CART FEDEX CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: THE 500

November 2, 2002

Cristiano da Matta

Bruno Junqueira

Tony Kanaan

CRISTIANO DA MATTA: Yeah, it's good to be with these two guys here again like we were in Australia. But I prefer the arrangements we had in Australia with me in the middle. Of course, it's a 500-mile race. The important thing is to have a consistent car for the race. Qualifying is always important, qualifying up front, because at least from the start you are already clear from the rest of the pack. I mean, third is not too bad at all. Third is a pretty good place to start here. I mean, we had a good run. The car is performing well. The engine is good. I think for the race, it will be quite strong tomorrow.

BRUNO JUNQUEIRA: The car was very good in qualifying. We struggled a lot yesterday. We improved a little bit today. Qualifying, the car was really good. It was really difficult to drive. But I'm quite pleased to start second. I wasn't expecting. Maybe top five. With just Tony left, I started to hope a little bit, maybe I could get a pole. But Tony was really fast all weekend, and he got the pole. I hope I can get the race.

TONY KANAAN: To begin with, it was a payback. Remember Japan?

CRISTIANO DA MATTA: I remember something from Japan. I was watching these two guys. You know, Tony was on pole in Japan. He gets out of the car, congratulates everybody. Then Bruno goes out, he's like watching. Bruno goes by the start/finish line, improves his time. Today I saw the other side of the situation. Bruno got out of the car, "Yeah!" Tony goes out and he's like, "Yeah." It's funny to see how both were reacting.

BRUNO JUNQUEIRA: It's between friends. It's okay.

TONY KANAAN: What can I say? I can't complain much about my car. We knew we had a good car. Obviously, I got a huge draft this morning. But I did a run by myself, and you did a 232.3 this morning. When you have some cars around the track, sometimes you draft even if you don't have anybody in front of you. I knew I could do a high 231. Obviously, my first lap was a 232. I just cruised in the second lap. I enjoyed my ride.

CRISTIANO DA MATTA: 231.3.

TONY KANAAN: Exactly (laughter).

BRUNO JUNQUEIRA: I didn't want to make you look bad, so I did two laps (laughter).

TONY KANAAN: It feels good, that's it. Doesn't help anything. By turn one, I think I'll be third or fourth. By turn three, I'll be first again. It's going to be like that all the race. It's the only race you don't have the advantage to start on the pole. But I'll take the pole because it feel goods to have clean air. After the last weekend that I couldn't see anything behind these two guys, it's good to have clean air. I would say it just feels good. But the race, you're going to see a lot of passing. It's open for everybody. Anybody can win.

BRUNO JUNQUEIRA: I think Tony is so fast, that I don't know. There's going to be some passing, but not as last year.

TONY KANAAN: I think it's going to be a lot of passing, for sure. People are going to try to take care of each other a little bit more. Last year it kind of got crazy in the middle of the race. I don't want to predict anything, but I think definitely you're still going to see a lot of lead changes. Nobody wants to lead, that's the thing. Last year I had a problem. I was going up in the front. My guys are yelling at me on the radio to go back in the back. I'm like, "What's the deal?" Obviously, you want to try to save your engine, save a little bit of fuel. The stints here are just 33 laps. They designate the pit stops. I think it's going to be a little bit easier. They're not going to try to stop early unless they have a problem. Otherwise, you're going to go all the way to 33.

CRISTIANO DA MATTA: Well, I think it's going to be very similar to last year, too. Last year we had the problem like nobody wanted to lead because of fuel economy and of course because of the engine durability, too. This year, we only have the engine durability part. The fuel economy, nobody has to really worry about it. But still I don't think many guys are going to be leading, especially early in the race. I mean, you want to be in the front of the pack, but not leading.

TONY KANAAN: I would say it's not difficult. Especially, a speedway it's easier. I think if it were a mile oval, it would feel more. The superspeedway, it's so big, you have the time to get used to it. You start everything, you have a lot of patience. The weekend flows by because you're not in a hurry. It's a race that you see everybody is really calm before the race because nobody's trying hard enough, because qualifying is not that important. The transition, it's definitely a little bit, but I couldn't feel the difference between Australia and here. I would say if it was a mile oval, yeah, I would feel a lot more.

TONY KANAAN: Let's not even talk about last weekend because it's not worth it. But I think there is no transition. It's mentally this race is a lot tougher. I would say probably it's the same as last weekend because last weekend was tough, just on the mental side. I needed a blanket in my car because it was freezing. Mentally, it's the most stressful race for me, here at least. Physically it's okay. It's an oval. Mentally, you have to pay a lot of attention, you're running so close to each other that you can't just joke around. Especially when you have too many cars around, sometimes your car does something that you're not expecting it to. You have a tendency to be a little bit more tense, grasp the steering wheel a little harder. You have to pace yourself to relax during the race.

BRUNO JUNQUEIRA: Because if you save fuel, when you come in, you put less fuel in. You make a quicker pit stop. Again, having said that, pit stops here, if you lose two seconds, you're out on the track in the pack again, you're going to be in the front again. Honestly, you may be right. We maybe wanted to run in the front a little bit more because doesn't matter how long is your pit stop, as long as you're in the pack, you can still be in the front. You have to worry about having a good car and setting up your car for the last pit stop.

CRISTIANO DA MATTA: Not only saving fuel, but why you're going to lead? The same question goes the other way. Why you going to lead? You are just going to be in front of everybody, putting stress on the engine because you're not lifting as much. You're not going to pull away, you know that.

BRUNO JUNQUEIRA: You can stop on the pit stop and come first to 15th with two or three more seconds on fuel than the other guys. Then if you go to the back of the pack, it's better to run second or third than go back to the pack.