SPARTA, Ky. (Aug. 13, 2006) - Dario Franchitti battled all day with a car off the leader's pace and clawed his way to a ninth-place finish at the Meijer Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway.  With only two races remaining on the 2006 schedule, the Klein Tools/Canadian Club driver stands seventh in the IndyCar Series driver championship.

As the midpoint of the race neared, Franchitti began to move his way up from the 13th spot.  Following a pit stop on lap 91, the Klein Tools/Canadian Club crew sent him back out, gaining one position.  Over the next 20 laps, Franchitti climbed to as high as eighth.  On the subsequent stop, the crew came through again, gaining another couple of positions.  As the race wound to a conclusion, Franchitti was able to improve to ninth place and collected the fourth top-10 result in the last six races for the team.  Sam Hornish Jr. scored his fourth victory of the season and moved into the overall lead in the championship.  He was followed across the line by Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves and Dan Wheldon.  AGR driver Tony Kanaan rounded out the top five.

Following a weekend hiatus, Franchitti and the IndyCar Series drivers return to action at Infineon Raceway on Sunday, Aug. 27, for the second annual Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma.  ESPN will provide live broadcast coverage of the 80-lap event beginning at 3:30 p.m. (EDT).  The race can also be heard live by XM Satellite Radio subscribers on XM channel 145.

Dario Franchitti, #27 Klein Tools/Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone:
"Unfortunately the car isn't fast enough at this point.  Yesterday we thought the Klein Tools/Canadian Club car was fast but we definitely went backwards today.  I think the change in conditions caught us out, but we really lost the pace we thought we had.  It was a very frustrating day because of that.  The only bright spot was the guys in the pits.  They were absolutely dynamite.  We're all working very hard but we deserve better at this point."

John Anderson, Team Manager, #27 Klein Tools/Canadian Club Dallara/Honda/Firestone:
"A lot of other cars had their problems today and we benefited from it.  We were a ninth-place car today, there's no doubt about it.  The car was very inconsistent.  One minute we were doing really good times and the next minute we were back a bit.  The Klein Tools/Canadian Club car was very good yesterday but we seem to have a very narrow band for optimal performance and once the conditions change a bit, it pops us out of that band.  We just don't have a handle on it yet."

2006 Meijer Indy 300 Results
Pos.    Name                             Laps         Pos.      Name                        Laps
1      Sam Hornish Jr.                200           11      Ed Carpenter                199
2      Scott Dixon                       200           12      Sarah Fisher                199
3      Helio Castroneves            200           13      Jeff Bucknum               199
4      Dan Wheldon                    200           14      Jeff Simmons                199
5      Tony Kanaan                    200           15      Buddy Rice                   198
6      Vitor Meira                        200           16      Scott Sharp                  198
7      Tomas Scheckter             200           17      Marco Andretti              197
8      Danica Patrick                   200           18      Marty Roth                    196
9      Dario Franchitti                  200           19      Kosuke Matsuura         118
10    Bryan Herta                      200