Andretti Earns Fourth-Place Finish in NYSE Car at SunTrust Indy C

Andretti Earns Fourth-Place Finish in NYSE Car at SunTrust Indy Challenge

RICHMOND, Va. (June 24, 2006) -Marco Andretti drove the #26 NYSE car to a well-deserved fourth place Saturday night at the SunTrust Indy Challenge Presented by XM Satellite Radio at Richmond International Raceway.

Andretti, starting the event from fifth place on the starting grid, moved into third place heading into the first turn of the event. He maintained the NYSE car among the top-five contenders throughout the evening, moving as high as second at the 140-lap mark. Following his second and final pit stop on lap 154, he remained in fourth place until the car became loose exiting Turn 2 on the 226th lap, dropping him back to fifth position. He then managed to regain fourth place by the end of the race, resulting in his second top-five performance of the season.

Sam Hornish Jr. took the victory with Vitor Meira second, Klein Tools/Canadian Club driver Dario Franchitti third and Scott Sharp fifth.

Through seven events of the 2006 season, Andretti stands 10th in the driver point standings and is just seven points shy of eighth spot on the list.

Next up for Andretti and the entire IndyCar Series will be the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway on Sunday, July 2. The event will be televised live by ABC Sports, beginning at 1 p.m. (EDT). It can also be heard live by XM Satellite Radio subscribers by tuning into XM channel 145.

Marco Andretti, #26 NYSE Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "I'm very happy to have finished this race because with about 20 laps to go I almost lost it. The NYSE car was pretty good, but it was also a handful at times. Once again, the NYSE boys did a good job all weekend. It would have been nice to have given the leader a run for the money at the end, but I'm still happy to have finished where we did."

Kyle Moyer, General Manager, Andretti Green Racing: "It's hard to believe that this is his first short-oval race because a place like Richmond isn't the easiest place to drive. I'll take finishing fourth in our first short-oval race any day. This gives us something to build on. Most guys are afraid of their first short oval, but this kid sure isn't."

2006 SunTrust Indy Challenge Results
Pos.    Name                             Laps         Pos.      Name                        Laps
1     Sam Hornish Jr.                   250           11      Helio Castroneves           249
2     Vitor Meira                       250           12      Kosuke Matsuura             247
3     Dario Franchitti                  250           13      Buddy Rice                  247
4     Marco Andretti                    250           14      Eddie Cheever Jr.           246
5     Scott Sharp                       250           15      Danica Patrick              246
6     Bryan Herta                       250           16      Buddy Lazier                245
7     Tomas Scheckter                   249           17      Felipe Giaffone             244
8     Ed Carpenter                      249           18      Tony Kanaan                 109
9     Dan Wheldon                       249           19      Jeff Simmons                 59
10     Scott Dixon                       249