Unser Goes Low and Wins

Al Unser Jr. held off Tony Kanaan in a one-lap shootout to win the Indy Racing League Bombardier 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth on Saturday night.

With one lap to go after the restart following a caution period, Unser stayed on the low line as Kanaan, the series points leader, went high through the second turn.

Kanaan edged slightly ahead going into the backstretch. But with the preferred line, Unser was back in front by the last turn and won by 0.0812 of a second.

Last June, Unser finished second, 0.0111 of a second -- only inches -- behind Jeff Ward.

It was Unser’s third IRL victory but first in 20 races since 2001. The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner made his 40th IRL start.

Unser led 54 laps and won with an average speed of 168.213 mph.

Tora Takagi, who caused the wreck on the 191st lap that led to the last caution, finished third. Kenny Brack was fourth.

Takagi went inside and three-wide into the third turn on the 191st lap and bumped Scott Sharp, who was running third at the time. Sharp’s car was pushed up the track and slammed into Felipe Giaffone, Takagi’s teammate.

Unser took the lead when polesitter Tomas Scheckter pitted after 150 laps, then had problems in the pit. He led all but one lap after that.

Scheckter led 145 laps, but had already lost the lead because of a problem in the pit when something broke in his car and he slammed into the wall along the backstretch on the 175th lap.

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Scott Riggs took the NASCAR Busch Series points lead for the first time in his career by winning for the second time in the past five races.

Riggs came into the Trace Adkins “Chrome” 300 trailing Todd Bodine by 76 points. But car trouble knocked Bodine out after 190 laps, while Riggs set a race record with his Ford by leading 160 of 225 laps.

Riggs has finished in the top three four times in the past five races, climbing from ninth to the top of the points standings over that stretch.

Riggs has an 18-point lead over David Green, who finished second in the race at Nashville Superspeedway in Gladeville, Tenn.

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David Gilliland returned to his former home track and made a big statement in the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour by winning the King Taco 150 in front of 4,846 at Irwindale Speedway.

Gilliland, a former regular in the track 92s Jani-King Super Late Series and winner of one of the two Southwest Tour races last year, started on the front row and immediately took the lead.

He fought off charges from series leader Augie Vidovich Jr. and former champion Craig Raudman for most of the race but kept them at bay until the checkered flag fell. Raudman finished second.

-- Tony Solorzano