Franchitti Collects Sixth-Place Finish at Nashville
Franchitti Collects Sixth-Place Finish at Nashville in Klein Tools/Canadian Club CarLEBANON, Tenn. (July 15, 2006) - Dario Franchitti drove a solid race and finished sixth in the #27 Klein Tools/Canadian Club car at the Firestone Indy 200 at Nashville Superspeedway. Franchitti moved to seventh place in the IndyCar Series championship and trails teammate Tony Kanaan by 21 points in the race for sixth place.
Starting fifth, Franchitti settled in among the leaders and waited to make a move as the race came to a close. During his final pit stop with less than 40 laps remaining, Franchitti took enough fuel to finish the race. As several of the leaders gambled by staying out, Franchitti exited the pits in sixth position, but was second on his pit sequence. However, the final yellow flag proved to be enough help and the leaders did not have to pit again. It was Franchitti's fourth top-seven finish of the 2006 season. Scott Dixon picked up his second victory of the season and was followed across the line by Dan Wheldon. Vitor Meira, Danica Patrick and Helio Castroneves rounded out the top five. Franchitti and the rest of the IndyCar Series drivers return to action next at The Milwaukee Mile where Franchitti was the 2004 race champion. The ABC Supply Co./A.J. Foyt 225 will be carried live by ESPN on Sunday, July 23, beginning at 1:30 p.m. (EDT). The race can also be heard live by XM Satellite Radio subscribers on XM channel 145, the official home of the IndyCar Series.
Dario Franchitti, #27 Klein Tools/Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "It was a long day for the Klein Tools/Canadian Club guys. We didn't get a proper warmup yesterday because I had a mechanical problem, so we really didn't know what the car was going to do in these conditions and it turned out that we had a pretty big understeer coming out of the corner. I was really getting blocked by a couple of people when I had a good chance to pass them, so that was frustrating."
John Anderson, Team Manager, #27 Klein Tools/Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "Tonight was disappointing. We're just lacking some speed still and it's so frustrating at the moment. We have a driver capable of getting it done and has done it in the past; we just don't have the tools right now to get it done. We're still behind the red and white cars and we've still got some homework to do."
2006 Firestone Indy 200 Results Pos. Name Laps Pos. Name Laps 1 Scott Dixon 200 10 Ed Carpenter 198 2 Dan Wheldon 200 11 Bryan Herta 198 3 Vitor Meira 200 12 Tony Kanaan 170 4 Danica Patrick 200 13 Kosuke Matsuura 162 5 Helio Castroneves 200 14 Sam Hornish Jr. 128 6 Dario Franchitti 200 15 Tomas Scheckter 121 7 Jeff Simmons 199 16 Buddy Rice 61 8 Marco Andretti 199 17 Scott Sharp 58 9 Ryan Briscoe 199 18 Jeff Bucknum 36