Helio Castroneves has had nine years to imagine how it would – no, will – go, he’ll insist. There would almost certainly be crying and fence-climbing and drinking of milk after winning the Indianapolis 500 for what would be a record-tying fourth time.

Maybe A.J. Foyt would sidle up in his golf cart to congratulate him on joining the most exclusive of fraternities that Foyt established first by winning his final classic in 1977. Maybe Al Unser, who matched Foyt in 1987, would emerge in the throng in victory lane. But certainly, eventually, Rick Mears – the last to join the four-wins group in 1991, and Castroneves’ mentor, advisor, psychologist and spotter at Team Penske – would coronate this most special of moments.

It’s a splendid prelude to a memory.

The dream has metamorphized in the past few months, since Castroneves agreed last summer at the behest of owner Roger Penske to leave Indy car racing after 20 seasons and join the organization’s new sports car team. Castroneves committed to the new project as a devout and sensible company man of 18 years, but made it clear then and does still today as he prepares to run his second and last open-wheel race of the season in the Indianapolis 500: Indy cars remain his preference and aspiration.

So, in the blur of the four-shadowed moment now, Mears cedes his embrace to Penske and in a moment of joyous capriciousness belying his long-horizon business approach, cedes to his own wish to return to full-time open wheel racing. Soundtrack plays, credits roll.

“Oh yes, absolutely,” Castroneves told IndyCar.com on whether he’d revised his dream. “You gotta get the moment, man. You gotta get the moment.”

By that, Castroneves, 43, means the immediate moment, as in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear doubleheader that follows the week after Sunday’s 102nd Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil. Penske revived and promotes the race at Belle Isle Park. And in 2000, Castroneves, in his first season with Team Penske, won his first career Indy car race there.

Castroneves will already be in the Motor City for the first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race since he and Ricky Taylor claimed their maiden victory of the season for Team Penske at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on May 6. The Brazilian has a solid pitch to keep on racing his Verizon IndyCar Series machine, if the billionaire team owner was in the moment making decisions with his emotions.

“I love Detroit,” Castroneves laughed. “I’ll be like, ‘Come on, RP, you can’t leave me out of that one!’ I can do one of the doubleheader. Maybe I can miss the first race, but I’ll race in the second one. So, whatever we can come up can come up with, I’m already thinking about that.”

It seems Castroneves has been thinking about it since Team Penske’s sports car plans congealed last July. The weekend he publicly agreed to accept the move, Castroneves won his only Verizon IndyCar Series race of the season at Iowa Speedway, helping him finish fourth in the championship and giving him six consecutive top-five final placings.

There is the feeling that Castroneves might race in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 with a pen in his firesuit to make sure he could procure Penske’s signature to codify his dream. Or better.

“These days, we have cellphones so we can actually tape it right away,” he quipped.

Castroneves’ two-race May schedule – he finished sixth in the INDYCAR Grand Prix on May 12 and will start in the eighth spot for the Indy 500 – and changes to it led him to redact some of his typical rituals of the month, but he seems reluctant to identify many changes. He does claim that “I was a little too intense” before the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course race, but now “I am more relaxed.”

Castroneves could be forgiven the anxiety that comes with realizing an opportunity that seemed so within reach nearly two decades ago becomes increasingly fleeting with each passing spring. Some drivers spend careers of unrequited labor and adoration attempting to win the most important motor race in the world. Some win it once and yearn for more. Some twice and feel the yearning compound by a factor of two.

Castroneves won in his first try in 2001, then defended in 2002. He finished second in 2003, third in 2007 and fourth in 2008 before breaking through again in 2009 (shown at left) to become just the ninth, at the time, to win the race at least three times. He finished second in 2014, second last season after being passed by eventual first-time winner Takuma Sato with six laps left.

“I never took it for granted,” he said of reaching four Indianapolis 500 wins. “I remember the first year when I went in, I was like, ‘Man, we’ve got to make this happen.’ I was doing my homework, listening to a lot of information and it paid off. But over the years, it’s changing. You change the way you race. They changed the way the cars are. It’s not just about being super-fast, but you’ve also got to be able to pass and now it’s all about that. And this is a perfect year, it’s going to change again, but we don’t know (how) yet.

“I never thought I was gonna (win), like, 10 times because especially after the second one … especially after the third one, I was like, ‘Man, this is tough, this is really tough.’ So, I never took it for granted but I always wanted to win this race. But I feel all this positive confidence. It helps you achieve what is possible, what I think will be possible this year.”

The prospects of Castroneves actually winning the Indianapolis 500 in five days are astronomically greater than in winning the victory lane concession from Penske to continue in the Verizon IndyCar Series after Sunday. Somewhere down in there below the buoyant attitude, and after his laugh tapers, Castroneves knows this, too. But, he can dream.