Tracy Starts Quickly : Laguna Seca: He needs only to finish fifth to clinch third in standings behind Penske teammates.

If Paul Tracy can finish fifth or better in Sunday’s Bank of America 300 Indy car race at Laguna Seca Raceway, he will give Roger Penske’s team a one-two-three finish in the PPG Cup standings.

Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi, Tracy’s Penske teammates, have already clinched first and second. Tracy is 12 points ahead of Michael Andretti for third place and 10 points for a fifth-place finish would put Andretti out of reach.

Tracy took a major step in that direction Friday by posting a track-record lap of 113.768 m.p.h. in his Ilmor-powered Penske. This gave the young Canadian driver the provisional pole for Sunday’s 84-lap race over the 11-turn hillside course.

Another qualifying session is scheduled today with the field based on times posted either day.

“I want to win the race, I want to win every race I drive, but my main priority Sunday will be to secure third place in the standings,” Tracy said. “The way the car ran today, very well balanced, I think I can squeeze more speed out of it (today). I only had one clear lap (during qualifying).”

Tracy’s lap broke the year-old record of 112.296 set in another Penske car by Fittipaldi.

If he wins the pole, Tracy will collect a $25,000 bonus from Marlboro for winning the most poles. At the moment, he, Unser and Nigel Mansell each have three poles.

Another Canadian, Jacques Villeneuve, had the second-fastest lap of 112.244, barely ahead of Mansell’s 112.146 and Robby Gordon’s 112.030.

“I would like to win the pole as a fitting end to my Indy car career,” Mansell said. “I won the pole and the race in Australia the first time I drove in an Indy car race. It would be nice to win the pole for my last one too.”

Mansell, defending PPG Cup champion, announced last month that he was returning to Formula One, of which he won the world championship in 1992, after Sunday’s season finale. He will drive in the final three Formula One races this year in Spain, Japan and Australia.

Bobby Rahal might have had the day’s most exciting lap.

“As I went up the backstraight toward the corkscrew, a fox ran straight across the track in front of me,” Rahal said. “I had to make a quick move to dodge the fox or I would have had fox stew in the radiators. I’ve seen a lot of deer this week on golf courses, but I never thought I would need my hunting license this weekend on the race track.”

Rahal, perhaps unnerved by the incident, qualified 14th at 110.353 m.p.h.