Newman/Haas Racing
Firestone 550k – Texas Motor Speedway
RACE NOTES/QUOTES – Saturday, June 5, 2010

FORMULA DREAM/PANASONIC DRIVER MUTOH FINISHED 12TH IN THE FIRESTONE 550K AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY; RAN THIRD FASTEST RACE LAP

Hideki Mutoh, No. 06 Formula Dream/Panasonic Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “We improved the Formula Dream / Panasonic car with each stop and the last stint the car handled the best it did all weekend. Now we found the right direction to go in with the setup. I’m disappointed we didn’t finish higher but I am happy that we are going in the right direction with the setup and its going to be good for the Iowa race. We are testing in Iowa next week and that will be very good because you don’t have enough time to try too many different things on race weekends. I have finished on the podium both times I raced in Iowa and would like to continue that – hopefully on the top step.”

FAST FACTS: Was his third event here and third oval race with NHR after having driven for Andretti Green Racing, co-owned by former NHR driver Michael Andretti, for the past two seasons. In 2008 he started fourth and ran an alternate fuel strategy that meant he didn’t have to make a final stop as those in front of him would but a late race caution limited his finish to sixth. In 2009 he started 11th and finished 21st due to retiring with electrical problems after completing 153/228 laps…His highest IZOD IndyCar Series start is THIRD at Nashville Speedway (oval) and best overall series finish is SECOND (Iowa 2008).

NHR AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: Was the THIRD race here for the team. Graham Rahal and Robert Doornbos competed for the team here in 2009. Rahal qualified 12th and retired in 22nd after he struggled to control his race car in the opening laps and dropped from 12th to 18th on the first lap and continued to fall back before he lost control and made contact. Doornbos qualified ninth and finished 11th. Rahal and Justin Wilson competed for the team here in 2008. Rahal started 18th and finished 11th. Wilson qualified 23rd, ran as high as 13th but finished 27th after he brushed the T2 wall and retired with suspension failure after 39/228 laps…The Firestone 550 will mark the team’s 451st event since being formed (chart available upon request). Including the Firestone 550, the team will have entered a total of 799 cars in these 451 events.

NEXT UP: The series will take a much-needed weekend off before Round 8 – the Iowa Corn Indy 250 at Iowa Speedway. In 2008, Mutoh finished second and in 2009 he finished third.