2008 Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing // Press Release

Sunday, August 31, 2008
Detroit Indy Grand Prix Presented by Firestone – The Raceway at Belle Isle
Round 16 of 18 in the IndyCar Series

McDONALD'S® DRIVER JUSTIN WILSON EARNED HIS FIFTH CHAMP OR INDY CAR WIN AT TODAY’S DETROIT INDY GRAND PRIX PRESENTED BY FIRESTONE; HOLE IN THE WALL CAMPS DRIVER RAHAL 13TH

Fast Facts – August 31, 2008

FIFTH WIN: Today’s victory was Wilson’s FIFTH Champ or Indy car win and FIRST in the IndyCar Series. His Champ Car wins include: 2005 – Toronto, Mexico City; 2006 – Edmonton; 2007 – Assen (Netherlands) and his IndyCar Series wins include: 2008 – TODAY. It was his 15th IndyCar Series start

JUSTIN AT BELLE ISLE: Was his first race here and 13th on a new track this season of 16. His highest start on a road/street course this season is pole in the Long Beach Champ Car finale. On road/street course in the IndyCar series, he has started 3rd (St. Pete), 2nd (Watkins Glen), 4th (Mid-Ohio), 6th (Edmonton; brushed wall in Q2), 7th (Sonoma) and 4th (Detroit) and his highest previous finish this season is 3rd in Edmonton (temp road).

NHR / NHLR IN DETROIT: This was the team’s 14th event here and first since 2001 (1989 – 2001). They have earned THREE WINS (Wilson - TODAY; Michael Andretti 1996, 1990) and SIX POLES (Mansell 1994, 1993; Mi. Andretti 1989-1992). Prior to the race they had earned SIX PODIUM finishes (2nd – Mi. Andretti 1997, C. Fittipaldi 1996; 3rd – Mario Andretti 1993, 1989).

2006 & 2007 RUNNER UP TO THE CHAMPION: Finished runner up to the Champ Car driver he recently replaced, four-time champion Sebastien Bourdais, in 2006 and 2007. Was a title contender until the conclusion of the penultimate race of each season. He also finished third to NHR drivers Bourdais and Oriol Servia in 2005.

FOUR WINS & SEVEN POLES IN CCWS: During his seasons of competition in the Champ Car World Series, Wilson earned FOUR wins (2005 – Toronto, Mexico City; 2006 – Edmonton; 2007 – Assen), SEVEN poles (2005 – Portland, Mexico City; 2006 – Toronto, Mexico City; 2007 – Portland, San Jose; 2008 – Long Beach) and earned 16 podium finishes in 55 starts. He ran his rookie season with Mi-Jack Conquest Racing in 2004 where he finished 11th in the season-ending standings and moved to RuSPORT for 2005-2007. He finished third to NHR drivers Bourdais and Servia in 2005 and runner-up to Bourdais in ‘06 & ’07.

107 WINS & 107 POLES: The team has earned 247 top-three finishes (1st - 107, 2nd – 76, 3rd - 64) and 107 poles. It is the 26th season of competition for the team. Stats do not include a possible podium finish for Rahal.

107TH WIN: The team has earned 107 wins and 107 poles. Since the first win by Mario Andretti in 1983 at Road America in their fourth event, the team continued to reach many milestones. NHLR has earned eight championships and 107 race wins by drivers including Mario Andretti (18 wins), Michael Andretti (31), Nigel Mansell (5), Paul Tracy (2), Christian Fittipaldi (2), Cristiano da Matta (10), Bruno Junqueira (5), Sebastien Bourdais (31), Oriol Servia (1), Graham Rahal (1) and Justin Wilson (1).

MORE WINS THAN PENSKE DURING SAME PERIOD: NHLR is the second most successful active open-wheel racing team. Team Penske (TP) has earned 136 open-wheel wins and is in their 41st season while NHR/NHLR has earned 107 and is in their 26th. During the years since NHR was formed (1983-current) TP has earned 97 while NHR / NHLR has earned 107 wins (TP’s most recent was in Sonoma on 8-24-08). Perhaps the most impressive detail however is the fact that NHR ran only one driver it’s first six seasons (Mario Andretti) while TP ran two-to-three drivers per season. From 1989 to present, NHR/NHLR has been a two-car team while TP expanded from a two car team to run three cars for three of those seasons.

McDonald’s driver Justin Wilson led the final 15 laps of the Detroit Indy Grand Prix Presented by Firestone to earn his fifth Champ or Indy car win on the 2.07-mile street course on Belle Isle with a margin of 4.4-seconds over Helio Castroneves. He won four races in Champ Car and this was his first in the IndyCar Series which allowed him to continue his streak of having won at least one race each of the past four seasons as well as bring tire manufacturer Firestone their 150th win in the series.

