Preview: Molson Indy Vancouver.

The FedEx Championship Series brings a breathtaking points race to one of its most breathtaking venues this weekend when the series travels to the Pacific Northwest for the Molson Indy Vancouver at Concord Pacific Place.

The Canadian Rockies will serve as a picturesque setting for Round 15 of the championship on the streets of Vancouver, British Columbia. And a typically tight points race, which could find any of four drivers exiting Vancouver with the championship lead, figures to add spice to one of the most eagerly anticipated weekends of the FedEx Championship Series season.

Reigning Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves of Marlboro Team Penske comes to Vancouver in the championship lead for the first time in his four-year FedEx Championship Series career. Castroneves, who owns victories at Long Beach, Detroit and Mid-Ohio and has scored championship points in five of his past six starts, moved past Kenny Brack of Team Rahal with a seventh-place finish at Road America two weeks ago, giving him 110 points for the season.

Brack, who had held the lead since Round 5 in Japan, is now the pursuer for the first time since mid-May, standing second with 105 points. He is tied for the series victory lead with Castroneves, having scored the first three triumphs of his career earlier this season, at Japan, Milwaukee and Chicago, respectively. Brack also leads the FedEx Championship Series with five pole positions, including one in the most recent event at Road America.

Brack's 14th-place, scoreless finish at Road America helped a pair of other drivers get within striking distance of the lead heading into the Molson Indy Vancouver. Defending FedEx Championship Series champion Gil de Ferran, Castroneves' Marlboro Team Penske teammate, solidified his hold on third place in the championship with a fifth-place performance at Road America, his third straight top-five result (third at Chicago, second at Mid-Ohio). He comes to Vancouver with 99 points, 11 off his teammate's lead.

The up-and-down season of three-time Molson Indy Vancouver champion Michael Andretti, meanwhile, is on the upswing again, thanks to a runner-up finish at Road America. He stands fourth with 89 points, and could leave Vancouver with the points lead with a 22-point sweep for winning from the pole and leading the most race laps, depending on what the trio in front of him does.

Rounding out the five primary championship contenders is rookie Scott Dixon of the PacWest Racing Group, whose fourth-place finish at Road America brought him to 82 points for the season. Dixon, who became the youngest race winner in CART history at Nazareth in May, has scored championship points in six of his past seven starts, including three top-five finishes, and leads the championship in laps and miles completed.

Andretti, who won at Vancouver in 1991, '92 and '96, is one of four former Molson Indy Vancouver champions in this weekend's field. The others are Mauricio Gugelmin of the PacWest Racing Group, who recorded his only career FedEx Championship Series victory at Vancouver in 1997; and Team KOOL Green teammates Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy, who claimed Vancouver victories in 1998 and 2000, respectively.