SPARTA, Ky. (AP) Felipe Giaffone narrowly beat fast-closing Sam Hornish Jr. in Sunday's Belterra Casino Indy 300 for his first victory in the Indy Racing League.

"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.

The 27-year-old Brazilian, 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.

Giaffone was able to pull around slower traffic and beat Hornish to the checkered flag by 0.0932 second.

Lazier was third, followed by Scott Sharp, Helio Castroneves and Al Unser Jr., who missed the past two races while undergoing treatment for alcohol abuse.

Sarah Fisher, the first woman to start from the pole in a major racing series, led the first 26 laps and finished eighth.

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