Texas: Conquest Racing preview

Conquest Racing Returns to Texas with 2009 Indy 500 Chase Rookie of the Year

TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY PRE-RACE NEWS & NOTES

Momentum Builder
Conquest Racing and Alex Tagliani are heading to Texas this week looking to build on their Indy 500 performance registered a couple of weeks ago. The team put in a strong run starting from the back of the field to gain 22 spots and finish 11th in their first oval race of the season. Thanks to his performance, Tagliani also took home Indy 500 Rookie of the Year honors.

Returning Partners
A few of Conquest Racing's partners from Indy will be making the trip to Texas. Northlands and their premier event, the Rexall Edmonton Indy that takes place July 24 - 26, will be featured on Tagliani's car as well as Lifelock and TDS. The TDS logo will once again be prominent on the front wing. Finally the golden mask of King Tut will still be sitting high on the cockpit of the #34 Rexall Edmonton Indy car. The King Tut exhibit opens at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis on June 27.

Texas Stats
The team will be making its fifth start this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway and its 53rd start overall in the IndyCar Series. Conquest Racing's best start at the superspeedway came in 2002 with a fourth place on the grid by Laurent Redon. The Frenchman also scored the team's best finish the previous year, crossing the finish line in 11th.

Tag Keeping Busy
The 2009 Indy 500 Chase Rookie of the Year, Alex Tagliani, kept busy last week. After attending the Indy 500 Victory Banquet on Monday night, Tag was home less than 24 hours before heading to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Alex spent time in Edmonton doing promotional work for the upcoming IndyCar Series' Rexall Edmonton Indy race.

QUOTEBOARD

#34 Alex Tagliani Rexall Edmonton Indy Dallara/Honda/Firestone

"I remember my first time in Texas in 2001 back when I was in CART. It was pretty crazy having to cancel the race because of the sustained g-forces. I enjoyed running at Texas back then so I'm looking forward to my first race here this weekend. I'm still fresh from our great run and unbelievable experience at Indy. It was great teamwork. This weekend will again be important for us. We will keep on doing our best and it will be a great opportunity for us to keep progressing on these types of tracks."

Eric Bachelart, Conquest Team Owner

"The race at Texas Motor Speedway is always a great event to take part in and we're very happy to be heading there this week. We had a good run at Indy and we look forward to continuing what we started there a couple of weeks ago at what will be only our second oval race this season. We're also very happy to be continuing our relationship with Northlands, TDS, Lifelock and the King Tut Exhibit."

-credit: cr