It's all Brack to front again at Chicago

Peerless at the front, it was his third victory of the season and one that continues a remarkable run of form on the one-mile ovals for the Swede. This season, he had already finished first at Milwaukee and second at Nazareth, and in his six CART career starts on the genre, he is yet to finish lower than fourth.

"The car drove like a dream today," Brack said of his Team Rahal Lola-Ford. "When the car is that good, it's like stealing candy from a child."

Brack started the 225-lap contest in eighth place on the 1.029-mile former trotting track, but he rose to fifth within the first 13 laps. A strong first pit stop elevated him to second place, and Kenny then forced his way past leader Helio Castroneves' Team Penske Reynard-Honda on a lap 121 restart.

Once a group of cars running an alternate three-stop strategy had pitted, Brack found himself back in the lead on lap 207, and he was able to hold off Michigan winner Patrick Carpentier by 4.48s.

Team Penske's reigning CART champion Gil de Ferran was third after an excellent drive from 12th on the grid.

With the win, Brack increased his championship lead to 22 points over Castroneves, with Dario Franchitti dropping back a spot to third, 23 points in arrears after finishing a lapped 15th.

After the first 112 laps were run under the green flag, Franchitti was the first of the drivers to commit to a three-stop strategy by stopping under yellow on lap 117. But the move backfired when the Scot was nicked for speeding in the pits during his third and final stop on lap 188. That dropped him out of contention and out of the points after an excellent recent run of results.

Brack said the key moment in his race came when he dove underneath the painted line in Turn 1 and 2 to slip by Castroneves after the mid-race restart. He got a little help from his team mate Max Papis, whose move to unlap himself on the restart gave Brack the opening he needed to take the lead.

"I practiced that move this morning and was just waiting for the right opportunity to use it," smiled Brack. "I shoved my car down in there with the right side wheels on the asphalt and the rest of the car on the green stuff (painted tarmac). Maybe Max threw Helio off a little by creating some turbulent air for him. It worked for me today."

After Brack got by Castroneves, Alex Zanardi steam-rollered past on the very next lap. Zanardi ran strongly in second place until lap 162. But along with Castroneves and Kanaan, his strategy was blunted by a final yellow that flew on lap 200 for Mauricio Gugelmin's spin. That allowed the three-stoppers - Dixon, Gidley and Tagliani - to nip ahead in the final stages.

Brack made his second and final stop on lap 161, dropping behind the
three-stoppers.

"When everything was said and done, I think we were 12th," he said. "We picked our way up to eighth and just waited for the guys to stop. We just sat there, overtook when we could, and didn't take any big chances. (Team manager) Scott Roembke was on the radio telling me to take it easy and not do anything stupid.

"Then the yellow came, everyone came in, and when we restarted, I was in the lead and the rest was easy."

Brack was pleased to have re-extended his championship lead after suffering a barren stretch since he won at Milwaukee in early June.

"I'm pretty happy," he said. "The championship is up and down for everyone, but there are so many great drivers and teams that every win is tough. Now it's up to Team Rahal to keep us at the front if we want to win the title. Today was a good start, because you have to win races to win the championship."

Carpentier posted another strong result after winning a week ago at the super-fast Michigan 500. He had to drive hard after losing time during his first pit stop, and he moved to second by passing Gidley on the final restart on lap 211.

"I lost a lot of time when one of the guys lost a lug nut on the first stop," he said. "Then there was a bit of confusion for the second stop. The guys wanted me to come in, but I didn't hear them. It actually worked out better for us that way.

"On the last restart, Dario was being a gentleman and tried to move to the outside to get out of the way," Carpentier added. "Memo followed him, got in there too deep and couldn't stop. I saw my opening and went for it."

Somewhat surprisingly, de Ferran was the first Penske driver home. Castroneves, who had been quick out of the box and qualified on the front row, finished seventh after his strategy was spoiled by a mid-race yellow when he held a seven-second lead.

"I'm very happy," remarked de Ferran. "It was really hot today, and I have to take my hat off to my team. We tried something completely different in the warm-up, and I didn't like it at all. So I asked them to change the car back, and they finished right before the race. We changed everything - bars, springs, shocks. They were really pressed for time.

"We made a couple more changes on the grid before the race, and straight away, the car felt great," he continued. "The car performed faultlessly all day, even though it had just been put together.

"Then Roger made a great call on the second pit stop. He brought me in a bit early, and when I came out, I had clear track to run on and I made up a lot of time and passed a few guys, like (Scott) Dixon. All in all it was a true team effort today."

Dixon stretched his fuel longer than anyone else and was able to parlay the strategy into a fourth place finish, ahead of Gidley, Alex Tagliani and Castroneves. The top 10 was rounded out by pole-sitter Tony Kanaan, Zanardi and Adrian Fernandez, all of whom showed strongly in the early laps.

The Champ Car teams now get a week off before re-convening at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on August 12 for the first in a run of street and road courses.

For full race results, click here.