IRL: Cheever Kentucky race notes

Sparta, KY (August 12, 2001) - Eddie Cheever Jr. was running third and challenging for the lead of Sunday's Belterra Resort Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway when a problem with a CV joint brought his race to a premature close.

Cheever was stalking Scott Sharp and eventual race winner Buddy Lazier when he experienced a clutch problem on his #51 Cheever Indy Racing Infiniti on lap 104. While working to repair the clutch on lap 105, the Cheever crew also discovered the right rear inside CV boot had failed.

The 1998 Indianapolis 500 Champion, who had paced the field for much of the weekend in his Infiniti-powered entry, was classified 21st.

Eddie Cheever Jr. (on the race): "When I left the pits after my last stop, we had a problem with the clutch - it wouldn't disengage properly. When we came in to take a look at it, we saw that a CV joint was ready to break. It's a good thing that we stopped because it probably would have blown within five laps and we'd have lost a half-shaft. It's very disappointing because the Infiniti 35A was strong all weekend and my car had just started to come in perfectly before we had the clutch problem."

-CIR