It was the track that first drew attention to the Indy Racing League's product and it's become the staple for edgy excitement in open wheel racing.

Texas Motor Speedway hosts its 12th IRL show Saturday night and, if history holds form, the Bombardier 500 should be another frenetic finish. Seven of the previous 11 races on the high-banked, 1½-mile oval have been decided by less than a second -- including three of the four closest in the IRL's eight years.

Sam Hornish Jr. sealed his second straight IRL championship at Fort Worth with a riveting .0096-second win over Helio Castroneves last September after Jeff Ward had clipped Al Unser Jr. by .0111 seconds in the June race.

"As a CART driver, I used to watch the IRL races at Texas and it was always a track I wanted to race on because it looked like the drivers were having so much fun," said Unser, who lost the closest IRL finish ever (.0024 if a second) to Hornish last September at Chicago.

"Texas is fun and exhilarating, but at the same time it can be a little bit scary because you are running so close together at such high rates of speed."

Running side-by-side at 220 mph in a pack of cars has become the norm at TMS and, whether you're driving or watching, it's a thrill ride that is not for the faint of heart. Obviously, that's why it's always been the IRL's top ticket outside of Indianapolis -- regularly drawing 60,000 to 80,000 fans.

"Texas is always the place to really lay it all on the line," said veteran Robbie Buhl. "The racing product there has been as good as any track on earth in the last couple of events for us. If you're a genuine race fan, you just have to love the on-track performance and competition at Texas.

"Split-second finishes mean nail-biters to the end, and none of us are out there doing parade laps. We race, it's fast, and you'd better be paying attention."

Since 1997, Texas has followed the Indy 500 and TMS general manager Eddie Gossage is adamant on keeping that date.

"I used to live in Milwaukee and it always hosted the race right after Indy and I always saw the benefit of being on the heels of the Indy 500," said Gossage, who also hosts the IRL finale every season.

	Jeff Ward edged Al Unser Jr. for the win last June at Texas.

"I seized that date with the IRL before we opened and I see it as ours forever. I think it's a valuable commodity and it's served us and the IRL well."

This year's storyline has been the shift in power. Toyota and Honda entered the IRL with their big guns from CART (Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi, Michael Andretti, Bobby Rahal, Morris Nunn) and have dominated -- winning all four races and pole positions plus leading most of the laps.

Chevrolet, which had captured six straight IRL titles, hasn't been able to muster a challenge, even with Hornish, and that doesn't bode well for Saturday night.

"It's a big track and power is a big thing there," said Felipe Giaffone, who drives a Toyota for Nunn. "I feel we are very confident because we know we have good power. It's going to be a big factor."

Hornish, who is yet to lead a lap in 2003, is hoping his ability and success at photo finishes can combat the lack of power. He'd worked his way up to sixth at Indy before his engine failed.

"It was disappointing because the whole Panther team really worked hard at Indy," he said. "We invoked the "Jim Harbaugh Rule:" 'You have 48 hours to either celebrate or feel sorry for yourself, then you put it away and tackle the next challenge.

"We're going to Texas to win."

Tony Kanaan comes in with a 14-point lead over Castroneves and Indy winner Gil de Ferran sits 29 points behind in fourth place. It will be Kanaan's debut at TMS along with Bryan Herta, who is stepping in for the injured Dario Franchitti.

Vitor Meira has replaced Jaques Lazier at Menard Racing as a total of 22 cars are entered.