IRL: Kentucky: Scott Sharp preview

Sharp Ready to Defend Title at Kentucky The IndyCar Series resumes racing action this weekend with the Meijer Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway. Last year, Scott Sharp celebrated his ninth career win in the series at the 1.5-mile oval -- a victory that helped to solidify a fifth-place ranking in the final championship standings. His past success at Kentucky also includes the 2001 pole, and second and fourth-place runs in 2001 and 2002 respectively. He has led a total of 165 laps. Adrian Fernandez, who will be attending the race this weekend, also won at Kentucky with Fernandez Racing in 2004.

Sharp enters the weekend with a tally of seven top-10 finishes in 2006, the highest being a pair of fifth-place runs at Texas and Richmond. He finished sixth two weeks ago at Michigan. Hampered by two DNF's [did not finish] due to mechanical issues at Kansas and Nashville, Sharp currently sits one point outside the top 10 in the championship standings, only 15 points from seventh place.

Scott Sharp At-A-Glance:

Is the defending race winner at Kentucky

Career record includes three top-four finishes at Kentucky in six starts

Was the 2001 pole sitter

Scott Sharp - #8 Delphi Dallara /Honda/Firestone:

"Obviously we enter this weekend with some high hopes. The team has won this race the past two years, and I certainly would love to see a repeat of our victory last year. Realistically, we know we have our work cut out for us. There has been a lot of dominance at the front of the field this year by the Penske and Ganassi teams and, hopefully, we can change that this weekend. I've had some good results at Kentucky -- a first, a second and also a pole -- and really enjoy racing at this track. It's great racing for the fans, and the track certainly does a nice job in letting everyone know that we are coming to town."

-credit: www.delphifernandezracing.net