The Radisson 225's "Four Stars" of the race reward some points chasers as well as the Indy Racing League's communications system.

	Giaffone

Felipe Giaffone
This sophomore shoe is pasting together a pattern of consistency that will make him a player in this year's IRL points chase. The affable Brazilian finished fourth Sunday. Giaffone's Hollywood-sponsored operation is in a groove. A second at Nazareth, a third at Indy, a fifth in Texas and now his fourth at PPIR has put Giaffone and Mo Nunn Racing into fourth (202 points) in the standings -- just four points away from Sam Hornish Jr. (206).

Giaffone's effort came on the heels of a trying qualifying run.

"We only had one lap left, and it's a shame," he said after his team switched Chevy engines just prior to qualifying and then experienced a problem on his first qualifying lap.

"My car was fast, but by the end of a stint right before I pitted, the car would get a bit loose. The team told me that I had the fastest lap of the race at one point," Giaffone said after the race. "I believe that fourth place was good under these conditions."

Rebounding from adversity is an important element to championship chases. Nunn's team proved it can rebound and -- coupled with its consistency -- it should be a player in the title race.

	Unser Jr.

Al Unser Jr.
Look out. Little Al is starting to show some muscle. His Corteco/Bryant team made excellent use of the race day practice session to make changes on the car and then used quick pit stops to keep Unser in the hunt.

"Everything we did today was because of my guys and the pit stops they gave me. They passed more cars than I did," the two-time Indy 500 champion said. "I want to congratulate them. This team is getting better and better every race. It feels good to run up near the front."

	Barron

Alex Barron
It is misleading to consider Barron a rookie, except when you consider this was his first visit to PPIR. Barron and his Larry Blair-owned team have CART experience, but as winner Gil de Ferran always points out, there are a lot of differences between wheeling a CART car on a short oval and an IRL car.

Barron is getting the IRL hang of things. His ninth-place finish at PPIR is another building block in acquiring experience to run at the front.

"It won't be long before Alex is running up front," said his father, Richard, when he spoke with his son by phone (and aired on the ABC telecast) during the red flag. "He is almost there."

IRL race control
IRL rules require that every team and driver have radio frequencies that allow race control to contact them directly during the race.

The idea is that by radio, race control can get information needed for decisions without losing bits of it in translation from one party to the other. When rain put the race under yellow near the end of the 225-lap distance, the IRL's Brian Barnhart used the system to converse directly with leaders, de Ferran and Hornish.

"I told Brian on the radio," de Ferran said. "I said, 'Look, Brian, the problem is, I cannot afford to be conservative and check the track out as we are going green, I've got to restart the race and go flat to Turn 1. Otherwise I'm going to be overtaken.'"

Barnhart included that observation in his decision to return to green conditions on Lap 211, which allowed fans to see a green flag finish to the event without unduly costing leader de Ferran his hard earned spot.

It was an excellent example of factoring both fan and driver interests into the entertainment equation.