As IndyCar's answer to the New York Yankees, Penske Racing isn't used to writing off one of its star driver's championship chances in the middle of the season.
That's exactly where they are with Helio Castroneves right now — a sign of just how badly the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner's season started.
Castroneves finally seems to be headed in the right direction over the past two weeks, but that's only the first few steps toward digging out of the hole his team was in after a rash of early crashes and poor performances.
''I feel like maybe Texas was really the start to Helio's season,'' Penske Racing president Tim Cindric said. ''And as we go forward, the championship really isn't realistic at this point. We just have to build on each week to get back to where we need to be.''
When Castroneves finished fourth at Texas on June 11, it was his first top-five finish all year.
''Can you believe that? It was not right,'' Castroneves said. ''Certainly it was not right. But we're accepting, for sure, and hopefully from now on our momentum is turning back and we'll be back to the place where we deserve.''
Castroneves followed it up with a strong run in Sunday's race at the Milwaukee Mile, leading until a late tire problem took him out of contention.
''We had a great pit stop and we got the lead and then on the next yellow they came over the radio to tell me the tire was going down,'' Castroneves said. ''It's disappointing and we certainly could have finished higher, but after the season we've had, I was just very happy to be out there fighting for the win. ... We're definitely getting there.''
While Penske's Will Power is tied with Dario Franchitti for the series points lead after Milwaukee, the so-so seasons of Castroneves and teammate Ryan Briscoe are a source of frustration to Cindric.
''I feel like the success has been Will's for the most part here lately,'' Cindric said. ''But we're a team that's used to all of our drivers winning. And it's important for Helio and for Ryan to win. There's no sense in running more than one car if you don't have more than one car running up front.''
There's some sense of optimism that Castroneves and Briscoe are improving, but Cindric wants to see more.
''Somebody has to be second, and the point where we're worrying about who's second and third, that's fine,'' Cindric said. ''But we just can't have guys in the middle and guys at the back, you know?''
Castroneves said he and his team worked through some issues early in the season, and it's starting to show.
''You can't keep thinking about it,'' Castroneves said. ''Internally, we just always try to find and look and get in sync, each member (of the team). We did have some new guys, but at the end of the day it's between myself and my engineer. We found some things that maybe weren't working for me. ... But sometimes you need that. You need to sometimes go a little lower so you find out, OK, what's (wrong). Right now, we're really focused.''
But not all the problems were technical.
Castroneves was blamed for a big crash on the first turn of the season-opening race in St. Petersburg that collected several cars, including Briscoe. At Long Beach, Castroneves tangled with Power — a no-no among teammates.
''He was the first one to apologize for what happened at Long Beach,'' Cindric said. ''He's definitely one, he's driven for us for 12 years, and he's always been very respectful of teammates and he's always understood that it's important for the team to do well. And he's put the team before himself many times.''
Still, Cindric has had to step in as a mediator.
''As teammates, we couldn't really ask for three better guys,'' Cindric said. ''They're all competitive, and that's what you want. And when that occurs, usually you have to give it a little bit of time, and then talk about it and try to take as much of the emotion out of it as possible. I think it'll patch those things up pretty quickly, because they understand where they go, the team goes, and so forth.''
And while Castroneves' mistakes are out of character, Cindric doesn't see any signs that the veteran's driving skills are degrading.
''I thought 2010 was as good a season as he's had,'' Cindric said. ''You certainly don't lose your ability in six months. I don't really see that based on last year. As I said, I don't really think we've had an opportunity this year to understand where we are.''
