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INDY PRO SERIES: CARNEROS 100

August 26, 2006

SONOMA, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started. We are joined by Alex Lloyd, second place finisher today in the Sonoma 100. Alex drives for AFS Racing. This is his third top-three finish on a road or street course this year. It is his first visit to Infineon Raceway. It is his fourth top-five finish of the year, and he entered the race weekend ninth in points.
Alex, again, first time you have ever even seen the course getting here this weekend. It had to be a challenge for you, but obviously looking at your three top-three finishes on the road and street courses, something you've been looking forward to.
ALEX LLOYD: Yeah, absolutely. You know, road courses, I've always done. We've got a good car on the road courses. On the ovals, I think we've been struggling a little bit with the car. But on the road courses, we've got a good car and can you really make up something with the driving as well.
It's a type of race that I'm used to, enjoy. Obviously, this is one of the tracks I enjoy as well. It's difficult one to learn. Certainly with the ups and downs, it makes it very challenging.
But, you know, generally an enjoyable, good day, you know, and a decent result.
THE MODERATOR: How tough was Wade up there? He had a strong race, didn't he?
ALEX LLOYD: Yeah, he was. I mean, it was difficult. This is one of those tracks. It's always going to be whoever gets into the first corner first is really going to win unless there's a mistake. We knew that in qualifying. I was a little bit disappointed yesterday.
I thought we had a good enough car to be on the pole. We had it really most of the day, and Wade put in a really quick lap at the end, which we couldn't match, got stuck in traffic and whatnot.
From then on I knew overnight it was going to be tough if I couldn't get into the first corner first. But we had probably the best car today, I think. We had a really quick car. I could just glue myself to Wade's gearbox.
You know, unfortunately, unless he makes a mistake, which all fairness to him he didn't make any mistakes, that's as good as you can do really. You can just push as hard as you can, try for the mistake. It didn't come, so second was the best we could do.
THE MODERATOR: Tell me a little bit about looking forward to tomorrow. What can we expect? More of the same? Some thoughts on changes you might make?
ALEX LLOYD: We're going to make a couple of changes, I think. Generally we had a really good car and a good day. But, you know, it's going to be a tough one again. We're starting fifth on the grid, I think. You know, with how hard it is to overtake, it's going to make life very difficult.
But, you know, there's nothing to lose tomorrow. Everybody, I'm sure, got it in their mind a little bit today that you've got to finish. If you don't finish, then you're starting at the back for tomorrow. I'm sure everybody's got that little bit of caution they're thinking about.
But tomorrow that's all gone, especially for me, who is not in the fight for the championship. I'll be giving it everything. If I get a chance to get close enough, I'll try and put my nose in and see what we can do.
THE MODERATOR: We're also joined by third-place finisher Nick Bussell with Cheever Racing. Nick was, again, our third-place finisher. I belive it was his best finish this season since his second-place effort at Homestead. Nick also placed fourth in the race last year at Infineon Raceway.
How did things go for you today, and what can we expect for tomorrow from you?
NICK BUSSELL: Things went pretty good considering we've struggled up until this point in the season. We've turned some things around with the development of the car. It think it showed today. We were able to run there with the leaders.
Like Alex talked about, I don't think we really could have made a pass on any of the front two unless somebody made a mistake or went off. Neither one of them really did. We were all driving pretty hard. It was going to be real difficult to pass.
THE MODERATOR: The challenge to the road course, you guys both enjoy the racing here?
NICK BUSSELL: Yeah, almost all of us have come from road racing background. We're now getting our high-speed oval experience in the series. We all, I think, pretty much enjoy - I know I do. I like Infineon. I say that it's probably my favorite of the road courses of our season. Definitely challenging and physical. There's a lot of places to make mistakes. I enjoy this place.
I improved on my finish last year from fourth to third. See what we could do tomorrow. We'll be starting third again. We'll see if we can get around those guys up front and see what happens.

