HOUSTON -- Not everything was bigger in Texas on a hot and humid weekend in which a pair of small IndyCar teams claimed the commemorative cowboy boots from the Grand Prix of Houston. Sam Schmidts drivers went 1-2 on Sunday for the first time in team history as Simon Pagenaud grabbed the win and led rookie teammate Mikhail Aleshin to the checkered flag. Pagenaud used the win, his second of the season, to climb back into the championship race. He came to Houston trailing Will Power by 91 points, and cut it to 59 after the two races. "Its fantastic for the race team and the entire organization," said Pagenaud, who admitted after the race to feeling "a little faint" from temperatures that soared into the 90s. "The whole team has elevated to top team level." Aleshin, the first Russian to compete in IndyCar, was a career-best second for his first podium and said a tire problem nearly prevented him from making it to the finish. "Its definitely an amazing day for the team," he said. "We are one of the fastest cars on the track and I think we did an amazing job today. The whole team did an amazing job." Third went to rookie Jack Hawksworth, his first career podium. It capped a breakthrough weekend for the British driver, who finished a career-best sixth Saturday. "Its been rough this year, weve been fast sometimes and just not quite made it happen," said Hawksworth. "Weve not quite put it together and today we did." A day earlier, Dale Coyne Racing scored its first win of the year with rookie Carlos Huertas. The rookie led a Colombian sweep of the rain-soaked podium alongside countrymen Juan Pablo Montoya and rookie Carlos Munoz. It was a race Pagenaud thought he should have won. He spent the previous week training in California for the heat and humidity, and won the pole for the first race of the doubleheader. His race was ruined, though, first by a spin and then when he was collected in Scott Dixons crash. He finished 16th in the first race. "I was so disappointed Saturday because we had such a fast car this weekend," he said. Power, the points leader, rallied from another poor qualifying effort to put himself in position for a third-place finish. But he failed to make it to the finish line when a part broke on his car two laps from the finish. Pagenaud, Aleshin and Power had peeled away from the pack, leaving Hawksworth behind for a spirited battle to hold on for fourth-place. Then Power went off course and fell to 11th. Still, he entered the weekend with a 39 point lead in the standings and that was unchanged. Hoping to close ground on Power this weekend was Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves, who was ninth Saturday but started from the pole on Sunday looking for a win. Instead, he was chasing Pagenaud from second for the lead early in the race when he drove into Sebastien Bourdais. Castroneves had been setting up his pass of Pagenaud and apparently didnt see Bourdais when he suddenly tried to cut into the same lane as Bourdais. Castroneves wound up 21st. "I was attacking and trying to pass Pagenaud, and I had no idea (Bourdais) was there," Castroneves said. "When I am attacking, I cant have my eyes on the back. Its absolutely ridiculous why the guy had to put the car over there. Its the rules of traffic, when a guy hits a guy in the back, its his fault. I am upset, yes, because we had a great car and its just a shame to have drivers like that who do not use common sense." The contact broke Bourdais front wing while he was running third, caused him to fall through the field, but he rallied to finish fifth, behind Charlie Kimball, despite the damage. It marked consecutive top-five finishes for the first time this season for Bourdais. "He changed lanes and we made pretty heavy contact," Bourdais said of Castroneves move. "That busted my front wing pretty good. After that it was a tough fight. I had to be really creative to compensate for the balance of the car." Huertas, winner Saturday, and Munoz, who finished third on Saturday, both failed to finish on Sunday and were the first two cars out. It was a topsy-turvy weekend like that in which Munoz was the only driver from the big three teams -- Andretti Autosport, Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske -- to earn a podium. Cheap Nike Shoes From China .J. -- Freshman Eli Carter scored a career-high 31 points and hit the go-ahead basket in the second overtime as Rutgers rallied to stun No. Nike Shoes From China Outlet . After the loss, White refused to make good on the bet, instead offering Hoyt tickets to a Bears game. https://www.nikeshoeschina.us/ . In Europe, top teams seem to be largely happy with their squads after spending nearly $1 billion in the off-season. 