend. As they walked together toward the stage, Castroneves sped up to get ahead of Dixon and then reached out a leg in a mock effort to trip his competitor. On stage, Castroneves took the microphone, leaned toward Dixon and said … you guessed it … “Are you feeling the pressure, buddy?”
“I’m doing my best to get into his head,” Castroneves said Friday. “I’ve got to do everything I can because he is the one with the lead. What I can count on is what I can control. My team is going to do everything we can to win the race and the championship.”
Despite the head games, that was going to be difficult, even before he penalty.
But Castroneves said he wasn’t really feeling any pressure — at least nothing like he felt when he was in the finals of last year’s “Dancing With The Stars,” TV show, which he won.
“Here, I know what I’m doing and what I need to do,” he said grinning. “On the show, I didn’t know anything, and that was a lot of pressure. This is fun.”
Dixon looked relaxed and confident Saturday as he led both practice sessions and wound up second on the 28-car grid. Danica Patrick will start third and Castroneves’ penalty moved Tony Kanaan to fourth.
The points leader said he is just looking forward to getting things settled.
“I guess I’m anxious,” Dixon said. “I want to get in the car and get in the race. One way or another, man, I want it over and done with. It’s been a long year. It’s been a very successful year and to top it off with a championship would be fantastic, but only time will tell.”
All Dixon has to do to give Chip Ganassi Racing another open-wheel title is put together the kind of race he has been running almost all season. But there is still the specter of last year’s Chicagoland race.
Chasing down Dario Franchitti for the title, Dixon lost both the race and the championship when he ran out of fuel two turns from the end of the race.
While some believe that finish could haunt Dixon, Franchitti figures it just gives the New Zealander a little more incentive, as it has all of this season.
Franchitti, whose attempt to move to NASCAR this season ended with the news he will come back to IndyCar as Dixon’s teammate in 2009, visited Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday and gave Dixon a vote of confidence in the championship battle.
“I said to TK (former teammate Tony Kanaan) early this year, ‘Sorry, man. I got Scott mad last year and he came back fighting strong.’ He was a hell of a driver last year and I think he’s an even better driver this year,” Franchitti said. “And I think the team have done a better job for him, too.
“He’s making less mistakes and he’s improved in certain areas where he wasn’t very strong before, and he’s a hell of an opponent. As a teammate, I’m going to find out some of his secrets.”
Still, Franchitti noted that the title is hardly a done deal for Dixon.
“We did show last year, didn’t we, that it’s not all over until that last lap is done,” said Franchitti, who drove for Andretti Green Racing in 2007. “And Helio doesn’t give up either.”
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