MR. IRL WINS AGAIN; Sam Hornish Jr. tops the field at Richmond.(Motorsports)(Indy Racing League)

Byline: CURT CAVIN

Victories are starting to pile up for Sam Hornish Jr., already the winningest driver in Indy Racing League history. Maybe soon another championship will be in his hands, too.

Hornish won the SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway to give him a record-extending 16 victories in his still-young career. Remember, the Indianapolis 500 winner is just 26 years old and has only been racing in the IRL full time since 2001.

The Richmond victory should be a concern for Hornish's rivals, who already consider him the best high-banked racer in Indy car racing. The balance of the IRL's season includes events at Kansas, Michigan, Kentucky and Chicago, tracks where Hornish usually excels. And remember how impressive he was last year in winning at Milwaukee? That race is still to come, too.

Hornish's third IRL title could be just around the next fast corner. No one else has even won a second title, and Hornish's team owner Roger Penske has yet to claim an IRL crown.

"He is something else, isn't he?'' said a proud Penske, the man who swiped Hornish from the free-agent market after the driver completed his 2003 season with Panther Racing. "We hired him because he used to beat us like a drum; now he is beating other people like a drum.''

Hornish has won two of the IRL's past four races, and the latest pulled him within five points of teammate Helio Castroneves for the points lead. Castroneves tried valiantly to hang with the man he is growing closer to off the track, but it was in vain.