McDONALD’S® DRIVER WILSON AND HOLE IN THE WALL CAMPS DRIVER RAHAL LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS SATURDAY’S SUNTRUST INDY CHALLENGE IN RICHMOND AFTER PROGRESS ON SHORT OVALS

RICHMOND, Virginia (June 25, 2008) --- Since it was announced that open wheel racing would merge under the single banner of the IndyCar Series only four months ago, Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing (NHLR) has worked untold hours to catch up to their peers who are in the midst of their sixth season with the current racing equipment. McDonald’s driver Justin Wilson and Hole in the Wall Camps driver Graham Rahal both ran competitively on the .875-mile oval at Iowa Speedway last weekend and hope to continue progressing at this Saturday’s night race on the .75-mile short oval at Richmond International Raceway.

“I’m looking forward to driving on yet another new track this weekend,” said Wilson of the seventh new track he will race on so far this season of the nine events to date. “It is supposed to be similar to Iowa but tighter and faster so it’s going to be a tough race. We ran well most of the race in Iowa so the McDonald’s team is hoping for similar competitiveness at Richmond. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

Point standings dictated Wilson’s 20th place start at Iowa Speedway when rain cancelled qualifying but he utilized a strong race car to run as high as seventh place and maintained a top-10 run until the final stint when the handling of his race car declined and he finished 12th. That experience coupled with the fact that his season-best oval finish came at the Milwaukee Mile on June 1, has Wilson encouraged by the progress he hopes will continue on the third short oval race in four weeks.

“Hopefully we can keep working and improving on things,” said Wilson, who will be joined by his family at the event for the first time since becoming a father on April 12. “Quite often this year we have not done so well in qualifying but in the race the McDonald’s car is really good and we can pass people. Even on a track like Iowa where we didn’t expect to be able to pass, we moved forward and that’s encouraging. I think that if we give ourselves a chance to start further forward we can get in there and start mixing it up. Right now we will just keep learning and keep progressing.”

After earning his highest finish on an oval of 10th place last weekend at Iowa Speedway, Graham Rahal is also hopeful of a good experience in the SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond. Prior to coming to the IndyCar Series, Rahal had only raced on an oval once as a 16- year old in the Star Mazda ladder series in 2005 and has only participated in little more than one day of oval testing apart from a race weekend. Despite that fact as well as limited track time to perfect a qualifying or racing setup during a race weekend he narrowly lost earning his first major league pole ever – and on an oval no less -- at the Milwaukee Mile and started second. He is looking forward to continuing the progress this weekend on the track many of his peers enjoy.

“I think that the race car we need for Richmond would be pretty similar to what we had in Iowa,” said Rahal. “We kept working with the car in Richmond and on the last stint we had a really good race car. If we can pick up where we left off we should be in good shape. I don’t know too much about the track specifically but I have watched the race several times. The track is really small and quick with high loads. All of the drivers I have talked to say they really love Richmond. It sounds like a lot of fun.”

Only 13 of the 26 drivers entered in this weekend’s race competed in the IndyCar Series event here last year. As Richmond is the site of the shortest track of the season and has hosted as many as 22 entries from 2002-2005, the series has added a 1.5 hour practice session on Thursday from 4:30-6 p.m. EDT to allow transitioning teams time to adapt to this new challenge.

This weekend’s SunTrust Indy Challenge can be seen on live on Saturday, June 28 at 8:00 p.m. EDT on ESPN. The event will get underway with practice and qualifying on Friday and the 300-lap race will begin at 8:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday. As always, fans can follow the action from every on-track session via the official website of the IndyCar Series, www.indycar.com. It will also be broadcast live on IMS Radio Network and XM Radio Channels 144 and 145.



JUSTIN WILSON, driver of the #02 McDonald’s Dallara / Honda / Firestone:
AT RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY: Will be his first race here, seventh oval race in the IndyCar Series and 12th overall.

