Luyendyk

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Arie Luyendyk hopes his first regular Indy Racing League appearance since 1998 will end up like his last.

With a victory.

Luyendyk's start Sunday in the Michigan Indy 400 will be his first IRL start, other than the Indy 500, since October 1998. In that race, he won the season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Since then, he has competed only in the 1999, 2001 and 2002 Indy 500s. He finished 14th in May at Indy and won the showcase race in 1990 and 1997.

"I've always enjoyed racing at Michigan,'' Luyendyk said. "And I've had some good results, so I decided it would be good to be in the IRL's first race there.''

Luyendyk raced in 11 CART events at Michigan International Speedway, finishing finished second on the two-mile oval in 1991 and 1994 and third in 1993. Of the 25 drivers expected to compete in the first IRL race in Michigan, 13 have raced in at least one event on the track.

"I've raced there three different times, and I like the track,'' said Alex Barron, coming off his first IRL victory last week at Nashville Superspeedway. "Michigan is pure speed, but you don't want to push too hard or the track can bite you.''

Of the active IRL points champions, only last year's winner, Sam Hornish Jr., and 1996 co-champion Buzz Calkins will make their first starts at MIS.

Practice is scheduled for Friday, qualifying is Saturday, and the race is Sunday. Support races include Saturday's Michigan 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race and Sunday's Michigan 100 Infiniti Pro Series race.

Team Penske teammates Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran will be the most familiar with MIS -- both competed in the CART Harrah's 500 last year.

That turned out to be the last CART race at MIS as dwindling attendance and escalating sanctioning fees led CART and MIS to not renew their contract. MIS has staged 33 CART races.

CART and the city of Detroit also did not renew their contract, which signaled at least the temporary end of the Detroit Grand Prix after last summer's race. The Detroit Grand Prix started in 1982 in downtown Detroit and moved to Belle Isle in 1992.

CART also closed its headquarters in suburban Troy this year and moved its offices to Indianapolis.

De Ferran, the current points leader, said MIS is the superspeedway he's most familiar with because he's raced there since 1995.

"This will, however, be the first time I will compete there in the Indy Racing League, so it will provide a whole new challenge,'' de Ferran said. "The layout is such that you can have two or three cars running side by side in the middle of the turns.

"There's plenty of room to go racing at Michigan, so I am 100 percent confident that this will be an exciting event.''

Some of the closest and fastest oval races in open-wheel racing history have taken place at MIS.

In 1999, Tony Kanaan edged Juan Montoya by 0.032 seconds. In 2000, Montoya beat Michael Andretti by 0.040 seconds. Last year, Patrick Carpentier beat Dario Franchitti by 0.243 seconds.