2000 Michigan 500
The 2000 Michigan 500 was the eleventh round of the twenty-round 2000 CART season. It happened at the Michigan International Speedway.
| Race details | |
|---|---|
| Race 11 of 20 in the 2000 CART season | |
| Date | July 23, 2000 |
| Official name | Michigan 500 |
| Location | Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Michigan, United States |
| Course | Permanent racing facility 2.000 mi / 3.219 km |
| Distance | 250 laps 500.000 mi / 804.672 km |
| Pole position | |
| Driver | Paul Tracy (Team Green) |
| Time | 30.645[1] |
| Fastest lap | |
| Driver | Juan Montoya (Chip Ganassi Racing) |
| Time | 31.162[2] (on lap 232 of 250) |
| Podium | |
| First | Juan Montoya (Chip Ganassi Racing) |
| Second | Michael Andretti (Newman/Haas Racing) |
| Third | Dario Franchitti (Team Green) |
Qualifying
The Canadian driver Paul Tracy, from Team Green, set the pole, followed by Michael Andretti and Christian Fittipaldi.
| Rank | Driver |
|---|---|
| 1 | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Paul Tracy |
| 2 |  Michael Andretti |
| 3 |  Christian Fittipaldi |
| 4 |  Dario Franchitti |
| 5 | Gil de Ferran |
Race
Eventual winner Juan Pablo Montoya led the race at the end of the first lap through to lap 16, where he was overtaken by eventual runner up Michael Andretti. Across the 250 laps, the race saw nine different leaders, with 52 lead changes. There were five cautions over the course of the race, taking 38 laps in total.[4] Thirteen cars did not finish the race, and only seven cars completed the full 500-mile distance. The race culminated in a battle between Montoya and Andretti, with seven lead changes in the final twenty laps. Montoya set the race's fastest lap on lap 232 of 250. Andretti led lap 249, but was passed by Montoya on the final lap.[5] Montoya's margin of victory was just 0.040s.[4] Montoya's victory was Toyota's second in ChampCar, and he became the first driver since Rick Mears in 1991 to win both the Indy 500 and Michigan 500 in the same year.
| Rank | Driver |
|---|---|
| 1 |  Juan Pablo Montoya |
| 2 | Michael Andretti |
| 3 | Dario Franchitti |
| 4 | Patrick Carpentier |
| 5 | Hélio Castroneves |
Championship Battle
Michael Andretti became the new leader of the championship with 100 points. The previous leader, Roberto Moreno was in 2nd with 90 points. Race winner Juan Pablo Montoya moved up to 5th in the Championship standings with 74 points.[5]
Standings after the race
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Note: Only the top five positions are included for the drivers' standings.
References
- "Paul Tracy Career History". paultracy.com. Paul Tracy. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
Pole position at Michigan Speedway came at a track-record speed of 234.949 miles per hour (30.645 seconds) and was his first pole since 1997 at Milwaukee, as well as his first career pole on a superspeedway.
- Harms, Philip (2000-08-05). "2000 Championship Results: Brooklyn, MI 500 Mile Race - July 23, 2000" (PDF). motorsport.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 8, 2011. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
- "2000 Michigan 500 | Motor Sport Magazine Database". Motor Sport Magazine. 2017-06-12. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
- "07/23/2000 race: Michigan 500 Presented by Toyota (CART) pit stop data - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
- "07/23/2000 race: Michigan 500 Presented by Toyota (CART) - Racing-Reference.info". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved 2020-10-30.
- "2000 Michigan 500 Presented by Toyota". USA Today Sports Media Group. September 15, 2001. Retrieved June 3, 2018.
- "ChampCar/CART: Points standing after Michigan". Motorsport.com. July 24, 2000. Retrieved June 3, 2018.
| Previous race: 2000 Molson Indy Toronto |
CART Indycar World Series 2000 season |
Next race: 2000 TARGET Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1999 U.S. 500 Presented by Toyota |
Marlboro 500 | Next race: 2001 Harrah's 500 |