Rice beats Meira in Kansas

As close as it was, when he crossed the finish line, Rice knew he had won.

Rice said: "I couldn't see him alongside me, that would mean I was ahead. When I didn't see him after we went past the start-finish line for a little ways, that meant at that point that I was more than likely had won the race."

After a restart with 15 laps remaining, Rice and Meira began their side-by-side battle. On two of the final 11 laps, the distance between them was measured at 0.0004 seconds. When they hit the stripe the final time, Rice and Meira appeared to be even.

"Before doing anything stupid, I checked with the team to see who had won," said Meira. "They told me Buddy had won by 0.005. That's nothing. I don't even know how to measure that!"

Neither did his boss, Bobby Rahal, who said: "On the previous laps, I thought Vitor had beaten Buddy to the line. From where I sat, I thought Vitor had done it, but I couldn't really tell. We were so far away. All I knew was that we were 1-2. I was happy either way."

During the final laps, Tony Kanaan attempted in vain to push past the two leaders. He eventually finished third, 0.2015 seconds behind Rice.

"They did what they were supposed to do," Kanaan said. "I would have done the same if I was there with my team-mates. It's the way it is. It's a long championship, and we just need to keep thinking 'points, points, points'."

The third-place finish kept Kanaan atop the IRL points standings. He now has a 28-point lead over Andretti Green Racing team-mate Dan Wheldon. Rice is third, 52 points behind Kanaan.

The only interruptions in the 200-lap race were a wreck involving Scott Sharp and Tora Takagi just as the green flag waved to start the race, and a tangle between rookies Kosuke Matsuura and Jeff Simmons on the 175th lap.

Sharp said he was checking up to avoid drivers ahead of him as the race started when his car spun around and collected Takagi's. "All of a sudden, we all stacked up right there," Sharp said. "I was going to run into the back of someone, so I turned. I was on the brakes, so it snapped on me."

Matsuura and Simmons found themselves in a three-wide situation while trying to get past Darren Manning. With Simmons in the middle and Matsuura on the outside, the two ran out of room, touched and hit the wall.

"I tried to back out of it easily, but they just slammed together too quickly," said Simmons, who replaced the retiring Al Unser Jr this week in the Patrick Racing Dallara-Chevrolet. "It was a late move, and I would think it would be known that I had no place to go with a car outside of me."

Following Rice, Meira and Kanaan across the line were Dario Franchitti, Bryan Herta and Adrian Fernandez, giving Honda the top six positions and yet another dominating performance this season. Marlboro Team Penske team-mates Helio Castroneves and Sam Hornish finished seventh and eighth, respectively. Dan Wheldon gave Andretti Green Racing four cars in the top nine, and Alex Barron broke into the top 10 for Chevrolet.

After the finish, Kanaan proclaimed Rahal Letterman Racing and its two Honda-powered Panoz G Forces the cars to beat for the IndyCar championship. Rahal, whose drivers have collected two wins, two poles, one second and two sixths in the last four races, wasn't so sure.

"I appreciate Tony's comments," Rahal said. "But I don't believe anything he says!"

The only believers after an excruciatingly close finish - aside from Kanaan, of course - were Meira and Rice.

"It's great being able to race each other cleanly like that," Rice said. "That's how it's supposed to happen, so I'm glad I could do it with my team-mate. It's fun being able to race like that and being part of a historical moment."