Christian Fittipaldi has added the Charter Communications 250 event at Gateway International Raceway to his limited 2002 BGN schedule. The race will take the green flag under the lights on July 20th. Taking advantage of a weekend off from his full-time CART schedule, Fittipaldi will attempt to qualify the #30 Mike’s Hard Lemonade Chevy on a track that is familiar to the open-wheel star. Fittipaldi has three previous [CART] starts at Gateway with one top-ten finish. He finished ninth in 1999. In addition to Gateway, Fittipaldi is also scheduled to race the mike’s hard lemonade Chevy at Richmond on September 6th, Kansas on September 28 and Phoenix on November 9th. He was scheduled to compete at Miami-Homestead Speedway again in 2002 but a recent change to the CART schedule will put him in Mexico City for the CART season finale on that weekend. Fittipaldi competed in his first NASCAR Busch Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November of 2001. Fittipaldi qualified 33rd out of 55 entries and completed 106 of the 200 laps before being involved in an incident with Hank Parker Jr. which sent Fittipaldi into the turn two wall. He was not injured in the accident and finished 39th on the day. Fittipaldi attempted to compete at Richmond earlier in 2002 and after practicing in the top-20 was unable to qualify due to rain. In May he tried to compete in Charlotte and did not make the top 36 on speed. Fittipaldi is a two-time winner in the CART Fed-Ex Championship driving for Newman-Haas Racing in his Lilly sponsored Lola chassis powered by Toyota that fans from all over the world have become accustomed to seeing him drive at speeds reaching 240 mph. Fittipaldi is taking advantage of gaps in this season’s CART schedule to compete in a limited NASCAR Busch Series schedule.(Christian Fittipaldi PR)(6-24-2002)
