IndyCar

IRL: Texas II: Team Penske pit notes

Marlboro Team Penske Pit Notes October 12, 2004 MARLBORO TEAM PENSKE LOOKS TO THE FINAL RACE OF THE YEAR Marlboro Team Penske will join the rest of the Indy Racing League (IRL) IndyCar SeriesÂ® this weekend in the Lone Star State for the ...

Edited: Mar 27, 2008, 5:32 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Marlboro Team Penske Pit Notes
October 12, 2004

MARLBORO TEAM PENSKE LOOKS TO THE FINAL RACE OF THE YEAR

Marlboro Team Penske will join the rest of the Indy Racing League (IRL) IndyCar Series® this weekend in the Lone Star State for the season-ending Chevy 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, October 17th.

2001 & 2002 Series Champion Sam Hornish Jr. will be searching for his third victory at the 1.5-mile oval as he won the season-ending race in both 2002 and 2001. In addition, Hornish Jr. has led 214 of the 1440 laps he's run at Texas Motor Speedway (15%). Rest assured the 25 year-old Defiance, OH native will be looking to secure "bookend" victories for the year after scoring his first win in 2004 at the season-opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

"I'm really looking forward to going back to Texas for the season finale," said Hornish Jr. "It's the last time we'll end the year at Texas Motor Speedway, so everyone will be gunning for the win. Texas had always been a good place for me until last year when I finished 17th. Hopefully we'll be able to turn our luck around this year and be competitive enough to bring the Marlboro Team Penske car home in the top-three. It would be good to finish the season strong and end on a high note and ideally move ourselves up in the final point standings. The fans are definitely in for a great show as they'll be able to see some close wheel-to-wheel racing to close the year out."

Marlboro Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves heads to Texas in search of his first victory of 2004. Castroneves' best finish at Texas Motor Speedway came in 2002 when he finished second as he battled Hornish Jr. for the IndyCar Series Championship, but came up short as his current teammate won the race and clinched the title (Castroneves' 511 points finished second to Hornish Jr.'s 531 points). In addition, if Castroneves can turn the fastest qualifying lap this Friday he will tie Billy Boat's record of four consecutive IndyCar Series poles (set in 1998).

"The high banking at Texas Motor Speedway always makes for exciting wheel-to-wheel action for the fans as well as the drivers," said Castroneves. "This weekend's race should be a great show. I'd love to get my first win of the season and end the year on a high note for Marlboro Team Penske. The Championship is already wrapped up so everyone is going out there to have fun and try to win the last event of the year."

CASTRONEVES TO PRESENT AT THE HORIZON AWARDS

Marlboro Team Penske driver Helio Castroneves will be presenting at the 4th Annual Horizon Awards on November 5th in Atlanta. The Horizon Awards recognize the accomplishments of the thought-leaders and innovators from the sports industry. The event brings together more than 700 executives, celebrities and athletes as they celebrate the convergence of sports and business.

The 4th Annual Horizon Awards will be held in conjunction with the 2004 TOUR Championship in Atlanta and will take place Friday, November 5, 2004 at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel.

CASTRONEVES TO BE FEATURED ON WE NETWORK

2001 & 2002 Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves was in his hometown of Miami last week to tape a segment for the WE: Women's Entertainment Network's "Young, Sexy &..." series. Each of the eight episodes will focus on a different genre of young and sexy men who are up and comers in their respective arenas. Viewers will get an insider's look into the lifestyles, social circles, careers and public personas of the world's hottest rising stars including those from the world of music, cooking and sports.

Castroneves will be featured in the "Young, Sexy & Sporty" show that will highlight the new crop of rising athletes. During the segment, viewers will gain insight into the 29 year-old Brazilian's lifestyle, ambitions, career as a top racecar driver and a behind-the-scenes look at his new home in Coral Gables, FL.

The "Young, Sexy & Sporty" episode is scheduled to air on the WE: Women's Entertainment Network in mid-January.

CASTRONEVES WINS MARLBORO LAP LEADER AWARD

Marlboro Team Penske driver Helio Castroneves led the most laps for the third time this season at the Toyota Indy 400 at California Speedway. Castroneves led six times for a total of 145 of the 200 laps run and earned three extra Championship points. He currently sits in fifth place in the IRL Championship point standings with 408 points. Castroneves will be presented with his third Marlboro Lap Leader Award check for $7,500 during the pre-race ceremonies this Sunday at the Chevy 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

In addition, Jerry Baker of the IRL Radio Network was the winner of the Marlboro Lap Leader Award Media Contest. During each IRL event, journalists have the opportunity to enter an on-site contest to predict who will lead the most laps, and how many that driver will lead, in a given race. Baker, who guessed that Castroneves would lead 125 of the scheduled 200 laps in the race, won a MOMO Design Essenziale Watch.

-mtp-

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article CHAMPCAR/CART: Rookie-of-the-Year contendors shine

Next article IPS: IRL: Indy Racing League notebook 2004-10-11

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Winners and losers from MotoGP’s contentious Qatar Grand Prix

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

9 min

Winners and losers from MotoGP’s contentious Qatar Grand Prix

Five things we learned at MotoGP's controversial Qatar Grand Prix

MotoGP

Qatar GP

Five things we learned at MotoGP's controversial Qatar Grand Prix

Who slept worst last night: Fernando Alonso

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

1 h

Who slept worst last night: Fernando Alonso

Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

1 h

Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed

Feature

Discover prime content

How Spanish engineering and Alex Palou brought IndyCar to Barcelona

Feature

IndyCar

Feature

IndyCar

By Joey Barnes

How Spanish engineering and Alex Palou brought IndyCar to Barcelona

Inside AJ Foyt Racing’s transition: Hauger’s arrival, Ferrucci’s future, and the Pierson waiting game

Feature

IndyCar

Feature

IndyCar

By Joey Barnes

Inside AJ Foyt Racing’s transition: Hauger’s arrival, Ferrucci’s future, and the Pierson waiting game

You Ask The Questions: David Malukas

IndyCar

By Joey Barnes

You Ask The Questions: David Malukas

Top 10 Ganassi IndyCar drivers of all time

IndyCar

By John Oreovicz

Top 10 Ganassi IndyCar drivers of all time

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts