Franchitti Drives to Ninth-Place Result at Kentucky
If the following text-only file is not easily readable, particularly any tables of numbers, try enlarging this window since every line has a forced end and there is no word-wrap. Otherwise, this report will look and print better from the following PDF file: http://www.sportssystems.com/applib/PDFload.cfm?file=/email/filehost/EB384.pdf&id=BC384EB9EC574 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For Immediate Release www.andrettigreen.com Franchitti Drives to Ninth-Place Result at Kentucky in Klein Tools/Canadian Club Machine SPARTA, Ky. (Aug. 13, 2006) - Dario Franchitti battled all day with a car off the leader's pace and clawed his way to a ninth-place finish at the Meijer Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway. With only two races remaining on the 2006 schedule, the Klein Tools/Canadian Club driver stands seventh in the IndyCar Series driver championship. As the midpoint of the race neared, Franchitti began to move his way up from the 13th spot. Following a pit stop on lap 91, the Klein Tools/Canadian Club crew sent him back out, gaining one position. Over the next 20 laps, Franchitti climbed to as high as eighth. On the subsequent stop, the crew came through again, gaining another couple of positions. As the race wound to a conclusion, Franchitti was able to improve to ninth place and collected the fourth top-10 result in the last six races for the team. Sam Hornish Jr. scored his fourth victory of the season and moved into the overall lead in the championship. He was followed across the line by Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves and Dan Wheldon. AGR driver Tony Kanaan rounded out the top five. Following a weekend hiatus, Franchitti and the IndyCar Series drivers return to action at Infineon Raceway on Sunday, Aug. 27, for the second annual Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma. ESPN will provide live broadcast coverage of the 80-lap event beginning at 3:30 p.m. (EDT). The race can also be heard live by XM Satellite Radio subscribers on XM channel 145. Dario Franchitti, #27 Klein Tools/Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "Unfortunately the car isn't fast enough at this point. Yesterday we thought the Klein Tools/Canadian Club car was fast but we definitely went backwards today. I think the change in conditions caught us out, but we really lost the pace we thought we had. It was a very frustrating day because of that. The only bright spot was the guys in the pits. They were absolutely dynamite. We're all working very hard but we deserve better at this point." John Anderson, Team Manager, #27 Klein Tools/Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "A lot of other cars had their problems today and we benefited from it. We were a ninth-place car today, there's no doubt about it. The car was very inconsistent. One minute we were doing really good times and the next minute we were back a bit. The Klein Tools/Canadian Club car was very good yesterday but we seem to have a very narrow band for optimal performance and once the conditions change a bit, it pops us out of that band. We just don't have a handle on it yet." 2006 Meijer Indy 300 Results Pos. Name Laps Pos. Name Laps 1 Sam Hornish Jr. 200 11 Ed Carpenter 199 2 Scott Dixon 200 12 Sarah Fisher 199 3 Helio Castroneves 200 13 Jeff Bucknum 199 4 Dan Wheldon 200 14 Jeff Simmons 199 5 Tony Kanaan 200 15 Buddy Rice 198 6 Vitor Meira 200 16 Scott Sharp 198 7 Tomas Scheckter 200 17 Marco Andretti 197 8 Danica Patrick 200 18 Marty Roth 196 9 Dario Franchitti 200 19 Kosuke Matsuura 118 10 Bryan Herta 200 Contact: Rob Cleveland, (317) 872-2700 ext 264, rob.cleveland@andrettigreenracing.com Al Larsen, (317) 872-2700 ext 239, alan.larsen@andrettigreenracing.com