Redon

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Laurent Redon was the IRL rookie of the year, winning the title long before Sunday's season-ending Chevy 500 was over.

Redon came into the race just one point behind Tomas Scheckter, the Red Bull Team Cheever driver who missed the last three races after he suddenly quit driving.

The only other driver that was still mathematically in contention for the rookie title was George Mack. But he blew an engine on the 24th lap and finished last in the 28-car field.

Redon finished 10th, his third top 10 of the year, and had 229 points. His best finish was third at California in the third race of the year, and he was seventh at Pikes Peak.

Scheckter finished second with 210 points. In his 12 races, the son of former Formula One champion Jody Scheckter, won a race and had two other top 10s, but he also crashed out of six races.

Mack finished third in the rookie standings with 184 points.

Through the crowd
To get to their cars, IRL drivers had to go through the crowd.

During driver introductions, all 28 made their way through the grandstand to the track. It was the first time IRL drivers had gone through the crowd before a race.

The crowd at Texas Motor Speedway was 86,000, more than the NFL's Dallas Cowboys drew for their home opener at Texas Stadium about 35 miles away. The Cowboys had their 97th straight sellout, but their crowd was just 62,527.

Contender's notes
With Gil de Ferran unable to race because of a concussion he suffered last week at Chicagoland Speedway, Marlboro Team Penske hired Max Papis to drive and hopefully provide help for Helio Castroneves.

Castroneves finished second, both in the race and for the season title to Sam Hornish Jr. And Papis didn't have an impact on the outcome.

Papis said his car had handling problems and then, while running 12th with about 35 laps left, lost power. Papis finished 21st.

''I wish I could have contributed more,'' Papis said. ''We had a good start and were running as planned.''

De Ferran, who would have still been mathematically eligible for the title, attended the race, but spent much of his time in the press box on television and radio broadcasts.

Hornish's Pennzoil Panther team had rookie Dan Wheldon run the last two races. But Wheldon also was a non-factor, finishing 15th, five laps behind his winning teammate.

Noda's tough day
Hideki Noda had a tough day.

When Noda came into the pits on the first caution, his crew was trying to repair damage done to the wing from a bump with Dan Wheldon. But the Japanese driver, not fully understanding his crew, drove into the garage rather than back on the track.

That cost Indy Regency Racing driver a couple of laps.

His day ended on the 89th lap when he crashed with Jeff Ward, who had just come out of the pits.

''I think he was on cold tires, and he wasn't really up to speed,'' Noda said. ''I went outside on Turn 1 trying to overtake him, and he was still a little bit inside. I think because he was on cold tires, he had a push and slid over to me.''

Noda finished 27th, only ahead of George Mack.

Chevy's new engine
Chevrolet provided a first look at its new Indy V8 engine.

The new engine is 3 inches narrower, 3 inches shorter and 35 pounds lighter than the 2002 version. The 3.5-liter engine will produce more than 675 horsepower.

It is the second new Indy car engine produced by GM racing in two years. The new engine will be ready for track testing in October and make its racing debut next March in the IRL's season-opening race at Homestead, Fla.

Sparkplugs