Fittipaldi aiming high in Miami.

The main focus of attention this weekend at Newman-Haas Racing may be the potential for Cristiano da Matta to sew up the 2002 FedEx title but his teammate Christian Fittipaldi is equally pumped up heading to Miami, where he can almost fall out of bed and into his racecar.

Newman-Haas Racing has sights on not only the overall Championship and Cristiano da Matta but are also trying to match the Ferrari Formula One team and score a driver's Championship 1-2 with Christian Fittipaldi.

Fittipaldi, who currently ranks fifth place with a total of 98 points, not only scored his highest finish of the season of second place at Laguna Seca and Mid-Ohio and finished third in Monterrey, Mexico and Toronto but also has been in podium contention in Long Beach, Chicago, Cleveland, Vancouver, and Denver before a variety of circumstances dropped his finish. Fittipaldi leads a group of eight drivers that could climb as high as second in the championship by season's end.

Miami is not only a home race for Fittipaldi, it is also the site of his Champ car debut in 1995 when he moved to the series from Formula One to compete for Walker Racing. He finished fifth in the event and was the highest rookie finisher. He looks forward to finishing the season strong and collecting the podium finishes that looked to be his for the taking earlier this year.

"There are four more races left this season and we are going to try to win one or more of them and close the gap (in points) to Shorty (da Matta) and finish as high as possible in the Championship," said Fittipaldi. "I'll actually get to sleep in my own bed during a race weekend. I think the race will be great because it's downtown. There are many drivers who live in the Miami area so it's going to be a big party for all of our friends while we are working.

"We had a huge crowd for the last race we had downtown and the atmosphere was like CART races in Long Beach, Surfers Paradise and our races in Canada. I don't see why the event won't be as good or better than it was the last time we were in town."

NHR's has won six of the eight victories this season for engineer manufacturer Toyota's and Fittipaldi and the Lilly team would like nothing more than to help Toyota clinch the Manufacturers Championship by adding to their total. Toyota currently leads the standings with 266 points, while Honda (234) and Ford-Cosworth (192) lurk nearby.

The two known quantities left on the CART FedEx calendar - the street course in Australia and the Superspeedway in Fontana - have been good venues for Fittipaldi as he has finished as high as third in Australia and won the 2000 Marlboro 500 in Fontana. His first of four remaining opportunities to meet his new season's goal in Champ cars will come this weekend in Miami with numerous Brazilians, Florida natives and sponsors expected to witness the action.

"It will be a smaller street course but it will be interesting," said Fittipaldi who has scored 85 of his 98 points this season on road and street courses. "It will be very important to get a good starting position because passing will be tough. Not only are there going to be plenty of Brazilians and local fans to help root for us but Lilly is going to have many guests at this race so it would be nice to bring home a good finish for them too."

In addition to on-track entertainment aplenty this weekend, many off-track activities have been scheduled free of charge for ticket holders. Internationally renowned jazz flautist Nestor Torres will play Friday, October 4th at 6:30 p.m. at the Pioneer Stage at the Bayfront Park Amphitheatre while The Pioneer Rock-N-Roar Concert Series will resume on Saturday, October 5th at 7:30 p.m. with Grammy Award-winning rock band TRAIN. Arista Records recording artists Boyz II Men will perform the National Anthem prior to the start of Sunday's CART race.

Friday's qualifying will air from 2:00-3:30 p.m. and CART Friday Night will air earlier than usual at 7:00 p.m. the same night. Saturday's qualifying session will be broadcast live from 1:30-3:00 p.m. The Grand Prix Americas will be broadcast live on CBS Sports beginning at 1:00 p.m. All times are Eastern.