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INDY PRO SERIES: KENTUCKY 100

August 13, 2006

SPARTA, KENTUCKY

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by third place finisher Wade Cunningham. Previous to this season, Wade has a win and two seconds, today a third place finish. Tell us about your run out there, Wade.
WADE CUNNINGHAM: I think we had the strongest car this weekend. It showed, we dominated the race. We're always going to get passed. You can't race at a track like this and stay in the lead the entire time. I knew the challenge was coming. It did. Yellow straightaway.
I got a really good restart. I was going for the lead straightaway again. You know, Jay Howard and his car didn't want any of that. (Indiscernible) turn two, he cut my tire. I had a flat tire the last few laps. Really couldn't do much. I really struggled that last lap. It was completely flat. The car was turning left the whole time. I wasn't sure whether I was going to make that one lap. Came away with third, which is good for prize money, but normally I feel like we would have had the victory today if that hadn't happened.
THE MODERATOR: Wade, at point 0190 seconds, closest finish in Indy Pro Series history, the closest finish in Kentucky Speedway history. Pretty tight out there those last few laps. If you want to touch on that for us.
WADE CUNNINGHAM: The field is close. Speedway Engines has done a good job with the engines this year, it showed with the racing. There's a big pack at the end of nearly the entire field.
You know, the racing was good. But I extended courtesy to the other drivers at the front and I didn't get back at the end. That ended our day, which is bad for the team and bad for me.
THE MODERATOR: Wade, two weekends remaining in the season, three races, looking ahead to Infineon and Chicago, any thoughts on that front?
WADE CUNNINGHAM: We're just taking it race by race, going for wins. We're well out of the points championship. You know, we just go weekend to weekend. We take the prize money, look for race wins, which are pretty good. Disappointed not to win here. But we've got three more races, like you said. We'll keep going and we'll be there at the end.
THE MODERATOR: Any questions for Wade?

Q. (No microphone.)
WADE CUNNINGHAM: Yeah, no, when (indiscernible) was leading, he drove in his mirrors, he drove up the track a lot. I tried to set an example when I was in the front, not doing that, holding my line. I think I did a good job at that. I spoke to the spotters on the radio before the restart and said, Hey, can you make sure he holds his line this time. He didn't. He just drove into me again. That ended my race.
THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Wade? Wade, thank you very much. We'll see you at Infineon.
WADE CUNNINGHAM: Thanks a lot.
THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by second place finisher Jonathan Klein. Jonathan had three straight third place finishes. This is a career best second place. Can you talk about your day.
JONATHAN KLEIN: It was a wild day really. My car in qualifying was pristine. Couldn't ask anything more from the boys. You know, it's always hard to predict what's going to happen in the race with conditions. The car was a bit of a handful, a lot of oversteer.
Just kind of stayed fairly patient. You know, I had more than a few close calls. Just stayed patient, stayed calm. At the end of the race, we were there.
THE MODERATOR: Jonathan, we mentioned while Wade was in here a point 0190, second closest finish in Indy Pro Series history. Can you talk about that finish.
JONATHAN KLEIN: Yeah, coming for the white flag lap, going into turn one, I got inside of Jay, came out of two in the lead. I thought that we were going to have it done. You know, if the other team does a good job (indiscernible) give all of us pretty good cars. He was able to just eke by me at the start/finish line on the outside. But that's the way it goes. Rather be beat by my teammate than someone else.
THE MODERATOR: With your finish today, you move into second place in the points standings. Two weekends, three races left in the season. Talk about the next couple of weeks, if you would.
JONATHAN KLEIN: Well, it's going to be wild. Sonoma is going to be a big weekend. That's going to be a very tough weekend. Wilson is right behind me in points, as is Jaime, I think. It's going to be a struggle. Everybody is going to be fast. All the top runners are going to be quick. It's going to be a dogfight till the end of the season, I think.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Jonathan.

