Patrick
Carpentier of Team Player's earned his second straight podium finish on Sunday
with a third-place performance in the Fontana 500 that enabled him to climb
within three points of second place in the FedEx CART Championship drivers'
standings. With one race remaining on the CART schedule, Carpentier boosted
himself into solid contention for the second spot, which carries a $500,000
bonus. "Today
was an excellent day for Team Player's," said Carpentier, who had a
second-place finish in Australia last weekend. "We just need to have a good
car for Mexico in two weeks. Everyone is working extremely hard, and we've
never been closer to getting into second place than we are now." Alex
Tagliani of Team Player's staged a gritty comeback to garner eighth place in
the race, which had 43 lead changes. He fell off the lead lap when the car spun
out into the infield grass after another driver appeared to cut him off exiting
from the pits on lap 101. Tagliani dropped to 15th place at the time
but worked his way back up the field for the 14th time in his last 15
race weekends. According
to CART officials the race, won by American Jimmy Vasser, just ahead of his
fellow countryman Michael Andretti, was the fastest 500-mile event in CART
history, at a blistering average speed of 197.995 miles an hour (315.423 km/h). The
race was under caution and then red flagged with five laps to go after Dario
Franchitti had his engine give way. When the green came out with two laps to go,
it was a sprint to the finish, and Vasser promptly passed Andretti for the lead,
with Carpentier holding off Tony Kanaan for third. "After
we came out of the last stop, the car got loose, and it was pushing at the end
of the race," explained Carpentier. "The Team Player's crew told me to
just keep ahead of Tony and make sure we secured the podium finish and the
points. It's going to make for an exciting end to the season, with the battle
for second as close as it is." Tagliani,
who said his car's performance made it difficult to get into the rhythm of
today's race, can still mathematically get into the top 5 in the overall
standings as he heads into the final event of the year. He is currently in
eighth place, but trails fifth-place Christian Fittipaldi but only 14 points. The
final race of the season, on the 2.75-mile road course in Mexico City, takes
place on November 17.
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