Atlanta pre-race facts, lineup

Crown Royal International Race of Champions
Race Four Championship Finale -- Atlanta Motor Speedway
Saturday, October 29, 2005

The following is the Crown Royal IROC starting lineup for Saturday's 65-lap, 100.1-mile race. The start time is 1:45pm ET and will be broadcast live by Speed Channel.

Race Four Line Up -- Inversion of the point standings: The driver with the most points will start last and the driver having the least amount of points will start on the pole. The field of 12 starts two abreast, six rows.

<pre> Line Up

Strt    Driver                  Car             Representing
1       Scott Pruett            #01 Gold        Grand American Road Racing
2       Helio Castroneves       #03 Day-Glo     IRL IndyCar Series
3       Steve Kinser            #11 Green       World of Outlaws
4       Max Papis               #16 Magenta     Grand American Road Racing
5       Danny Lasoski           #20 Orange      World of Outlaws
6       Bobby Hamilton          #4 Dark Blue    NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
7       Sebastien Bourdais      #2 Yellow       Champ Car World Series
8       Buddy Rice              #15 Burgundy    IRL IndyCar Series
9       Martin Truex Jr.        #8 Black        NASCAR Busch Series
10      Kurt Busch*             #97 Red         NASCAR Nextel Cup
11      Matt Kenseth*           #17 Purple      NASCAR Nextel Cup
12      Mark Martin*            #6 Lt. Blue     NASCAR Nextel Cup

*2004 Crown Royal IROC Champion 2004 Winner -- Matt Kenseth over Ryan Newman by 0.257 seconds.

</pre> Atlanta IROC Facts

116th IROC Series Race

Second Consecutive Finale at AMS: The Crown Royal IROC Series returns to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the second consecutive year to award $1-million to the series' champion. 2005 will mark the series' fourth appearance at AMS having staged events in 1979 and 1980.

Track Configuration -- 1.54-mile, quad-oval.

Starting Time: 1:45 pm ET -- Saturday, Oct. 29

Television Broadcast: Live on Speed Channel

Race Format:

Distance -- 100.1 miles, 65 laps (Yellow flag laps do not count.) Shootout Format - At lap 45 the yellow flag will be displayed. The cars will be brought down pit road for a routine pit stop. IROC crewmembers will man two pit- stalls to handle the fleet.

Shootout Bonus Points -- 3,2,1, respectively, awarded to the top three at the time of the lap 45 caution flag. If an incident occurs within a five-lap window of the scheduled lap 45 stop, race officials may elect to perform the routine pit stop at the time of the unscheduled caution. The drivers will be notified that the bonus points (3-2-1) will be awarded at the conclusion of the fifth consecutive lap of green flag racing after the restart.

Shootout Restart -- The field will realign as they finished before the mandatory pit stop, however, the field will be given lane choice starting with the leader. Each driver, one-by-one, in ascending order, will choose to restart in either the inside lane or outside lane.

Race Bonus Points - 5, 4, 3, respectively, to the drivers who lead most laps, second and third most laps.

Blind Draw - Racecar assignments are determined by a blind draw -- Out of the stable of Crown Royal IROC Cars brought to the event 12 will be selected based on their equivalence in speed and performance during pre-race testing. The cars are identified and drawn for by chassis numbers.

Purse Total - $1.9 million with $1 million awarded to the Champion based on points standings at the end of the Atlanta Motor Speedway finale.

First Segment Bonus Points: Bonus points are awarded to the first three positions at the time of the competition yellow: 3 - 2 - 1

Lap Leader's Bonus Points: Bonus points are awarded to lap leaders accordingly: Most laps led Second most laps led Third most laps led: 5 - 3 - 2

Tiebreaker Rule: In the event that two or more drivers are tied for bonus points, the bonus points will be awarded according to the finishing positions of the race.

In the event that two or more drivers are tied at the finish line, the points for finishing positions will be added together and divided among the tying drivers.

Quick Driver Summaries:

1st Place (67-points) Starting 12th, Mark Martin: Martin will clinch the 2005 Crown Royal IROC Championship simply by starting the final race of the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Martin's 11th season in IROC quickly turned historic beginning with capturing his 12th career IROC race win in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in February. Win 12 broke a tie he shared with the Late Dale Earnhardt and Al Unser Jr. for most race wins.

