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Sunday, April 29

Ray confident heading into 500
Associated Press

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Greg Ray knows he'll have a fast car at Indianapolis. He also can expect much tougher competition.

Ray cruised to victory Saturday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the Indy Racing League's last event before heading to the Brickyard.

Practice at the world's most famous speedway begins next Sunday, with the first round of time trials May 12-13.

"Let's go to Indianapolis," Ray said confidently, befitting a driver who led 184 of 200 laps in the zMax 500.

Team Menard always has some of the strongest cars in the Indy field, ensuring Ray will be among the favorites in the May 27 race.

But the rival CART series is sending some of its biggest names.

Michael Andretti returns to Indy for the first time since 1995. Same for Roger Penske, who'll try to put two cars in the field. Chip Ganassi has the defending championship team, albeit with two obscure rookie drivers.

Arie Luyendyk is coming out of retirement to pursue his third Indy victory, and two-time runner-up Scott Goodyear will race for the first time this year in pursuit of that elusive victory.

Ray never has done well at Indy, and he's been plagued by mechanical failures and wrecks since winning the IRL championship in 1999. Starting on the pole in eight of his last 12 races, he has managed to win only twice -- both times in Atlanta.

John Menard, who watched his car cruise across the finish line more than 19 seconds ahead, hopes this will be the year he finally breaks through at Indy.

Menard has been a part of Indy racing since 1979, winning poles but never the race. Last year, Ray was the fastest qualifier, crashed twice and wound up last in the 33-car field.

"We were beginning to doubt ourselves a little bit as far as finishing a race," Menard said. "It's almost incalculable going to the Indy 500 with a victory."

If nothing else, Ray found a way to beat 21-year-old phenom Sam Hornish Jr., who won the first two IRL races at Phoenix and Homestead, Fla.

Hornish ran second to Ray most of the night, slipping back to fourth at the end -- one lap down -- after being forced to pit for a late splash of fuel.

"No one had been able to stop Hornish," Menard said. "At least now we know we can do it."

Hornish certainly didn't feel bad about his pre-Indy performance.

"We just didn't have enough fuel at the end," he said. "Overall, it was a good run for our team. We're real excited going to Indy. I'll trade a win here for a win there."

Hornish failed to equal Kenny Brack's IRL record of three consecutive victories, set in 1998. Still, the youngster maintained his lead in the season standings with 136 points, 31 ahead of A.J. Foyt driver Eliseo Salazar.

Several low-budget teams will be scrambling to repair machines for Indy after a fiery 11-car crash took out a huge chunk of the Atlanta field on the 53rd lap.

No one was seriously injured. Jack Miller was hospitalized overnight for treatment of a concussion, but everyone else walked away.

Eddie Cheever Jr., the 1998 Indy 500 winner, was dealing with his own headaches. His new Infiniti engine -- strong in qualifying -- was a smoking mess after just 34 laps, leaving him 24th.

Not a good feeling heading to Indy.

"The Infiniti engine performed flawlessly all weekend long, and we were in the top three in every session," Cheever said. "We've got a good 10 days of practice before the Indianapolis 500, so we're going to reassess some things."

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	Ray wins fiery IRL race