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CART: Post Race Notes, Michael Andretti

22 March 1999

MICHAEL ANDRETTI -6- K Mart/Texaco/Havoline Ford-Cosworth - Finished 2nd -

ANDRETTI'S SECOND PLACE WAS HIS 25TH CAREER RUNNER-UP FINISH AND HIS FOURTH PODIUM IN THE LAST SIX SEASON OPENERS -

"We hung around the top most of the day. We had a good first pit stop where I made up a bunch of positions. I think I went from fourth up to second. Things were going very well and on the next pit stop the guys did a great job but I stalled (the car). That's what gave Greg (Moore) the win because I did not make it out (of the pits) before him. Basically it was a game of track positions and I gave up all my track positions on the second pit. I had one go at Greg at the restart and we almost got together. I was a little upset at the time but as it turns out it was the pass for the win so I guess it is okay. From then on we worked to bring it home. We were attacking Greg but there was no way to catch him because there was not enough traffic in front of us to get a good run on him. I saw some cars there at the end and wished that there would have been another five or six laps because I think I would have made it a bit more interesting. I also had to worry about Dario (Franchitti), he was flying. All in all we had a good weekend. We got some of the points we wanted and we said we would come in here and try to finish second and go on to win the rest of the races.

ALL OF THE OTHER SWIFT TEAMS WERE HAVING TROUBLE WITH THEIR CAR SETUP PRIOR TO COMING TO HOMESTEAD BUT YOU SEEM TO HAVE A GOOD GRASP OF HOW TO SET UP THE NEW SWIFT. . . .

"I think the Swift is a good race car, we should have won the race. We finished second and will take it. I am also very happy the work Ford and Cosworth did on the engine. It almost won us the race today."

COMPARED TO WHERE YOU WERE A FEW WEEKS AGO ARE HOW PLEASED ARE YOU WITH THIS EFFORT?

"Very pleased. I really don't think we would have been up here if we hadn't had Firestone (tires). I think it was a bold move, but a smart move. We are still learning the Firestones and I think we still have a lot to learn."