Scott Sharp called to his pit box a final time after crossing the finish line in the AMBER Alert Portal Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway. He needed a refresher on the best method to do donuts.

The usually stoic Sharp was the opposite Aug. 14 after winning his first race since April 2003 - a span of 40 events. Spontaneous (i.e. the donuts and a champagne splash in Victory Circle that rained on nearby Kentucky State Police), emotional and certainly excited. As always, he was thankful.

“It was a tough situation the last couple of years,” said Sharp, 37, of the lean seasons with Kelley Racing. “We really kept going the wrong way on the grid, but Delphi really stayed behind me the entire time. They were the constant that believed I could get the job done. Obviously, it took me to a much better team, the Honda Fernandez team.

“Just the opportunity to show what I could do, that's everything, that's what every driver wants is that chance to show what you could do, and I just can't thank them and the other group of sponsors enough.

“It's the biggest race I've won in the IRL. And I say that because we're in contention all day, we've raced our way to the lead and won the race. From a driver's perspective, that's how you dream about winning races. I mean, you'll take them any way you can get them and back the thing up across the checkered white line if that's what it takes. But certainly if you can be a dominant-type car and go into the race, that's how you dream about doing it.

“So for us to finally be able to put a stamp on it really feels good.”

Sharp is the eighth different winner in as many races, a testament to the high competition and depth of the field.

“You look at this field, it's as deep as deep gets and people look and say, ‘Well, there's only six or seven cars that are really legitimate contenders,’ or whatever and therefore they negate some of the accomplishments,” he said. “Definitely any time you can get a win feeling like you're racing against the best that there is, it feels that much more rewarding.

“I'd much rather take a win right now than take it two years ago, put it that way. It's definitely gratifying to be able to pull one out.”

Sharp, starting seventh in the No. 8 Delphi Panoz/Honda/Firestone prepared by Fernandez Racing, beat Rahal Letterman Racing’s Vitor Meira to the checkers by 0.0779 of a second. IndyCar Series points leader Dan Wheldon was third. Sharp took the lead for good on Lap 164 and held off multiple challenges by both strong cars and steely drivers.

He led 60 laps (his first of the season).

“When we popped in the lead, I was like, ‘Wow! This feels good. I wonder how long it will last?’’’ Sharp said. “From there we just kept going, and we got faster and faster and it was actually pretty surprising no one known could come back around by me. Obviously the adjustments on the car got us to a new level that we were basically able to carve our way to the front. Once we got there, we were quick enough that no one could really get us.”

Sharp's victory was the ninth in 110 IndyCar Series races, including 102 in a row, and was accomplished with the same car that team co-owner Adrian Fernandez drove into Victory Circle last year at the 1.5-mile tri-oval. Fernandez won two additional races, and Sharp envisions a similar scenario. There is a mix of short (1-mile Pikes Peak International), superspeedways (1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway and 2-mile California Speedway) and road courses (Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen International) remaining.

“We came out of the box pretty strong I thought for a brand new team; driver trying to mesh with each other,” he said. “And I really felt after three or four races certainly coming out of Motegi (runner-up) we were going to win some races pretty quickly and it has not come as fast as I thought it would.

“And July, we seemed to maybe lose a little bit to some of the other teams, but we never stopped working and I knew we were going to come to some really good races for the team and good races for me. I think I've done well here and I like this place, same goes for Colorado (Honda Indy 225 on Aug. 21). Luckily, the track we won last year I really like, Chicago (Sept. 11). I knew we were going to good tracks for them and obviously they have a good set-up for here, so you just do the best that you could do.”