Lazier Moves Closer to Championship

The Indy Northern Light Racing Series returned to action after several weeks of inactivity last weekend, as the teams ventured to Kentucky Speedway for the Belterra Resort Indy 300. The race, the first 300 Mile event held on a one and one half mile track began with a lot of action, as Eliseo Salazar, who started in the number 2 position and Jeret Schroeder, who started sixth made strong moves to the front on the second lap. Their day ended one lap later, however when they touched in turn one and hit the wall. The accident also took out Al Unser, Jr. as he hit the wall trying to avoid Schroeder.

As it turned out, this was the only accident of the day, and fans were treated to an afternoon of good, hard competitive racing, which saw 18 different lead changes, among ten different drivers. The race saw only three caution flags as eight cars went out with mechanical problems.

In the end, Buddy Lazier took the lead on lap 171 from rookie sensation Sarah Fisher and outdistanced Sarah and polesitter Scott Goodyear to take the checkered flag with an average speed of 164.161 miles per hour. Fisher, in her highest finish in an Indy Car to date, used an early pit stop, orchestrated by team owner Dereck Walker, to take the lead from Goodyear on lap 162. Fisher ended up in third place while Goodyear took second behind the winner.

In the race for the series championship, Lazier increased his lead to 38 points over Scott Goodyear. As the series moves into its final race of the season, the Excite 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Lazier needs only to finish 13th or better to clinch the championship. The race, scheduled for October 15, 2000. In what could become an interesting development, the Excite sponsored car, driven by Eddie Cheever, Jr. is currently third in points, has a mathematical chance of still winning the championship, if Lazier and Goodyear have bad days and his team can put him in the winner's circle. Wouldn't it be something if things worked out for Cheever and he was able to take the championship at a race sponsored by his own sponsor?

Next season, new races at new tracks have been added, and the expanded season should give the fans easier access to watching an Indy Car race. The schedule appears to be firm now, since the acquisition of a race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. The schedule for the 2001 Championship is shown below.

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