TEAM REPORTS (VARIOUS LOCATIONS ) - PENSKE RACE REPORT

IMSA American Le Mans Series

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario, Canada (Aug. 26, 2007) -- After the team's last pit stop in Sunday's Mobil 1 presents the Mosport Grand Prix, France's Romain Dumas, who started the No. 7 Penske RS Spyder, was packing his helmet to get ready for the next race, confident that co-driver Timo Bernhard of Germany would bring the car in second overall and first in LMP2 for an important Class win.

And Australia's Ryan Briscoe was finishing the race that Germany's Sascha Maassen started in the No. 6 Penske RS Spyder, settling into a second place in LMP2 and third overall.

But, with 5 minutes remaining, the overall race leader - the factory Audi R10 TDI - lost its ability to shift gears and Bernhard saw the margin for first place overall shrink from 29 seconds to 2.2 seconds in less than two laps. And he was very surprised when he passed the Audi to take the overall victory. Briscoe also passed the Audi, but had to back off on the last lap to conserve fuel, finishing second in Class and third overall for a one-two Porsche Class finish.

But it was the second-place finish that clinched the 2007 LMP2 team championship for Penske Racing - the second year in a row Penske has won the honor. Team manager Jeff Swartwout said he was proud of the team's overall efforts.

"For the guys who practice pit stops five days a week in the shop, the technicians, the drivers, the Porsche factory engineers, and all our employees and suppliers, Penske Racing places great importance in winning this championship against some of the best racing teams in the country," Swartwout said.

The Penske Racing team and its Porsche drivers are also assured that the LMP2 driver champion will come from its ranks - either Bernhard and Dumas, or Maassen and Briscoe. Right now, Bernhard/Dumas lead Maassen/Briscoe, 170-149. The Acura drivers David Brabham and Stefan Johansson are third with 90 points, with only 69 points left to be earned for the season.

"I was so busy trying to pass slower traffic and maintain my position ahead of the Acuras and my Penske Porsche teammates for the LMP2 victory that I did not realize the Audi was having mechanical problems," said Bernhard, who scored his fifth overall win this season with Dumas. "I thought he had made a pit stop, and was having trouble getting back up to speed. It was only after I passed him and could not see him again in my mirrors that I heard on the radio that his car had trouble."

Briscoe, who drove the last part of the race, had to come in for an unscheduled pit stop with 30 minutes remaining to change a broken wheel rim, and thought he had lost all hope for a second place finish overall.

"I was concentrating on cementing the second place in LMP2 when I also came upon the Audi, and passed it," Briscoe said. "But the Audi still had power on the straightaways, and we were worried about fuel at the end of the race, so the team told me to back off to conserve the fuel and our one-two finish in Class."

Three races now remain in the season with the Labor Day weekend Detroit Grand Prix next on the agenda.

NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series

BRISTOL, Tenn. (Aug. 25, 2007) - Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman produced top-10 finishes Saturday night in the Sharpie 500 at the tough Bristol Motor Speedway, as they continued to fight for a position in the title chase.

With two races remaining before the NASCAR Chase for the NEXTEL Cup begins, Busch maintains the 12th position with a 158-point advantage over the 13th-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. He also closed on the 10th- and 11th-place drivers with his sixth-place finish in his Miller Lite Dodge Avenger. Busch is now within eight points of the 11th-place Martin Truex Jr. and nine points of 10th-place Kevin Harvick.

"We knew that he [Earnhardt Jr.] finished right in front of us at the finish, but we didn't know at first that he'd sneaked in there and led a lap, too, like we did for the bonus points," said Busch, who possesses the final Chase eligible position. "We thought it'd turned out as a scratch and we were still 163 (points) ahead. But now they're telling me that we did lose five points of our advantage." Newman's seventh-place finish in his Alltel Dodge Avenger kept him in 14th place in the standings, 17 points behind Earnhardt Jr. and 175 points in arrears to his teammate. Newman and Busch each led once for two laps. "I was miserable in the car, but it was a good run for the Alltel Dodge," Newman said after dealing with carbon monoxide fumes in his car during the second half of the 500-lap race on the high-speed, half-mile track. "We just got behind a little bit on pit road and that was enough. We just didn't have enough to get past those guys. We were good enough to hol d our own, but couldn't pass them."

