CARPENTER BUILDS MOMENTUM WITH SOLID FINISH FOR CHEVY AT KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY

    SPARTA, Ky., Aug. 15, 2004 - Chevrolet's hopes for a repeat victory in
the Belterra Casino Indy 300 went up in flames today at Kentucky Speedway
when Tomas Scheckter suffered a pit lane fire while leading the 200-lap
race. Misfortune continued to stalk the Panther Racing team as
front-running driver Townsend Bell encountered the wall 20 laps later. But
rookie Ed Carpenter nailed down the race of his short IndyCar Series career
to bring home Red Bull Cheever Racing's Chevrolet Dallara home in eighth
place. Adrian Fernandez scored his first IRL career victory in a Honda G
Force.

    "This is the best car I've had since before Indy," Carpenter
declared after his best finish of the season. "It feels good to be happy at
the end of the race. It was a fun day.

    "I've been waiting for that for a long time," Carpenter continued.
"It's good for Chevy and good for the team. At the start of the race we
lost the draft and found ourselves at the back of the pack. Then I had two
really good restarts and that got me fired up again. We took a different
strategy on gear ratios and I worked hard on my restarts, and that's what
put us up in the pack."

    Scheckter again showed impressive speed in the Pennzoil Panther
Racing Chevrolet Dallara. Starting 13th in the 22-car field, he sliced and
diced his way to the front, using his favored outside line and his Chevy
Indy V-8's horsepower. He was 10th after the first lap, sixth on Lap 66,
third on Lap 121, and the leader on Lap 128. Scheckter's yellow machine led
nine laps, but the elation was short-lived when a fire erupted as the car
left the pit stall with the fuel hose still attached. Scheckter and the
Panther Racing crew were uninjured in the incident.

    "The clutch was slipping earlier in the race, and it just grabbed as I
was leaving," said Scheckter. "I knew the guys were telling me to stop.
The important thing is nobody was injured.

    "Townsend and I really have to hand it to our guys; they gave us
some great cars today," he added. "It was great to see those Chevrolets
running at the front again. We'll be back. It's just a matter of time
before we get this thing right, and both of us finish at the front."

    Scheckter's teammate Townsend Bell had also charged to the front
after starting last on the grid. Bell moved into the top 10 after 40 laps,
into the top five after 66 laps and into the top three on Lap 134. Bell's
bid for victory ended prematurely, however, when he had light contact with
the wall on the 157th circuit.

    "We were having an awesome day," said Bell. "It was great to see
both Tommy (Scheckter) and myself hanging in there at the front. I got held
up on the pit stop when Tomas had trouble, and we fell way back in the
field. We were in the process of making that up, and I was running pretty
high coming out of Turn 2 and somebody moved up and cut the air off my
nose. I was so high anyway that I didn't have anywhere to go. What a shame
for these Panther guys, we had the two best handling cars out there today."

    Alex Barron had a relatively uneventful day by racing standards.
Starting 17th in Red Bull Cheever Racing's Chevrolet Dallara, Barron
finished 11th on the lead lap.

    "It went smoothly," Barron reported. "I could run the low line and
run with the lead pack for a while, but it was slower running side-by-side
so it was better for me to draft them. That's what I tried to do the whole
race.

    "I had really good pit stops, and overall the team did a tremendous
job this weekend," he noted. "Their attention to detail was flawless. Our
test after the race in Michigan helped us to understand a lot of things
we're trying to do with the chassis and that will help us for the rest of
the year."

    Jaques Lazier finished 15th with Patrick Racing's Chevrolet Dallara,
and Felipe Giaffone was 16th with the Team Purex/Dreyer & Reinbold
Racing Chevrolet Dallara.

    "We still have to improve, but overall it was both good and bad,"
said Giaffone. "Even though we were a lap down and didn't improve a lot
in position, it was really the first time we could go with the pack.
Something happened on the last lap and we lost a position or two, but we
made it to the checkered.  We had a 215 mph lap towards the end, so it was
good to feel racy."

    The IRL IndyCar Series will return to a 1-mile short track next weekend
at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colo. The Honda Indy 225,
the 12th round of the 16-race IndyCar Series, will start at 3:30 p.m. EDT
and will be televised live on ABC.

RACE SUMMARY
Track: Kentucky Speedway, 1.5-mile oval
Winner: Adrian Fernandez, Fernandez Racing Honda G Force
Margin of Victory: .0581 seconds
Average Speed: 180.588 mph
Pole: Buddy Rice/Honda, 216.016 mph
Fastest Lap: Vitor Meira/Honda, 216.411 mph

RESULTS
Pos./Driver/Engine/Laps
1. Adrian Fernandez/Honda, 200
2. Buddy Rice/Honda, 200
3. Dan Wheldon/Honda, 200
4. Kosuke Matsuura/Honda, 200
5. Tony Kanaan/Honda, 200

8. Ed Carpenter/Chevrolet, 200
11. Alex Barron/Chevrolet, 200
15. Jaques Lazier/Chevrolet, 199
16. Felipe Giaffone/Chevrolet, 199
21. Townsend Bell/Chevrolet, 157 (accident)
22. Tomas Scheckter/Chevrolet, 137 (fuel fire)

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (After 11 of 16 events)
Driver/Engine/Points (victories in parentheses)
1. Tony Kanaan/Honda, 433 (3)
2. Buddy Rice/Honda, 383 (3)
3. Dan Wheldon/Honda, 346 (2)
4. Helio Castroneves/Toyota, 298
5. Sam Hornish Jr./Toyota, 283 (1)

Manufacturer/Points (victories in parentheses)
1. Honda, 107 (10)
2. Toyota, 76 (1)
3. Chevrolet, 59

NEXT EVENT
August 22, Honda 225, Pikes Peak International Raceway, 1-mile oval
TV: ABC, 3:30 p.m. EDT