Race: Lazier wins to stay in title hunt

Lazier's career victory record now stands at eight wins in the IRL and Sunday's win took him to within 25 points of championship leader Sam Hornish Jr with just three races of the season remaining.

Scott Sharp finished second 1.5822 seconds behind Lazier, who led the race three times for 84 laps and averaged 174.910 miles per hour in the 300-mile race in front of a bumper crowd. Sam Hornish Jr was third, followed by Al Unser Jr. and Donnie Beechler.

"This is two in a row at this race track and I've never done that before," Lazier said. "It's just a beautiful day. I feel like we have a good grip on this place. We feel like we own it."

In order to own it, Lazier had to earn it. He did that when he passed Hornish for the lead in the second turn on the 112th lap. Hornish gave Lazier a serious challenge for the lead on lap 127, when the two drivers began a side-by-side battle for three laps before Lazier blasted past Hornish in the third turn on the 129th lap.

The two lead cars then came up on Buzz Calkins' lapped car, but rather than split the slower car, Lazier kept the middle groove of the race track which forced Hornish to go high.

"A lot of times, you catch the air just right and you can leapfrog from one lane to the next," Lazier said. "The race track had enough grip in it, you were really able to work the draft. I had great momentum. I was picking up 25 to 75 rpm, which is a ton. I picked up a little pop and I was able to hold the car real low and make the pass."

Lazier was in front when the field pitted for the final time during a caution period on lap 160. This is when Buhl's pit crew made a mistake, which may have cost the team the race.

As Buhl pitted, crew chief John O'Gara signalled for Buhl to leave the pits without realising the fuel nozzle was still engaged. As Buhl's car took off, fuel man Roy McAdams tried to pull it out, but Buhl's departure unravelled the fuel hose and knocked the fuel tank over in the pits, spilling highly flammable Methanol fuel in the pit. In the confusion, Kevin Martin - who changes the left rear tyre - was hit by the fuel tank, but was uninjured.

"I screwed up," O'Gara said. "I was on the other side of the car and didn't see that they weren't done refuelling and I waved him out."

The most serious damage may have come to Buhl's hopes to win the race because he did not get enough fuel into the car to make it to chequered flag.

"I know we probably needed at least another gallon between second and first place," O'Gara said. "Robbie had a good car. It's just unfortunate."

When the green flag was waved on lap 166, Buhl was in sixth place and with a lighter fuel load, was able to easily pass the cars in front of him. He blew by Hornish for fifth on lap 168 and passed Al Unser Jr for fourth one lap later. On lap 172, he passed third-place Billy Boat and passed Sharp for second on lap 179.

For seven laps, Buhl and Lazier raced side-by-side around the entire race course as Buhl tried his best to make the pass for the lead. Finally, Buhl went low in the third turn on lap 189 and passed Lazier for the lead at the start/finish line.

Four laps later, Lazier was able to battle back and regain the lead when he went two-wide with Buhl on the backstretch. The two cars continued to battle until midway through the 199th lap when Buhl radioed to his crew that he was out of fuel.

With no fuel hose or fuel tank to refuel the car, Buhl was forced to stay on the race course where he finally ran out of methanol and finished ninth, one lap down.

"We have a good team and all these guys are good guys, we've been competitive, we just don't have anything black and white to show for it," Buhl said. "Johnny [O'Gara] knows my driving style, he knows we had a car to win and he was anticipating the drop, there was a little hang up getting the fuel out and that was it. It's how our year has been. We have to keep fighting it."

Buhl's departure allowed Sharp to finish second after leading the first 105 laps of the race.

"Hats off to Buddy's guys, they are having a great year," Sharp said. "Four wins out of five races, they are coming on strong. We had an untouchable car in the first half. The car was really good on the bumps early, and for some reason about the middle of the race on, we just had a real bad time with the bumps. I don't know if we had a shock go down, or I thought maybe we shredded a tire. We had great pit stops today."

The 21-year-old Hornish remains confident, despite the fact he had a 70-point lead over Lazier after the IRL race at Texas Motor Speedway on June 9. That lead has dwindled to 25 points.

"It's really hard to pass the leaders when they weave all over the back straightaway," Hornish said, referring to some racing tactics used by other drivers, including Lazier. "It's really disappointing to have to go out there and race against guys that you try to get underneath them, and they just move around on you. If the rules aren't going to be enforced, then I guess I'll start doing it, too.

"Finishing third is a little bit of a disappointment. The team did an awesome job in the pits. We picked up positions every time we came in. We had a pretty good car. It's kind of tough when you can't get past the leader."

In the end, Lazier drove like a Pit Bull fighting over a pork chop and said even if Buhl hadn't run out of fuel, there was no way he was going to let him by.

"We're coming hard," Lazier said. "Robbie Buhl was able to get a run on me and get by me in the closing stages of the race. He had a great draft and I protected my line. It was a real good pass, and then he was cutting the air for me. It was good, clean racing.

"I think it's going to be a real tight points battle. I had a couple of close calls, one under the yellow when I had to find a hole between Scott Sharp and Sam Hornish Jr. I had to get heavy on the brakes."

Despite a track that was so bumpy that Kentucky Speedway officials had to use a substance known as Rhino Patch to smooth over the race course, there was only one minor incident when Mark Dismore spun out in the second turn on lap 30.

"It's clear to me that track personnel did a super job taking care of the bumps," Lazier said. "I always want to lead if I can because if you are up front, you have clean air. When you are running second, you have to make something happen."

Lazier dedicated his win to his grandmother, who passed away on the day of the race.