IndyCar
IRL: IRL drivers Chicagoland comments
Lazier leads wire-to-wire; IRL drivers take five of top six spots. JOLIET, Ill., Saturday, July 13, 2002 -- 2000 Indy Racing League champion Buddy Lazier led all 67 laps, and IRL drivers swept the top three spots and five of the top six positions ...
Edited: Mar 27, 2008, 5:47 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Lazier leads wire-to-wire; IRL drivers take five of top six spots.
JOLIET, Ill., Saturday, July 13, 2002 -- 2000 Indy Racing League champion Buddy Lazier led all 67 laps, and IRL drivers swept the top three spots and five of the top six positions in Round 3 of the True Value International Race of Champions XXVI on July 13 at Chicagoland Speedway.
Lazier, the 1996 Indianapolis 500 champion, started on the pole and never looked back in the caution-free race, winning by 5.195 seconds. Two-time Indianapolis 500 champion Al Unser Jr. finished second, while fellow two-time Indy winner Helio Castroneves came home third. NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver Kevin Harvick was fourth, while 1996 IRL co-champion Scott Sharp came home fifth, and defending Indy Racing champion Sam Hornish Jr. was sixth.
"I'm still kind of in a state of shock," Lazier said. "I still can't believe it. Starting up front, I had the feeling that it was going to be a big advantage to have clean air. I had it in the back of my mind to really hammer down hard at the beginning when I had clean air with the hope of keeping the lead for a while."
Castroneves moved from his third starting spot and into second place on the opening lap and held the position until Unser made it past him on Lap 61. While running second, Castroneves never could quite challenge Lazier.
"It seems like he didn't have to waste any energy to protect his position," Castroneves said. "I was never able to attack him. It gave him a great opportunity for a Sunday drive."
Unser used lapped traffic to pass Castroneves for second.
"We were trying to catch everybody in front of us, but as soon as I'd get up underneath somebody or Castroneves, my front end would wash out," Unser said. "We came across the lapped traffic there. I don't know who it was in the silver car (Harvick), but he caught Helio on the outside going through (Turns) 3 and 4, and that gave us enough momentum to make a run and came in second."
Sharp and Hornish were running fifth and sixth, respectively, by Lap 17 and never moved from those positions after starting fifth and seventh, respectively.
"I moved up one spot from where I started so that was good," Hornish said. "The car pushed from the beginning. I never found anybody after the 15th lap. The IRL drivers did a very good job today."
The last time Indy-style drivers swept the top three positions in True Value IROC competition was 1996 at Talladega Superspeedway when Unser held of Robby Gordon and Scott Pruett.
Lazier also became the first driver to lead every lap of an IROC race since Mark Martin in 1996 at Charlotte.
"I think it's a testament to us having an off week," Lazier said. "A lot of the drivers like myself were down here practicing. We put in a lot of hours."
It was Lazier's first career IROC victory and the first IROC win by an open-wheel driver since Eddie Cheever Jr. won in June 2000 at Michigan.
"It was good for the Indy Racing League and open-wheel racing," Sharp said. "Buddy got out front and stayed there. He did a great job."
The finish sets up a showdown for the title at the season finale Aug. 3 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with nearly every driver in the 12-driver field eligible for the championship.
Perhaps it was Castroneves who summed it up the best on the Indy Racing League's banner day.
"I guess we rock," he said.
-irl-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article CHAMPCAR/CART: Dr Olvey to speak at Concussion Conference
Next article CHAMPCAR/CART: EuroSpeedway organizers cancel German 500
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Kevin Harvick
The most unexpected driver and team breakups in modern NASCAR Cup history
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
The most unexpected driver and team breakups in modern NASCAR Cup history
The wildest fights in modern NASCAR Cup history
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Bristol II
The wildest fights in modern NASCAR Cup history
Kevin Harvick’s message to Carson Hocevar: ‘Do not change’
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Pocono
Kevin Harvick’s message to Carson Hocevar: ‘Do not change’
Latest news
Colton Herta “maybe underestimated the difference” from IndyCar – F2 boss
FIA F2
F2 FIA F2 1 h
Colton Herta “maybe underestimated the difference” from IndyCar – F2 boss
WEC Barcelona: Genesis secures maiden series pole from Toyota
WEC
WEC WEC
Barcelona
2 h
WEC Barcelona: Genesis secures maiden series pole from Toyota
Five-time IndyCar champion, first-time Indy NXT driver: Alex Palou tops IMS road course test
Indy NXT
IndL Indy NXT 3 h
Five-time IndyCar champion, first-time Indy NXT driver: Alex Palou tops IMS road course test
Gabriel Bortoleto on Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar's F1 success: 'Let's see where we are in 20 years'
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
4 h
Gabriel Bortoleto on Kimi Antonelli and Isack Hadjar's F1 success: 'Let's see where we are in 20 years'
Feature
Discover prime content
Inside AJ Foyt Racing’s transition: Hauger’s arrival, Ferrucci’s future, and the Pierson waiting game
Feature
IndyCar
Feature
IndyCar
By Joey Barnes
Inside AJ Foyt Racing’s transition: Hauger’s arrival, Ferrucci’s future, and the Pierson waiting game
You Ask The Questions: David Malukas
IndyCar
By Joey Barnes
You Ask The Questions: David Malukas
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe