Lazier Gets Another Victory

Buddy Lazier raced to his third victory in his last four Indy Racing League starts Saturday night, leading the final 23 laps of the Harrah’s Indy 200 in Gladeville, Tenn.

Lazier, the defending IRL champion who has a series-record seven victories, celebrated by almost jumping out of his car as he took a victory lap.

He avoided the engine problems at the Nashville Superspeedway that knocked several drivers out and a crash midway through the race that took out five others.

Lazier started sixth but showed the power in his Dallara Oldsmobile early as he took his first lead on Lap 7.

He took the lead for good by passing Billy Boat and Robby McGehee with the 11th and final lead change on Lap 177. Lazier led 86 of 200 laps. Nine other cars finished the race.

Boat finished second for his best performance of the year. Jacques Lazier, who crashed after the finish, was third, followed by McGehee, Scott Sharp, points leader Sam Hornish Jr., Shigeaki Hattori, Felipe Giaffone, Buzz Calkins and Donnie Beechler.

Only one driver touched the wall during two days of practice, but Didier Andre became the first car out of the race after he brushed the wall in Turn 4, damaging the right-front suspension of his car, on the 18th lap.

The first crash of the race, just past the midway point on Lap 103, knocked out Eddie Cheever, Al Unser Jr., pole-sitter Greg Ray, Airton Dare and Mark Dismore.

The collision started when Cheever, who had been running fifth, passed Ray on the right and then had his car connect with Ray’s. Both cars hit the retaining wall in Turn 2.

Drivers worried that they wouldn’t be able to pass on the new concrete surface at the 1.3-mile, D-shaped oval because only one groove had been worn into the track before the race. It wasn’t noticeable once the race started; passing started in the opening laps.

Kevin Harvick raced to his second straight Busch Series victory at Gateway International Raceway, holding off Jason Keller in the Carquest Auto Parts 250 at Madison, Ill.

Harvick, also driving today in the Winston Cup race in Loudon, N.H., extended his lead in the season standings with his third victory of the year. He edged Keller by 0.165 seconds after taking the lead for the final time with four laps left.

“It’s fun winning by a long ways, but it’s exciting when have guys that close at the end,” Harvick said. “Jason Keller raced us clean at the end.”

Kevin Grubb was third, followed by Greg Biffle, the pole-sitter who won the 1999 Craftsman Truck Series race at the same track. Biffle is second in the season standings, 158 points behind Harvick.

The rain that washed away Saturday’s qualifying for today’s Harrah’s 500 at Brooklyn, Mich., didn’t bother Kenny Brack and Max Papis.

The Team Rahal teammates were up front when CART set the 25-car lineup for today’s race by reverting to the speeds from Saturday morning’s practice session after the rains came as Memo Gidley--the eighth driver in the qualifying line--warmed up on Michigan International Speedway’s 2-mile oval.

“The starting grid is really of no importance,” Brack said. “This didn’t pay any points and coming out of [Turn] 2, it’s going to be a traffic jam whoever starts up front.”

It’s the fourth time this season that Brack, the CART series leader, has started from the pole, and the second time he has not been awarded the point that usually goes with the position.

With Saturday practice and qualifying both rained out in Milwaukee in June, the lineup was set based on the standings, putting the Swedish driver out front.

He also won poles--and points--in the more traditional way in Monterrey, Mexico, and Fort Worth.

This time, Brack, who owns an 11-point lead over Michael Andretti and 14 over Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves, was easily the fastest driver on Saturday morning, turning a top lap of 229.812 mph.

Dominating from the start, Jack Sprague parlayed his pole position into a victory in the New England 200 truck race at Loudon, N.H., averaging a track-record 109.244 mph to hold off rookie Travis Kvapil.

Dennis Setzer finished third and Ricky Hendrick was fourth as Chevrolets swept the top four spots for the first time in a season dominated by Dodge.

In winning his 21st career race, Sprague led 183 of 200 laps. He held a staggering 10-second lead with 12 laps remaining, when the yellow flag came out after points leader Scott Riggs got caught on the track with a flat tire.

Gary Scelzi led Top Fuel qualifying for the third consecutive event Saturday at Morrison, Colo., topping the Mopar Parts Mile-High Nationals with his Friday run of 4.646 seconds at 315.64 mph. . . . Blaise Alexander won the ARCA Michigan 200, putting a Pontiac in Victory Lane for the first time at Michigan International Speedway since 1980. . . . Alex Kope, who lost control of his car on the Deming Speedway straightaway in Bellingham, Wash., and hit a wall, died Friday night.