VANCOUVER The old racing maxim goes that to finish first, first you have to finish. For Paul Tracy this year, those have been words to live by source: tsn.caTracy is poised for a championship season in the CART series, leading the drivers' title race by 15 points over Brazil's Bruno Junqueira after 10 of 19 races going into Sunday's Vancouver Molson Indy.He's been here a few times before, jackrabbiting towards the top of the standings only to fall back, often thanks to his own bullheadedness.His aggressive driving has earned him fines and probation from CART's watchdogs.This year seems different. A new team, a new attitude. After winning the first three races of the season, the 34-year-old Toronto native's title quest stumbled.He posted his only non-finish at Brands Hatch England, when the gearbox broke, followed by two 12th-place finishes that sent him tumbling back down the standings.Since then, though, he's never been off the podium and posted an emotional victory in his home town two weeks ago - his fourth of the year and 19th since joining CART in 1991. What's changed? For one thing, Tracy says he's heeding the counsel Tony Cicale, technical advisor at Player's Forsythe Racing, gave him at the start of the season. ``We need to treat this race like it's the last race of the year and I have to finish the race to win the championship,'' says Tracy, who won Vancouver in 2000. ``So that's kind of how our attitude has been at every race.''
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