Q. You got the lead in the backstretch. Did you think you would be able to keep it till the finish there?
JONATHAN KLEIN: I thought I was going to be able to. Had it gone by may, I would have been able to run through three and four a bit higher. We were three-wide, as it was, so I was all the way on the bottom of the track. Had nowhere to go. Pinched my car down a little bit. Wasn't able to wind up the motor coming to the start/finish like to take the checkered like I'd like.
For sure, I was looking good.
THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Jonathan? Congratulations. We'll see you in Infineon. We're joined by race winner Jay Howard, second win of the season. In fact, his second win in the past three races.
Jay, if you would walk us through your day out there.
JAY HOWARD: What can I say? Car was absolutely perfect. I think I drove a pretty good race as well. So, yeah, right from the start I got into the lead. I'm sorry, my mind's a bit blank after doing all these interviews. I'm a bit lost.
Yeah, I got into the lead at the start. Wade got back by me not sure how many laps into it. Basically from that point on, I just decided to be patient, keep all the other traffic behind me. Yeah, just played the waiting game.
You know, made a few adjustments on my car, tried running some different lines, make sure the car was good enough for me to make a move on Wade. I told the guys on the radio what I did. They were happy with that. I made my move, made it stick. I was confident no one was going to get back by.
Then obviously the yellow came out. Then on the restart, I got a pretty decent start. Again, getting up to speed, Wade running the outside of me. We touched a couple of times, but that's fine by me.
Yeah, and then I knew which line I needed to take. I just stuck to that line. Got it as straight as possible out of four and headed for the line. I got within about 150 yards of the line, and I knew we'd won.
Overall, a good day. Like I said to some of the other guys, I don't know what it was, but about two weeks prior to this race I just had this feeling it was going to be a really good weekend and I was going to win no matter what.
We went out for qualifying. You know, I was third. I would have liked to have been pole. I don't know what it was, I didn't care, I knew I was going to win. Not really had that feeling before. I know to believe it when I'm next feeling it.
THE MODERATOR: Jay, I don't know if you realize, it was the second closest finish in Indy Pro Series history. If you would take us down that last stretch there and all those cars around each other.
JAY HOWARD: Yeah, like I said, running down real tight to the white line, just killed the engine a little bit too much. Running real high for me was difficult. The car didn't like it. It was sliding around all over the place.
Right in the middle, about lane two to three, was perfect for the car, what I'd done to the car with the bars. You know, late on, the tires are worn out. You need to run a slightly higher line to keep your revs up. I did that.
I knew when Jonno was down low, he was going to struggle to keep the engine revs high enough to pull past me through the line. Like I said, I got out of four, just made sure I got out of the corner really good, got that steering wheel straight and prayed (laughter).
THE MODERATOR: Jay, you extend your points lead to 40 points with three races remaining in the season. Looking ahead to those three races, any sort of game plan? What are the next steps here to try to hold on to that championship point lead?
JAY HOWARD: Yeah, win every race. Yeah, I want to win five races. I'm not very happy I haven't won five races already this year. That's my focus. You know, there's always going to be -- with that lead being a little bit bigger, there's always going to be that little guy in the back of your head saying, "Championship, championship."
As far as I'm concerned, I'm here to win every race and prove to everyone what I'm capable and what Sam Schmidt's team is capable of. That's my focus, win every race. If I can't, as close to that as possible.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for Jay.

Q. Your thoughts and plans about potentially moving up to the IndyCar Series?
JAY HOWARD: It would be nice, that's for sure. I don't know. That's part of my manager's job. I'm sure there's a lot of interest or questions, you know, like you just asked, what I'm doing. We don't really know what I'm doing yet. I'm going to make the best possible choice with Sam to pick the best ride and hopefully go there and win some races in whichever championship I end up doing.
Like I said, IRL would be the exact place I'd like to be. We shall see.

Q. Wade was upset with you there at the end for bumping. Your comments on that?
JAY HOWARD: I haven't got any comments to be honest. It's racing. We were racing closely. That was it.
He was trying to run as close to me as possible. That's fine by me if we touch wheels. I reckon if he wants to winge about it, that's his problem, not mine. As far as I'm concerned, that's racing. We both finished and I won. If it was the other way around, he wouldn't be moaning.
THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Jay? All right, Jay, congratulations. We'll see you in Infineon.
JAY HOWARD: Thanks. Appreciate it.

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