The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 43

C10 SUNDAY. MAY 25, 2003 Sports THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR WWW.INDYSTAR.COM AUTO RACING Newcomer no match for Kenseth Fike leads every lap at IRP for USAC win ROUNDUP film it'h 1 "Vr 'i 1 'a Jeff Slner Knight RidderTribune In the lead: Matt Kenseth (17) leads Kyle Busch down the front stretch in the Carquest Auto Parts 300 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Kenseth, a Winston Cup regular, took his second Busch win of the season. Dixon claimed his 20th career No. 1 effort in Top Fuel and the first of the season at 4509 and 327.11.

Kenny Bernstein, subbing for injured son Brandon, was second at 4345 and 327.03. Anderson earned his fourth No. 1 qualifying award of the season and the seventh of his career in Pro Stock, clocking a track-record performance of 6.825 at 202.15. Notes Roush Racing is always a threat at the Coca-Cola 600, with four consecutive victories in NASCAR's longest race. Jeff Burton won in 1999, followed by Kenseth, Burton again and Mark Martin.

"I think one of the reasons Roush is so strong in the Winston Cup points leader takes win away from Kyle Busch, who makes 1st series start. Associated Press NASCAR newcomer Kyle Busch got "Buschwhacked" by Matt Kenseth, who took the lead on the last restart and cruised to victory in Saturday's Busch Series race at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. Kenseth is the current Winston Cup points leader who moonlights in the Busch Series for extra track time and a chance at another victory a group known as the "Buschwhackers." In the Carquest Auto Parts 300, he used a veteran's experience to beat Busch as the race came off its final caution flag on lap 171 of 200. Busch took only two tires to Kenseth's four during the caution. "I sort of felt like it was Christmas," Kenseth said when he saw Busch had taken two tires during the last pit stop.

"As many times as we've raced here, as many times as I've done that, I would never gamble on two. When I saw him get two, I was really surprised." The race finished under caution as Greg Biffle spun out in turn four with four laps to go. That secured Kenseth's second series win of the season. He won the Busch race at California Speedway in ApriL Kyle Busch's NASCAR debut was delayed from last season, when NASCAR passed a minimum age requirement of 18. Busch, the younger brother of Winston Cup driver Kurt Busch, had signed a deal with Roush Racing before the rule was passed.

Earlier this year, he signed instead with rival owner Rick Hen-drick. He turned 18 on May 2, and they picked Saturday's race for his debut. Busch led 33 laps before Kenseth took over. "We had a great run going and I thought that leading this race was pretty neat," Busch said. "But I knew we had 30 laps to go." Kenseth was right on Busch's tail when the fourth caution of the race came out with 34 laps remaining.

Busch and crew chief Brian Pattie agreed they should take two tires on the pit stop. Horton Win in 600 a tougher task for Gordon than win at Indy. From CI rolls around and Gordon gets back down here to the Racetrack That Overlooks Charlotte, he will have already driven the most famous and, yes, most competitive 500 miles in the free world. Think that's not a mental block to add to the physical demands? While Gordon has an understood desire to win Indy, his business obligation is to Richard Childress Racing, which owns the Chevrolet Gordon drives in Winston Cup events, like the 600. There has to be considerably more pressure for Gordon to show in the 600 that Childress didn't make a mistake by letting him do both.

(It should be noted that I still despise the notion of a race driver doing UOO miles, in two different extremes, in the same day. Tony Stewart is a better driver than Gordon and, for safety reasons, I don't think Stewart should do it. But Gordon is the third guy to try it, so I'll quit whining and pray no one dies.) "Last year, we finished 16th here, and I don't think it had anything to do with our running in the Indianapolis 500," said Gordon, who is making his fourth attempt to drive both races. "I looked at Tony's results here in the past, and he "We both thought that more guys would take two," Busch said. "But obviously, most of them didn't" As the race went back to green, Kenseth moved through lapped traffic and passed Busch on the bottom of the track on the back straightaway.

"I was looking for a hole on the bottom to slide by," he said. "I kind of held back there a little bit and I saw a hole on the bottom." Kenseth had set his car up to run in sunshine and warm weather, but most of the race was run under gray skies. "I honestly didn't think we had a prayer of running with the leaders," he said. "But we had just enough cautions and just enough pit stops to get the car the way it needed to be." Four of the top 10 finishers Kenseth, Todd Bodine, Kevin Harvick and Michael Waltrip were Winston Cup regulars. Cup regulars have now won 10 of 13 Busch Series races this season.

