PENSKE RACE REPORT

INDY RACING LEAGUE

St. Petersburg, Fla. (April 1, 2007) -- Helio Castroneves was as close to perfect as humanly possible in Sunday's Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, leading 95 of the race's 100 laps to claim his 12th career IndyCar Series victory. Castroneves' win in his No. 3 Team Penske Honda/Dallara put him back in the championship picture and gave him much-needed momentum heading into the IndyCar season's third race April 21 in Japan. "It's incredible," said Castroneves, who recorded his second consecutive victory in the St. Petersburg race. "You have to be so focused. I had to be really careful that I didn't make a mistake. But it's my time. We won." Castroneves' Team Penske teammate, Sam Hornish Jr., had a strong finish as well, bringing the No. 6 Penske Honda/Dallara home in seventh and scoring valuable points in the championship race. Castroneves is now tied for second in points, while Hornish is fifth. "We ran the Team Penske car in the top five for pretty much the first three quarters of the race," Hornish said. "We stayed out a little too long on that second stint, so it's not exactly where we wanted to finish, but sometimes that's the way it goes. Now we'll just have to keep working hard and look ahead to Japan." Castroneves, known for his post-victory fence climb, didn't climb very far after Sunday's win. The reason: He was exhausted after a grueling, 100-lap street race in the Florida heat. "I was so focused," Castroneves explained. "That was probably one of the races where I focused the most. Nothing was distracting me. I'm glad. I'm getting better. I'm still learning, believe it or not. It was very good for me to achieve that stage. It looks very easy on TV. I have to say it isn't easy. It's not easy at all."

AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (March 31, 2007) -- After starting the Acura Sports Car Challenge on the front row, the Porsche RS Spyders prepared by Penske Motorsports found themselves in the pits early, laps down and faced with the prospect of a dismal finish, but at the checkered flag they were first and second in the LMP2 Class and third and fourth overall. France's Romain Dumas and Germany's Timo Bernhard started on the pole, sharing the front row with Australia's Ryan Briscoe and Belgium's Sascha Maassen. However, the green flag to start the race dropped well before the cars reached the starting line, and one of the LMP1 prototypes rammed into the back of Dumas' Porsche RS Spyder, causing body damage and a flat tire. Although the LMP1 driver was penalized for his action, it put the pole-sitting Porsche back in the pack, two laps down. The Briscoe/Maassen car had similar bad luck in the early going, as it sucked up carbon fiber pieces from the incident at the race's start, clogging the air intake and causing the oil, coolant and brakes to run very hot. Then Briscoe came together with another LMP2 and the officials handed him a stop-and-go penalty. The car incurred yet another penalty when a crew member had goggles up during a pit stop. Sixty minutes into the 2-hour, 45-minute event, Briscoe and Maassen were sixth in class and Dumas and Bernhard were seventh. The team then calculated their fuel stops, driver changes, and tire changes so they could maximize their on-track time and take advantage of the opportunities presented by the yellow flags to secure the one-two finish. "That's the great thing about endurance racing," said team owner Roger Penske, who called the strategy on the radio for the class-winning car. "You can make mistakes and survive racing incidents, your fault or not, and catch the leaders with good driving, smart driving, and quick pit work. I am very proud of our Penske Motorsports crew, especially after the disappointing results from Sebring." Porsche and Acura are now tied for the lead in the LMP2 class with 39 points each. Dumas and Bernhard, who finished second in class and fourth overall at St. Petersburg, lead the LMP2 driver standings with 35 points, three points ahead of the nearest competitors. Briscoe and Maassen, who won the LMP2 Class and finished third overall, are close behind with 29 points. With the winners getting 20 points at each American Le Mans Series event, the championship chase should go down to the last event. "To score my first American Le Mans Series win [by] overcoming all the problems that faced us at the beginning of the race made this victory very special," Briscoe said. "I thought everyone would be very cautious and have a clean start on this street course, but the early green flag caused many of the competitors to head for the same patch of concrete, and there was not enough room for everyone." After an eighth-place finish at Sebring, Maassen's focus was on the point standings, where he and Briscoe are now back in contention for the championship, and Porsche is now tied for the manufacturer's lead. "We will be fighting for every point right to the end of the season," said Maassen, the defending LMP2 champion who scored his 27th class win at St. Petersburg.

NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (April 1, 2007) - Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman produced top-15 finishes in Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500 to gain several positions in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings and inch closer to 12th place - the cutoff for the Chase for the Championship. Busch's 12th-place finish in his Miller Lite Dodge Avenger allowed him to gain three positions and move into 17th, just 26 points behind 12th-place Jamie McMurray. Newman also gained three positions, moving into a tie with David Ragan for 19th, with his 14th-place finish in his Alltel Dodge Avenger. He trails McMurray by 61 points. "It was a decent points day, but I thought we could have finished a little better," Busch said. "We picked up three spots, so we'll go to Richmond and test the Avenger a couple of days this week and then head to Texas and see what happens there." Busch ran in the top 10 for the majority of the race after cracking the top 10 25 laps into the 500-lap event on the paperclip-shaped, short track. He fell from the top 10 during the ninth caution period - laps 337-342 - but was headed back towards the top 10 in the closing laps before running out of time. "We started 12th and finished 12th, so I guess that means we had a 12th-place car, but I thought we could have finished a little better," Busch said after the race that was halted for 31 minutes 40 seconds due to rain with 143 laps remaining. The race was more than half over when Newman, who started 24th, finally made it into the top 10 during the eighth of 13 caution periods. He ran in the top 10 until pitting during the 11th caution period - laps 377-382. Newman restarted in 15th, but could advance only to 14th before the race ended. "I knocked the tow out when I hit the 00 [David Reutimann] and it just messed the car up," Newman said. "We had a fast race car. We drove it up to eighth and never got good track position and never got good strategy, as far as getting track position. It just didn't work out today. "The Alltel Dodge was pretty good today. I'd say we had a top-10 car on a long run, but we didn't quite finish there. We should have taken tires at the end, but coulda, woulda, shoulda. We made it out of Martinsville with another COT [Car of Tomorrow]." The series will take Easter weekend off, then return to action April 15 at Texas Motor Speedway with the Dodge Charger.