Festa, out of laps to catch leader, matches career best with second

Sunday, May 27, 2007 - A few more laps. That's all Chris Festa was seeking as the fifth Freedom 100 was nearing its conclusion.

After a Lap 36 restart (following a single-car crash), Festa had the No. 7 Sam Schmidt Motorsports car driven by Alex Lloyd in his sights. But before Festa, driving the No. 9 CareCentric Target car for Chip Ganassi Racing, could set up to make a move for the lead, moisture was spotted in Turn 2. The 40-lap race on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway finished under caution.

Festa, who started seventh, matched his career-best finish (in the season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway).

"I think we could have caught Alex," said Festa, an Atlanta native. "We had a really good race car. It was sticking pretty well in all four turns, even in traffic. Both of our cars in clean air looked pretty evenly matched. He wasn't pulling away, but I wasn't catching either. If we would have gotten that one lap in, it would have been pretty close to last year's finish.

"If I had started up a little further, I probably would have been able to draft with him for most of the race. We also wanted that one last lap, just that one last lap, we know we could have challenged him. But that's the way it goes, and congratulations to Alex."