Hornish

	Barron

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Alex Barron passed Sam Hornish Jr. coming out of the final turn to win the Firestone 400 on Sunday with the fastest average speed in Indy Racing League history, 180.916 mph.

Barron won by just 0.0121 seconds, the fourth-closest race in the league's eight years. His second career victory came only because he avoided what could have been the end of his race on the 164th lap at Michigan International Speedway.

Side-by-side contact with Tomas Scheckter made Barron's car wiggle, slide to the infield and turn 180 degrees before he was able to straighten out the car. The crowd of more than 30,000 gave him a standing ovation.

"I wasn't really scared," Barron said. "I was more worried about damaging the car, because we were having such a great day."

Scheckter, whose only win was in Michigan last season and who started on the pole Sunday, finished third, followed by Scott Sharp. Scott Dixon's fifth-place finish was good enough to give him the season points lead _ by one _ over Tony Kanaan, who dropped out on the 151st lap with engine failure.

Helio Castroneves' streak without a victory extended to 19 races, dating to his second straight Indianapolis 500 title last year. His race ended with a hole in his radiator on the 71st lap and he finished 17th despite starting third.

Barron has been a substitute for Hollywood Mo Nunn Racing the past two weeks, driving in place of Felipe Giaffone, who broke his leg in an accident at Kansas City.

Barron finished fifth last week at Nashville in what was just his third race of the year. That happens to be the site of his only previous IRL win, last year.

Hornish appeared set to give Chevrolet its first IRL victory this season with the newly approved Gen IV Chevy Indy V-8, but lost to a Toyota-powered car in a dramatic finish.

"It felt pretty good to be out front," Hornish said. "It was a good test for our new engine."

Hornish led 126 of the 200 laps, followed by Scheckter's 42. Barron led just 24 laps.

Hornish, who won a record five races in 2002, is winless this year and had not finished better than fourth. No Chevy driver has won in 2003.

But Hornish was pleased with his new engine.

The IRL announced last week that the two-time defending champion would be able to use the new engine, a move intended to help the competitive balance between drivers with Chevy engines and those with Toyota and Honda engines.

The next Chevy driver in the points standings will be able to race with the new engine Aug. 10 at St. Louis, before all teams are able to use the new engine Aug. 17 at Kentucky.