Fans, friends and rivals celebrate Al's TMS title.

It was hard to find a person at Texas Motor Speedway who wasn't happy to see Al Unser Jr drive his Kelley Racing Dallara-Toyota into victory lane at the Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night.

In addition to the estimated 92,000 fans at TMS who were pleased with Unser's win, many pit crewmembers and drivers congratulated Unser as he drove on pit lane en route to the winner's circle.

Even Tony Kanaan, who lost to Unser by .0810 of a second in the race, seemed happy for two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Unser.

"He did a great job," Kanaan said. "Very clean, as always. I congratulate him for the win. It was a great fight."

It was Unser's third career IRL IndyCar Series win and his 34th Indy-style victory.

The last time Unser drove to victory carrying No. 31 was in 1994, perhaps the highest point of Unser's career. That year, driving for legendary Penske Racing, Unser won his second Indianapolis 500, won his second CART championship and won eight of 16 races. He is driving car No. 31 for the first time since that season.

But since 1994, Unser has had his share of ups and downs. He failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 in 1995 while still driving for Penske and did not return to Indy until 2000. Although he won four CART races in 1995, he went winless from his victory in August 1995 at Vancouver until his first IRL IndyCar Series victory in April 2000 at Las Vegas.

"When you're a driver, you won so much in the past and you go through a tough time and you struggle, people just hammer at you and say: 'Oh, he's done, he's old, he's this, he's that,'" Kanaan said. "It's not up to us to judge. This guy is very capable. He's proving that. It was a tough race, and he had a strong car, and he knew what he wanted. He has a lot of experience.

"You can't take for granted what this guy has done in the past and is still doing, still delivering. I'm really happy for him."

Unser climbed to second in IRL IndyCar Series standings, 26 points behind Kanaan, and seeks his first IRL IndyCar Series championship and his third Indy-style championship.

"There's been a lot of comebacks, great comebacks," Unser said. "Sure, we're a contender in this championship. The season isn't even half over yet. If we're in P2 (second place), there's a long way to go."

While Unser is the oldest driver in the series at age 41, age is no reason to count him out. His father, Al Unser, won the 1983 CART championship at age 44 and again won the CART championship two years later at age 46. That year he defeated Al Unser Jr., then 23, by just one point.

"As long as I keep doing this out here, then I'm going to keep doing it," Unser said. "I love racing. I love getting out, driving these single-seat, open-wheel cars at 220 miles an hour. I love doing it. I can't think of doing anything else. As long as I'm enjoying what I'm doing, and as long as I'm competitive, then I'm going to keep doing it because it's just too much dang fun out there."

Unser Jr. has been involved in some of the most exciting finishes in the history of IRL IndyCar Series history, and the Bombardier 500 continued that legacy. He defeated Kanaan by .0810 of a second, the eighth-closest finish in the history of the series.

Unser lost the same race that year by just .0111 of a second to Jeff Ward, the third closest finish in IRL IndyCar Series history. Unser also lost the Delphi Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway in September 2002, falling .0024 of a second short to Sam Hornish Jr. in closest finish in series history.

Even Unser's first Indianapolis 500 victory in 1992 was a fantastic finish as he defeated Scott Goodyear by .043 of a second, the closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history.

And throughout all the close races in which Unser has been involved, he's made sure to drive fair. The same clean style was evident in the Bombardier 500, Kanaan said.

"I've known Al since the CART times," Kanaan said. "He's always been very clean. He's been the guy that's been around for a long time. Sometimes in a driver's meeting he gets up and says something. He says, 'Look, guys, let's take care of each other.'

"He's very clean. He would never do anything to hurt you at the racetrack, even if it's going to win. He could actually go wide and try to not put me right beside him. He's very fair. He's a very clean driver. I had no concern at all."

The feeling was mutual for Unser.

"I've raced against Tony for quite some time," Unser said. "There's been the gap there that I was over at IRL, and he was still racing CART. But I raced Tony in CART. He's a great racecar driver. He's one of the world's best single-seat, open-wheel drivers, and it's an honour to run with him.

"He seems to be a loving guy and all that kind of stuff and genuinely cares about you off the racetrack and on the racetrack. And that's very important to drivers that are running wheel to wheel."