2000 Michigan 500 Explained

The 2000 Michigan 500 was the eleventh round of the twenty-round 2000 CART season. It happened at the Michigan International Speedway.

Qualifying

The Canadian driver Paul Tracy, from Team Green, set the pole, followed by Michael Andretti and Christian Fittipaldi.

Qualifying - 22 July 2000
Pos. No.Driver Team Lap Time Behind Speed
(mph)
126 Paul TracyTeam Green30,645234.949
2 6 Michael AndrettiNewman/Haas Racing30,6870,042234.627
311 Christian FittipaldiNewman/Haas Racing30,7390,094234.230
427 Dario FranchittiTeam Green30,8780,233233.176
52Team Penske30,9040,259232.980
612 Jimmy VasserChip Ganassi Racing30,9330,288232.761
71 Juan Pablo MontoyaChip Ganassi Racing30,9630,318232.536
833 Alex Tagliani Forsythe Racing30,9900,345232.333
932 Patrick CarpentierForsythe Racing31,0360,391231.989
108 Kenny Bräck Team Rahal31,0650,420231.772
117 Max PapisTeam Rahal31,1270,482231.310
1240 Adrián FernándezPatrick Racing31,1460,501231.169
133 Hélio CastronevesTeam Penske31,2010,556230.762
1497 Cristiano da MattaPPI Motorsports31,3210,676229.878
1596 Oriol Servià PPI Motorsports31,3710,726229.511
1620 Roberto MorenoPatrick Racing31,5670,922228.086
1718 Mark BlundellPacWest Racing31,7801,135226.558
18 55 Tony KanaanForsythe Racing31,8351,190226.166
195 Shinji Nakano Walker Racing31,8851,240225.812
2017 Mauricio GugelminPacWest Racing31,9091,264225.642
2110 Memo GidleyDella Penna Motorsports32,0531,408224.628
2216 Michel Jourdain Jr.Bettenhausen Racing32,1751,530223.776
2325 Luiz Garcia Jr.Arciero Racing32,7142,069220.089
2434 Tarso MarquesDale Coyne Racing0,000 30,6450.000
2519 Takuya Kurosawa Dale Coyne Racing0,00030,6450,000
Source: [1] [2]

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.[3] 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.[4] Montoya's margin of victory was just 0.040s. Montoya's victory was Toyota's second in ChampCar, and he became the first driver since Rick Mears in 1991 to win both the Indianapolis 500 and Michigan 500 in the same year.

Race results!Rank!Driver
1 Juan Pablo Montoya
2 Michael Andretti
3 Dario Franchitti
4 Patrick Carpentier
5 Hélio Castroneves

Championship Battle

See also: 2000 CART season. 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.

Broadcasting

The Michigan 500 was broadcast by ABC. Paul Page was the lead announcer and was joined by Parker Johnstone as color commentator.[5]

The race had a lead-in audience from the 2000 Open Championship as Tiger Woods won his first Open Championship. In the United States, the race had a 2.5 overnight rating.[6] The race had a final rating of 2.0 with 2.058 million households watching. It was the most-watched CART race of 2000.[7]

Qualifying for the race was broadcast tape-delayed on ESPN2 on the morning of Sunday, July 23. The qualifying broadcast had a rating of 0.1 and watched by 45,000 households.[8]

Standings after the race

+ Drivers' Championship standings
Rank+/–DriverPoints
1 1 Michael Andretti104
2 1 Roberto Moreno90
3 1 Paul Tracy80
4 1 Gil de Ferran75
5 4 Juan Pablo Montoya74
+ Constructors' standings
Rank+/–ConstructorPoints
1 Reynard215
2 Lola173
3 Swift5
+ Manufacturers' standings
Rank+/–ManufacturerPoints
1 Ford-Cosworth194
2 Honda169
3 Toyota165
4 Mercedes46

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2017-06-12. 2000 Michigan 500 Motor Sport Magazine Database. 2020-10-30. Motor Sport Magazine. en.
  2. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20000918152830/http://www.cart.com/R11/results/Qualifying_classification.html. CART // Michigan // Results // Qualifying // Classification. 18 September 2000. 22 July 2021. CART.com.
  3. Web site: 07/23/2000 race: Michigan 500 Presented by Toyota (CART) pit stop data - Racing-Reference.info. 2020-10-30. www.racing-reference.info.
  4. Web site: 07/23/2000 race: Michigan 500 Presented by Toyota (CART) - Racing-Reference.info. 2020-10-30. www.racing-reference.info.
  5. 2000 Michigan 500 Telecast: ABC-TV, July 23, 2000
  6. News: CART Does Very Well at Michigan . Speedvision.com. 2000-07-24. 2023-07-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20010414031841/http://www.speedvision.com/pub/articles/racing/08inews/000724b.html . 2001-04-14. dead.
  7. News: Who Watched What July 22-23 . Speedvision.com. 2000-07-27. 2023-07-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20010825161259/http://speedvision.com/pub/articles/racing/08inews/000727b.html . 2001-08-25. dead.
  8. News: Who Watched What July 22-23 . Speedvision.com. 2000-07-27. 2023-07-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20010825161259/http://speedvision.com/pub/articles/racing/08inews/000727b.html . 2001-08-25. dead.