Race: Ray gets off the gas to do double

It was Ray's fifth career victory in the IRL, which ties him with Scott Sharp as the career victory leader in the series. Ray defeated Sharp by 19.857s. Buzz Calkins was third, the only other car on the lead lap.

Sam Hornish Jr., who entered the race winning the first two IRL races of the season, was fourth, one lap down, followed by Eliseo Salazar.

Ray started on the pole and led 181 laps of the 200-lap race, which was delayed 46 minutes because of rain before the scheduled start.

A major crash in the fourth turn took out 11 cars. The crash occurred on the 53rd lap when a group of cars racing in the back of the pack collided, triggering a fiery crash with debris flying on the race track.

The most serious of the injuries is to Dr. Jack Miller, who started 23rd in the race. According to Dr. Henry Bock, the IRL's medical director, his injuries required him to be transported to Atlanta Medical Centre, showing signs of a concussion. He is listed in stable condition.

The crash began when Cory Witherill, starting in his first IRL race, had a problem and slowed down in front of rookie Felipe Giaffone. That sent a car into Casey Mears' car, which then triggered the crash. Also involved were Billy Boat, Jon Herb, Sarah Fisher, Al Unser Jr., Davey Hamilton, Jeret Schroeder, Robby McGehee and Robbie Buhl.

"I started to pull down, there were cars up high and cars low so I really had nowhere to go," Witherill said. "I got bumped by someone. I went for a hell of a ride. I got hit from another car and when my car spun around, I saw a wall of cars coming right at me. It was like seeing something from out of the movies."

Unser was uninjured in the crash, but said: "We were going down the backstretch, I was behind Giaffone, but whoever was in front of Giaffone had a problem and got out of shape. We all slowed down. I got hit from behind. A car flew over the top of me, I got hit by another car, hit the wall and another car hit me.

"I haven't had guys climb over the top of me. It was one heck of an accident, I hope everyone is OK."

Two cars were airborne in the crash including Buhl, who hit the fence while in the air, and Miller, whose car burst into flames, then slid across the track on its side.

"There was a group of cars in front of us and somebody checked up and it put us in the wall," Buhl said.

Fisher was able to have a damaged suspension repaired in the pits after she ran over debris in the fourth turn and return to the race.

"The was debris everywhere and Little Al's (Unser) car is in pieces," Fisher said.

Eddie Cheever had already dropped out of the race when his engine blew up after 41 laps but saw the crash from the pit area.

"That's one of the nastiest accidents I've ever seen," Cheever said.

The green flag waved to resume the race on lap 90, which meant 47 laps were running under the yellow flag. Jeff Ward and Scott Sharp, two drivers that did not pit, were the top two cars but one lap later, Ray was able to regain the lead when he passed Ward.

But another caution flag waved on lap 92 when Herb's car stopped on the race track. Ward came into the pits with an alternator problem on lap 95. The crew was able to repair the problem and send Ward back onto the track.

Ray was in front of Hornish at the halfway point on lap 100. The green flag waved to resume the race on lap 103. At lap 117, Eliseo Salazar and Buddy Lazier began a lengthy portion of side-by-side, wheel-to-wheel racing. Salazar was finally able to pass Lazier for third place on lap 130.

The leaders began to make pit stops on lap 143 and by the time the pit sequence was completed on lap 150, Ray was back in front of Hornish. Ray built a sizeable lead before slowing down on lap 180. That allowed Hornish to close in on Ray's lead, but it was still a 4.800s lead with 10 laps remaining.

Some of the lead drivers began to pit with 10 laps to go including Lazier and Hornish. But Ray's team decided to gamble by leaving the car on the race track in an attempt to win the race on fuel mileage. Ray began to lift off the accelerator with nearly a one-lap lead over Sharp.

Click here for the race result.