Birmingham: Lexus preview

AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME....
LEXUS PREPARES FOR FINAL FOUR G-A RACES WITH SLIM TITLE LEAD

TORRANCE, Calif. (July 26, 2006) -- With the finish line in sight, Lexus heads to Birmingham, Ala., for this weekend's Barber 250 at Barber Motorsports Park holding a tumultuous six-point lead in hand as the series begins a stretch of four-races-in-six weeks to close out the 2006 Rolex Sports Car Series schedule.

The manufacturer will once again power three cars, led by the Ganassi Racing duo of Scott Pruett and Luis Diaz in the #01 CompUSA Lexus/Riley. To date, the pairing has earned three victories and seven top-three finishes this season as they enter this weekend's action in second-place in the series Driver's Championship. Pruett is the winningest driver in Daytona Prototype history with 10 victories -- all coming with Ganassi Racing, which has earned 11 of Lexus' 12 Rolex Series race triumphs.

The Ganassi entry is joined by a pair of cars from the Michael Shank Racing stable. Oswaldo Negri and Mark Patterson will team in the #60 Flight Options Lexus-Riley, while Mike Borkowski and Tommy Constantine partner in the #6 Playboy Racing/Mears Motor Coach Lexus. The Shank team has six top-five showings to its credit, including a pair of second-place finishes -- one coming at the prestigious Rolex 24 at Daytona. Patterson currently ranks ninth in the title chase.

There will be one new factor involved in this weekend's action as Lexus debuts its new 5.0-liter engine, similar to those generally used throughout the series, in hopes of generating better fuel mileage amongst its gains.

With four wins this season, Lexus-powered entries have now won 12 races and 18 pole positions in 36 Rolex Series events since entering the series in 2004.

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