Full Throttle

Scott Sharp proved for the ninth time in his IRL career why he is the longest serving driver in the history of the series as he held off a determined challenge from Vitor Meira and Dan Wheldon to win Sunday’s Amber Alert Portal Indy 300.

Sharp successfully defended his Fernandez Racing teams’ crown at the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway, earning his ninth IRL win in 110 starts in the process and breaking a winless streak dating all the way to Motegi in April 2003.
Source: Crash Net

Starting seventh as a result of Saturday’s qualifying washout, Sharp bided his time before moving towards the front, taking the lead for the first time on lap 134 of 200 when several of the early leaders had fallen by the wayside.

Sharp continued to trade the lead with current championship leader Dan Wheldon until the yellow flag flew on lap 169, setting up the final round of fuel and tyre stops for the leading teams. While Wheldon slightly missed his pit marks, Sharp had his spot on and got out of the pits in front. Although he had more than a dozen snarling rivals gunning for him on the lap 175 restart, Sharp was able to keep the nose of his #5 Fernandez Racing Delphi sponsored Panoz-Honda ahead of the pack.

As the race entered its final ten laps, Rahal Letterman Racing’s Vitor Meira moved into second place and started searching around for a gap. Knowing that Meira has been on the short end of several ultra close 1-2 finishes over the past 18 months, Sharp maintained his composure superbly, rarely deviating from the low line and never allowing Meira the room to stick his nose underneath the #5 machine.