Sparta, Ky. – Scott Sharp walked into his postrace interview session and summed up his feelings with the first word out of his mouth.
“Yeah!” he screamed upon entering the room.
The former Indy Racing League champion felt as much relief as elation after he won for the first time in more than two years, holding off Vitor Meira on Sunday to win the Amber Alert Portal Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway.
Sharp, driving a Honda for Delphi Fernandez Racing, became the second driver of that car to win the Kentucky IRL race in as many years, following Adrian Fernandez.
Sharp’s win was his ninth on the series, but his first since Japan in 2003, a streak of 40 winless races. He had won at least once every year from 1997 until last year. Sunday, he averaged 175.981 mph on the 1 1/2-mile tri-oval Kentucky track and had a winning margin of 0.0779 of a second.
“Where do I begin?” Sharp said. “It’s been a long time.
Sharp, 37, took the lead on lap 134 of the 200-lap race, passing Dan Wheldon. Wheldon regained the lead twice, but Sharp passed him for good on lap 169. Sharp’s crew had a flawless pit stop during a caution on lap 172, and he blocked every subsequent attempt by Meira to pass him after that.
Sharp said the key was staying low on the track, even though at times it was bumpy. He said he wanted to force Meira to try to pass him on the outside.
“He did a good job of holding his line and protecting his position,” said Meira, who led for 11 laps earlier in the race.
Meira, driving a Honda for Rahal Letterman Racing, moved into second during that final pit stop, when he beat Wheldon out of the pits. It was the fourth career second-place finish for Meira, a Brazilian who never has won an IRL race. He was the runner-up to Wheldon in this year’s Indianapolis 500.
Wheldon, also in a Honda, led 104 of the 200 laps and finished third, the 11th time in 12 races this year he has finished in the top six. Alex Barron and Helio Castroneves rounded out the top five.
Wheldon extended his lead in the series standings to 90 points over second-place Sam Hornish Jr., who finished seventh Sunday.
Wheldon’s Andretti Green Racing teammates, Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti, remained third and fourth, and Sharp vaulted from seventh to fifth with the win.
Sharp’s previous best finish at Kentucky Speedway was second in 2001.
Rookie Danica Patrick, making her 12th career start and seeking her first series win, started on the pole for the second time this season. But she surrendered the lead to Kanaan on the first lap, soon fell out of the top five and never led again.
As she did in the Indianapolis 500, Patrick stalled her car during a pit stop, on lap 71. Six laps later, after a restart, Patrick had to return to the pits because of a problem with her Honda’s gearbox. She finished 16th.
Patrick did record the fastest lap of the race, turning lap 183 at 216.882 mph.
“It’s really frustrating … when you’re not up there dicing with the leaders like I should have been,” she said.
