De Ferran

MADISON, Ill. -- Gil de Ferran beat teammate Helio Castroneves to the finish line in the IRL Gateway 250 on Sunday, and now they're also running 1-2 in the points standings with only two races to go.

It was the third time that Marlboro Team Penske has finished first and second this season, and the seventh time in the two drivers' 54 career races as teammates.

Castroneves leads the series with 437 points, one more than de Ferran. Sam Hornish Jr., who led the standings heading into Sunday, finished fifth to drop eight points back at 429.

But all three drivers remain in contention for the title. First place is worth 50 points, second 45, third 40.

"It was a great day," de Ferran said. "It was a really gratifying day as well, because it was hard-fought. Still, I'm under no illusions. The championship is open."

The next race is Sept. 8 in Chicago and series winds up Sept. 15 at Texas Motor Speedway.

"Our key is reliability and not getting in trouble," team owner Roger Penske said. "You drop 25 or 30 points, that's a huge hit.

"The points race is so tight we've got to think about racing. We could see it was best man for himself and that's how it should be."

Castroneves led for 85 laps, de Ferran 81 of the 200-lap race. Castroneves didn't mind finishing behind his teammate.

"To finish 1-2 really bodes well for us in the points race," he said. "This shows how good the team is and I'm very pleased. Just because we finished second doesn't mean I'm disappointed."

Alex Barron finished third, charging from the 14th starting position. He was in first place heading into the final pit stop on lap 148 of the 200-lap race, lost it when Castroneves beat him out by taking on less fuel, and fell all the way back to seventh when he passed Castroneves too high and had to throttle back.

	Gil de Ferran's second win of the season put him one-point behind Helio Castroneves in the standings.

"We went in pretty hot and when you go in hot you have a tendency to drift a little bit," Barron said. "I'm glad I caught it or we would have hit the wall."

Castroneves said Barron's maneuver was a bit curious.

"When he passed me I was wondering if he was going to brake," Castroneves said. "I was like 'Where is he going? The track is that way.'"

Hornish never was really in contention, and fell from fourth to seventh on the final pit stop.

"Obviously it didn't go as well as we would have liked, but we got some points and finished the race," Hornish said. "The car wasn't quite there today."

De Ferran was coming off his worst finish of the year, finishing 21st two weeks ago at Kentucky. But he has won all four of his poles on shorter ovals such as Gateway's 1.25-mile layout, and said his car continually got better as the race went on.

Once he got around Castroneves on lap 184, it was no contest.

"That was that, really," de Ferran said. "It was no problem the last 10 laps or so. But it was a tough one, let's put it that way."

Both Castroneves and Barron were critical of the slower cars that got in their way.

"I was extremely upset," Castroneves said. "There were quite a few. They're not fighting with anyone, they're just there."

Buddy Rice, who replaced Tomas Scheckter for Red Bull Cheever racing team on Saturday, finished fourth. Scheckter, the IRL's top rookie, failed to show up for a scheduled briefing on Friday and told team owner Eddie Cheever he would not race.

In five races at Gateway, de Ferran has four top 10 finishes. His previous best there was a third-place finish in a CART race in 1997.