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Sunday, July 29
Brack lands third career victory
ESPN.com news services
CICERO, Ill. -- Kenny Brack ended his two-race slump with a
victory in the Target Grand Prix on Sunday at Chicago Motor
Speedway.
After a pair of no-points finishes, the convincing win by Brack
moved him from a three-point lead over Dario Franchitti coming into
the race to a 22-point edge over Helio Castroneves, now second in
the CART series.
|  | | All of Kenny Brack's CART wins have come on ovals. |
Brack, CART's top rookie last year after moving over from the
rival Indy Racing League, was the strongest entry on the 1.039-mile
track most of the day and has yet to finish worse than fourth in a
CART race on a mile oval.
"TheTeam Rahal car is like a dream," said Brack, the former
IRL champion and Indianapolis 500 winner. "It's like stealing
candy from children with this car on one-mile ovals."
It was a strategic race for Brack, who made the 225-lap distance
with two well-placed pit stops and drove away with his third CART
victory -- all this season. Patrick Carpentier, last week's winner
in Michigan, wound up second, 4.48 seconds -- a full straightaway --
behind Brack.
There was little passing on the one-groove track, but Brack made
the winning move on a restart on lap 122, slipping below
Castroneves to take the lead after the Brazilian driver was held up
by the lapped car of Max Papis, Brack's teammate.
To get the tough pass done, Brack had to put two tires below the
white line at the inside edge of the track and onto the green
apron. CART officials had told the drivers prior to the race that
only two wheels would be allowed in the painted area.
"CART told us what we could do and I practiced that move this
morning," Brack said, smiling.
He slipped back into the pack for a while after his second pit
stop as several drivers, including Franchitti, made early pit stops
on lap 118 during the caution period, hoping to stay out front late
in the race with quick splash-and-go stops.
The strategy didn't work for any of them. Franchitti, who might
have had a chance of making it work, made a very quick stop on lap
181 but saw his hopes dashed when CART penalized him a stop-and-go
on the next lap for speeding as he left the pit lane. He wound up
15th and fell to third in the standings, 23 points behind Brack.
Gil de Ferran, last year's champion, finished third, followed by
rookie Scott Dixon, Memo Gidley, Alex Tagliani and Castroneves.
Pole-winner Tony Kanaan and his teammate, Alex Zanardi, were eighth
and ninth after running among the leaders earlier in the day.
It was a brutally humid day that made racing harder for the
drivers and helped keep the crowd to a three-year low of about
40,000.
There were only two caution flags in the race, one brought out
by a harmless spin by Michel Jourdain Jr. on lap 113, and the other
another non-contact spin by Mauricio Gugelmin on lap 201.
Brack made his final pit stop on lap 151 and fell all the way to
12th. As the drivers who had pitted earlier made their stops,
though, the Swedish driver moved steadily toward the front.
He finally retook the lead for good when Dixon and Tagliani made
their last pit stops on lap 207, during the caution following
Gugelmin's accident
The green flag waved again on lap 212 and Brack's Ford-powered
Lola shot out to a big lead as the drivers in the next four
positions battled side-by-side. Gidley got caught behind teammate
Bruno Junqueira's lapped car and wound up slipping from second to
fifth as Brack simply drove away.
After just one lap under green, Brack held a 4.331-second edge
over Carpentier, who was never able to mount a challenge. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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Target Grand Prix results | | | | 
Target GP of Chicago
Kenny Brack comes cruising through Turn 4 and captures the checkered flag (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
avi: 2802 k
Real: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Target GP of Chicago
Kenny Brack goes below the white line to pass Helio Castroneves for the lead (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
avi: 938 k
Real: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Target GP of Chicago
ESPN's Robin Miller talks with points leader Kenny Brack following his victory at Chicago Motor Speedway.
Real: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
One-mile wonder
With his car in check, it was like "stealing candy from children" for Kenny Brack (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
wav: 312 k
Real: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
The pits
Patrick Carpentier claims second place thanks to successful pit strategy (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
wav: 164 k
Real: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Changing places
Gil de Ferran's crew worked overtime to get the Marlboro car in top shape (Courtesy: ABC Sports).
wav: 249 k
Real: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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