Zanardi shows race pace

Zanardi demonstrated that he would be a force to reckon with on race day when he turned in a series of blistering laps while running on his own in the pre-race warm-up and was eventually beaten for best time in the session by Paul Tracy.

In the race, the former Grand Prix driver got held up in traffic early on and lost touch with the leaders. But in the middle portion of the event, he made up more than a half a lap on the pack and had just latched onto the tail of fourth place runner Gil de Ferran, when he was forced to make an extra stop for fuel with less than 20 laps to go. He also managed to turn in the fastest lap of the race at over 208 mph.

"On one hand, I'm happy that we had a very good car that could have won the race," said Zanardi. "Unfortunately, it makes it very frustrating that we had fuel meter problems that almost let us run out and cost us time in the pits late in the race. If we wouldn't have had that problem, I think we would have finished in the top three for sure. So, yes, we are a little frustrated.

"On the other hand, we are very happy to leave here with championship points. It was a very strong weekend, overall, for the team. We just have to figure out our problem, and come back and have a smoother race next time. We definitely gained a lot of confidence this weekend that will benefit us as we head to Milwaukee."

Zanardi added that his biggest disappointment in not winning the race was not earning the flat screen television his sponsor Pioneer had promised him for a victory.