Dario still fuming over Tagliani move

After swooping past four cars to the inside, Tagliani drifted up the track and nearly caused Michel Jourdain Jr to swerve into Franchitti's car in last week's thrilling finale.

"I haven't had a word with Tag yet, but I still intend to," said Franchitti on Saturday. "There won't be any shouting involved. I wasn't upset with the fact that he made the pass, because he was racing with Paul [Tracy, Franchitti's team mate] for position. But the way he came up the track is something completely different. That nearly caused Michel to have a big accident, and he probably would have taken me into the wall with him."

Tagliani's view on the matter was somewhat different.

"We haven't talked, but it's no secret what happened," said the French-Canadian. "I was racing with [Helio] Castroneves, Tracy and [Bruno] Junqueira and the team told me on the radio that I had a chance to finish sixth. We were all mixed up with the leaders, Paul wasn't far behind, and I wasn't sure if he was going to help Dario or not. If I hadn't made the pass, I would have ended up ninth or tenth.

"I went to the inside, but I didn't take the air off the other cars," he claimed. "I showed respect for the leaders. It's a very small line when you get to the finish, and I don't think I crossed that line."

Tagliani said that he has not been contacted by CART about any alleged rule transgressions.

"[CART chief steward] Chris Kneifel is very strict and he's been getting stricter for the past few races," Tagliani said. "He has not asked to talk to me, so I think he must have watched the tapes a lot and decided everything was okay."