It’s a Dominating Day for IRL Champion Ray

Greg Ray, the defending Indy Racing League champion who was struggling through a miserable season despite having the fastest car in the series, earned his first victory Saturday night with a dominating performance in the Midas 500 Classic at Hampton, Ga.

Starting from the pole, Ray led 182 of 208 laps at Atlanta Motor Speedway and beat runner-up Buddy Lazier by more than three seconds.

Ray gave a glimpse of his dominance in Friday qualifying, needing only one lap in his Dallara Oldsmobile to post a speed of 216.104 mph, nearly 3 mph faster than the second-fastest qualifier, Eliseo Salazar.

Once the green flag dropped, Ray showed he was the man to beat on the 1.54-mile quad-oval, pulling away from the rest of the 25-car field and averaging 153.403 mph.

Sarah Fisher, the fifth-fastest qualifier, started higher than any other woman in Indy-car history. But the 19-year-old rookie had a problem on her first pit stop, pulling away before her left rear wheel was attached. She slammed into the wall on lap 194 after blowing an engine, leaving her in 14th.

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Dennis Setzer, racing with a broken right shoulder blade, held off Joe Ruttman to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Chevy Silverado 200 in Nazareth, Pa.

Setzer, who ended a nearly yearlong victory drought in the series, used track position to beat Ruttman by 2.057 seconds on Nazareth Speedway’s unique mile tri-oval.

Setzer was injured last week in a wreck at New Hampshire International Speedway at Loudon, N.H..

Setzer averaged 93.083 mph in his Dodge and earned $49,735, making him the 14th driver to win more than $1 million in the series.

Greg Biffle finished third for a series-record 10th consecutive top-five finish and added to his points lead, which reached a season-high 178 over Mike Wallace.

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In another step toward improving relations between the rival open-wheel factions, CART owner Roger Penske will rent a car from an IRL team to run a test this month at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Penske drivers Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves will test an Aurora G-Force car owned by Fred Treadway of the IRL--the strongest signal yet that Penske intends to enter the Indianapolis 500 next year.

The testing deal is payback for Penske’s financial help in sponsoring a Treadway car at this year’s Indianapolis 500. The Penske-owned United Auto Group sponsored a car driven by Jason Leffler, who races regularly on the NASCAR Busch Grand National circuit. Leffler finished 17th.

Castroneves, meanwhile, won his second pole of the CART season and third of his career for today’s Molson Indy race in Toronto.

Castroneves had Saturday’s fastest lap over the 1.755-mile Exhibition Place track of 110.455 mph, followed by Cristiano da Matta at 109.804 and Michael Andretti at 109.562.

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Finland’s Mika Hakkinen, the two-time defending Formula One champion, gained his first pole position in more than three months for today’s Austrian Grand Prix at Spielberg, Austria.

Hakkinen averaged 137.466 mph over the 2.688-mile A1-Ring track, with McLaren-Mercedes teammate David Coulthard of Britain qualifying second at 136.690.