INDIANAPOLIS -- Paul Tracy won the 2002 Indianapolis 500.

Sure, Helio Castroneves got to party in Victory Lane and pour milk all over the place, but when all was said and done -- actually, just over a lap before all was said and done -- Tracy was leading at Indy.

	The Lazier-Redon wreck caused all sorts of problems.

Replays might show Tracy passed before the yellow was thrown or they'll show the pass for the lead was made after.

Doesn't matter.

By rule, it does matter. Unlike NASCAR, there's no race back to the yellow. Once a yellow is thrown, the positions are frozen. And the rule in and of itself has merit; this isn't some half-brained league bylaw that doesn't make sense.

But Sunday, it didn't make sense. In fact, Castroneves being awarded the victory makes Katherine Harris and Florida's election procedures seem reasonable.

Finishing a race under yellow is bad enough, especially when its one of the biggest races in the world. Sometimes, there's nothing that can be done. NASCAR will sometimes red flag a race to ensure it does finish under green, but that can't be done when the yellow is thrown on the second to last lap.

In that case, the drivers know there's just a tiny little morsel of racing left in the the 200 laps; A tiny bit of time before a month of work is finally done.

That tiny bit is the race back to the yellow, which translates into the race back to the checkered. And that's how a race should end -- with racing.

Assuming Tracy didn't pass before the yellow, well, them's the rules and there's really nothing can be done about it. One might say, "That's Racing," although, Johnny Rutherford put that sentiment into proper perspective on Sunday's Indy 500 radiocast, saying he'd like to find whoever first coined that phrase and beat him up.

It doesn't make sense. And sports are supposed to make sense. It's Xs and Os, wins and losses, haves and have nots. Not sorta haves but really didn'ts even though they kinda dids.

This was a good race. It had its disappointments, with leaders' days ending in early and unfortunate circumstances. It featured the bizarre, with a single-car incident followed by debris followed by an exploding fuel tank, resulting in a caution that seemingly lasted six hours. Not to mention one of the race favorites driving the wheels off his car.

The race featured some crafty teamwork late. No, not the Ferrari kind of teamwork, or even the DEI, Michael Waltrip-Dale Earnhardt Jr. style of teamwork. But rather, it was somewhat reminiscent of Patrick Carpentier and Alex Tagliani's teamwork at last year's Michigan 500. Dario Franchitti was one of the victims of that duo; Maybe he learned something.

Overall, Sunday's Indy 500 featured good, clean racing. The IRL had issued stern warnings against blocking and overly aggressive driving, and neither turned out to be a major problem.

There wasn't an impressive amount of big passes, but enough. And not everyone who you might have expected to be competing for the checkered at the end was, but it still was a good group.

This was the 500 with the most talent, with the deepest field. This was the continuation of the previous two years, which has seen the return of some of the Indy 500's MIAs. Sure, there are still a few names missing, but the race -- let's not even get into the leagues -- is moving in the right direction.

This was supposed to be the race more so than is has been for years. And it was.

For 198¾ laps.

And had it not been for that last caution and what ensued, damn it, this could have been remembered as the race that shepherded the Indy 500's return to glory.

But the Laurent Redon-Buddy Lazier wreck did happen. And the caution was thrown.

Just to be clear, this isn't about whether it should have been thrown. There was a wreck with two disabled cars on the track. That's an easy call.

And this isn't to say that Castroneves didn't deserve to win. He did. He drove well and managed not to run out of fuel. He's a likeable guy who's good for the sport. Good for him.

Maybe there's some poetic justice in Tracy being denied a win. After all, while it's clear the Penske crew is dead set on winning Indy 500s, Tracy, while saying he'd value a win at the Brickyard, didn't seem to necessarily have his heart set on winning Sunday because it's Indy, but rather because it's just a race and Tracy always wants to win.

But really, that's neither here nor there. A call was made and that call has consequences.

NASCAR often embarrasses itself by making rules changes on the fly. But those decisions, despite being made off the cuff and sometimes being wrong, are always -- always -- made in an effort to do what's fair, to do what's right. The league realizes that rules need to make sense and stands ready to circumvent them when it deems necessary.

Is that the correct way to operate? Who knows. Should a sanctioning body take it upon itself to make a last-minute decision to tweak a rule in the name of fairness? Maybe, maybe not.

But whether or not the IRL was bound by rules, this race didn't turn out right.

Rules are rules, and maybe the league will consider modifying the rule book before Indy 2003.

But in the meantime -- save for an unlikely upholding of a Team Green protest -- nothing can be done.

And that's unfortunate.