HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Although Team Penske established itself as a strong contender, defending champion Sam Hornish Jr. proved he's still the driver to beat in the IRL.

Hornish won the season opener, the Grand Prix of Miami, in dominating fashion Saturday. Penske drivers Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves finished second and third in their full-time IRL debut.

	The only things that slowed Sam Hornish Jr. at Homestead, Fla., were pit stops and cautions.

"He was unreal," de Ferran said. "I mean he was very, very strong. I tried my best to challenge him, but there was no point doing anything stupid. He had a very strong car. It was his day."

It was Hornish's fourth victory in two seasons and second straight at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

In a new season with plenty of new competition, Hornish put himself in the same old position: atop the series standings. The 22-year-old driver led the points race from start to finish last year.

The league added several new challengers this season, most notably two-time CART champion de Ferran and Castroneves, last year's Indianapolis 500 winner.

"There was so much hype built up on whether or not the IRL guys would be able to compete," Hornish said. "We just wanted to go out there and send a message that we did our homework over the winter and we're really going to try to defend our championship.

"We haven't slacked off at all. We're still pushing it as hard as we were last year, if not more."

Hornish lapped the field with about 65 laps remaining. Two late caution flags allowed de Ferran and Castroneves to get back on the lead lap, but the Penske drivers never got close enough to challenge for the checkered flag.

That again belonged to Hornish, the youngest driver to win a major league open-wheel championship in modern American motorsports.

"He's our secret weapon," team owner John Barnes said. "He's very dedicated, a tremendous individual."

Both de Ferran, who wound up second, and Castroneves took the lead in the caution-filled race only to see Hornish drive back to the front. Jeff Ward finished fourth, Eliseo Salazar fifth and rookie Tomas Scheckter sixth in his IRL debut.

Airton Dare, who lost his ride with Galles Racing after last season, had one of the more surprising runs of the day.

Subbing for Donnie Beechler, Dare qualified in 21st place after Beechler crashed in practice Friday and finished 10th in the race.

Dare had not raced since the season-ending stop at Texas in October. He was in sixth position on the final restart, but hit the wall in Turn 2 and dropped four spots back. Still, he was encouraged.

"Now I know that all these new guys coming into our series doesn't threaten us," Dare said. "We can run with them."

But no one could have caught Hornish on this warm and windy day.

He led 166 of 200 laps. He was fast and able to drive anywhere on the 1½ oval. He passed on the outside and was virtually unpassable on the inside.

"The car worked anywhere I wanted to put it," Hornish said. "If I wanted to run low, the back end stayed underneath it. If I wanted to run high, the front end stayed underneath it. It's really a tribute to the setup of the car."

Hornish was equally strong here last year, leading 142 laps and putting on an impressive performance over the final 20 to pull away for good.

He might have came close to putting the entire field two laps down, but the late cautions allowed the Penske drivers to narrow the gap on the yellow Pennzoil-sponsored car. But they would have needed a major mistake from Hornish to make it close.

No chance.

"We would have liked to have been able to lap the field," said Hornish, who now has back-to-back victories, having also won the season-ending race at Texas last year. "But we're not going to be greedy. We're just going to go out there and try to win the race."