IndyCar Series: Motorola Indy 300 presented by Jackson Rancheria

Topics:  Motorola Indy 300

Dario Franchitti
August 26, 2007

SONOMA, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: We have our third-place finisher, Dario Franchitti, here with us. Dario, talk about your day out there.
DARIO FRANCHITTI: It was a pretty perfect day right up until Marco and I got together up in turn one. We'd come close to getting together earlier on in the pits. You know, we did it in turn one. He was out there on cold tires going a good bit slower.
Tony and I had a similar situation earlier in the race. Tony had given me the space. Hell, even Dixon did it on cold tires. But Marco was out there trying to win the race, and we were out there trying to win a championship.
A case of, I guess, you know, he had his priorities, I had mine. You saw what happened. I'd really like to look at the accident, talk to him before, you know, making further comment on it, I guess, is the best way.
Right now I've only got my side of it and he's only got his.

Q. Michael Andretti thought you should have been a bit more patient in that situation, waiting for the next corner. Did that come into mind?
DARIO FRANCHITTI: Michael is in an awkward position, I guess, being a team owner and a father. Sometimes he doesn't have as clear a view as he should have as a team owner maybe.
Like I say, I'm trying my hardest to win a championship right now for Andretti Green Racing. We'll leave it at that.

Q. For most of the day it looked like you had this race totally under control. After the contact you were wobbling around like a wounded duck out there. How was the car handling? Were you doing your best to make your position?
DARIO FRANCHITTI: Yeah, the car was a little bit loose most of the day but I was able to be very consistent, do what I had to do to stay up front. Once I had the contact with Marco and the front wing was broken, I think the suspension was damaged, as well. After that, I mean, I turned into turn one up the hill, I think with a broken suspension, the car was running a lot lower than it was, it hit a bump, shot me off to the right. From then on, I just knew I was in trouble. Tony really helped me out. I'm sure Tony could have punched any point, but he didn't.

Q. Dario, you mentioned the incident with Marco. Talk more about the strategy on the first stop.
DARIO FRANCHITTI: That was one of those things that nobody knows, with the strategy, that's going to end up with us coming in and out -- me coming out, him coming in at the same point. That's not something they can really time that well, I would say.
As I say, we've got to be clear in our priority. Are we trying to win a championship or are we trying to win other stuff?

Q. Dario, can you overstrategize things? I'm not sure there's such a word. Trying to have somebody move four pieces around, things like that.
DARIO FRANCHITTI: We try not to do that, I would say. Yeah, we tried it at Mid-Ohio at the start, saw how that worked.

Q. You appear to be a little tired. This is a physically demanding track, is it not?
DARIO FRANCHITTI: Yeah. I mean, look at me and my buddy here. You'll see Dixon when he shows up. He's not exactly feeling like he wants to run anywhere any time soon.
It's a very physical track. There was, what, one yellow from lap 69 on. It was a long, long day out there.

Q. Talking about Tony. He's in the points chase, too. It appeared he might have been able to pass you. Can you speak to that situation.
DARIO FRANCHITTI: Yeah, no, Tony was definitely, I think when the car was broken, was in a situation to be able to pass, and he didn't. You know, Tony and I, since he came to the team, I've been amazed at how much of a team player he is. When he was going for the championship in '04 there were a couple of races I kind of sat back and helped him out.
Here we are, the positions are reversed. I would do that for him again in a heartbeat. You can see, he'll do it for me. That's a pretty cool relationship.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Dario. Appreciate your time.