Kanaan rules out Penske

Penske star Sam Hornish Jr looks set to turn his back on single-seater racing next season in favour of a switch to the NASCAR Nextel Cup with team's stock car division, with the American's expected defection set to leave a free seat at the champion team.

But Kanaan, 32, who claimed the IndyCar title in 2004 and lies fourth in this year's championship, insisted that he will not be linking up with friend Helio Castroneves to form an all-Brazilian superteam.

"I'm good where I'm at," Kanaan told the Indianapolis Star. "The team is back. We put in so much hard work, and now we're being rewarded for it."

Kanaan was seen having talks with team owner Roger Penske after the latest round of the series at Richmond Speedway, but dismissed claims that he had been offered a drive and instead said he had simply been trying to cut a deal for a discount Porsche to put in his own garage at home.

"And Michael [Andretti, co-owner of his current AGR team] was right beside me [at the time]," Kanaan added.

The nine-time race-winner has been with AGR for five years but his contract expires at the end of this season. However, AGR do not typically renew their drivers' deals until after the final race, so there would not appear to be any cause for alarm.

Jamie O'Leary