Las Vegas' Tracy back on right track

Paul Tracy apparently has shaken off his mid-season slump.

The Las Vegas resident had one of his stronger runs of the CART FedEx Championship Series season Sunday as he charged from the 18th starting position to an eight-place finish in the Honda Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca Raceway.

After just two laps of green-flag racing Tracy was running 13th, having gained five positions on the tight 2.238-mile road course. In the first round of pit stops on lap 22, Tracy made up another two positions.

Having to conserve fuel late in the race, Tracy moved up to eighth in his Team Kool Green Reynard/Honda as other drivers stopped or dropped out.

It marked the fifth straight race in which Tracy has scored points toward the PPG Cup after going through a stretch of three races in which he failed to score any points.

"I don't think we could have done any better than eighth," Tracy said. "Maybe we could have got by (Adrian) Fernandez if we would have had some time to work on him.

"We had the car a little too low and we were slow on some parts of the track. But to come from 18th on the grid to eighth is pretty good considering how hard it is to pass at Laguna."

Las Vegas resident Jimmy Vasser, the defending race winner, finished fifth and remained second in the PPG Cup standings. Vasser's Target/Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Alex Zanardi wrapped up the series title last week in Vancouver. Henderson's Richie Hearn finished 11th Sunday in his Della Penna Motorsports Swift/Ford.

Team Kool Green owner Barry Green was pleased that his drivers, Dario Franchitti and Tracy, both finished in the top 10. Franchitti started second and finished fourth behind race winner Bryan Herta, Zanardi and rookie Tony Kanaan.

"We got stuck in a fuel-saving mode there in the middle of the race and neither driver could attack," Green said. "But everybody was in the same position. Then with all the yellows at the end, it didn't leave enough laps to mount a charge.

"But 18th to eighth for Paul is a great run and Dario did the best he could with the car he had. We picked up valuable points for both drivers and we will be looking for more in Houston."

The CART FedEx Championship Series moves to Texas Oct. 4 for the Grand Prix of Houston.

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