Fourth-place finisher Bodine took the series point lead from David Green, who crashed on lap three after being bumped from behind by Kerry Earnhardt Green got his car fixed and returned midway through the race, eventually finishing 121 laps. Michael Waltrip led 71 laps but ran into mechanical problems during a pit stop under yellow on lap 137. Waltrip had to pit a total of three times during the caution, dropping back to finish 10th. Casey Mears, who is planning to run 1,000 miles at Lowe's Motor Speedway this weekend, was 15th. He was fourth in the ARCA 100 on Friday and will start 19th in today's Winston Cup race.

Pedregon tops Funny Car Tony Pedregon earned his fifth No. 1 qualifying position of the Funny Car season with a track-record run in the O'Reilly Summer Nationals in Topeka, Kan. Pedregon had a quarter-mile run of 4.743 seconds at 316.97 mph. Teammate John Force was second at 4.800 and 316.97, and Whit Bazemore was third at 4.802 and a track-record 326.48. Larry Dixon and Greg Anderson also topped their divisions in the event at Heartland Park Topeka.

finished in the top 10 both times at Charlotte as welL There's a lot of luck and a lot of strategy that has to come into play." Thing is, Gordon has a much better chance of winning the 500 than the 600. He's starting on the outside of row one in Indy, and he's got one heck of a car with the Andretti Green team. In Concord, Gordon will start on row 19. That's if he gets here. For safety precautions, helicopter flights in and out of both racetracks have been banned for one hour before and after the races.

Gordon plans to ride a golf cart out of IMS to an awaiting rental car destined for the airport. "(The 600 is) still one of our biggest Winston Cup races of the year," Gordon said. "And, obviously, the Indianapolis 500 is still the Indianapolis 500. (The 600) is probably close to that, but (the 500) is shown in 170 countries live. It's still a worldwide event" There's no denying that But that doesn't mean a victory in Concord this weekend couldn't somehow be bigger.

If Gordon completes those 500 miles at Indy in, say, fourth place, and then high-tails it down here and beats 42 other drivers to the checkered flag well, that definitely should get some respect, too. Winning the Coca-Cola 600, the most physically challenging leg of this double, would be a spectacle unto itself. C. Jemal Horton is a columnist for The Indianapolis Star. Contact him at 1-317-444-6514 or via e-mail at jemal.hortonindystar.com C.

Tucker Company, Inc. would like to congratulate Kurt Spoerle orer 900 clients in bis first 11 years! I Star special report CLERMONT Aaron Fike picked up his second career United States Auto Club National Midget Series victory his first on pavement on Saturday night in the 58th running of the "Night Before the 500" event at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Fike, who became the fifth winner on the circuit this season, got a great start at the drop of the green flag and was never contested, as he led all 50 laps from the pole. Fike was never challenged on any of the race's four restarts and beat Tracy Hines by nearly three car lengths. "I knew after the first lap that we were going to be good all race," Fike said in victory lane.

Fike is also a regular competitor in the Infiniti Pro Series. He finished sixth last Sunday in the inaugural Freedom 100 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Fike also was the USAC National Midget Rookie of the Year in 2000 when he had 11 top-10 finishes. 1 In Saturday night's race, a caution on lap 40 bunched up the field and Fike said he was confident he could hold on for victory.1 "I was losing my brakes toward the end of the race," Fike said. knew we were going to hold (Hines) off." Bobby East trailed Fike and Hines to the line, while defending champion Jason Leffler finished fourth.

Points leader J.J. Yeley, who won the "Twin 50s" at IRP on Thursday, wound up sixth. It was a good night for Fike's brother A.J. as welL A.J. Fike finished second in the first of two qualifying races and ran with the lead pack the majority of the event, crossing the line seventh.

Four other divisions and winners highlighted the night's competition. Chris Tomasik won the CARS Series Super Truck race, with Wes Bullock taking the victory in the CARS Series Late Model division. The Baby Grands feature winner was Danny Trent, and Rodney Scott was the USA Modifieds champion. I McCain Associated Press 'always filling the tool mi that means we never go wiifrwt anything. If there's umtfiM need, he gives it to us, bicaus all he wants is for everyone to do the best they possibly can." Meanwhile, Pcnske's chances at winning both races will rest largely with Newman.

