LONG POND, Pennsylvania -- Dario Franchitti no longer drives Indy cars for a living. But as an advisor for Chip Ganassi's racing teams and a part-time television commentator, he still has his finger on the pulse of the sport.
He rates some tracks higher than others, and Pocono Raceway -- the site of this weekend's ABC Supply 500, the next-to-last round of the Verizon IndyCar Series championship -- is near the top of the list.
"This is the hairiest track these cars race on," Franchitti declared Saturday between on-track sessions at the 2.5-mile tri-oval.
"Go down and actually watch the cars as they exit Turn 3 ... those guys are working their tails off, and I don't think the drivers get nearly the amount of respect that they deserve because these cars aren't as easy to drive as a lot of people think. You're holding your breath every lap at this place."
Just ask Ganassi Racing driver Charlie Kimball, who found out just how tricky Turn 3 can be during his qualifying run on Saturday. After pacing the morning practice session, Kimball went from hero to zero when his No. 83 snapped out of control and pounded the SAFER barrier, riding the wall on two wheels for a considerable distance. Kimball was uninjured and cleared to start Sunday's 200-lap race, but he'll start from the back of the 24-car field.
With ovals representing just 40 percent of the modern IndyCar Series schedule, Pocono's quirky layout makes it even more of a wild card than a typical speedway.
Franchitti noted that Turn 3, taken flat out despite featuring just six degrees of banking, might be the most difficult corner of any oval track in the IndyCar lineup. Turn 1 features a more handling-friendly 14 degrees of banking, but the four-time IndyCar Series champion said it's "almost a hairpin" compared to the other corners, due to a tighter radius.
"There is a reason they call Pocono the 'Tricky Triangle,'" said KV Racing Technology driver Sebastien Bourdais, who, like Franchitti, boasts four IndyCar championship crowns.
"It is an unusual oval with some very unique characteristics."
With three radically different corners, Pocono certainly requires some compromise in terms of car setup. Getting Turn 3 right is extremely important because a driver needs to carry speed onto the longest straightaway (0.71 mile) encountered all year long.
The back straight between Turns 1 and 2 also measures more than a half a mile, so low drag is critical. But engineers must also factor enough downforce into the setup to help cornering speeds.
IndyCar as mandated an aero package similar to the one used at Auto Club Speedway, but the characteristics of the Pocono track are expected to eliminate the pack-style racing that made the June 27 race at Fontana exciting and dangerous in equal parts.
"It's unique," Team Penske's Helio Castroneves said. "It's not an oval; it's a triangle, and I think it's great. It's going to be a challenge, as always, because we're starting all over again with brand new aero package, let's put it this way. So it'll be interesting to see."
Although open-wheel cars have competed at Pocono since 1971, the modern IndyCar Series has raced there only twice. Scott Dixon won for Ganassi in 2013, while last year, Juan Pablo Montoya scored his first IndyCar win since returning to the sport after more than a decade in Formula 1 or NASCAR.
Montoya arrives at Pocono this year as the IndyCar Series championship leader, but a mechanical failure at Iowa Speedway and some bad racing luck at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course have combined to slash his once comfortable lead to just 9 points over a charging Graham Rahal.
With double points on the line for the Aug. 30 season finale at Sonoma Raceway (100 points for a win rather than 50, and so on), a solid result at Pocono is critical for Montoya to get his championship challenge back on track.
Montoya's lead peaked at 54 points following the race at the Milwaukee Mile on July 12.
"The best way to earn points is winning, and we can only control what we do, not what others do," Montoya said.
"It's unfortunate that we have given back some points over the last few races," he added. "But we know that we can go to Pocono and win the race. It's going to be very special to go back there as the defending winner and to the place where we were able to validate Roger [Penske]'s belief that I could come back over to the Verizon IndyCar Series and win after being away for so long."
However, the momentum shift continued in Rahal's favor on Saturday as he qualified his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda a season-best fifth. Castroneves secured pole position at 220.530 mph, leading a Team Penske 1-2-3, while teammate and championship leader Montoya had a bad first qualifying lap and will line up 19th.
"It is what it is," Montoya repeated three times during a 45-second appearance in the media bullpen.
Behind Rahal, former Pocono winner Dixon faces a 34-point defecit to Montoya. Penske teammates Castroneves and Will Power (-58 and -59) are the only other drivers with realistic championship aspirations.
But the championship isn't the only story line. Honda is working hard to get back on equal terms with Chevrolet in the battle of IndyCar engine and aerodynamic manufacturers. And several drivers are searching for a win or at least a solid finish to end the 2015 campaign on a positive note.
"We really haven't gotten the results we'd hoped for this year, so this is our last chance to kind of right that wrong and go out with a little momentum for the offseason," CFH Racing owner-driver Ed Carpenter said. "The last oval of the year is definitely a big race for us."
A bigger question is whether Pocono will remain on the IndyCar Series schedule in 2016 and beyond. The track has attracted crowds of around 30,000 for the last two races, and it's going to require a bigger turnout this year for the race to remain on the calendar.
This year, Pocono added SVRA Vintage Racing on the infield road course along with a Classic Car Show that features a large quantity of Mustangs from a nearby Shelby club meet.
"Personally, I hope that we return for many more years at Pocono," Dixon said. "I think ovals are definitely a little light on the schedule right now."
Said Rahal: "Pocono would be a great one to keep, and there's a lot of fans that are within driving distance that could be there on Sunday and help this thing grow and continue the future of that event. I challenge them to come on out and I hope that they do.
"Hopefully, we're going to have a good crowd on Sunday."