By Colleen Kane
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Helio Castroneves will take a "good look" at Kentucky Speedway's fence on Saturday at the Belterra Casino Indy 300 qualifying - just in case he gets to meet it Sunday.

The two-time Indianapolis 500 champ admitted to being "a little rusty" as he did his first fence-scaling of the year after a win at the Emerson Indy 250 last weekend, but he's hoping he's ready to ride the momentum into this weekend's race.

"Absolutely, I'm coming. Get out of my way," Castroneves said.

Another one of Castroneves' signature climbs on Sunday could lift him into the points lead for the Indy Racing League's series championship with four races to go. He sits in third, 10 points behind leader Tony Kanaan and three behind Marlboro Team Penske teammate Gil de Ferran, the 2003 Indy 500 winner.

Castroneves and de Ferran, both two years into the IRL with Penske, are looking for the team's first IRL series championship after finishing second and third last year. They also have the capability to finish 1-2 as a team for the first time in the IRL's eight-year history, and for the first time since Penske swept the top three spots in the CART championship in 1994.

After an impressive inaugural season last year with 24 top-five finishes, Castroneves and de Ferran have dominated this IRL season, a season in which eight different drivers have won. Together, they've totaled three wins, five second places and six third places in 11 races. The pair of Brazilians, who are friends on and off the track, credit the team's competitiveness.

"As a driver, it's all you can hope for," de Ferran said. "Everyone's super-motivated with this contagious, can-do attitude."

That also extends into race day. The drivers have finished one spot behind the other in five races this season, including their 1-2 finish at Indianapolis.

"The bottom line is we both respect each other's motives," de Ferran said. "We have an open-book policy. He knows everything I'm doing and vice versa. The team overall benefits from that and becomes more competitive."

"We don't say, 'Come on friend, you first,' " Castroneves said. "The only team order is not to hit each other."

While de Ferran has finished all but one race in the top 10, Castroneves has had a few struggles. He's finished second and third several times, but has not reached first. He also had an accident in Japan and radiator problems in Michigan. And at Gateway last weekend, he managed a win without using any electronic instruments on his dash, relying solely on the guidance of his team and the feel of the car.

"I was like, 'Huh, What am I going to do now?' " said Castroneves, who saw the problem as he was sitting at the starting line in pole position. "I said, 'This is my race, even if I don't have the dash, I'm going to go for it.' And having your team back you up like that (was great)."

He hopes that "awesome" feeling will continue in his second race at Sparta. Last year at Kentucky, Castroneves finished fifth. De Ferran finished 21st after an incident early in the race forced the team to rebuild the car's suspension.

"What happened last year doesn't have much to do with what will happen this year," de Ferran said. "We start from scratch, on a blank sheet of paper."

The Belterra Casino Indy 300 schedule

• Saturday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., at Kentucky Speedway, "The Bull Country Radio Pole Day." Tickets: $30. Schedule: 10 a.m.-noon and 2-3:30 p.m., IRL IndyCar Series Practice; 12:45 p.m., IRL Infiniti Pro Series "Kentucky 100;" 4:30 p.m., "Belterra Casino Indy 300" qualifying.

• Sunday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m., at Kentucky Speedway. Tickets range from $35-$65. Schedule: 11:30 a.m., concert by Sixpence None the Richer; 1 p.m., pre-race ceremonies, with Who Wants to Marry My Dad? star Don Mueller as grand marshal; 2 p.m., "Belterra Casino Indy 300."

E-mail ckane@enquirer.com.