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  Briscoe is still not clear or free, but he has taken the advantage and momentum.

Ryan Briscoe is just two hurdles away from the biggest prize in American open-wheel racing.

A last-gasp win on the oval at Chicagoland Speedway last weekend by the incredible margin of just eight-thousandths of a second has given him a crucial 25-point break in the Indy Racing League series with two races left to run.

Briscoe is still not clear or free, but he has taken the advantage and momentum as the IRL contenders get set for the money shots at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan and Homestead Speedway in Florida. He now leads Dario Franchitti by one of the biggest margins of the 2009 championship series and can expect some much-needed backup from his Penske team mate Helio Castroneves, who was eliminated from title contention at Chicagoland, through the final two races. But Briscoe is not celebrating too much too soon.

"We've seen how quickly (the championship lead) can turn around," says Briscoe, noting there was a different championship leader after 13 of the 15 events this year.

The IRL battle has turned into a straight-out fight between Team Penske and the Target team of Chip Ganassi, who fields Franchitti and third-placed Scott Dixon. It was Dixon who failed so narrowly to beat Briscoe in Chicago, at the track where the Australian youngster was nearly killed in a horrendous 250km/h crash during his first IRL season - with Ganassi.

"I've seen this movie before several times, so it's frustrating," says New Zealander Dixon.

But Briscoe has also felt the frustration of seven second-place finishes this year, as well as his three wins. He now knows exactly what he must do as the IRL teams pack for Japan.

"I just have to stay focused and try to beat these guys. Japan and Homestead, they're going to be tough races," Briscoe says. "We've got to try to ... run consistent, stay at the front, and we'll see what we can do."