Hornish

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Two-time defending IRL champion Sam Hornish Jr. couldn't pull off a repeat performance in his final race in the yellow Pennzoil car.

Hornish ended both of his championship seasons with wins in the finale at Texas. He was in contention for a third title, but finished 17th in Sunday's Chevy 500 after he came in for good on the 176th lap.

"We could move in and out of traffic. We could pass where we wanted to," said Hornish, who led twice for 12 laps. "We came off of that pit stop, and we just couldn't get back up to speed. We're not really sure what happened, but we were spraying a little bit of oil so they made us come in."

Hornish is moving to Marlboro Team Penske to replace retiring driver Gil de Ferran, who won the season-ending race under caution after a horrific crash involving Kenny Brack and Tomas Scheckter.

Brack was airlifted to a Dallas hospital where he was in serious but stable condition. Scheckter, who will replace Hornish on the Pennzoil Panther team next season, was uninjured.

Final points
Scott Dixon won the season title with 507 points, 18 points ahead of Gil de Ferran.

Helio Castroneves finished third with 484 points, followed by Tony Kanaan (476) and Sam Hornish Jr. (461).

Contenders collide

	Kanaan

	Castroneves

Tony Kanaan and Helio Castroneves were running 2-3 with 20 laps to go when their cars touched. Then, the championship chase was quickly over for both of them.

"Deep inside myself, I am satisfied because I know we did whatever we could," Kanaan said. "Unfortunately, things like that can happen. It wasn't mechanical -- it wasn't my fault."

Either could have won the championship by winning the race or finishing second behind Gil de Ferran. After coming into the pits for repairs, Castroneves finished 13th, a spot ahead of Kanaan.

"It's a shame. Neither of us wanted to finish like that, especially having a chance to win," Castroneves said. "When he went to pass, we touched. It was close, very close."

Kanaan got some good news before the race started. 7-Eleven renewed its sponsorship agreement with Andretti Green Racing to serve as the primary sponsor for his No. 11 car next season.

CART takeovers?
Scott Dixon won the season championship for Target Chip Ganassi, Marlboro Team Penske's Gil de Ferran won the final race, and Dan Wheldon of Andretti Green Racing was the rookie of the year.

It was a big IRL year for the three former CART teams.

Those three won 10 of 16 races this season, and claimed 55 of the 80 top-five spots.

There are six original IRL teams still running full-time. They produced only one top-five finish: Victor Meira finishing fourth for Team Menard on Sunday.

Rookie champion

	Wheldon

Michael Andretti's replacement won the IRL rookie title.

Dan Wheldon had a career-best third-place finish Sunday, earning rookie of the year honors with 312 points. That was 11 more than Roger Yasukawa, who had the rookie lead going into the race before finishing 10th.

"I'm in a unique position," Wheldon said.

Andretti retired as a driver after the Indianapolis 500, where Wheldon finished 19th, to concentrate on his duties as a part-owner for the Andretti Green Racing. Wheldon, Tony Kanaan and Bryan Herta are the team's drivers.

Wheldon didn't drive until the third race of the season. He had nine top 10s in his 14 races, including his debut and the last six.

Yasukawa and Wheldon started the race side-by-side on the eighth row. Yasukawa reported a gearbox problem midway through the race.

Not driving one of those

	Wallace

Rusty Wallace drives fast every week in the NASCAR Winston Cup series. But there's nothing that would persuade him to drive an Indy car.

"These guys generate some serious horsepower," Wallace said. "I wouldn't get out of an electric chair to get in one of these things."

Wallace attended his first IRL race a day after finishing 13th in a Cup race in North Carolina. He watched from the pits of his car owner Roger Penske's open-wheel team, which included race winner Gil de Ferran.

Heroes of Indy
Pancho Carter never won the Indianapolis 500, but he beat five former Indy 500 winners Sunday.

Carter won the inaugural Heroes of Indy, moving from his No. 8 starting spot to first on the opening lap. He stayed in front the rest of the 25-lap race on a quarter-mile paved oval on the frontstretch before the IRL season finale.

Tom Sneva, the 1983 Indy 500 champion, and three-time Indy winner Johnny Rutherford finished 2-3.

Gordon Johncock, a two-time Indy winner, finished fourth. Lloyd Ruby, at 75 the oldest driver and the polesitter based on age, was fifth. The rest of the finishing order was Jim McElrath, Bill Vuckovich II, two-time Indy winner Arie Luyendyk, 1963 champ Parnelli Jones and Scott Goodyear.