FONTANA, Calif. -- American horse racing got its first Triple Crown winner since 1978 this year. Why not IndyCar racing?
If anything, the IndyCar Triple Crown is an even rarer feat than the trifecta American Pharoah completed a few weeks ago at the Belmont Stakes. It has been accomplished only one time -- in 1978, when Al Unser claimed victory in the Indianapolis 500, the Pocono 500 and the California 500 at Ontario Motor Speedway in a Lola T500/Cosworth fielded by Haas-Hall Racing.
This year's Indy winner, Juan Pablo Montoya, has the opportunity to take the next step toward IndyCar racing's Triple Crown this weekend, but the venue is Auto Club Speedway near Fontana, where the Verizon IndyCar Series will put on the MAVTV 500 as a Saturday afternoon matinee.
A win at Fontana would do more than put Montoya in position to make American open-wheel history as the first to win three 500-mile IndyCar races in nearly 40 years. It would extend his lead in the IndyCar Series championship -- a far more important matter for an in-the-now man who has little interest in the sport's heritage or history.
Montoya bested his Team Penske teammate Will Power in a thrilling duel at Indianapolis, and that duo is likely to remain the focus of the IndyCar title chase over the season's remaining nine weeks.
The Colombian holds a 27-point lead over Power, with Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon another 18 points behind. With just six races remaining and the season finale at Sonoma Raceway paying double points, time is running out quickly for the title contenders.
Montoya looks in a strong position. He targeted ovals as his best chance for success since returning to IndyCars after a long journey that took him to Formula 1 and NASCAR, and his record in 500-mile races is peerless. The 39-year-old has won four of his nine starts in 500-milers, dating to his time in the CART-sanctioned Indy car series in 1999 and 2000.
He's won races at Indianapolis, Pocono and Michigan, but never at Fontana. This year's win at Indy -- Montoya's second at the Brickyard -- has only increased his confidence for the rest of the season, in which four of the final six races will be staged on ovals.
"To be honest with you, my worst oval last year was Indy," he said. "It was my first oval back. I mean, I had a fifth. I had a win in Pocono. I had a third in Texas. To be honest with you, I should have won Fontana, and still finished fourth."
Although there is no official prize for IndyCar's Triple Crown, Montoya won't be trying less hard to win Saturday's race.
"It's not something that I really focus on, but it's something cool that the Verizon IndyCar Series brought back a few years ago and we are proud to be competing for it," he said. "Only one team is able to win the Triple Crown this year and it's ours, so that is a cool feeling.
"Now that we had an off weekend to catch our breath and regroup, I am happy with where we are as we head into the final six races of the year," he added. "We've been able to mix in a lot of consistency with our two wins, but we need to get at least one more before the end of the year. Fontana and Pocono would be great tracks to do that for the Triple Crown."
Power earned his first oval win at Fontana in the 2013 IndyCar Series season finale. Only two of his 24 career victories have come on ovals, and with this year's schedule slanted heavily toward oval tracks down the stretch, he'll need to be at his best to defeat Montoya.
"For me, Fontana has been a rollercoaster of emotions over the last few years," Power said. "We missed out on the championship there in 2012 [when he crashed, handing the title to Ryan Hunter-Reay]. I came back to score what I consider one of my greatest wins there the next year. And last year we finally closed the deal there to win the title.
"It's going to be different going back there and not having it as the season finale."
Nearly a full race win's worth of points behind Montoya in the standings, Dixon needs to jump-start his campaign for a fourth IndyCar Series championship now.
The New Zealand native has never won at Auto Club Speedway.
"It's not the championship finale this year, but it's still going to be a great one for the fans," he remarked. "The cool thing about Fontana on the racing side is the sheer fact you've got so many lanes to choose from. You can take the bottom lane all the way up to the top, which is almost four, five or six different lines drivers use at various parts of the race."
Team Penske's Helio Castroneves (54 points behind Montoya) is probably the last legitimate championship contender and a strong threat to win on any oval track. Graham Rahal (-91) is fifth in the standings, and the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing pilot is Honda's top runner this year.
Other drivers to watch this weekend include Ryan Briscoe, who continues to sub for the injured James Hinchcliffe at oval tracks for Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports. Briscoe ran very well at Texas and was fastest in the first practice session Friday at Fontana, running 217.451 mph to provide Honda one of its brightest moments in a so-far dismal season.
Fellow Honda driver Marco Andretti, another racer who excels on ovals, was second fastest in the first practice.
IndyCar has mandated an aero package for Fontana very similar to the one run at Texas Motor Speedway, the main change being a requirement to run about six degrees of additional rear-wing angle. The change is expected to add about 300 pounds of downforce.
The drivers will need every pound of that downforce in an afternoon race that will run in considerably hotter conditions than have been in place the last three years when the event was run at night.
"Looks like the temperatures are kind of mild for this time of year (the predicted race day high is 93 degrees), but I think tire degradation and trying to maintain pace over a full stint is going to be a tough situation, especially with the track temp being higher during the day," observed Dixon.
"We'll have to see how it goes, but typically Fontana is a track the team does quite well at. Hopefully we can continue that trend."