BELL RINGS UP TOP CHEVY QUALIFYING SPEED IN CHICAGO

JOLIET, Ill., Sept. 11, 2004 - Townsend Bell was the fastest
Chevrolet-powered driver in qualifying at Chicagoland Speedway for
Sunday's Delphi Indy 300, the 14th race of the IRL IndyCar Series. Bell
will start Panther Racing's Menards/Johns Manville Chevrolet from the
12th spot on the grid with a 212.083 mph qualifying speed. Helio
Castroneves won the pole in a Toyota Dallara with a 214.759 mph lap.

Bell and five other drivers will take the green flag with Chevy Indy V-8
engines at the start of the 200-lap, 300-mile race. Red Bull Cheever
Racing teammates Alex Barron and Ed Carpenter qualified 15th and 16th
respectively with identical 211.325 mph speeds. Felipe Giaffone
qualified 18th at 210.543 mph in the Team Purex/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
Chevrolet Dallara and Jaques Lazier was 20th in Patrick Racing's
Chevrolet Dallara at 209.288 mph. Tomas Scheckter, Bell's Panther Racing
teammate, did not make a qualifying run and will start from the back of
the 22-car field per IRL rules.

"I feel good, we have a great setup and we haven't changed much since we
started," said Bell. "We had a new Chevy engine in today and it seemed
to work well. It was a good solid race car and it should be fun
tomorrow."

Barron and Carpenter turned identical lap times at 25.8938 seconds.

"The cars are the same, so theoretically we should run the same lap
times," Carpenter noted. "I wish we were both faster but we had a really
good race car when we were working on the race setup. Qualifying doesn't
mean everything at these 1 1/2 mile tracks as long as you have a car
that can draft and stay up front."

Barron agreed: "It was a good run," he said. "We duplicated what we did
in practice, and made one small change that worked out. The car is
really free so I had to be careful initially when getting the tires up
to temperature, but that's what you need at a place like this."

Warm temperatures aided the cars today by decreasing downforce and drag
from this morning's practice session.

"This morning we were a little lost because we were expecting to go a
little faster," Giaffone explained. "We changed the gears and apparently
the heat freed up the car and we're back where we should be. We had a
really good day yesterday and the car was handling very good in traffic.
Hopefully we can run with the pack and get a good result."
	
After strong runs in the two preceding races on short tracks, the
Patrick Racing team is adjusting to the demands of a speedway.

"To be honest, we're a little disappointed because we felt we were
quicker yesterday," said Lazier. "I don't think we got the gears quite
right, but we've been focusing on our race setup. We can pull up to
people, we can go high, we can go low, we can go just about anywhere we
want to. We were hoping we could get a little more out of it today, but
we're really looking forward to tomorrow. That's the day that really
matters."

Scheckter's starting position at the back of the grid ensures an
exciting start as the South African makes one of his trademark charges
to the front.

"During the morning practice today, we found a little problem in the
engine," Scheckter explained. "Rather than damage it, we wanted to play
it safe and decided to change it out. That way we can run the race motor
in the last practice session this afternoon, and we can be a lot
stronger tomorrow. The Pennzoil Panther car will be great tomorrow and
we'll work our way to the front again."

The Delphi Indy 300 will start at 1:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, September 12.
The race will be televised live on ABC.

DELPHI INDY 300 QUALIFYING SUMMARY:
Pos./Driver/Engine/Speed
1. Helio Castroneves, Toyota, 214.759 mph
2. Tony Kanaan, Honda, 214.030
3. Buddy Rice, Honda, 213.843
4. Dario Franchitti, Honda, 213.644
5. Dan Wheldon, Honda, 213.130

12. Townsend Bell, Chevrolet, 212.083
15. Alex Barron, Chevrolet, 211.325
16. Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 211.325
18. Felipe Giaffone, Chevrolet, 210.543
20. Jaques Lazier, Chevrolet, 209.288
22. Tomas Scheckter, Chevrolet, no speed