Patrick Carpentier:
"I'm going to give it all I have to try to win the pole again this year. The Player's team has been very fastand performed well on ovals so far this season, and that's a bigconfidence-booster going into this weekend's race. We had some outstandingtesting sessions here last month and the times we've registered in the twooval events this year have consistently been among the fastest."

Robby Gordon:
"I love Nazareth, and I love the short ovals. The Toyotamotor has come a long way since last year here. We proved at Motegithat we're for real as a race team. I think we can expect good thingsfrom here on out. But that's the way it always is at Team Gordon."

Scott Pruett:
[On the new wing package:] "CART has made a very significant wing change that represents a bigstep for us at Nazareth. The new wings change the amount of downforce and slow the cars down, butthey haven't been tested thoroughly on the short ovals. We don't really know what to expect beyond areduction in speed by about one to one-and-a-half seconds."

[On the tire factor:] "Much of what we'll see this weekend depends on tires. With reduced downforce,you want to run a softer tire to increase grip on the track. We tested at Nazareth earlier this seasonwith hard tires. While we gained good information about the car's overall set-up, we won't know whatkind of impact the softer tires will have until Thursday."

Christiano da Matta:
[On his winning secret:] "I love Nazareth. It was the first win for me in America, and it was very goodto me the second time around, too. What is my secret? I think I did well there because I feel verycomfortable at Nazareth. For an oval, it has the kind of turns I like. The track is challenging. Ovalsare usually not too difficult to drive. Doing well on an oval comes down to having a good set-up morethan anything. Nazareth involves a little more driving."

[On the new wing configuration:] "The new wings will make it harder to run close togetherduring the race, because they create a lot of turbulence and cause you to lose the front end a little. Thecar doesn't give a lot of response, and it's slower through the turns. There's no downforce, so the caris light and on the edge all the time."

Tony Kanaan:
"I think it's going to be a challenging weekend for everyone with thenew wings. We tested here in March, and the wings made a huge differencein downforce. With the traffic on the short ovals, I think it is goingto be an interesting race."

Gil de Ferran:
" This, to me, is the most difficult mile oval circuit on the schedule. Nazareth is a place where there is very little time to react, you cannot let your concentration go for even one part of one second, because for most of the lap, drivers are in a turn. Fortunately, starting position is not too critical here, it is more important to have a consistent car for the race. Setup of the car is crucial to success, as turn 1 and 2 are very different from the steeper banked turn 3 and 4 area. Everything is so close, it seems you are in tight traffic all of the time. When you are passing another car, or someone is passing you, the wheels are literally inches apart. With the rule changes to the wings configuration, you have to be very careful because with less downforce., there's not as much grip, and the car is more difficult to drive at the limit. It's always tough to race at this place."

Naoki Hattori:
"I wish I could race the Champ car at the short oval track in Nazareth. I really wanted to experience racing one of the most toughest oval tracks in the CART series, very heavy traffic and difficult to pass other cars. I am glad that my teammate, Gil, has been doing a terrific job out there in the past three races. I hope that he will keep it up in Nazareth, also."

"By the way, the fractured bones are getting healed as expected, and my rehabilitation has been going well. I started to put some weight on the injured side of my foot, and I will be able to put my whole body weight on it soon. The injured left foot is very important for controlling the clutch, so I am seriously working hard on my rehabilitation program. I have also started working on strengthening and conditioning my upper body and the right leg. My exercise program will be carefully but quickly progressed by my trainer. This may be a long way to go, but I will go back to the race much quicker than expected. I am also starting to taking more English classes to improve my English skills to better communicate with my team crew members."

Bryan Herta:
"Driving under the new rules is like playing a video game. You cansee everything around you, but you almost can't feel the carunderneath you. The feeling will definitely be better if the temperature iswarm. This could be one of the more interesting and unusual races in a longtime."