Newman qualified seventh for the event, while Busch started 19th. Newman ran in the top five for most of the race's first half and in the top 10 throughout the event.

Busch wasted little time in heading for the front once the race started. By lap 86, he had cracked the top 10 and he ran there for the rest of the evening. On lap 275, he began his run in the fourth position and maintained that spot until the final five laps. Tony Stewart passed Busch for fourth on lap 495, and Earnhardt Jr. relegated him to sixth one lap later.

"It was definitely mission accomplished for our Miller Lite Dodge Avenger team here tonight," Busch said after the race that didn't have its first of nine caution flags until lap 187. "Don't get me wrong. There are still two races remaining to put it all in place, but we have to be able to breathe a little sigh of relief after our performance here tonight." The NEXTEL Cup Series now travels to the 2-mile California Speedway for Labor Day weekend. The 250-lap, 500-mile Sharp Aquos 500 has an 8 p.m. EDT starting time and features live coverage by ESPN and MRN Radio.

Busch Series

BRISTOL, Tenn. (Aug. 24, 2007) - Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger, led twice for 64 laps in Friday night's Food City 250 NASCAR Busch Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway before a three-way battle for the lead in the race's closing stages left Newman with a cut tire and a 28th-place finish.

The stage was set for the showdown between Newman, Kasey Kahne and Jason Leffler during the ninth of 11 caution flags. A two-car wreck in turn two on lap 172 of the 250-lap race left so much debris on the high-banked short track that NASCAR officials had to stop the race on lap 174. Newman was second at the time with then leader Leffler waiting for pit road to open so he could receive new tires. Once the track was cleaned, NASCAR returned the race to yellow-flag conditions and opened pit road. Leffler headed for pit road, relinquishing the No. 1 position to Newman on lap 177.

Newman maintained the lead for the next 60 laps before receiving a challenge from Kahne and, eventually, Leffler. Lap after lap, Kahne attempted to pass Newman on the outside, but couldn't complete the maneuver. He inched ahead of Newman on lap 237, but Newman held him off for the next circuit.

Newman led laps 238-241 during the torrid duel until the three finally tried to go three-wide on the half-mile track. With Kahne on the outside and Leffler in the low groove, Newman was sandwiched in the middle on older tires. Kahne and Newman rubbed sheet metal, but it was the sheet metal exchange with Leffler on the left front that caused the cut tire on Newman's Alltel Dodge. Newman brushed the wall, then had to pit for fresh tires. NASCAR ruled that Newman entered his pit too fast and assessed him a pass-through penalty. Newman lost four laps in the process, dropping to 28th at the finish.

"I think Goodyear did a great job picking the tires, we were a little miss-balanced; we were too tight and the more I ran, the tighter I got," Newman said after visiting Kahne in victory lane. "Kasey was getting good there. He raced clean. I tried my best to race him as hard as I could and not take him out. It kinda took myself out.

"I told him in victory lane that was probably the most satisfied I've ever been with a loss, because it was a great race and hopefully, it was great for the fans. They did a great job with this race track."

After starting 11th in the event, Newman quickly threaded his way through the field, cracking the top five by lap 15. The car was on the free side at the race's beginning, but Newman predicted the car would be tight by the end of the event.

Sure enough, the car became tighter in the center of turns one and two as Newman continued his climb to the front. However, Newman was still having a difficult time catching the front two cars, which had acquired a huge lead on him.

When the yellow flag waved on lap 77 for a crash between the cars driven by Jeff Burton and Eric McClure, Newman pitted for four tires, fuel and four rounds up on the right-side track bar in an effort to free up the car.

Crew chief Matt Gimbel told Newman they needed 20 yellow-flag laps in order to make it to the end without stopping again, so Gimbel asked Newman to save as much fuel as possible during the caution periods.

Newman restarted in 14th on lap 85 and once again made his way to the front. By the time the fifth caution period ended on lap 126, Newman was fifth. He reached second before the eighth yellow flag waved on lap 151. Newman remained in that position until taking the lead for the first time on lap 177.

Next weekend, Newman will drive the No. 12 Kodak Dodge Charger in the Camping World 300 presented by RVs.com at California Speedway on Saturday night. ESPN2 and MRN Radio will broadcast the race beginning at 9:30 p.m. EDT.