| | Associated Press
CICERO, Ill. -- The spectacular race-ending duel between
Juan Montoya and Michael Andretti last Sunday in the Michigan 500
may simply be a preview of the final nine races of the CART season.
Both drivers have had their problems this season with mechanical
ills and bad luck. But, heading into Sunday's Target Grand Prix at
Chicago Motor Speedway, Andretti is at the top of the season
standings and Montoya is just 30 points behind in fifth.
"Juan is going to be the guy, I think," said Andretti, who
lost to the defending series champion by less than a car-length
after 17 laps of breathtaking, 225-mph, wheel-to-wheel battling
last weekend.
"He's the only other guy besides me who can really complain
about the problems he's been having this year," the 1991 series
champion added. "We both gave away a lot of points early in the
year. But, if we hadn't, I think we'd probably still be pretty
close."
Montoya, who won seven races last year on the way to the FedEx
Series championship as a rookie, got only his second CART win of
this year at Michigan -- although he also won the rival Indy Racing
League's Indianapolis 500 in May.
But the 24-year-old Colombian driver has led a series-high 580
laps this season without much to show for it. By contrast, Helio
Castroneves is second with 194 laps led.
The Michigan victory was a big boost for Montoya and the entire
Target/Chip Ganassi Racing team.
"The timing for that win was perfect," he said. "We had a few
difficult races in a row, so that big win was great for our
confidence.
"Now we're in Chicago, where we had a good run last year and
really got some momentum for the championship."
It isn't likely to be a two-man show on Sunday, considering
there have been eight different winners already this year. The only
two-time winners have been Montoya, Andretti and Gil de Ferran, who
is one point ahead of Montoya in the standings and trails
second-place Roberto Moreno by 19.
Practice begins on the one-mile Chicago oval Friday and the
first of a maximum 22 points available this week will go to the
pole winner on Saturday. Points are awarded to the top 12 finishers
in the race, with the winner getting 20 and the driver who leads
the most laps one.
The championship is so tight, with the top 10 drivers separated
by just 42 points, that very few drivers consider themselves out of
the title race.
Jimmy Vasser, Montoya's teammate and last year's third-place
finisher in Chicago, is ninth in the standings -- and hopeful.
"There are too many races left to get discouraged, and we're
only 41 points off the lead," said Vasser, the 1996 series champ.
"We have to score points in the remaining nine races in order to
give us a shot at the title, and there's not one person on this
team who thinks we can't do it." | |
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Michael Andretti sits down with ESPN's Marlo Klain on RPM 2Night.
RealVideo: 28.8
ESPN's John Kernan talks with the Target/Chip Ganassi Racing team on RPM 2Night.
RealVideo: 28.8
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