Prior to starting fourth in the race, Wilson was only able to run two laps in the 30-minute pre-race warm-up in the morning due to a steering-related failure. When the call was given to start your engines, Wilson and the McDonald’s team were optimistic the problem had been solved. He held his fourth place start through the first of four caution periods for contact between Milka Duno and Bruno Junqueira on the opening lap. Once the race resumed he maintained fourth place while conserving fuel before the next caution period from Laps 18-19 for contact between Dan Wheldon and Jaime Camara. This was pivotal time in the race for strategists as a decision would need to be made on whether to stop before the pit window opened. Race leader and polesitter Scott Dixon elected to pit while second place Castroneves stayed on track. Wilson’s teammate Graham Rahal also pitted from his sixth place spot as did Castroneves’ teammate Ryan Briscoe who was fifth. Once the race resumed Wilson kept within a reasonable distance from second place Oriol Servia and was able to conserve enough fuel to pit one lap later than the Spaniard on Lap 32, which enabled him to take over second place when he returned to the track. He held his position through a restart from a caution period due to contact between Danica Patrick and Vitor Meira as well as a separate incident involving E.J. Viso from Laps 34-37. During the caution period the team informed him that rather than running the originally-scheduled distance of 90 laps, it looked as if the race might end early due to a two-hour time limit. Once the race resumed he continued to conserve fuel while attempting to keep up with race leader Castroneves. He stayed within 0.5-seconds of Castroneves but was told to run even leaner to the possible time limit which caused him to drop approx. another 0.5-seconds each lap to the leader. On Lap 56, Wilson was immediately called into the pits because he was being held up behind the lapped car of Marco Andretti and the team had also spotted some debris on the front straight from earlier contact between Will Power and Ryan Hunter-Reay and thought a caution period might come out. A quick stop by the McDonald’s team got him back on track. Once Castroneves pit on Lap 58, and Wilson moved back into second place, he was now 13-seconds behind the leader. Wheldon brought the fourth caution of the day from Laps 66-68 when he made contact in Turn 7 and enabled Wilson to close the 15-second gap to Castroneves as well as conserve fuel in an attempt to make it to the end without another stop. The race resumed on Lap 69 and Wilson stayed on the Brazilian’s gearbox and attempted to pass a couple of times on Lap 70 but Castroneves changed his racing line each time to rebuff the move. After giving clear warnings during the pre-race driver briefing about penalties for blocking, Brian Barnhart, president of operations and competition for the Indy Racing League ordered Castroneves to give up the place. Wilson attempted to pass a couple of times but was unable to safely get by until he was working Lap 72. Once in the lead he maintained his fuel conservation strategy but built a small gap of 0.7 by Lap 77. The race was officially declared a timed event on Lap 79 when Wilson had been running a conservative pace of 0.3 ahead of second place. One lap later he was told that he had enough fuel to run the distance therefore he could run “full rich” so he quickly increased his lead each lap and went on to set two of the fastest laps of the race with Lap 85 of the 87-lap event being the fastest overall. He was awarded the Lincoln Hard Charger award and is one of three finalists in Firestone’s “Tire-ific Move of the Race,” an award determined by fan vote at www.indycar.com <http://www.indycar.com/> . He earned 50 points to jump from his 16th place rank in the IndyCar Series point standings to 11th with a total of 321 and is only 13 points away from 10th place Hideki Mutoh with one points-paying race left this season. Following are Wilson’s post race comments:

“It was a long tough day, but we managed to stay clean and we got great strategy and good pit stops,” said Wilson. “The McDonalds team was doing a fantastic job. I was so desperate to get a victory this year in, my first one in IndyCar (Series) and my first one with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. This means a lot. It’s the most important win of my career.
“The more tire rubber that went down, the better it got. I was very pleased with the way the car was working. Once we went a lap further than Oriol Servia on that first stop, I figured, ‘OK. We've got something we can race with’. (On the pass): Helio slid a little bit through Turns 10, 11, and 12. When he went into Turn 12 on the brake he overshot. I went back to the inside and got some great traction. And before we even got to full power, I was inching alongside him. I thought ‘Well, this is pretty straightforward. By the time we hit the brakes, I'm going to be axle to axle. I'm on the inside, its clear cut.’ I was surprised he came over, and then he came over more to the point I had to lift or we both were going to crash. I was a little upset at the time, but I was relieved when the officials put it right.
“It’s an honor to win a race for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. We've got three fantastic owners who all add something to the team in their own unique way and I'm very privileged to be driving for them. It also means a lot to get this first victory for McDonald's in our first season of IndyCar Series racing when times have been so difficult. We've had so much happen this year. There have been a lot of occasions where I felt we were in contention for at least a podium if not a win and things haven't gone our way. You've got to keep picking yourself up and moving on and I'm very happy to have finally got a win this year.”

