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Danny Lasoski dominates IROC event

Danny Lasoski led all 67 laps to win the second round in the International Race of Champions on Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway.

Lasoski held off NASCAR Nextel Cup driver Kevin Harvick, who won a Busch race at Texas three years ago, by three-tenths of a second.

"Kevin tried a major Cup move on me on the backstretch, but I blocked him," said Lasoski, whose World of Outlaws car is owned by past NASCAR season champion Tony Stewart.

"Whew, I won this race," said Lasoski, the 2001 World of Outlaws champion. "I'll sleep all night and you can pinch me tomorrow, and I still won't believe it."

NASCAR drivers have dominated the series -- the last non-NASCAR season champion was Indy driver Al Unser Jr. in 1988 -- and had won the last six IROC races. The five Nextel Cup drivers this year were the top five in points after the first race. They still lead the series standings.

The second-place finish was good enough to tie Harvick with fellow NASCAR driver Ryan Newman for the IROC lead at 33 points. Newman, who will defend his Samsung-RadioShack 500 title at the 1.5-mile high-banked track Sunday, overcame an early accident to finish fourth Friday.

Lasoski and Jimmie Johnson of NASCAR were tied with 32 points.

Nextel Cup points leader Matt Kenseth was knocked out of the first IROC race in Texas when he was involved in a crash with Kurt Busch and Newman on the fourth lap.

Busch, the defending IROC champion, got loose into turn 2 and skidded into the outside wall. He then slid down into Kenseth and bumped hard into the side of Newman's car.

The front end of Kenseth's car was crushed into the inside wall, and he was done. Newman got his car repaired and recovered to finish fourth behind Johnson. Busch finished the race, but was the last of 11 cars to cross the line.

"We were just digging to get to the front," Kenseth said. "Busch got up underneath me. It was nobody's fault, it was just racing."

With the starting grid the reverse order of the first race, at Daytona, that trio began at the back of the field. Newman won in February after slipping past Busch in the last turn.

Lasoski finished last in the first race, so he started on the pole at Texas. He earned 29 points -- 21 for the win, five for leading the most laps and three for leading the first segment of the race.

IndyCar driver Helio Castroneves was seventh.
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