Friday, Sept. 10, 2004 | 10:01 a.m.
Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.
MONTEREY, Calif. -- Since the second race of the 2004 season, a Newman/Haas Racing driver has sat atop the Champ Car World Series points standings.
Sebastien Bourdais, the current championship leader, wrested away the points lead from Paul Tracy with a victory in the second race of the season, in Monterrey, Mexico. Teammate Bruno Junqueira took over the lead the following race and held it until Bourdais regained the top position in July with a streak of three consecutive race victories.
Following his series-leading fifth victory of the season, last month in Denver, and a pole position at Montreal, Bourdais stretched his lead over Junqueira to 58 points. But Junqueira's victory in Montreal, his first of the season, coupled with Bourdais' mid-race accident and 15th-place finish in the same race, allowed Junqueira to close to within 34 points going into Sunday's Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Junqueira, who has finished second in the series championship each of the past two seasons, said battling his teammate for the championship gives him added confidence as the series heads into the final six races.
"For sure, the team is doing good work," Junqueira said. "From the start of the season, both cars have been leading the championship; I was leading the championship early on and now I'm second, but it has always been the team leading the championship."
Although Bourdais is in the midst of a remarkable season (five wins and three other top-five finishes in 10 races), Junqueira isn't about to concede the championship to his teammate.
"Things can change," said Junqueira, who has one win and four runner-up finishes this season. "We still have six races to go and I never give up. Every race, we've been fighting for the win and the top spots and that makes us feel good. Every race, you have the feeling that you can win the race and that's really good."
Junqueira's hopes of further trimming Bourdais' lead this weekend are buoyed by the fact that he finished second at Laguna Seca a year ago after earning a front-row starting position at the 2.238-mile permanent road course.
"Last year, we were really good at the test and again on race weekend," Junqueira said. "I was on the provisional pole on Friday but on Saturday, a red flag came out at a bad time in qualifying and I also got caught in some traffic and lost the pole by a small amount.
"I had the fastest car (in the race) but I just couldn't get by (race winner Patrick) Carpentier and I finished second. It was frustrating because that was a weekend when the PacifiCare car was very strong and we were capable of winning. We are going to try to have a better weekend this year and hopefully we can get a win in Laguna Seca."
Despite a 17th-place finish here last year due to a mechanical problem, Bourdais also is confident heading into Sunday's 80-lap race.
"For sure, we are going to work through the weekend on the evolutions we have learned on the setup to try to improve the car from last year," said Bourdais, who qualified fourth last year. "But, all in all, I know the car better, (race engineer Craig Hampson) knows me better and I know the track better. There is no reason to think we won't be in better shape than we were last year.
"The whole package is easier to manage. Everything has been working well so far preparation-wise this season. The whole McDonald's crew is really unified and we're just giving our best every single weekend."
Paul Tracy leads the local contingent with a pair of victories here (1993 and 1994) while Jimmy Vasser (1997) and Patrick Carpentier (2003) have scored one victory each at Laguna Seca during their Champ Car careers.
Bobby Rahal, now a team owner in the rival Indy Racing League, is the all-time leader in Champ Car victories at Laguna Seca with four (1984-87).
Anderson matched John Force's NHRA single-season victory record of 13 and tied his own mark of 15 final-round appearances in a season.
Anderson, who drives for team owner Ken Black of Las Vegas, can wrap up his second consecutive NHRA Pro Stock title by qualifying at least fourth and winning his first round in eliminations at next weekend's Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa.
"I can't say enough about everyone on this Summit Racing Pontiac program," Anderson said after notching his third career U.S. Nationals victory. "I just kind of ride around.
"What an organization -- just a fantastic group of guys, from the top on down. Ken Black (is) the best team owner in the business. And I've got a great crew. Ken allows me to hire these guys and they're the ones making it happen out here. I'm just living a dream right now, absolutely living a dream."
In the past 40 races, dating back to the second race of last season, Anderson has recorded 25 victories in 30 final-round appearances.
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