Penske's favored to win in Indy, where Castroneves will go for a third consecutive victory. While Wallace is still a threat in NASCAR, it's the younger Newman who carries the Penske Hac-ing banner and should challenge for the win in the Coca-Cola 600. Newman has never finished the 600-mile race, wrecking while leading 12 laps into his 2001 debut, and blowing his motor last seasoa That seems to follow the luck Newman has had this year. He either runs near the front, it seems, or wrecks trying to get there. "You create 99 percent of your own luck in this sport," Newman said.

"If you go over the line just a little bit going down the highway, then it's your fault You're the one in controL" Mill 3 jp jr" 600 is that the approach is very methodical," said Kenseth, whose first career win was the Coca-Cola 600. "We spend a lot of time going over setups, gear selections and other things just trying to create the right set of adjustments in our cars." Because the race begins in the afternoon and ends in the evening, teams must adapt to the changing track conditions. Temperatures at the track could drop by as many as 30 degrees at night "You have to focus on the day-into-night aspect," Busch said. "That's the unique aspect of this race that you nave to fight but it's a long race, and you have to prepare to face major challenges from the racetrack." Kurt Busch settled his sponsor Coca-Cola 600 (Top qualifiers) Driver Speed (mph) 1. Ryan Newman 185.312 2.

Elliott Sadler 184300 3. Mike Skinner 183.999 4. Jeff Gordon 183.986 5. Jack Sprague 183.530 6. Tony Stewart 183.468 7.

Joe Nemechek 183.231 8. Dave Blaney 183.231 9. Michael Waltrip 183.156 10. Johnny Benson 183.125 Starting field: Complete starting lineup, Ctl faces in McMurray and rookie Casey Mears, and won five races. He also joined Penske in August 2001 as the only car owner to win in two series on the same day when Bruno Junqueira won the CART race and Marlin won in NASCAR.

Ganassi was at the CART race that day, and barely able to celebrate Junqueira's victory because he was at the hospital tend ship situation when Newell-Rub-bermaid signed for another three years with Roush Racing. Don't count Harvick among the Winston Cup drivers itching for a chance to drive an Indy car. Harvick went to Indianapolis on Thursday to watch teammate Robby Gordon get in some final practice before the Indy 500. Walking with car owner Richard Childress and soaking it all in, Harvick decided he had no interest in another career. "I think the biggest thing I enjoyed was the cars themselves," Harvick said.

"It's a whole different face. But there's not many tools in the garage, just a scale pad and a lot of computers. I may want to own one one day, but I'm not going to ride one." ing to another one of his drivers' injuries. But he was able to listen to the last 15 minutes of Marlin's win on the radio, and flew into Michigan for the celebration shortly after. "It was the highest of highs and also one of the lowest days," Ganassi said.

"Bruno won, but Memo Gidley was in a pretty bad accident and we weren't able to be at Sterling's win. "Although it was a great accomplishment, I really had kind of an empty feeling when it was over." The constant chase for success is what has helped Ganassi rapidly reach the elite group of car owners in NASCAR. He already was at the top in CART, winning an unprecedented four consecutive titles. He moved over to the rival IRL this year and emphasized his arrival when Dixon won the season opener. "He is so competitive and driven, I really have never seen a person so focused on being successful" said Tony Glover, team manager of Ganassi's NASCAR operation.

"He has a saying about Pole winner: Ryan Newman starts from the pole today in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Newman and teammate Rusty Wallace will give team owner Roger Penske a shot at the NASCAR victory while Helio Castroneves starts from the pole for Penske in the 500. Double Ganassi, Penske have won in 2 series on the same day. From CI though he fell short the past two years when Helio Castroneves won in Indy, but NASCAR drivers Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman came up empty. Penske wUl try again with Castroneves and Newman sitting on both poles.

Although Ganassi's cars aren't on the front row of either race, he's just as confident as Penske is about his chances. "I know what we have in Indy, and I know what we can have in Charlotte," Ganassi said. "It's not impossible to pull it off." It's that aggressive attitude that has gotten Ganassi to the top so quickly. Since buying a majority stake of Felix Sabates' team before the 2001 season, Ganassi has turned Marlin into a championship contender, found two fresh young ISongmtulntwns! The F. on assisting Kurt uvuld like to thank all of his many loyal clients, friends and most importantly, his family, for their support.

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