SO FAR IN 2008: Qualified 17th but started 15th in the season-opener in Homestead due to two cars having their qualifying speeds disallowed. Dropped one lap down when he was hit by Will Power on a restart after approx. 22 laps and had to pit to replace a deflated tire but rallied to finish 15th…Started third in his street course ICS debut in St. Pete but alternate fuel and tire strategies dictated by intermittent rain led to a ninth place finish after he led a total of 18 of 83 laps…Was the pole winner on Friday and Saturday in the Long Beach Champ Car finale and dropped to second on the start but engine failure on Lap 13 ended his race and he finished 19th …Gained valuable experience after he was first to qualify and started 22nd in Kansas, led five laps after staying on track while others pit and finished ninth…Qualified 16th for his first Indy 500 and ran as high as second place but made contact after completing 133 of 200 laps and retired in 27th place…Steadily moved to the front in Milwaukee after starting 22nd but as he was about to pit, a caution came out and he had to make an extra stop from ninth place for a splash of fuel in a closed pit and dropped to the back of the field. Charged back to a seventh place finish…Qualified 23rd in his first race on a high-banked oval at Texas and was in 14th place when he brushed the Turn 2 wall and retired in 27th place with suspension damage…Started 20th in Iowa based on point standings when qualifying was rained out. Ran in the top-10 for most of the event including as high as seventh and finished 12th after struggling with the handling in the final stint…Is ranked 19th in the point standings with 135 points.

2006 & 2007 RUNNER UP TO THE CHAMPION: Finished runner up in the Champ Car championship to the driver he recently replaced, four-time champion Sebastien Bourdais, in 2006 and 2007. Was a championship contender until the conclusion of the penultimate race of each season. He also finished third to NHR drivers Bourdais and Oriol Servia in 2005.

PERSONAL: Justin Boyd Wilson was born on July 31, 1978 (29) in Sheffield, England…He married the former Julia Coggins in England on 12-29-2006 and reside in a suburb of Denver with their newborn daughter Jane Louise (born 4-12-08; expected 6-1-08)…His father Keith was an amateur Formula Ford racer in England but retired before Justin was born due to a crash that broke his back and legs. Instead of taking interest in mother Lynne’s love of horses, Justin followed his father’s passion and began racing karts when he was eight…In order to help finance his 2003 season in Formula One, Justin created a company -- Justin Wilson PLC – and approx. 900 investors “bought shares of Justin” which raised $2 million. A portion of his earnings go toward repaying the debt…He has conquered the challenges of dyslexia and, if he wasn’t a race car driver, would be a designer of cars or etc. because he is curious about how things work or how to improve them…Hobbies include cycling, miniature golf, video games, karting and trying to fly one of his two RC Helicopters…He spends his free time plotting and completing home improvement projects as well as trying to find time to mow the yard between races…His typical day begins at 7 a.m. and he calls the U.K. and checks his email before spending an hour at his local gym with Julia. After lunch he rides his bike for 1.5 hours and devotes the remainder of the day to home projects, reading 50+ pages of NHLR engineering reports and hanging out with friends…At 6’ 3-1/2” he is the tallest IndyCar Series driver…Listens to Coldplay, Stereophonics, The White Stripes and dance music.

JUSTIN WILSON, No. 02 McDonald’s Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I’m looking forward to driving on yet another new track this weekend. It is supposed to be similar to Iowa but tighter and faster so it’s going to be a tough race. We ran well most of the race in Iowa so the McDonald’s team is hoping for similar competitiveness at Richmond. I’m looking forward to the challenge. Hopefully we can keep working and improving on things. Quite often this year we have not done so well in qualifying but in the race the McDonald’s car is really good and we can pass people. Even on a track like Iowa where we didn’t expect to be able to pass, we moved forward and that’s encouraging. I think that if we give ourselves a chance to start further forward we can get in there and start mixing it up. Right now we will just keep learning and keep progressing.”



GRAHAM RAHAL, driver of the #06 Hole in the Wall Camps Dallara / Honda / Firestone:
AT RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY: Will be his first race here and seventh oval race.

YOUNGEST WINNER IN SERIES HISTORY: Became the youngest winner in IndyCar Series history when he drove to victory in his IndyCar Series debut in St. Pete at the age of 19 years and 93 days old. The previous mark was held by Marco Andretti who won at Infineon Raceway at 19 years, 167 days old. Rahal had only run 10 laps at testing speed in an ICS car on a road course (Sebring) due to a pre-race three hour test (4-1) being cancelled due to rain. Nelson Philippe holds the Champ Car record for his ’06 win in Australia at 20 years, two months and 29 days old. With his second place finish in Houston in 2007, he became the youngest Champ Car driver (1979-2007) to finish on the podium at 18 years, three months and 18 days.

