MOTEGI, Japan (May 19, 2001) - Kenny Brack of Team Rahal, owner of 11top-five finishes but no victories in his first 23 FedEx Championship Seriesstarts, finally broke into the victory column Saturday when he recorded hisfirst career triumph in the Firestone Firehawk 500 before an event-recordcrowd of 72,000 at Twin Ring Motegi.

Brack (Shell Ford Lola) grabbed the lead on Lap 150 of 201 and maintained itto the checkered flag for a 3.650-second victory over polesitter HelioCastroneves of Marlboro Team Penske. With the 20 points he earned for thetriumph, Brack took over the FedEx Championship Series points lead for thefirst time in his two-year career. At 49 points, he leads Castroneves (47)by two heading into Round 6 of the championship, the June 3 Miller Lite 225at The Milwaukee Mile.

Brack, winner of the 2000 Jim Trueman Rookie of the Year Award, scored TeamRahal's first FedEx Championship Series victory since Max Papis won the 2000season opener at Homestead. It was Brack's first open-wheel victory sincethe 1999 Indianapolis 500. He averaged a race-record 178.113 miles per houren route to the triumph, eclipsing the 176.195 miles per hour averaged byAdrian Fernandez en route to victory in 1999.

Brack also claimed Ford's fourth consecutive victory at Twin Ring Motegi,following victories by Fernandez in 1998 and '99 and Michael Andretti lastyear. He also extended Ford's run of victories on 1.5-mile ovals to seven inthe past eight events, dating to Andretti's 1997 victory at Homestead.

Castroneves (Marlboro Honda Reynard), who led a race-high 84 laps from thepole, recorded his second podium finish of the season and his fourth-pointspaying result in as many 2001 starts. He also matched his career-bestperformance on an oval, established at Milwaukee in 1998 and equaled atGateway in 1999.

Tony Kanaan (Hollywood Honda Reynard) of Mo Nunn Racing finished third andbrought the second-year Mo Nunn team its first-ever podium finish. Thepodium result represented Kanaan's first since recording his lone FedExChampionship Series career victory at Michigan International Speedway in1999, when he drove for Forsythe Championship Racing.

Brack, Castroneves and Kanaan dominated the event to the point that theycombined to lead 199 of the 201 laps contested. In addition to Castroneves'race-high total of 84 laps led, Brack led 75 and Kanaan led 40.

Christian Fittipaldi (Kmart Toyota Lola) of Newman/Haas Racing finished aseason-best fourth in the 300th CART start for that storied team (seerelated note below). He was followed by Jimmy Vasser (Patrick Racing ToyotaReynard) of Patrick Racing, whose fifth-place result moved him into athird-place points tie with Cristiano da Matta (Texaco/Havoline/Kmart ToyotaLola) of Newman/Haas Racing and Paul Tracy (KOOL Honda Reynard) of Team KOOLGreen.

Da Matta and Tracy had shared the points lead entering the event, butneither scored Saturday. Now the threesome, which includes Vasser, isdeadlocked at 40 points each heading to Milwaukee.

Da Matta exited on the opening lap due to contact with rookie BrunoJunqueira and finished 25th while Tracy exited due to a mechanical failureafter completing 77 laps and finished 18th.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

KENNY BRACK, Shell Ford Lola: "It's great. It's a big weight off myshoulders. We've been close so many times, but we didn't manage to do ituntil today. It was a great run. The Shell Ford ran great; I think fuelmileage was the key. We didn't have any problem going to the end. Tony[Kanaan] kept closing on me and I didn't know he couldn't make it to theend, so I did everything I could to hold him off. And I had good racing withHelio, too. Very close ... very fair. It was a very exciting race for me.There was a lot of overtaking, and I got overtaken, too. When I looked atpast races here, I noticed that the leader at Lap 170 was traditionally thedriver that went on to win the race. That crossed my mind when we got tothat point today. I wanted to keep that tradition going."

HELIO CASTRONEVES, Marlboro Honda Reynard: "[About an unreported car problemat the start of the race] I didn't know about it. I asked in the beginning,'Are we OK?' and they [the crew] said, 'Oh, we're fine.' I guess they liedto me, but it's good. Sometimes the drivers don't need to know everythingthat's going on. There are times when they just need to stay focused onwhat's going on in front of them. It was a great race. I was really askingfor more fuel at the end, but it's a great result for Marlboro Team Penske,especially for me on an oval. I'm really happy with the result, especiallyfor what it means in the championship at this point in the season."

TONY KANAAN, Hollywood Honda Reynard: "I'm happy to be back [on the podium].It has been a long time. I'm happy to give the first podium to Mo NunnRacing. I had a good car throughout the race. We were playing the yellows atthe end, unfortunately it came out at a bad time for us. I think we couldhave finished second, but I don't know if we could have passed Kenny [Brack]at the end. It was fun to be in the car today. I'm disappointed that wecouldn't win for Honda, but me and Helio [Castroneves] are going to have along time in this series, and we'll look forward to another opportunity."