Q. Alex, you missed about a month because of an illness. Did the temperatures and I guess the nature of this course affect you at all?
ALEX LLOYD: No, it's fine. Yeah, unfortunately I had to miss a couple of races. We got back into a position where I was fit enough to race. It's no problem at the moment. Back to a hundred percent. Can race as hard as anything.

Q. You did finish second. You look like you had a heck of a duel going the whole day. How much enjoyment do you get out of having a good race for second?
ALEX LLOYD: Well, what's always good is when you come out of a race, you know, you finish second. You can come out and say, We gave it everything. We didn't make any mistakes. We were really quick. Restarts were good. Start was good. We gave it everything we could.
It was a good, fun, clean duel where I was pushing as hard as I could. You know, it's always fun when you come out and know that you couldn't have done any more. Second place, in that respect, is a good result because, you know, that was as good as we could do today.
THE MODERATOR: Guys, thanks so much. Congratulations. Good luck tomorrow.
We'll now call up Wade Cunningham, winner of today's race. Some stats on Wade. He is the 2005 Indy Pro Series champion. This is his second win of the year and his third career victory. It is his first victory on a road or street course.
Wade placed second at Infineon Raceway in last year's inaugural race here.
Wade, your colleagues there were commenting on just how strong a car you had and how strong a lead you had going into turn one and you never relinquished it. Talk a little bit about your run.
WADE CUNNINGHAM: Funny, Alex was talking about giving it everything you had. That's exactly what I had to do today to keep everyone behind me.
Stats never tell the true story. It was one of the toughest races of the year. I'd say that was tougher than Indy because of the nature of the road course, the penchant, how easy it is to make mistakes. So to come away with the win, the last two laps I didn't make any mistakes. I think that's where we kept the end. Five laps away I dropped the end I dropped a wheel coming out of the bus stop under acceleration. Alex got very, very close.
But we had a strong car on power down today, and that was probably the most important part of the race for me.
THE MODERATOR: Anything you learned from today that you can take into tomorrow about your team or the guys chasing you?
WADE CUNNINGHAM: Yeah, we're going to have to be in front of them before the first corner. I honestly believe Alex had a slightly quicker car today. We were quicker than Nick, but Alex was very, very strong. So if he gets in front before us, he's going to be very, very hard to chase down and pass.
But there were three full-course yellows today. Who knows what's going to happen tomorrow. Maybe more with the reverse grid. So it's going to be interesting, for sure, come the first few laps.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You didn't get the results out of the first two road course events, St. Pete and Indianapolis. How satisfying is it to finally get your second Pro Series win, first on a road course?
WADE CUNNINGHAM: It's kind of funny because I came to America to race ovals because the Indy 500 is obviously the crown jewel of American racing. That's the decision I made. My two wins so far had come on ovals. I started to wonder whether I was going to turn into an oval specialist being in America.
That hasn't happened. I was still strong on the road courses. We led the majority of laps at Watkins, but we just didn't win.
It's satisfying to get the win on the road course, but it's by no means more satisfying than any oval win that I've had so far.

Q. Do you think you're going to be able to pick up a decent number of (indiscernible) tomorrow?
WADE CUNNINGHAM: Yeah, I think Alex and I are quite a bit quicker than the rest of the field. Nick improved a lot. I could see he was still, you know, in the frame in my mirrors today, which was a little bit surprising, seeing how much quicker Alex and I have been all weekend.
For sure, us three are quite clear of the field. So I imagine we should be able to cut through, and then whoever gets to the lead first I think is probably going to win the race.

Q. Did the two lap cars give you any problems?
WADE CUNNINGHAM: No, they just a couple of times allowed Alex to close up, the just the nature of when I closed on him. They were courteous. You know, we didn't have any major problems.
THE MODERATOR: Great. Wade, thanks so much. Congratulations. Good luck tomorrow.
WADE CUNNINGHAM: Thanks.

End of FastScripts...

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