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In 2012-14, Helio Castroneves was either first, second or third in the Verizon IndyCar Series standings with two races left in the season.

Heading into the Aug. 22-23 ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway – the penultimate event of the season – the veteran Team Penske driver is fourth (58 points behind front-running teammate Juan Pablo Montoya). The most direct path to securing his first Indy car title goes through Victory Circle.

“We’ve been in this situation before and we’ve been the hunted instead of the hunter,” said Castroneves, who was runner-up to Montoya on the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway tri-oval last year. “I have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

“Now it’s strategy; we have to take a chance. If you look at it from a team perspective, we already have one guy leading the championship and two guys (reigning series champion Will Power is one point behind Castroneves in fifth place) right there.

“You can’t play conservative. You’ve got to go for it, and if you have to pit (off-sequence) hopefully we’ll take that into consideration at Pocono, especially since it’s a race that fuel could be part of the strategy.”

In last year’s race, the top seven finishers each made six pit stops under green (there was a lone caution on Laps 159-164) in what turned out to be the fastest 500-mile race (202.402 mph) in Indy car history. There were 16 lead changes among five drivers.

“Right now, we’ve just got to make it happen,” Castroneves said.

Championship chase with two races left

2015 (10 mathematically eligible)
Leader: Juan Pablo Montoya (465). Graham Rahal (-9). Scott Dixon (-34). Helio Castroneves (-58). Will Power (-59). Sebastien Bourdais (-86). Marco Andretti (-87). Josef Newgarden (-95). Tony Kanaan (-111). Simon Pagenaud (-136).

2014
Leader: Will Power (602). Helio Castroneves (-39). Simon Pagenaud (-92)
Final margin and champion: 62 points. Will Power

2013
Leader: Helio Castroneves (513). Scott Dixon (-8). Simon Pagenaud (-50)
Final margin and champion: 27 points. Scott Dixon

2012
Leader: Will Power (422). Ryan Hunter-Reay (-26). Helio Castroneves (-41)
Final margin and champion: 3 points. Ryan Hunter-Reay