Martin went on to finish second at Texas Motor Speedway in round two followed by a 13th series victory in race three at Richmond International Raceway. The Richmond win assures Martin of an unprecedented fifth IROC Crown and a $1-million dollar payday on Saturday, October 29th.

2nd Place (40-points) Starting 11th, Kurt Busch: The 2003 IROC Champion is sitting second to Martin in the overall point standings but shut out mathematically from the 2005 crown by one point. After back-to-back incidents in the first two rounds Busch rallied in race three at Richmond taking second place in a photo finish with Martin.

3rd Place (40-points) Starting 10th, Matt Kenseth: The reigning Crown Royal IROC champion finished fourth in the Daytona opener, ninth in round two at Texas and third at Richmond in round three. Going into Atlanta he is tied with Kurt Busch at 40-points, but is shown third due to the tiebreaker of better finish in the previous event.

4th Place (39-points) Starting 9th, Martin Truex Jr.: A rookie to the IROC Series in 2005 the defending NASCAR Busch Series Champion finished second to Martin in the Daytona opener, fourth at Texas Motor Speedway and fifth at Richmond. He sits one point behind Busch and Kenseth.

5th Place (38-points) Starting 8th, Buddy Rice: The 2004 Indianapolis 500 Champion has had very impressive and consistent results in his rookie IROC run. The open wheel ace finished fifth, third and fourth at Daytona, Texas and Richmond respectively. Rice trails by two-points behind Busch and Kenseth, one point behind Truex Jr.

6th Place (36-points) Starting 7th, Sebastien Bourdais: While Mark Martin rewrote IROC history in the opener at Daytona, the 2004 Champ Car Champion, Sebastien Bourdais, another IROC rookie, reclaimed the bragging rights for the open wheel contingency with a victory in round two at Texas Motor Speedway in only his second start in a stock car racing.

The Texas win placed the Le Mans, France native second in the point standings to Martin going into round three at Richmond. Unfortunately, Bourdais' short track debut at Richmond ended with a late race incident, just a lap short of the finish, relegating him to sixth in the points going into the Atlanta finale.

7th Place (27-points) Starting 6th, Bobby Hamilton: It's hard to classify the 2004 Craftsman Truck Series Champion as a rookie, so suffice it to say, 2005 marked Hamilton's first Crown Royal IROC Series. Hamilton placed third in the Daytona opener and fifth at Texas Motor Speedway. An early lap incident at Richmond resulted in a 12th place finish setting him back a spot to seventh in the standings coming into Atlanta.

8th Place (24-points) Starting 5th, Danny Lasoski: 2005 marks the "Dude's" fourth consecutive appearance in the Crown Royal IROC Series. In terms of consecutive results, Lasoski has placed seventh in all three 2005 IROC events, Daytona, Texas and Richmond. In 2004 at Texas Motor Speedway, Lasoski joined fellow Sprint Car Champion, Steve Kinser as an IROC race winner representing short track dirt racing.

9th Place (24-points) Starting 4th, Max Papis: The 2004 Grand American co-champion is also going to school in the 2005 Crown Royal IROC Series. Papis considers himself a student in the stock car field and has been enjoying soaking up all the experience he can during the IROC events. Papis is credited with sixth place at both Daytona and Texas and ninth at Richmond.

10th Place (22-points) Starting 3rd, Steve Kinser: The "King" of Sprint Car racing, and winner of 1984 Talladega IROC race, returned for his sixth run for the IROC crown. Kinser has demonstrated strong runs in each of the three 2005 Crown Royal IROC races. He finished fourth at Daytona and ninth at both, Texas and Richmond.

11th Place (20-points) Starting 2nd, Helio Castroneves: Castroneves is in his fourth consecutive IROC Series. Starting from the outside pole position, Castroneves has yet one more opportunity to climb the fence for the first time in his IROC career. He finished eighth at Daytona, 10th at Texas and 11th in race three at Richmond.

12th Place (18-points) Starting 1st, Scott Pruett: Pruett rejoins IROC competition as the 2004 Grand American co-champion, he first appeared in the series in 1987. Pruett's eighth IROC Series season was met with disappointment at first, as he became the victim of incidents in rounds, one and two. Pruett mounted a charge in race three at Richmond and placed sixth at the checker flag. Starting on the pole in the race four finale, the two-time IROC race winner is poised to take home a third career Crown Royal IROC trophy.

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