INSIDE LOOK: RACE WON IN THE PITS.

Byline: Keith Lair Staff Writer

LONG BEACH - The new Champ Car World Series rules bring the race in the pits.

Paul Tracy used his push-to-pass button to win the race on the first turn, roaring past pole-sitter Bruno Junqueira in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday.

Whether the race was one lap or 81 laps, it was game, set, match.

``Paul was going to win anyway,'' Junqueira said after finishing second. ``That was the strategy. No matter what we would have done, he would have won. (Team) Newman/Haas decided to play it safe.''

Open Wheel Racing Series, the new owners of the series, chose to abandon the previous regime's rule of requiring drivers to make pit stops during set lap schedules, which were designed to make drivers race as hard as possible between the pits. The new rules require drivers to make only two pit stops during green-flag situations.

``I'm not upset with how they did the race,'' Junqueira said of the new owners. ``OWRS did a great job. It was a great event and a great race. But there was no race because it was all strategy.''

After being beaten to the punch on the first green-flag lap, the Newman-Haas team chose to bring Junqueira into the pits on the 25th lap. Tracy, who won last year's race and three of the past four, pitted five laps later.

``Under this format, with no pit window, we wanted to go as long as you can,'' Tracy said. ``It's a matter of fuel mileage. Without that pit window, you want to have good fuel mileage and I had good fuel mileage. I have a lot of experience in a car that has had to deal with fuel mileage. That's how we used to race before.''

Tracy said when Junqueira was in the pits, he drove as hard as he could.

``The fuel stops had their effects,'' he said. ``When Bruno pulled in early, I would try to go a bit faster. I wanted to hold leads of six or seven seconds. I think our strategy was right.''

But it does not lead to the best of racing, Junqueira said.

``The guys make the rules and they have to explain why we can't race at 100 percent,'' he said. ``When we race at 100 percent, then you can use the push-to-pass. What can I say? Newman-Haas was going safe. By doing that, we weren't going to win.''

Before Junqueira made his first stop, he trailed by less than two seconds. When he exited, he was 40 seconds back. When Tracy pitted five laps later, Tracy's lead was back to 4.307 seconds over Junqueira.

Junqueira whittled the lead down to 2.756 seconds. But the same thing happened on the second set of stops. Junqueira pitted on the 52nd lap and Tracy came in on lap 58. Junqueira finished 5.681 seconds behind Tracy.

``Our cars were about equal, but I think I was a little faster,'' Junqueira said. ``If we had the other rule, with five laps to go, I would have been on Tracy's (rear). Then, the push-to-pass would have come into play. Then, the racing would have been exciting, and that is what fans want to see.''

Keith Lair, [phone]

keith.lair(at)sgvn.com

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Bruno Junqueira, left front, said Paul Tracy, right, would have won the race no matter what changes were made to the rules.

Chris Carlson/Associated Press