Barron and Chevy Reign in Nashville IRL

NASHVILLE, Tenn., July 20, 2002 -- Alex Barron was crowned the new king
of Music City tonight as Blair Racing's Rayovac Chevrolet Dallara won
the Firestone Indy 200 at Nashville Superspeedway. Barron scored his first
Indy Racing League victory and notched Chevrolet's 10th straight win in
IRL competition. Chevy Indy V8 engines finished first through fourth on
the challenging concrete 1.33-mile oval.

Barron took the lead on lap 189 of the incident-filled 200-lap contest.
He swept under Scott Sharp in the back straight on a restart following the
race's seventh caution period. Barron then held off Gil de Ferran in a
final two-lap shootout after the evening's eighth yellow flag. Barron
crossed the stripe .4234 seconds ahead of de Ferran's Penske Racing
Chevrolet Dallara.

"We concentrated on our setup for restarts because it's hard to overtake on
a track like this once you get going," Barron explained. "The Chevy engine
had a lot of power all weekend. It was really strong -- the best we've had
all year."

Barron stood in the winner's circle in only his tenth start with Blair
Racing. His best previous finish was a fourth place in the Indianapolis
500, a result that earned him the co-Rookie of the Year title.

"I haven't won a race since 1997 and it's been hard for me," Barron said.
"I really had to dig down the last few years. This is the breakthrough for
my career."

De Ferran overcame adversity to score his runner-up finish and take a
10-point lead (347-336) over his teammate Helio Castroneves in the IRL
championship.

"I have to give it to Alex," said de Ferran. "He really stood on it the
last lap. He kept it wide open and gave me no chance. We had a puncture
early in the race, came in under green and went all the way to the back. We
managed to come all the way forward at the end. My car was very good; a
shame we didn't win, but a great day overall."

Sam Hornish Jr. had the dominant car tonight but not the racing luck he
needed to win. He led 95 laps, more than any other driver, but contact with
George Mack's car under yellow while leading the race damaged his car and
sent him to the pits with a punctured tire. He battled back to fourth on
the track, and subsequently moved up to third when IRL officials penalized
Scott Sharp one lap.

"Under green flag running we were 2 or 3 mph faster than everybody else
and showed we could pull up to the front any time," said Hornish, third in
the championship standings with 333 points. "We had an incident under
yellow, but the team recovered from it. I'm disappointed that we didn't
win, but overall we had a good weekend. We led a lot of laps and showed
that we were capable of winning races. We're going to keep coming back."

The race was slowed to an average speed of 127.997 mph by eight cautions;
all of the drivers involved were examined and released. Several drivers
cited the concrete track's narrow groove that made overtaking difficult as
a contributing factor in the accidents.

IRL will begin the final third of its 15-race season next weekend when
the series makes its first foray to Michigan International Speedway for
the Michigan Indy 400 on Sunday, July 28.

RACE SUMMARY
Track: Nashville Superspeedway, 1.33-mile oval
Winner: Alex Barron, Blair Racing Rayovac Chevrolet Dallara
Margin of Victory: .4234 seconds
Average Speed: 127.997 mph
Pole: Billy Boat/Infiniti, 203.774 mph (track record)
Fastest Lap: Tomas Scheckter/Infiniti, 220.164 mph

TOP FIVE FINISHERS
Pos./Driver/Engine/Laps
1. Alex Barron/Chevrolet, 200 laps
2. Gil de Ferran/Chevrolet, 200
3. Sam Hornish Jr./Chevrolet, 200
4. Richie Hearn/Chevrolet, 200
5. Raul Boesel/Infiniti, 200

MANUFACTURER RESULTS
Laps Led: Chevrolet 164, Infiniti 36
Starters: Chevrolet 16, Infiniti 7
Running at Finish: Chevrolet 10, Infiniti 3

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (after 10 of 15 events)
Driver/Engine/Points (victories in parentheses)
1. Gil de Ferran/Chevrolet, 347 (1)
2. Helio Castroneves/Chevrolet, 337 (2)
3. Sam Hornish Jr./Chevrolet, 333 (3)
4. Felipe Giaffone/Chevrolet, 295
5. Alex Barron/Chevrolet, 243 (1)

Manufacturer/Points (victories in parentheses)
1. Chevrolet, 100 (10) *clinched championship
2. Infiniti, 70

NEXT EVENT
July 28, Michigan Indy 400, Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn,
Mich., 2-mile oval, 200 laps
TV: ABC, 2:30 p.m. Eastern