diff --git a/lucene/CHANGES.txt b/lucene/CHANGES.txt
index b3baa80..d4c82b4 100644
--- a/lucene/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/lucene/CHANGES.txt
@@ -10,7 +10,10 @@ http://s.apache.org/luceneversions
 ======================= Lucene 4.0.0-BETA =======================
 
 New features
-
+* LUCENE-4249: Changed the explanation of the PayloadTermWeight to use the
+  underlying PayloadFunction's explanation as the explanation
+  for the payload score. (Scott Smerchek)
+  
 * LUCENE-4201: Added JapaneseIterationMarkCharFilter to normalize Japanese
   iteration marks. (Robert Muir, Christian Moen)
 
diff --git a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/payloads/PayloadTermQuery.java b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/payloads/PayloadTermQuery.java
index 4d07328..30d5bac 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/payloads/PayloadTermQuery.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/payloads/PayloadTermQuery.java
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ public class PayloadTermQuery extends SpanTermQuery {
           // whether to load the payload or not
           // GSI: I suppose we could toString the payload, but I don't think that
           // would be a good idea
-          Explanation payloadExpl = new Explanation(scorer.getPayloadScore(), "scorePayload(...)");
+          Explanation payloadExpl = function.explain(doc, scorer.payloadsSeen, scorer.payloadScore);
           payloadExpl.setValue(scorer.getPayloadScore());
           // combined
           ComplexExplanation result = new ComplexExplanation();