“We talk about blocking every week in the drivers’ meeting and tell them what they can and can’t do and what the code of conduct is on the racetrack,” said Brian Barnhart, president of operations and competition for the Indy Racing League in a statement provided by the series. “(Helio Castroneves) clearly moved his car to impede the progress of a following car (Justin Wilson) and moved his car in response to the actions and the line taken by a following car. That’s what I tell them in the drivers’ meeting every week. We made the same decision early in the race with the (Darren) Manning and (Bruno) Junqueira cars, and unfortunately you have to call it like you see it. I think Helio and everyone associated knows that it’s not what’s expected and not what’s accepted of how we race out there. We want to race clean and fair and we need to call them like we see them.” (Did the championship figure into the call?): “You can’t officiate based on points or who’s involved or what position they hold. You have to do it out of fairness and competition.”

Hole in the Wall Camps driver Graham Rahal started sixth in the Detroit Indy Grand Prix Presented by Firestone but an alternate fuel strategy didn’t work out in his favor and he was forced to make a late-race stop for a splash of fuel on Lap 84 of the shortened 87-lap race on the 2.07-mile street course. The stop dropped him from sixth to 13th when the race ended three laps shy of the originally scheduled 90 due to a two hour time limit. Rahal ran strong most of the weekend and progressed to the Firestone Fast Six in qualifying for the first time this season and earned a season-best road course starting position of sixth place. Prior to the event, it was commonly known that multiple fuel strategies would come into play and you could only hope the timing of any caution periods worked in your favor. Rahal held his position through the first of four caution periods for contact between Milka Duno and Bruno Junqueira on the opening lap and once the race resumed he maintained sixth place while conserving fuel. The next caution period came out on Lap 18 for contact between Dan Wheldon and Jaime Camara and due to the proximity to the usual pit window, a crucial decision needed to be made on whether to pit. Race leader and polesitter Scott Dixon elected to pit while second place Helio Castroneves stayed on track. Rahal pitted as well as Castroneves’ teammate Ryan Briscoe, who was fifth. He returned to the track in 19th place but was held up behind the slower car of Buddy Rice on the tight race track once the race resumed. Since he was unable to safely pass Rice, the team instructed him to conserve as much fuel as possible which he did while he moved up to ninth by the time the next pit cycle took place prior to the next caution period for contact between Danica Patrick and Vitor Meira, and a separate crash by E.J. Viso on Laps 34-37. He was still trailing Rice until the fellow American stopped on Lap 46 and Rahal took over eighth place. He made his next stop on Lap 52 and the strategy was playing out well as he only dropped to 10th but moved up to sixth place by Lap 61. His engineer Todd Malloy was about to call him into the pits for a “short fill” that would provide him with just enough fuel to complete the race when Dan Wheldon brought out what would be the final caution of the day from Laps 66-68. During the caution period the team informed him that rather than going the originally-scheduled distance of 90 laps, it looked as if the race might be end after the two-hour time limit. With this in mind and the hope that another caution period would come out, the team was forced to gamble further. Once the race resumed, Rahal conserved fuel while he maintained sixth place but when the race remained green he was called into the pits on Lap 84 of what would be an 87-lap race for four gallons of fuel. He returned to the track in 13th place which is where he took the checkered flag. He earned 17 points for his finish and moved from 18th to 17th in the IndyCar Series point standings with 276 with one race left in the season. Following are his post race comments:

“Overall, it was a pretty good day for us,” said Rahal. “We had a good run going. Unfortunately, we got the strategy a little wrong. We just missed it a little bit.”

More Notable Details on Wilson’s Win…It was Wilson’s fifth Champ or Indy car win but his first in the United States after having won in Toronto, Canada & Mexico City, Mexico in 2005, Edmonton, Canada in 2006 and his previous win in Assen, Netherlands on Sept. 2, 2007…It was his first race at the Raceway at Belle Isle and 13th on a new track this season of 16…He became the ninth different driver to win in the IndyCar Series this season, tying the record for most drivers to win in a season…It was NHR/NHLR’s third win in Detroit after Michael Andretti drove to victory here in 1990 and 1996 and the team’s 107th overall…The team has earned two wins this season (Rahal/St. Pete and Wilson/Detroit) and one pole (Wilson/Long Beach)…Wilson joins the list of illustrious drivers who have brought the team wins, including Mario Andretti (18 wins), Michael Andretti (31), Nigel Mansell (5), Paul Tracy (2), Christian Fittipaldi (2), Cristiano da Matta (10), Bruno Junqueira (5), Sebastien Bourdais (31), Oriol Servia (1), Graham Rahal (1) and Justin Wilson (1).

The field will head to Chicagoland Speedway, one hour from the team’s Lincolnshire, Ill. base, for the Peak Antifreeze & Motor Oil Indy 300 season finale on September 7 at 12:30 p.m. EDT. It will be the first time for the team to compete at the track. McDonald’s driver Justin Wilson tested there earlier this month. Team co-owner Michael Lanigan resides nearby and Mi-Jack Products, the company he serves as president of, is also based near the track.