INDY RACING LEAGUE Castroneves has pole, but faces challenges to lead

The IRL points leader is being challenged by four other drivers.
FONTANA, Calif. (AP) -- Indy Racing League points leader Helio Castroneves keeps reminding himself to stay focused on his own game plan at California Speedway.
"I just tell myself to run my race, not worry about anybody else," Castroneves said Saturday after winning the pole for the Toyota Indy 400.
But it won't be easy for Castroneves to ignore the four other drivers within 41 points of his lead -- three of them within 17 points -- in today's race.
"Everybody wants to talk about the championship," the Brazilian driver said. "It's a long race and I can't think about what the other guys are going to do.
"There are two races left and nothing is decided. First, you have to do your job."
Fourth career pole
Castroneves got the first part of the job done just fine, turning a lap of 226.757 mph to grab his fourth career pole and third of the season. In his three previous pole starts, Castroneves has won twice and finished second in the other.
"It doesn't mean that much to start at the front here because there is so much passing and it is such a wide track," he said. "But it is good to stay in front of any trouble at the start of the race."
Kenny Brack, a former IRL champion but not part of the 2003 championship battle, was second at 226.280, followed by Scott Dixon at 226.219.
Castroneves goes into today's 400-mile event just 12 points ahead of runner-up Dixon. Third-place Tony Kanaan is 14 points behind, Gil de Ferran 17 back and two-time defending IRL champion Sam Hornish Jr. 41 behind, with 52 points up for grabs -- 50 for the win and two for leading the most laps.
Kanaan qualified fifth at 225.198. Hornish, winner of two of the last three races, was 10th at 224.088, and de Ferran, struggling with an ill-handling car, was 12th at 223.609.
Close races common
It has become almost routine in the all-oval IRL to have nearly constant side-by-side racing and finishes decided by hundredths or even thousandths of a second.
Two weeks ago at Chicagoland Speedway, Hornish won the closest 1-2-3 IRL finish ever, the top three separated by just .0100-seconds -- about 3 feet.
With so much on the line in this race, Castroneves said some of the contenders might be a little more conservative than usual.
"Maybe there won't be quite as much side-by-side racing until the end," he said. "But there are guys out there who aren't in the championship [race] that want to win.
"You can't sit and watch other drivers run away from you because you can't give away points."
Brack, who has struggled through a difficult season and is a distant seventh in the points, said he expects a typical IRL dogfight.
"Nobody is going to hold back," Brack said. "To me, these races are like two-hour sprint races. Everybody's side-by-side from start to finish."