Monday, Oct. 13, 2003 | 10:55 a.m.
Embroiled in tight championship battles in their respective series, Las Vegas residents Paul Tracy and Brendan Gaughan made the most of their race weekends.
Tracy won Sunday's CART race in Mexico City and extended his lead in the championship to 29 points over Bruno Junqueira with two races remaining. Gaughan won Saturday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, his sixth victory of the season, and increased his lead in to 30 points over Travis Kvapil with three races remaining.
In both cases, the drivers accumulated valuable bonus points by leading the most laps in their races and Tracy earned an additional point for being the fastest qualifier on Friday.
Tracy's victory, his series-leading seventh of the season, came on the heels of a disappointing 16th-place finish two weeks ago on the streets of Miami.
"Fantastic weekend for Forsythe Racing," said Tracy, who led 64 of 70 laps Sunday. "I mean, after the weekend we had in Miami, we struggled all weekend and really had one of the poorest weekends we've had all year and I got frustrated and made a mistake in the race. And that really cost us a lot.
"We came in here with our all of our best setup on the car and the car was good right away. It was good to bounce back this way because we were struggling to get some podium finishes in the last five races and Sebastien (Bourdais) and Bruno were building momentum getting good finishes and starting to build momentum. So, to come back and bounce back and score a 22-point weekend was fantastic."
The victory was the 26th of Tracy's CART career, tying him with Rick Mears for third on the series' all-time wins list. More importantly, it means that Tracy can clinch his first CART championship with a victory or a second-place finish in the Oct. 26 race in Australia.
"You never know what can happen," Tracy said of the championship battle. "You can have a bad race (in Australia) and Bruno could win the race and score 22 points and we have got an eight-point lead so we have got to have another good race. We have got a weekend off, go home, rest and relax and get ready for the next race."
Gaughan, who established a NCTS record by winning his fourth consecutive race at Texas Motor Speedway, likewise isn't ready to start celebrating a championship. Despite winning the race and earning 10 bonus points for leading a lap and leading the most laps, Gaughan only gained 10 points on Kvapil, who finished second and also earned five bonus points for leading a lap.
"We've got a 30-point lead, which isn't much," Gaughan said. "You win the race and you only gain 10 points -- that kind of stinks. We've got two races left that are really good for our team; the only weird one would be the Martinsville (short-track) race.
"It's just too close to go (to Martinsville) and say, 'OK, just be conservative.' Yes, we want to get a top five and our goal is to go out there and just try to get a top five, but we've got to go out there and try to lead laps. That's what's got us this championship lead so far, is these bonus points. We've got to go out there and try to lead laps, we've got to try to race for the win ... and then head on to the next two and do the same thing."
After Martinsville, the Truck Series concludes its season with races at Phoenix International Raceway and Homestead-Miami Speedway -- which has Gaughan feeling pretty good about his chances to capture the championship for the Las Vegas-based Orleans Racing team.
"I'm always pretty confident about things -- that's the way I was raised," he said. "The great thing is the race team is very confident right now. The guys know that they're a championship-caliber team, the guys feel very comfortable in what they're doing and they know we're putting great stuff on the racetrack.
"As long as the guys keep that confidence and keep putting the great stuff on the racetrack, we'll be good." It was good to bounce back this way because we were struggling to get some podium finishes in the last five races and Sebastien (Bourdais) and Bruno were building momentum getting good finishes and starting to build momentum."
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