Sharp

NAZARETH, Pa. -- Although he's a winner again, Scott Sharp has some unfinished business.

After prevailing in a battle of strategies when polesitter Gil de Ferran ran out of fuel on the final lap of the Firestone 225 on Sunday, Sharp is heading for the Indianapolis 500.

He'll be returning to the scene of one of the greatest embarrassments in auto racing history. As the polesitter last year, he spun out on the first turn of the race.

But Sharp insists there are no lingering effects.

"Just getting back on the track took care of that," he said. "That's behind me now."

And that's where de Ferran finished for lack of just of splash of fuel.

De Ferran had stopped on the 95th of 225 laps and was trying to nurse his car to the end. Sharp last stopped on lap 127, and thought he might not win because de Ferran was aided by several cautions that permitted him to save fuel.

The cars ran slow under a yellow flag on laps 204 and 205. Sharp was wondering if that would be enough to deny him his seventh career victory and first this season.

"They told me they calculated he had three gallons left," he said of de Ferran. "I said maybe he's going to run out one of these days."

When he did, Sharp felt as if the hard work his team has put in during the last few weeks was beginning to pay off.

"We came here with some new ideas and new setups, and here we are," he said. "We really have the momentum right now."

	Scott Sharp celebrates in Victory Lane after holding on for his seventh-career win.

De Ferran, who won here two years ago, giving car owner Roger Penske his 100th open-wheel victory, slowed coming off the second turn. Sharp raced by to take the lead, then held off Felipe Giaffone by less than a half-second.

De Ferran coasted in third.

"We thought the rain might stop it," de Ferran said of his strategy. "It was great strategy by Roger. I tried to save fuel. It just didn't work out."

Sharp won despite being sent to the end of the field earlier for clipping the right foot of Helio Castroneves' crew chief and tire changer Rick Rinaman.

Sharp needed a caution and got one when Jaques Lazier and rookie Tomas Scheckter crashed on the 123rd lap. That permitted Sharp to take on fuel and stay out when the other leaders pitted late in the race.

"We wanted to get to the front of the pack because track position is everything," car owner Tom Kelley explained of the winning strategy. "Scott just kept pushing him, and he ran out of fuel on the last lap."

Now, Sharp heads for the Indianapolis 500.

"I'm excited," Sharp said. "I really thought we turned the corner when we came to test here and now, after a win, we're going to Indy."

Kelley also was thrilled by the victory over his "hero," Penske, on the track he built in 1987 and operated for more than a decade.

Penske thought the attempt to save fuel might result in the seventh victory by one of his cars on the track. But he didn't second-guess himself.

"That's what makes racing," he said. "You've got to take that gamble every time."

IRL champion Sam Hornish, who started eighth, took himself out of contention when he got between Buddy Lazier and the wall as they went four wide attempting to pass on the narrow backstretch. Lazier's right rear tire hooked Hornish's left front. Lazier went into the wall and Hornish to his garage for repairs.

Lazier, the 2000 series champion, was upset.

"This was best race car I had all year," he said. "Somebody just ran into me from behind and launched me into the wall."

The accident cost Hornish 49 laps, but not the points lead. He leads de Ferran by five points after a 17th-place finish.

"I was trying to get back out of there," Hornish said. "It was one of those things where it was just a lack of room."

The race was run under overcast skies with temperatures barely reaching 50. Light sleet began to fall near the halfway mark.

It was about 40 degrees warmer when practice began two days earlier, and the radical departure forced the teams to make some adjustments to the aerodynamic setups to create better traction.

Hoping to help the drivers get heat into their tires, the IRL permitted the cars to run six warmup laps.

With cold and damp weather, the crowd was limited to about 10,000, about half of what CART was drawing before dropping Nazareth from its schedule this season after racing at facility for 15 years.

Sarah Fisher finished fourth, followed by Castroneves.

The winner averaged 93.789 mph in a race slowed seven times by 116 laps of caution. There were seven lead changes among five drivers.

Jaques Lazier and rookie Tomas Scheckter had a hard crash, and were taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital.

According to Dr. Henry Bock, director of medical services for the IRL, Lazier was listed in stable condition with a lower spine fracture and a concussion.

Scheckter was also listed in stable condition with a concussion and a lung contusion.