Catchfence

Newman / Haas Racing

Kentucky Indy 300 – Kentucky Speedway

RACE NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, September 4, 2010

Hideki Mutoh, No. 06 Formula Dream / Panasonic Dallara / Honda / Firestone: “It was a tough race; I struggled at the beginning again and lost many positions. We made a big change overnight. I trust the team on the change but I needed time to adapt to the new balance. It took me a while to get the right balance with the tools inside the car. On the second pit stop we adjusted the front wing and it was a good change.

After that I was able to work on the car even more with my tools and I think the balance was pretty good but unfortunately we were one lap down so I let the top guys by. Seventeenth place was not what we were expecting but at least we finished the race and we have data to check to improve on for Motegi. I’m looking forward to racing at home again.”

· FAST FACTS: Was his third IICS event here and fourth overall. He qualified fifth and finished 17th…In 2007, he won the Firestone Indy Lights race here from pole after leading 66 / 67 laps. The win was one of two that season en route to a runner-up finish in the series to Alex Lloyd. In 2008, he started 4th and retired in 18th place due to mechanical failure. In 2009 he started 11th based on point standings due to “weepers” and finished 13th…His highest overall series start is THIRD at Nashville Speedway (oval) and best overall series finish is SECOND (Iowa 2008).

THIRD EVENT FOR TEAM AT KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY: In 2008 Graham Rahal started 20th and ran as high as 12th in the opening laps before gearbox failure ended his race after 28/200 laps and he retired in 25th. Justin Wilson started 19th and ran 16th before gearbox failure after 82/200 laps.

In 2009, Rahal started 10th based on entrant points due to “weepers” but hoped to qualify much higher based on winning pole at similar track (Kansas; previous 1.5 mile track). He finished fifth in what he called “his best car on an oval ever” at the time. Robert Doornbos started 12th based on points and finished 19th after a pit problem.

Next Up — Japan… The series will take next weekend off while the racing equipment is transported to Tokyo, Japan and on to the 1.5-mile oval at Twin Ring Motegi. Graham Rahal qualified fifth and finished third in Japan last year while Oriol Servia qualified seventh and finished fourth for the team. It will be Hideki’s first race there with NHR and third overall. In 2008 he qualified ninth and finished 11th and in 2009 he crashed during qualifying and started 22nd and finished 14th. In total the team has earned 1 WIN (Mi. Andretti 2000), and 3 PODIUMS (3rd- Rahal 2009, Fittipaldi 1999) in SIX races here.

- Newman / Haas Racing Press Release