While Gil de Ferran notched his second IRL win and the IRL title chase got even closer, several drivers distinguished themselves and thus earn this week's Four Stars from Gateway.

Alex Barron

	Barron

Alex Barron's team missed the setup during qualifying and settled for a disappointing 14th spot on the grid. By the final practice session though, the Rayovac team had the "package" and used it to thrust Barron right into the lead pack. In fact, it looked like Barron would get his second career win until he washed high on a restart pass attempt late in the race.

"I went in there pretty hot," Barron explained after the race. "I knew cold tires were going to be a bit of an issue. I think more than anything, when you go in hard, you drift up a little bit. I think the shavings on the track were starting to get pretty severe. At the same time with the cold tires, moved up a little too far. Took too long to get it back down. It was unfortunate. Obviously, we lost the momentum we needed to go for the win."

He held on for a well-earned third and posted the fastest laps of the race.

Buddy Rice
Since joining red Bull Cheever Indy Racing, Buddy Rice has wowed 'em. The 25-year-old rookie has logged two top-3 finishes as well as leading laps at Michigan in his first ever IRL drive.

His St. Louis qualifying effort was the worst of his short career. He started 15th but used quick pits stops and smooth driving to move to the front pack.

"We used the same strategy we have in both other races," Rice said. "We went out, ran hard and put ourselves in position to stay with the lead pack. We came in for the last stop and had a real solid pit stop. We used what was left in the car to get to the front."

After the final stop, though, Rice's forward motion stalled. "We just got hung up in traffic a little bit, but that was the same for everybody. Everyone was fairly even on new tires," Rice explained. "Once we moved to the front, we sat there and waited for someone to make a mistake and then got on by."

He just didn't "get by" de Ferran, Helio Castroneves and Barron in finishing fourth.

With the rift between Eddie Cheever and Tomas Scheckter still unfolding, Rice is no longer auditioning for 2003. I'm sure he has a ride with Cheever next season -- if he wants it.

Robbie Buhl

	Buhl

He only advanced two positions from his eighth starting spot to take home a sixth, but Robbie Buhl managed to finish, log another top-10 to go with his top-10 at Kentucky and erase some of the concerns from three straight engine failures prior to his Bluegrass state race.

"We're not happy with a sixth-place finish because we still want to win races and be on the podium," Buhl said. "But with the way our season has gone, we're happy to finish. For us, at this point, we want to keep the leaders in sight, concentrate on good pit stops and a have a good car. We did that. That's important because before you can have a great car and great stops, you need to be in the 'good' category first. We're getting back to that 'great' level and gaining our momentum back."

Al Unser Jr.

	Unser Jr.

He didn't defend his Gateway title. Instead, Al Unser Jr.'s Corteco/Bryant team had to make hasty repairs to the car after Unser clipped a spinning Anthony Lazzaro during the morning practice.

"It turned out to be an OK race for us after this morning's practice incident," Unser said after finishing seventh. The crew worked their tails off to get the car repaired and ready for the race."

Repairing the car was important because it preserved Unser's 16th starting spot. If they had gone to the backup car they would have been shuffled back several rows at a track where every position was critical.

"The car just was a little loose all day, so I couldn't drive down as hard as I wanted into the turns," Unser explained. " We had great stops all day. I'm sorry we didn't get the repeat win, but we got a strong finish."