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Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Patrick Marleau and Brent Burns, into an empty net, also scored for the Sharks (4-0-0), who beat the Canucks 4-1 in both teams season opener after sweeping Vancouver four straight in the first round of last years playoffs. San Jose, which also won all three meetings during the 2013 regular season, has not lost to the Canucks (3-2-0) since Jan. 21, 2012. "Were just deep, were really, really deep and we want to come at you every night," said Sharks captain Joe Thornton, who along with Logan Couture, added two assists. "We have been doing that early on." The backbreaker was Marleaus goal that made it 3-1 midway through the second period. Despite trailing 2-0 after the first, the Canucks managed to cut the San Jose lead in half with Mike Santorellis fourth goal in three games at 10:20, only to see Marleau score on a one-timer just 95 seconds later. "No matter what happened or where we struggled, we crawl back into it (at) 2-1. We need to at least play with that for a little bit and not get scored on so quickly," said Canucks coach John Tortorella. "Really that was a gimme. We were just too slow. We turn it over when we dont need to and then we dont react defensively after the turnover." Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo held his team in with 25 stops, but said Vancouver needed a better start. "Obviously the first period hurt us. Weve made comebacks the last couple of games but against good teams like that its tough to get out of a hole," he said. "I thought our first period we were a little bit tentative. "Against a team like that you got to play 60 minutes if you want to give yourself a chance." Sharks forward Tomas Hertl, who became the talk of the NHL after scoring four times in Tuesdays 9-2 win over the New York Rangers, was held pointless but was still noticeable as part of a dominant San Jose first line that includes Thornton and Burns. San Jose led 3-1 after 40 minutes and hadd a good chance to extend the lead five minutes into the third, but Luongo kept Vancouver in it with a breakaway stop on Hertl.dddddddddddd The Canucks, who had come back from two-goal deficits against the Calgary Flames and the New Jersey Devils, showed little life until midway through the period. Their new puck-pressure style eventually started to gain a bit of time in the Sharks zone, but they rarely threatened Niemis crease. "Youve got to give them some credit. Theyve got a good team over there, play a great system," said Canucks captain Henrik Sedin. "Youve going to have games like this where you have to win the one-on-one battles and we didnt do that enough." Vancouver pulled Luongo with 3:08 to go in the period, but Burns scored into an empty net with 2:19 to play. "They locked it down pretty well," said Tortorellla, whose team had just six shots in the third. "Its not like were playing against no one out there but we need to have more people going to play against a balanced team like that." Vlasic opened the scoring at 12:16 of the first period by finishing off a nice passing play. The San Jose defenceman took a feed from Burns off the rush in the high slot and snapped a shot blocker side on Luongo. Niemi came up big on a Vancouver power play later in the first, with big stops on both Alexander Edler and Jason Garrison. Luongo then stopped Burns on another good chance before Pelech doubled the Sharks lead with 58 second. The nephew of Vancouver general manager Mike Gillis chipped a pass from behind the Canucks net up into the top corner past Luongo. "It felt awesome," said the 26-year-old, who was playing in just his ninth NHL game. "It was a really good feeling to see that go in." Notes: The teams play twice more this season, Nov. 7 in San Jose and Nov. 14 in Vancouver. ... Santorelli, who scored the winner in the Canucks 3-2 overtime victory on Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils, wasnt credited with the goal Wednesday. The Burnaby, B.C., native is the first Vancouver player to record consecutive OT winners in franchise history. ... The Canucks host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday before heading out on a season-high seven-game road trip. San Jose is home to the Ottawa Senators the same night. ... Canucks right-winger Zack Kassian will be eligible to return to the lineup on Saturday after serving his eight-game suspension (three pre-season, five regular) after breaking the jaw of Edmonton Oilers centre Sam Gagner with a high stick. ' ' '