CART: Franchitti, Tracy look to Kool down streets of Houston; Heat up championship
27 September 2000
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
DETROIT- While it has been another oppressively hot summer in Texas, the climate on the streets of downtown Houston has taken a decidedly KOOL turn.
Which may, in the end, add even more heat to an already incendiary FedEx Championship Series points race.
As the series heads to the Lone Star State for Round 18 of 20, the Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston (4 p.m. ET Sunday, live, ABC-TV), Team KOOL Green drivers Dario Franchitti and Paul Tracy look forward to a return to a venue where they have been utterly dominant. Beyond that, Tracy has the added incentive of being in the thick of the battle for his first FedEx Championship Series championship.
Tracy (KOOL Honda Reynard) is the defending Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston champion, having led 85 of 100 laps en route to victory last season. A successful defense of that championship could conceivably vault Tracy into the points lead in the most closely contested championship race in FedEx Championship Series history.
Tracy, powered by wins at Long Beach, Road America and Vancouver, arrives at Houston fourth in the championship with 122 points. He trails leader Gil de Ferran (Marlboro Honda Reynard) of Marlboro Team Penske by 15, and, with 20 points available for a race victory, could conceivably take the lead with a win Sunday.
But that is true of any of the top six championship contenders, all of whom are grouped within 19 points. Following de Ferran and his 137 points are Roberto Moreno (Visteon Ford Reynard) of Patrick Racing, second with 129 points; Michael Andretti (Big Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Ford Lola) of Newman/Haas Racing, third with 127; Tracy, fourth with 122; Adrian Fernandez (Tecate/Quaker State/Patrick Racing Ford Reynard) of Patrick Racing, fifth with 121; and rookie Kenny Brack (Shell Ford Reynard) of Team Rahal, sixth with 118.
The 19 points separating de Ferran from Brack after 17 events represent the smallest first-through-sixth place gap in CART's 22-year history. With a maximum of 66 points available in the season's remaining three events at Houston, Australia and California Speedway, the top 13 drivers - roughly half the field - still retain a mathematical chance at the championship.
That number includes Franchitti (KOOL Honda Reynard), who led all 70 laps from the outside pole to win the inaugural Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston in 1998 and finished second to Tracy last year. Franchitti, runner-up in last year's FedEx Championship Series championship, has recorded five of his six career FedEx Championship Series victories on temporary street circuits and must be rated among the favorites this weekend. He stands 11th in the championship with 92 points.
This year, for the first time in FedEx Championship Series history, all cars ride on Firestone Firehawks, the Official Tire of CART.
The spirited points battle will add considerable drama to the final three events of the FedEx Championship Series season, which concludes with the Marlboro 500 Presented by Toyota on Oct. 29 at California Speedway. For the third consecutive year, the season finale will pay its winner $1 million, courtesy of a partnership between Marlboro, Toyota, CART and California Speedway. An additional $1 million will be awarded to the driver who emerges from the season finale as series champion.
Following the Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston, the FedEx Championship Series takes a week off before making its final international trip of the season for the Honda Indy 300, October 13-15 at Surfers Paradise, Australia.
WHO'S HOT
* Gil de Ferran (Marlboro Honda Reynard) of Marlboro Team Penske has scored championship points in five of his past six starts, including top-five finishes in four of those, to move into the lead in the most closely contested FedEx Championship Series drivers' championship in history. With 137 points, de Ferran holds an eight-point advantage over Roberto Moreno (Visteon Ford Reynard) of Patrick Racing, but the top six drivers in the championship are separated by only 19 points through 17 of 20 rounds. De Ferran's recent run includes runner-up finishes at Laguna Seca and Mid-Ohio, third at Chicago, fifth at Vancouver and eighth at Gateway. He also owns 13 top-five qualifying efforts in 17 starts this season, including pole positions at Homestead, Long Beach and Mid-Ohio.
* Roberto Moreno has scored championship points in five of his past six starts, highlighted by finishes of third at Gateway and fourth at Road America, to move past Michael Andretti (Big Kmart/Texaco/Havoline Ford Lola) of Newman/Haas Racing and into second place in the championship. The remainder of Moreno's run includes finishes of sixth at Chicago, 10th at Vancouver and 11th at Mid-Ohio. Moreno, who scored the first victory of his seven-year FedEx Championship Series career at Cleveland earlier this year, has scored championship points in 12 of 17 events this season and stands second to de Ferran with 129 points.
* Adrian Fernandez (Tecate/Quaker State/Patrick Racing Ford Reynard) of Patrick Racing has scored championship points in 14 of his past 15 starts, beginning with a victory at Brazil. The run also includes podium finishes of second at Toronto and Road America and third at Vancouver. Currently fifth in the championship with 121 points, he is just one behind fourth-place Paul Tracy (KOOL Honda Reynard) of Team KOOL Green, six behind third-place Michael Andretti (127) and eight behind second-place Roberto Moreno (129).
* Rookie Kenny Brack (Shell Ford Reynard) of Team Rahal has scored championship points in 13 of his past 15 FedEx Championship Series starts and has recorded eight top-five finishes in that span, including podium results of second at Cleveland and third at Nazareth and Road America. He stands sixth in the championship with 118 points and could clinch this year's Jim Trueman Rookie of the Year Award this weekend. Brack holds a 118-56 lead over Oriol Servia (Telefonica Toyota Reynard) in the rookie points race and needs to exit Houston with a 45-point advantage to wrap up the award and the $50,000 payout that accompanies it.
* Patrick Carpentier (Player's Forsythe Racing Team Ford Reynard) of Player's Forsythe Racing equaled a career-best FedEx Championship Series result with a runner-up finish at Gateway, matching a milestone first established at Gateway in 1997 and matched at Vancouver last year. The performance was Carpentier's sixth-top five finish of the season, which also includes a podium result of third at Milwaukee. Despite missing three events earlier in the season with a small fracture of the left wrist sustained in a non-racing accident, Carpentier is approaching 100 championship points for the first time in his career. He currently stands 12th with 91 points.
ON THE RIGHT TRACK
* Dario Franchitti (KOOL Honda Reynard) has taken a definite liking to the streets of Houston in his two career FedEx Championship Series appearances at the venue. He led all 70 laps from the outside pole en route to victory in the inaugural Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix in 1998, then finished second to Team KOOL Green teammate Paul Tracy last year. He is the only driver to have led a lap in each FedEx Championship Series event contested at Houston and has qualified among the top four drivers for both events.
* Max Papis (Miller Lite Ford Reynard) of Team Rahal has recorded top-five finishes in both of his career appearances at Houston, taking fifth in the inaugural event in 1998 and fourth last year.
* Adrian Fernandez has scored championship points in both of his career appearances at Houston, with finishes of sixth in 1998 and 12th last year.
Text provided by T.E. McHale
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