SO FAR IN 2008: Missed the series opener in Homestead due to a lack of time and parts to repair his lone race car after a testing crash the Tuesday prior to race day…Progressed to Group 2 in qualifying for his debut on the street course in St. Pete but was unable to get a clear lap and qualified ninth. The race began under caution while standing water was cleared and once the green flag flew he progressed up to third place before his first pit stop a race that saw multiple pit strategies. He was hit on Lap 37 by Will Power which caused a spin and he dropped to 23rd but the team elected to gamble and keep him on track while others pit on Lap 60 under caution and he moved into second before the restart on Lap 65 and took the lead and held it through two more restarts including one with three laps to go while holding off two-time St. Pete winner Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan. He won by a 3.5 second margin to become the youngest winner in series history at 19 years, 93 days old after he led a total of 19 of the 83 laps and moved to fourth in the standings…Started ninth in Champ Car series finale in Long Beach and was up to fourth when he was alongside Franck Montagny during an attempt to pass for third and was spun which dropped him back to 12th place. While setting the fastest laps of the race, he charged through the field and into seventh before he hit the tire barrier on the final lap to drop to 13th place and ninth in the ICS standings and second in the ROY by 17 points…Made his oval debut in Kansas, qualified 20th and finished a competitive 12th only one lap down to the leaders…Was the highest Indy 500 starter of the Champ Car transitioning teams with his 13th place qualifying position in his Indy debut but made contact on Lap 36 after driving high to avoid the slower car of Alex Lloyd. Retired in 33rd place…Missed his first pole at Milwaukee by 2/10th of a second over a four lap average and started a career best second to Andretti in what was the first Andretti/Rahal front row since 1992 in Loudon, NH. Ran between second and fourth until Lap 130 when he drove over “marbles” and lost control of his car after trying to go around the slower car of Manning. Retired in 25th place…Started 18th and finished 11th, one-lap down in his high-banked oval debut in Texas…Started 16th in Iowa based on point standings when qualifying was rained out and earned his highest oval finish to date of 10th place…Is ranked 16th with 147 points.

PERSONAL: Graham Robert Rahal, 19, was born in Columbus, Ohio on 1-4-1989 and resides in New Albany, Ohio…The 6’2” driver is one of four children of Bobby Rahal, three-time open wheel champion, Indy 500 winner and Hall of Fame race car driver…Has two sisters (Michaela and Samantha) and one brother (Jarrad)…Became the youngest IndyCar Series winner with his victory in his series debut in St. Pete on 4-6-08 and appeared on "Late Night with David Letterman" on 4-16-08 to discuss the feat…Graduated from New Albany High School with a 3.8 GPA on 6-3-07 despite missing over 80 days of school that year due to racing. ESPN The Magazine covered his graduation… When not racing he likes to work on cars, hang out with friends and family or play other sports for fun…Is a self-proclaimed “Car Guy” and still has the first car he received when he was 16 – a Subaru WRX sti – and is in the process of turning it into a race car with a Cosworth race engine. He purchased an ’07 Atomic Orange Corvette Z06 with his prize money but later sold it and now has an ’07 Ron Fellows limited edition Corvette Z06 as well as an ’08 Chevy Trailblazer SS. In addition he has a 1964 Mini Cooper that he restored for his high school senior project. He also temporarily owned a Porsche GT3 and an Audi he earned by graduating high school with a GPA of 3.5 or above…To prepare for the physicality of racing he spends many hours doing cardiovascular training and weightlifting, skiing, running or bicycling… His favorite type of clothing is anything made by Puma… His favorite food is sushi and his weaknesses are ice cream and white chocolate mocha drinks at Starbucks…His favorite books are those written by Lance Armstrong (and anything he read other than for school)…His favorite thing to watch on TV is any Ohio State Buckeye game, his favorite actor/actress are Owen Wilson and Eva Longoria and favorite movie is “Wedding Crashers.”

GRAHAM RAHAL, #06 Hole in the Wall Camps Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I think that the race car we need for Richmond would be pretty similar to what we had in Iowa. We kept working with the car in Richmond and on the last stint we had a really good race car. If we can pick up where we left off we should be in good shape. I don’t know too much about the track specifically but I have watched the race several times. The track is really small and quick with high loads. All of the drivers I have talked to say they really love Richmond. It sounds like a lot of fun.”