Giaffone holds off Hornish in 300

? Felipe Giaffone had to fight for his first career victory.

Giaffone, who has finished in the Top 10 in all but four of his 25 starts in the Indy Racing League, held off the fast-closing Sam Hornish Jr. to win the Belterra Casino Indy 300 on Sunday.

“The car was really good. Let’s go for the next one. The championship is very open,” said Giaffone, the ninth winner in 12 IRL races this season and a Top 10-finisher for the 10th straight race.

“It was one of those weekends when everything works great. We had a great car, and even in the warmups I said, ‘We don’t have to change a thing.”‘

First place paid $125,200 from a purse of $1.053 million.

Giaffone, whose best previous finish was second at Texas last year and at Nazareth, Pa., in April, led the final 39 laps on the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway tri-oval after the leaders made their final pit stops for fuel.

Hornish dropped to third as the race seemed to come down to a battle between Giaffone and Buddy Lazier, the two-time defending race winner. But Hornish passed Lazier for second place with four laps to go and pulled within 0.041 second of Giaffone going into the final lap.

The 27-year-old Brazilian was able to pull around slower traffic and beat Hornish to the checkered flag by 0.0932 second. Hornish won $82,050 for second place.

“Sam showed he had a strong car,” Giaffone said.