DETROIT -- Two weekends May will have a strong influence on the Verizon IndyCar Series championship that will be decided in three months.

Already, Juan Pablo Montoya grabbed double points (101) with his victory in the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on May 24 and takes a 25-point lead over race runner-up and Team Penske teammate Will Power into the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans on May 30 and 31. Each 70-lap race of the lone doubleheader weekend on the schedule carries full points -- 50 base for the winner (40 for second, 35, 32, etc.), plus bonuses for the pole, leading the most laps and leading at least one lap.

Scott Dixon in third and Helio Castroneves, both of whom have won at Belle Isle, are in striking distance of the points lead with solid outings, and Graham Rahal, who secured a runner-up finish to Power in Race 1 last year is only two points behind Castroneves.

“I felt that if we could continue to stay close in points after Indy we would have a pretty good opportunity ahead of us with as strong as we were in Detroit last year," said the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Graham Rahal, who led the Honda brigade with fifth place in the Indy 500. "Detroit is a very similar place to St. Pete and obviously with it being a doubleheader, it’s a huge weekend for the championship.

"We are right on Helio’s heels in fifth place in the point standings and just a couple of points behind Dixon. We will just keep working hard and we’ll be there in the hunt. You have to be smart, patient and let it come to you. I think we did that pretty well last year and this year we’re going to have to do even better.”

Added Castroneves, who, like Rahal, is seeking his first series title: "It's always important when you have double races, double points and you want to make sure you maximize in those areas. After Indianapolis is over, you always focus on the championship. We're going for it. We can't play around and be conservative."

Watch it unfold at 3:30 p.m. (ET) both days on ABC.

The May 31 contest on the 2.35-mile, 14-turn street circuit marks the conclusion of the first half of the season, and other title contenders will emerge in Part II, which opens June 6 with the Firestone 600 under the lights on the 1.5-mile, high-banked Texas Motor Speedway oval. Four other oval races -- two on short ovals (Iowa Speedway and the Milwaukee Mile) and two on 500-mile races on superspeedways (Auto Club Speedway and Pocono Raceway) -- another street circuit (Toronto) and two road courses (Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Sonoma Raceway) comprise the second half of the most diverse schedule in motorsports.

There have been five different winners in six races so far this season, and quite a challenge awaits drivers and teams leading into the double points finale in the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma on Aug. 30.

Two weekends in May. Who will snatch the bulk of the points on the racetrack?