Tracy wins in Houston

The win marked Team KOOL Green's third clean sweep of the year.

Third was Micheal Andretti, less than two seocnds ahead of Max Papis.

Fifth was Bryan Herta, with Mauricio Gugelmin completing the top six.

Franchitti had started fourth but fell back to 18th when he had trouble with his right rear tire in the early laps.

He was able to benefit from the bad luck of Juan Montoya, who crashed out of the lead on the 13th lap when he hit Helio Castro-Neves' parked car.

While the yellow flags were waving for Castro-Neves' car, Montoya made a big mistake, costing him 16 points of his 29-point lead in the run for the championship.

Under the full-course yellow that ensued, Franchitti pitted for fresh tyres and fuel.

From there he charged through the field, escaping a coming together with Christian Fittipaldi.

It took three tries to get the race started, with Montoya and Herta on the front row, unable to line up even.

At the green, Montoya took off as Tracy came from row two to nip Herta.

Franchitti was in trouble right away, falling to fifth by the end of the first green lap.

Montoya and Tracy were getting away from Herta and it appeared that it was going to be a two-car race.

Montoya set the fastest lap of the race on lap eight - a full half-second faster than any that would be run in the race, even with full tanks.

And then Castro-Neves made his mistake and Montoya made his even bigger one.

Montoya said later that he had not been told by his crew that Helio's car was there.

He added that he didn't know that Franchitti had run into trouble.

The green waved again to start the 19th lap with Tracy at the front followed by Herta, Max Papis, Tony Kanaan, Jan Magnussen - the former F1 driver having his strongest run for Patrick Racing - and Fittipaldi.

Herta then stalled exiting the pits after coming in for new tyres.

Tracy was starting to extend his lead over Papis, while Franchitti was beginning to move to the front.

By the time he made his first stop at the end of lap 48, Tracy's lead was nearly 30 seconds.

After the pit stops, Franchitti made a challenge for the lead as Tracy fought him off.

Three laps after he assumes the lead, Franchitti pits under a yellow to deal with the stalled car of Andrea Montermini.

When he returned to the circuit he was fourth behind Fittipaldi and Kanaan, both running strong.

The green came out at the end of lap 61 and Franchitti went past Kanaan going into turn one.

For 20 laps, Franchitti tried in vain to find a way around Fittipaldi.

On lap 83 he finally found a way past the Brazilian.

The penultimate race of the championship comes in three weeks in the streets of Surfers Paradise, Australia.