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NorthernLight IRL: Buhl Gives Infiniti Sixth Place Finish in Atlanta

17 July 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Hampton, Ga. -- In his third race this season with the Infiniti Indy V8 engine, Robbie Buhl finished sixth in the Midas 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. His performance in the Team Purex Dreyer & Reinbold Racing G Force marked the sixth of seven races that Infiniti power has finished in the top ten this season.

Starting eighth, Buhl quickly moved up through the field early in the race. By lap 14, of the 208-lap race, he was in a heated battle for third place. A few difficult pit stops dropped him back to eighth by midway in the race, but Buhl fought back and earned his fourth top-ten finish of the season by finishing in sixth place. Buhl is currently eighth in the driver point standings, only 41 points behind leader Buddy Lazier who has 208 points.

Eddie Cheever Jr., who gave Infiniti its first victory last month at Pikes Peak in the No. 51 Excite@Home Infiniti, charged to the front early in the race, leading lap 75. Twenty-two laps later, after an exciting battle with the leaders, he was in third place when an engine failure ended his day early. Placing 21st on the final race standings, Cheever earned enough points to maintain second place in the battle for the $1 million Northern Light Cup with 185 points.

The Indy Racing Northern Light Series visits the new Kentucky Speedway next month for the Belterra Resort Indy 300 on August 27. Round eight of the nine-race series will be televised live on ESPN at 2:30 (EDT).

QUOTES

Robbie Buhl, No. 24 Team Purex/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing G Force-Infiniti: "The Purex car was good. We hurt ourselves with a couple of pit stops that were a little longer than we wanted, but we had a good race car today. After the last three race weekends of not finishing for some reason or another we needed to finish. We are real happy with our Infiniti powerplant. At this place you are flat out all the way around, its a good test for a motor, and ours didn't miss a beat. We learned a lot out there, and we will take that with us to the next race."

Eddie Cheever Jr., No. 51 Excite@Home Dallara-Infiniti: "This is my first DNF (of the season). We had a mechanical failure. The same engine that broke tonight is the same engine that put us in front. You have to take the good with the bad. That kind of stuff happens. Will we give up? No, we're not. This really hurt our championship push a lot. Am I disappointed? Sure, I am."

RACE RESULTS

1. Greg Ray, Dallara-Olds
2. Buddy Lazier, Dallara-Olds
3. Al Unser Jr., G Force-Olds
4. Robby McGehee, G Force-Olds
5. Donnie Beechler, Dallara-Olds
*6. Robbie Buhl, G Force-Infiniti
7. Stephan Gregoire, G Force-Olds
8. Billy Boat, Dallara-Olds
9. Shigeaki Hattori, G Force-Olds
10. Eliseo Salazar, G Force-0lds
11. Scott Goodyear, Dallara-Olds
12. Jimmy Kite, G Force-Olds
13. Tyce Carlson, Dallara-Olds
14. Sarah Fisher, Dallara-Olds
15. Davey Hamilton, G Force-Olds
16. Scott Sharp, Dallara-Olds
17. J.J. Yeley, G Force-Olds
18. Mark Dismore, Dallara-Olds
19. Jeff Ward, G Force-Olds
20. Scott Harrington, Dallara-Olds
*21. Eddie Cheever Jr., Dallara-Infiniti
22. Stevie Reeves, Dallara-Olds
23. Buzz Calkins, Dallara-Olds
24. Jeret Schroeder, Dallara-Olds
25. Airton Dare, G Force-Olds

Text provided by Heather Handley

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.