Indianapolis Raceway Park race report 2000-05-20

Jason Leffler of Long Beach, Calif., who qualified for his first Indianapolis 500 earlier in the afternoon, drove to victory in Saturday night's "Coca-Cola 100" at Indianapolis Raceway Park, leading all 100 laps after winning the pole starting position in his Team ASE/Beast Special, co-owned by Tony Stewart and Bob East. Brian Tyler, who finished fifth at IRP, leads the Coors Light Silver Bullet Series into A.J. Foyt's True Value "Hulman-Hoosier Hundred" this Friday night at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. Practice on the 1-mile dirt oval starts at 4:30 pm and qualifying gets under way at 5:30. A 15-mile "qualifying race" begins at 7 and the 100-mile feature gets the green at 8. Jimmy Sills is the defending winner of the race. Leffler qualified for the May 28 "500" at a speed of over 220 mph, but his 121.667 mph track record speed at IRP was good enough to outqualify the 52-car Coors Light Silver Bullet field. He seemed unbeatable in the 100-lap main event, stretching his lead after each of four restarts due to caution periods. "The car was on a rail tonight," he admitted after the race. "We had a slight vibration but I thought we had the race in command from the outset. I knew Ryan Newman would hang it out in the final laps after the last restart but I didn't think he had the tires left to beat me." Newman finished second, ahead of teammate Jimmy McCune, with Kasey Kahne taking fourth place after starting 27th in the 30-car field. Kahne grabbed the Oliver Trucking "Rookie of the Race" award for his performance. Several pre-race favorites, including Tracy Hines, who was trying to become the first driver to win three consecutive Silver Bullet races in 14 years, were eliminated in a nine-car accident on the third lap which brought out the red flag. There were no driver injuries in the incident. Jack Hewitt of Troy, Ohio was honored in pre-race ceremonies for earning his record 150th career Silver Bullet start. He finished 10th after starting 26th.

<pre> USAC COORS LIGHT SILVER BULLET SERIES STANDINGS

1. Brian Tyler 229 2. Tracy Hines 216 3. Brad Noffsinger 211 4. Ryan Newman 199 5. Jason Leffler 195 6. Dave Darland 189 7. Paul White 157 8. Jimmy McCune 150 9. John Heydenreich 134 10. Gary Hieber 130