Chevy Nazareth IRL Results - August 24, 2003

Hornish Hustles to Runner-Up Finish at Nazareth Speedway

    NAZARETH, Pa., Aug. 24, 2003 - Sam Hornish Jr. continued his comeback
in the race for the IRL IndyCar Series championship with a runner-up finish
in today's Firestone Indy 225 at Nazareth Speedway. In his three starts
with the new Gen IV Chevy Indy V8, Hornish has scored one win and two
runner-up finishes. He is now 81 points behind race winner and points
leader Helio Castroneves with three races to go. Robbie Buhl and Buddy Rice
finished ninth and 10th respectively at Nazareth Speedway, placing three
Chevy Indy V8s in the top-10.

    Hornish hounded Castroneves in the last half of the 225-lap race,
closing to within inches of the leader but unable to complete the pass on
this narrow 1-mile track. After the final restart on Lap 211, Hornish
pressured his rival relentlessly, running the fastest lap of the race at
162.717 mph on Lap 218 and finishing .1697 seconds behind Castroneves at
the checkered flag.

    "I was pushing as hard as I could without putting it in the wall,"
said Hornish. "That's what everybody had to do today. It was a constant
battle to find the right setup on the car. This is a tough track to get
around but being able to drive it on the edge helps you."

    Starting seventh on the grid, Hornish gained two positions in the first
10 laps. He continued his climb in the running order as accidents and
attrition took their toll.

    "The two times I thought I had him (Castroneves) in traffic, the
yellow flag came out as soon as I got a run on him," Hornish recalled. "The
team did an awesome job since we weren't able to test here while we working
on the Gen IV Chevy. We're happy to come out of here with a second-place
finish. Now we go to three tracks where we really like to run. We have good
speedway cars and know what it takes to run fast."

    The Panther Racing team gambled on fuel mileage in the home
stretch, keeping Hornish on track for the final 102 circuits around the
1-mile oval.

    "I got a good run on Helio on the last lap, then about three-quarters
of the way down the back straight the engine sputtered and the fuel
pressure light came on," Hornish said. "We stretched it as far as we could,
but we started running it pretty rich at the end to get some more speed.
 
    "We're playing the catch-up game right now, so you have to take some
risks and gamble a little bit. It paid off."
    
    The Gen IV Chevy Indy V8 again had a perfect reliability record.

    "Sam had another good run, and the finish was as close as it could
be," said GM Racing IRL program manager Joe Negri. "We had three Chevrolet
drivers finish in the top-10, which is an excellent result on this track.
I'm looking forward to the next three races on superspeedways. The Chevy
teams have shown they can run well on the big ovals and they'll have more
testing experience running the Gen IV engine on superspeedways."

    Buhl posted his second straight top-10 finish with the Gen IV engine
in his Purex/Aventis Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet Dallara.

    "In clean air toward the end, we ran our fastest laps of the race,"
said Buhl. "I got through Turn 2 better than ever and was better than some
of those guys.

    "We'll just have to take the info we've gathered when we go testing
and learn from it," Buhl added. "We did what we wanted here today and
we'll continue to aim higher."

    Chevy racer Buddy Rice was also pleased with a top-10 finish.

    "The Red Bull Cheever Racing Team is happy about that," said Rice. "We
had a good handling car all day for a track that's so difficult and with so
many downshifts.

    "We had a good run going until we got the front wing taken off in
an incident with A.J. Foyt IV," Rice reported. "Later on in the race, I had
a problem with fifth gear. I had to run in sixth gear and it was fine, but
I didn't have the pull coming off of Turn 3 and 4 that I wanted. It wasn't
a bad day."

    Chevrolet's ranks in the Firestone Indy 225 were reduced to four
starters in the 19-car field when two teams withdrew cars from competition
following accidents in practice. Team Menard elected not to run after
Jaques Lazier, substituting for the injured Vitor Meira, crashed in
practice on Friday morning. Lazier was examined and cleared to drive.

    Sarah Fisher crashed in the final practice session on Saturday.
Fisher spun in Turn 3 and hit the outside retaining wall. She was
transported to Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Pa. for evaluation of
back pain. She was released on Sunday afternoon with a severe back
contusion.

    IRL teams will have a welcome break on Labor Day weekend before
racing resumes on Sept. 7 at the Delphi Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway,
although testing will continue for several Chevy teams in the interim. The
Chicago event will be the first of three races on superspeedways as the
2003 IRL season concludes. The Delphi Indy 300 will be televised live on
ABC at 1 p.m. Eastern and broadcast on the IMS Radio Network.

RACE SUMMARY
Track: Nazareth Speedway, 1-mile oval
Winner: Helio Castroneves/Penske Racing Toyota Dallara
Margin of Victory: .1697 seconds
Average Speed: 123.606 mph
Pole: Scott Dixon/Toyota, 171.182 mph
Fastest Lap: Sam Hornish Jr./Chevrolet, 162.717 mph

RESULTS
Pos./Driver/Engine/Laps
1. Helio Castroneves/Toyota, 225
2. Sam Hornish Jr./Chevrolet, 225
3. Bryan Herta/Honda, 225
4. Gil de Ferran/Toyota, 225
5. Kenny Brack/Honda, 225

9. Robbie Buhl/Chevrolet, 224
10. Buddy Rice/Chevrolet, 223
13. Buddy Lazier/Chevrolet, 223

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (after 13 of 16 events)
Driver/Engine/Points (victories in parentheses)

1. Helio Castroneves/Toyota, 429 (2)
2. Gil de Ferran/Toyota, 404 (2)
3. Tony Kanaan/Honda, 397 (1)
4. Scott Dixon/Toyota, 387 (3)
5. Sam Hornish Jr./Chevrolet, 348 (1)

Manufacturer/Points (victories in parentheses)
1. Toyota, 121 (10)
2. Honda, 89 (2)
3. Chevrolet, 76 (1)

NEXT EVENT
Sept. 7, Delphi Indy 300, Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, Ill.
TV: ABC, 1 p.m. Eastern