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Sunday, August 12
Papis draws Rahal's ire for wreck
Associated Press


	Brack


	Papis

LEXINGTON, Ohio -- Team owner Bobby Rahal said Max Papis never should have tried to pass teammate Kenny Brack on the 30th lap of Sunday's CART Miller Lite 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

The attempt failed, with Papis crashing into the side of Brack's car, sending Brack spinning into a tire barrier in the area of the track known as the "esses" because of its S-curves.

"I was on my 'in' lap for the pits and I never saw him (Papis)," Brack said. "I don't know what happened."

Papis made it back to the pits, but left the race because of a broken left front wheel.

Brack continued on after safety workers got his car restarted, but by that point he had lost three laps. He never was a factor in the race, finishing 20th.

Brack went into the event with a 22-point lead in the driver standings over second-place Helio Castroneves, but lost all but one point of his advantage. Castroneves picked up 20 points for winning and one point for leading the most laps.

It's the second time this year that Brack and Papis have been in an accident with each other. The two were battling Bryan Herta for the lead late in the Michigan 500 when their cars touched, sending both off the track and out of the race.

"I don't know what he (Papis) was thinking," Rahal said of Sunday's crash. "It is a wasted opportunity. ... You would expect a different behavior from a veteran like Max. I guess he thought he could pass him. Unfortunately, he couldn't and it took out the championship leader. For a teammate to do it is inexcusable."

Rahal's unhappiness could mean Papis' future with Team Rahal is in jeopardy. Papis is in the third and final year of his contract with the team. Brack's contract also expires at the end of this season, his second with Rahal.

"Kenny went wide at the previous corner and he was wide again at the next one," Papis said. "He left me an opening for that corner. I thought he was letting me past, but then he turned into the corner. I was very surprised.

"This isn't something we thought could happen again. I'm sorry for Team Rahal."

Successful strategy
Oriol Servia started last among the 26 drivers, but was in first place for 11 laps and finished ninth.

Servia was the lone driver who stayed on the track while everyone else made pit stops during a caution period after Adrian Fernandez went into a tire barrier on the 51st lap.

Servia didn't go in until the 66th lap. He hadn't made his first stop until lap 32, several laps after the leaders, so he knew he had enough fuel to keep him on track during the five-lap caution period and beyond.

"We just saved a lot of fuel and it worked to our advantage when we got the yellow (caution flag)," he said. From there we just raced 100 percent and it was great. The car was fast and worked well and the pit stops were fantastic."

Disappointed Andretti
The first driver out of the race was Michael Andretti, who has won at Mid-Ohio twice. It was his worst finish in 17 races at the track.

Andretti and Alex Zanardi nearly made contact on the second lap and he left four laps later when his engine started smoking.

"I knew something was wrong when I first got into the throttle," he said.

"I felt like the car was injured right from the start. Zanardi and I didn't touch, but I was down on power going around the corner and I just got pushed off. I don't think that incident with Alex had anything to do with the problem that took me out of the race."

Early birthday
Patrick Carpentier got to celebrate his 30th birthday a day early with a third-place finish that enabled him to make it to the podium and spray champagne.

Teammate Alex Tagliani also got in on the celebration by giving Carpentier, whose birthday is Monday, a pie in the face after the morning practice.

"Right now I've still got pie in places you don't want to know," Carpentier said after the race.

Judd joins crew
Dario Franchitti's pit crew had a new member -- his girfriend, actress Ashley Judd. She was holding the sign indicating Franchitti's position on the track and distance behind the leader throughout the race.

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