Hornish Jr.

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Another incredible finish, another IRL season title for Sam Hornish Jr.

Hornish, not content with just a top-two finish that would have given him the title, went side-by-side with Helio Castroneves in an electrifying finish and won the Chevy 500 on Sunday.

After the two battled and rubbed tires more than once over the last 35 laps, Hornish crossed the finish line .0096 seconds -- a few inches -- ahead of Castroneves to win the season-ending race.

''It was a tough race all the way down to the end. Helio didn't want to lose and I didn't want to lose. We were both pushing hard,'' Hornish said. ''There is no better way to win a championship other than to win two races in a row.''

	All-time IRL Champions
	2002: Sam Hornish Jr. 2001: Sam Hornish Jr. 2000: Buddy Lazier 1999: Greg Ray 1998: Kenny Brack 1997: Tony Stewart 1996: Buzz Calkins & Scott Sharp

The only closer finish in IRL history was a week earlier at Chicagoland Speedway when Hornish beat Al Unser Jr. by .0024 seconds to retake the points lead from Castroneves.

Hornish won his IRL-record fifth race of the season, and the 23-year-old Pennzoil Panther racer became the first driver on the 7-year-old circuit to win the championship twice.

Of his eight career victories, four came in the five closest finishes in series history.

Officially, Hornish and Castroneves traded the lead six times over the final 35 laps. But they seemed continually attached, except when passing lapped cars in traffic, until the finish.

''That was incredible. It couldn't be more exciting,'' said Castroneves, the Marlboro Team Penske driver. ''We raced with each other all the way through until the last lap. Like I said, it was going to be the last lap on this last track. What a fantastic finish.''

Before Hornish won the season finale at Texas last year, he already had the season title in hand. This year, he came into the last race with just a 12-point lead over Castroneves.

Had Castroneves been able to overtake Hornish at the finish, the two would have been tied for the season title. But Hornish would have been declared the champion because he would have still had one more win than the Indianapolis 500 winner, who also won at Phoenix.

As they raced for the championship, which Hornish won with 531 points -- 20 more than Castroneves -- they put on an incredible show, trading the lead 10 times overall.

''It was wild out there. They both did everything they could do,'' said Scott Sharp, a two-time winner at Texas who finished fourth. ''Helio tried to move Sam up and Sam held his ground.''

Before Hornish pitted for the last time at the end of the 153rd lap, the two had stayed side-by-side. Hornish led after 150 laps by .0028 seconds and when they crossed the line again, Castroneves was ahead by .0001 seconds.

After Castroneves also pitted, he regained the lead on the 166th lap when polesitter Vitor Meira, who finished third, went in for his last stop. But he couldn't shake Hornish, who was also looking behind him.

	Sam Hornish Jr. takes a victory lap after winning the IRL championship and the Chevy 500.

''I was more worried about somebody coming from behind and nudging their way in there,'' Hornish said. ''I didn't want to give any room and he didn't want to give any room. I had to fight for everything.''

Castroneves led six times for a race-high 92 laps, which gave him two extra bonus points. Hornish was in front eight times for 79 laps.

Castroneves started 10th, seven spots behind Hornish. Knowing he had to finish ahead of the defending champion, and have cars between them, Castroneves made up four spots the first two laps.

Hornish worked to the front by the seventh lap, passing Unser.

Castroneves stayed behind until the 87th lap when Hornish, who had been running alone in front of the pack almost 6 seconds ahead of his championship contender, was in the pits.

Castroneves, planning to wait five more laps before making a stop, got a break when Jeff Ward and Hideki Noda crashed in Turn 2 to bring out a lengthy caution on lap 89.

When the race restarted after lap 102, Castroneves led and Hornish was seventh -- with a dozen cars between them. They ran 11 laps before debris on the track brought out another yellow, and got the lapped traffic out of the way for the restart.

Hornish worked his way back into second place, passing Unser on the back stretch on the 142nd lap and trailed by .0095 seconds at the end of the next lap.

Meira, a rookie in just his fourth race for Team Menard, finished .1096 seconds behind Hornish. Sharp and Alex Barron rounded out the top five.

Ward won the June race in Texas by .0111 seconds over Unser in what had been the closest IRL finish until last weekend. Castroneves finished fourth that race and Hornish crashed with Eddie Cheever Jr. on the 127th lap.

That 18th-place finish for Hornish ended a stretch of three races in which he finished no higher than 17th and lost the points lead. But he had three wins and seven top-3 finishes in the last nine races.

Hornish's season-ending win at Texas last year was by .0188 seconds over Sharp in the IRL's closest 1-2-3 finish, with Robbie Buhl third, .0468 seconds behind the winner.

As for his future, a conversation earlier this year with Winston Cup driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. convinced Hornish he's in the right place.

''He told me you have to decide in your heart if you want to be a stock car driver or Indy car racer the rest of your life,'' Hornish said. ''That's not too tough a decision for me to make.''