2008 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing // Press Release

Sunday, April 27, 2008
Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 –
Kansas Speedway
Round 4 of 18 in the IndyCar Series

McDONALD'S® DRIVER WILSON FINISHED NINTH IN THE ROAD RUNNER TURBO INDY 300 AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY; HOLE IN THE WALL CAMPS DRIVER RAHAL FINISHED 12TH IN HIS INDYCAR SERIES OVAL DEBUT

McDonald’s driver Justin Wilson led for the first time on an oval in the IndyCar Series at today’s 200-lap Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway and finished a strong ninth. He started the race in 22nd place and took advantage of the first caution following a spin by Enrique Bernoldi from Laps 1-6 and pitted on Lap 5 to top off his fuel. He returned to the track in 25th place and steadily moved up into 19th before the rest of the field made their first pit stops on Lap 26 during a caution period after Will Power spun and made contact with the wall. The team elected to keep Wilson on track and he inherited the lead and gained valuable experience at the front of the field. Once racing conditions resumed Wilson was passed by polesitter Scott Dixon in Turn 1 and remained in the top three for five laps before he dropped to 10th place before his second pit stop on Lap 39. He returned to the race in 10th place and ran between eighth and 12th place before his next pit stop on Lap 55. Green flag pit stops drop a driver two laps down and he ran in 22nd place but moved as high as 14th place before his next stop on Lap 100. As he was about to make that stop, a caution flag came out for contact between Tomas Scheckter and EJ Viso and he was only allowed to take on a splash of fuel in the closed pit. He returned to the track and made a complete stop for tires and fuel on the following lap and returned in 12th place. He ran between 11th and 13th place for the next stint and made his fifth pit stop on Lap 151. As he was committing to the pit entry lane he was behind fellow rookie Viso, who was three laps down and was running a slow pace which caused Wilson to loose valuable track position to the leaders who were still on track. He was also further held up when Viso couldn’t find his pit box and stopped in Ed Carpenter’s box next to Wilson. By the time Wilson returned to the track he was one lap down to the leaders and in 11th place. When the leaders made their final stops on Laps 156, Danica Patrick did not depart her pit box and her car was retired from the race with mechanical failure which moved Wilson into 10th place which he held until Lap 194 when ninth place runner Carpenter had to make a late race pit for fuel and Wilson moved into ninth which he held until the checkered flag. Like Homestead, the team gave him a standing ovation when he came to the pits at the conclusion of the event. He earned 22 points and moved from a 19th place rank into 17th place in the point standings after Round 4 of 18. Following are his post race comments:

“The McDonald’s car was great in traffic and when I was in a draft,” said Wilson. “It was great to be able to keep up and start to race people. I was enjoying myself and having fun. As soon as we lost the draft we struggled to keep up with the pace. That’s the part where these other teams have had years of experience on us so hopefully we will work that out over the next couple of weeks and close some of that gap. Generally I am just very pleased with how the McDonald’s car ran and feel like we are starting to be able to race well. We just need to work on some little things. We learned a little bit by leading the race and running in the front pack. The leaders can run a bit freer; they can draft right by you and you can pull in behind them just sit and hold their draft for a little while until they pull away. We learned a little bit by doing that. I was a little concerned when the guys were giving me the countdown ‘Five, four, three, two, one lap before you pit’ under green and we were going to go two laps down which is just not good. But right then the yellow came out and saved us. It feels nice to be on the right strategy for a change. We lucked out on a few of the others. All in all it’s been a good experience today. I got held up behind Viso coming into the pits on one stop and lost a lot of time. He was very slow at pit in and then didn’t know where his pit box was so we lost a lot of time with that. We had five seconds on the leaders and came out a second behind them so we lost position because of that. It was frustrating but that’s how it goes. It feels great to race like this on an oval where we were flat out and it was fun to race. I think we are at a good point to build on.”

Hole in the Wall Camps driver Graham Rahal was able to gain valuable experience in his IndyCar Series oval debut in the 200-lap Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway and finished 12th. He started the race in 20th place but lost a position to Jaime Camara on the start. The team took advantage of the first caution following a spin by Enrique Bernoldi from Laps 1-6 and Rahal pitted to top off his fuel on Lap 5. He returned to the track and ran between 22nd and 26th place before the majority of the field made a stop on Lap 26 during the caution to remove the crashed car of Will Power. He returned to the track in 20th place and ran in 21st for a while before he moved up to 19th place and on into 18th on Lap 55. As the next round of pit stops began to take place he moved as high as 12th before his third stop on Lap 74. He returned to the track in 18th place and moved into 13th before his fourth stop on Lap 111. After returning to the track in 13th place he moved up to 11th but had a tense moment when he was on the high line while running with Buddy Rice and lost two positions. He swapped positions with his teammate Wilson a couple of times before he made his fifth pit stop on Lap 126 and returned to the track in 16th place and dropped off the lead lap. He ran 16th for the majority of the stint before he moved into 13th as others cycled through their stops and he came in on Lap 154. After briefly running in 13th he moved into 12th on Lap 157 which he held until battling Oriol Servia and finally passing him on Lap 187 although the Spaniard reclaimed the position on Lap 189. He maintained 12th place until the checkered flag and finished two laps down to the eventual winner Dan Wheldon. Like Wilson, his team gave him a standing ovation when he returned to the pits after having completed his first oval race. He collected 18 points for his finish and dropped from ninth place in the IndyCar Series standings to 10th. Following are his post race comments:

“I was pretty happy with the competitiveness of the car,” said Rahal. “Especially with the teams that we thought we would be competing with. I was pretty happy with it. The biggest thing today was to learn who you can trust, who you can’t. Where you could run and where you can’t. To get confidence to run on the high line takes quite a bit of guts. It takes some heart to run up there and know that the thing is going to stick and you’ll be alright. It’s just nice to get a full 199, or whatever, laps. That’s what I am most happy about. The pit stops were alright but it’s always tough to get in and out of the pits. It wasn’t the easiest thing I have ever done but the biggest thing is to get your rhythm coming in and out of the pits. I’m just glad we finished. I had a vibration in my right rear and I can assure you it makes you nervous at 220 mph and feeling the thing wiggle around. Overall it was great to finish the race and get a lot of experience.”

Wilson and Rahal will participate in Rookie Orientation for the Indianapolis 500 May 4-5 before opening day for the event on Tuesday, May 6.