Chevy Kansas IRL Results

    KANSAS CITY, Kan., July 4, 2004 - The Fourth of July turned into
Friday the 13th for Chevrolet teams today at Kansas Speedway as mechanical
gremlins and general misfortune affected the front-running Chevy drivers.
Alex Barron had a comparatively trouble-free run in the Argent Mortgage
Indy 300 to bring Red Bull Cheever Racing's Chevrolet Dallara home in 10th,
the top Chevy finisher in the 21-car field.

    Moderate temperatures were a welcome change from previous IRL
IndyCar Series races in Kansas, but a record 169 consecutive green-flag
laps taxed both drivers and engines. Buddy Rice's margin of victory over
his Rahal-Letterman Racing teammate Vitor Meira was .0051 seconds, the
second closest finish in IRL history.

    "It seemed like once the guys in the front broke the draft we struggled
a little," said Barron. "We tried a different strategy today, the way we
managed our fuel and did our pit stops, and I think it worked out. We're
pretty happy with 10th, but obviously we want to win. We need to find more
speed in the car, and we're going to test next week in Michigan to find
it."

    Tomas Scheckter started fifth in Panther Racing's Pennzoil
Chevrolet Dallara and challenged for the lead throughout the first half of
the 200-lap race. A problem with the car-to-pit telemetry left Scheckter's
Panther Racing Chevrolet Dallara with a dry fuel tank on the 107th lap,
causing him to lose precious time as he coasted around the track and into
the pits. Scheckter finished 15th.

    Townsend Bell was also competitive in his IRL debut with Panther
Racing's Menards/Johns Manville Chevrolet Dallara until a fire
extinguisher malfunctioned on Lap 50 and discharged its contents inside the
cockpit.

    "The fire extinguisher just went off in my face, and we're trying
to figure out why," said Bell after his first IRL race. "I couldn't see
anything. Then the radio button fell out. Even though we were laps down, my
Chevy could hang right with the leaders."

    Barron's Cheever Racing teammate Ed Carpenter finished 14th, his
best result since the season-opening race in Homestead, Fla.

    "It was a long day," said Carpenter. "We finished a race finally, but
I really didn't feel like a race car driver. I was just riding around,
but couldn't find the speed to keep up in the draft so we have to go back
home and find it."

    Felipe Giaffone was 16th in the Team Purex/Dreyer & Reinbold
Chevrolet Dallara after a mechanical problem.

    "It's pretty frustrating," he conceded. "We had a good car in the
morning, but then put too much downforce on it. The car balance was really
good, it was just stuck. Toward the end of the long yellow, we were finally
able to take of the downforce off, but after two laps we lost the engine.
It's a frustrating weekend, and not what we were expecting."

    Jeff Simmons made his first start with Patrick Racing after Al Unser
Jr.'s retirement. He was involved in an accident on the 175th lap with
Kosuke Matsuura and finished 19th.

    The IRL IndyCar Series will run its final night race of the season
on Saturday, July 17 at Nashville Superspeedway. The Firestone Indy 200,
the eighth round of the 16-race IndyCar Series, is scheduled to start at 7
p.m. EDT and will be televised live on ESPN.

RACE SUMMARY
Track: Kansas Speedway, 1.5-mile oval
Winner: Buddy Rice, Rahal Letterman Racing Honda G Force
Margin of Victory: .0051 seconds
Average Speed: 177.183 mph
Pole: Buddy Rice/Honda, 210.141 mph
Fastest Lap: Tomas Scheckter/Chevrolet, 210.611 mph

RESULTS
Pos./Driver/Engine/Laps
1. Buddy Rice/Honda, 200
2. Vitor Meira/Honda, 200
3. Tony Kanaan/Honda, 200
4. Dario Franchitti/Honda, 200
5. Bryan Herta/Honda, 200

10. Alex Barron/Chevrolet, 199
14. Ed Carpenter/Chevrolet, 197
16. Felipe Giaffone/Chevrolet, 191
17. Townsend Bell/Chevrolet, 189
19. Jeff Simmons/Chevrolet, 172 (accident)

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (After 7 of 16 events)
Driver/Engine/Points (victories in parentheses)
1. Tony Kanaan/Honda, 275 (2)
2. Dan Wheldon/Honda, 247 (1)
3. Buddy Rice/Honda, 222 (2)
4. Helio Castroneves/Toyota, 207
5. Bryan Herta/Honda, 165

Manufacturer/Points (victories in parentheses)
1. Honda, 67 (6)
2. Toyota, 50 (1)
3. Chevrolet, 37

NEXT EVENT
July 17, Firestone Indy 200, Nashville Superspeedway, Nashville,
Tenn., 1.33-mile oval
TV: ESPN, 7 p.m. EDT

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