The Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS - It's a bit of a long shot, but Dan Wheldon isn't giving up on catching teammate Tony Kanaan for the Indy Racing League championship.

Wheldon goes into Sunday's IndyCar Series race at Chicagoland Speedway trailing the consistent Kanaan by 72 points with only three races remaining in the 2005 season.

"I still do think I have a chance of winning the championship," said Wheldon, coming off a victory two weeks ago in Nazareth, Pa.

Wheldon, in his second season in the IRL, has three victories this season after failing to win as a rookie. He knows if he could win out this year, that would put a little pressure on his friend and teammate.

"If we do that, then we'll be OK, whatever Tony does," the Englishman said. "But we really haven't talked about the championship ... apart from the fact that we just do need to keep doing a good job."

CHAMP CAR: Michel Jourdain Jr. is thrilled to return to the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

A year ago, the Mexican driver, then racing for Team Rahal, had the dominant car at the Champ Car World Series event on the 2.238-mile road course in Monterrey, Calif. Only a penalty for an underweight car spoiled his weekend and kept Jourdain from winning easily. He wound up fourth.

"This is the best race track; it's fast, it's fun, it takes a lot of driving skills, and it's amazing," Jourdain said as the new RuSport team prepared his Lola to drive onto the track for today's practice and qualifying for the Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey.

NEXTEL CUP: Dale Jarrett was shocked when NASCAR announced its new format for deciding its championship. But he wasn't too concerned because he didn't figure to contend this season after a miserable 2003 campaign.

Now, one race and just 43 points out of the top 10 that will set the field for the 10-race Nextel Cup championship shootout, the 1999 series champion said he's energized and liking the new system a lot more.

"To be quite honest, I don't think this was anything that we expected, that we could try to make ourselves into a top-10 team at this point in time," Jarrett said.

After ending a string of seven straight years in the top nine in the final standings with a 26th-place finish last year, Jarrett enters Saturday night's Chevy Rock & Roll 400 ranked 13th - with a chance.

BUSCH SERIES: Rookie Kasey Kahne won his first NASCAR Busch Series pole in 22 tries. Kahne, 24, a five-time runner-up in the Nextel Cup series this season, turned a lap at 127.678 mph on the three-quarter-mile Richmond International Raceway, edging Kyle Busch for the top position.

FORMULA ONE: Michael Schumacher already has clinched an unprecedented seventh drivers crown after finishing second to Kimi Raikkonen in the Belgian Grand Prix Aug. 29, but he says there is no reason for him and Ferrari to turn conservative at Monza, Italy, for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix.

"At Spa I was not very aggressive," he said. "I did nothing wrong, thinking of the championship. ... At Monza, we expect a tough competition with McLaren and Renault."

NASCAR TRUCKS: Ted Musgrave led all but 10 laps and held off teammate Jamie McMurray in an aborted two-lap sprint to the finish Thursday night to win the Kroger 200 Craftsman Truck Series race.

IROC: Matt Kenseth turned the all-star International Race of Champions series into a one-star event.

Taking the lead on the sixth of 90 laps, Kenseth raced comfortably in front the rest of the way, making a decisive display of prowess on the final restart with 30 laps to go and leaving the field in the distance.