SPARTA, Ky. - Lunch hour has not been a priority for Team Penske the last two days at Kentucky Speedway.

        It has been an eat-and-go drill for team drivers Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran, who are making their first trip to the speedway for the Belterra 300 on Aug. 11 and are trying to get as much track testing time as possible.

        “It's very difficult to test a track with two cars,” Castroneves said between hurried salad bites in the Penske trailer Wednesday. “You've got to try and simulate a race, so Gil and I will take turns running behind each other and passing. It's still not a race, but it's as close as you can get.”

        In their first full IRL season after switching over from CART, two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Castroneves and two-time CART season champion de Ferran have made a practice of learning the intricacies of individual tracks on a weekly basis. They raced only two IRL races last season, in Phoenix and Indianapolis.

        Their method has worked so far this season. De Ferran leads the IRL point standings after 11 of 15 races with 377 points, followed by Castroneves in second with 365. The Brazilian duo has combined for three wins, including Castroneves' second straight Indy 500 championship, and 20 top-10 finishes, 10 apiece, to lead the IRL.

        “It makes my job a lot harder having them here,” said Sam Hornish Jr., last season's point champion who is third this year with 359. points. “Team Penske is the team I'm always looking for out on the track. If you can't beat the best, why even race?”

        Team Penske joined IRL in part this season because of its association with the Indianapolis 500, the only major national open-wheel race. But Castroneves would rather have seen IRL and CART come together and form one Indy league for the first time since IRL began racing in 1996.

        “It's difficult to have two open-wheel leagues,” Castroneves said. “Both leagues are losing in this situation. We have the opportunity to make a union of one open-wheel series, and I think we should do that.”

        With controversy surrounding some of the other top IRL teams recently, the Penske drivers have stayed out of the media focus since de Ferran led a one-two Penske finish at Pikes Peak International Speedway in Colorado June 16.

        Three days later, Al Unser Jr. entered alcohol rehab, and the next week Cheever/Red Bull driver Tomas Scheckter and team owner Eddie Cheever Jr. engaged in a public debate over Scheckter's future with the team. Hornish, meanwhile, has had talks with Dale Earnhardt Inc. regarding a potential switch to NASCAR in 2004. All of which has left the Penske camp rather quiet.

        “I have no idea about all that stuff,” de Ferran said between test runs. “Whatever happens, it doesn't change my job, so I don't think about it. I'm thinking more about Turn 3 (at Kentucky Speedway). It's kind of flat and rolls into turn four. There's a very different feel from three to four.”

        Seconds later, he discussed that topic with Castroneves, in the trailer, trying to figure out how to they would approach the turn on race day. Information sharing is nothing new for racing teams, but it is rarely done as often and openly as it is inside the Penske trailer.

        “We're competitors, no doubt about that,” Castroneves said, “but success really translates with a group. We've seen the most success when we share information. It's just more fun when we work together.”

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