Jarrett

	Harvick

INDIANAPOLIS -- Dale Jarrett went to the lead and never fell back in the final event of this year's International Race of Champions series, and Kevin Harvick finished fifth Saturday to take the title.

Winston Cup ace Jarrett passed Ken Schrader on the first lap Saturday and beat Helio Castroneves of the IRL by .38 seconds at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

''I knew it was important to get my car out front and I fought Schrader as hard as I could there on that first lap, trying to get the lead,'' Jarrett said. ''I knew the car was going to tighten up later on, and if I could get out front, I'd have a better chance.''

Harvick, who gained a spot in the $1.2 million all-star series as last year's NASCAR Busch Series champion, became the first rookie to win the IROC title since Ricky Rudd in 1992. Harvick earned $250,000 for the championship.

''It's something I didn't really expect, but it's pretty awesome when you do it in front of the fans at Indianapolis,'' Harvick said

Harvick finished with 54 points. Buddy Lazier and Jarrett had 49 apiece, although Lazier wound up in second in the series for a $125,000 payout . Jarrett was given third place and $95,000 based on their average finishes for all four races.

Castroneves, who also passed Schrader on the opening lap, never relinquished second place in the 40-lap race that matched 11 drivers from different racing series in identically prepared stock cars. Schrader, who started from the pole in place of injured World of Outlaws driver Danny Lasoski, finished third.

Lazier, the IRL champion in 2000, was fourth. Two weeks ago, he led all 67 laps to win at Chicagoland Speedway.

Jarrett's best finish in the three previous IROC races this season was third in Fontana, Calif., and he came into Saturday's race in 11th place in the series points. That gave him a spot next to Schrader on the front row with the inverted start and put him in position to take the lead on the backstretch of the first lap.

	Jarrett earned his second career IROC win.

After the passes by Jarrett and Castroneves, the top three were unchanged the rest of the race. Then, after Harvick passed Tony Stewart for fifth place, the top five were the same for the final 30 laps.

Stewart, who earlier in the day won the pole for the Brickyard 400 Winston Cup race on Sunday, dropped out with 10 laps to go. It was the second straight IROC race he did not finish because of an engine problem.

Jarrett's lead was just over a half-second at that point. Castroneves, who won his second straight Indianapolis 500 in May, closed within .26 seconds with six laps to go, but Jarrett again opened the lead and was not challenged to the checkered flag.

''My car started to push, so I moved up to save the tires a little bit,'' Jarrett said. ''Whenever he got a little bit closer, I went back down to my groove and was able to pull away a little bit.''

Jarrett averaged 158.137 mph for the 100-mile race, the fastest in five IROC events at Indianapolis. His only other IROC win was at Daytona last year.

Jack Sprague finished sixth, Sterling Marlin seventh, Scott Sharp eighth, Bobby Labonte ninth, Sam Hornish Jr. 10th and Stewart 11th.

The normal IROC field of 12 drivers was cut to 11 because of the absence of Al Unser Jr., who recently began treatment for alcohol abuse.