WHAT'S NOTEWORTHY

• Kenny Brack (Shell Ford Lola) owns top-five finishes in three offour starts this season and has scored championship points in 10 of his past13 FedEx Championship Series starts, dating to a fourth-place finish atChicago last season. His previous top-five results this season have beenfifth at Mexico and second at Nazareth. Overall, Brack owns 12 top-fivefinishes in 24 career FedEx Championship Series starts, and he has scoredchampionship points in seven of 10 career starts on ovals, including podiumfinishes of third at Nazareth last year and second at Nazareth last week.
• Kenny Brack is the FedEx Championship Series leader in laps led,with 228, including 200 on ovals. He has led at least one lap in three offour starts this season, including 28 at Mexico and a race-high 125 atNazareth last week.
• Michael Andretti of Team Motorola established the CART record forcareer starts when he made his 274th at Saturday's Firestone Firehawk 500.Andretti's historic start eclipsed his longtime racing rival Al Unser Jr.,who made 273 career starts from 1982-99. Andretti's first career start cameat Las Vegas in 1983 in a race won by his father, Mario. His last 129 startshave come consecutively, dating to the 1994 season opener at Australia,which he won. Michael Andretti is also CART's all-time leader in victories(40) and laps led (6,409) and is second in career pole positions (32). His274th start ranks him fourth in all-time Champ Car history (1909-present).Mario Andretti, Michael's father, is the all-time leader with 407 starts.Andretti finished 23rd Saturday, completing 33 of 201 laps before exitingdue to a mechanical failure.
• The Newman/Haas Racing Team appeared in its 300th CART event atSaturday's Firestone Firehawk 500. The Newman/Haas team, co-owned by CarlHaas and Academy Award-winning actor Paul Newman, debuted in the 1983 CARTseason opener at Atlanta, with Mario Andretti behind the wheel. In theinterim, the team has recorded 59 race victories and 62 pole positions -ranking second in CART history in both categories - and has won threedriving championships, with Mario Andretti (1984), Michael Andretti (1991)and Nigel Mansell (1993). "Eighteen years, so many highlights that it's hardto single out any one special," Newman said of the milestone, "but certainlyamongst them [are] Mario's first win in 1983; our first championship in1984; creating the first father/son team with Mario and Michael; Michael'sfirst championship [1991]; enlisting Formula One champion Nigel Mansell todrive for us ... they're all memorable moments and in total anaccomplishment equaled by very few teams. The cohesiveness of theNewman/Haas group and the loyalty of everyone to the team has been touchingand rewarding. The fact that Carl actually gave me a cigar once is probablythe highlight of all those years. Of course, he took it back before I smokedit, but still it did not completely eliminate the exhilaration of themoment."
• Helio Castroneves (Marlboro Honda Reynard) scored championshippoints for the 11th time in his past 12 FedEx Championship Series startswith his runner-up performance. Included are victories at Mid-Ohio andLaguna Seca last season and Long Beach this season. By finishing second,earning the pole position and leading the most laps, Castroneves scored 18championship points this weekend, one fewer than he scored on ovals duringthe entire 2000 FedEx Championship Series campaign.
• Tony Kanaan (Hollywood Honda Reynard) has led a combined 104 laps inhis past two FedEx Championship Series starts on ovals. He led 64 atNazareth and 40 Saturday.
• Helio Castroneves' runner-up performance allowed Honda to move intoa tie with Toyota for the lead in the CART Manufacturer's Championship.Honda and Toyota have 70 points each, followed by Ford Cosworth, whichcapitalized on Brack's victory to move to 52. Toyota's top finish Saturdaycame from Christian Fittipaldi, who finished fourth.
• Christian Fittipaldi's fourth-place finish allowed him to extend arun that has seen him score championship points in 18 of his last 19 FedExChampionship Series starts on ovals, dating to a seventh-place finish in the1998 season finale at California Speedway. Included is a victory in the 2000FedEx Championship Series season finale, also at California Speedway.
• Scott Dixon (Powerware Panasonic PacWest Toyota) of the PacWestRacing Group finished ninth Saturday to add to his lead in the Jim TruemanRookie of the Year race. Dixon, who became the youngest race winner in CARThistory with his victory at Nazareth at age 20 years, nine months and 14days, holds a 24-11 lead over Bruno Junqueira (Target Toyota Lola) of TargetChip Ganassi Racing in the race for the rookie award. Dixon has led laps inthree of his first four FedEx Championship Series starts, including 14 atMexico, 36 at Nazareth and one Saturday.
• In addition to Tony Kanaan's third-place finish, the second-year MoNunn Racing team also received a points-paying performance from two-timeFedEx Championship Series champion Alex Zanardi (Pioneer Honda Reynard), whofinished seventh. It marked Zanardi's first scoring performance since hisreturn to the series from a two-year absence following his back-to-backtitle winning seasons of 1997-98.
• Shinji Nakano (Avex/Alpine Honda Reynard) delighted the home crowdwith an eighth-place finish, matching a career-best established at Homesteadlast year. The five championship points scored by Nakano are the first inthe history of newly formed Fernandez Racing.

WHAT'S NEXT

The FedEx Championship Series continues with Round 6, the Miller Lite 225,on Sunday, June 3, at The Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wis.