The 2000

Michigan 500 The Firestone Indy 400 was an IndyCar Series race held at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. The event was most recently held in 2007. From 1981 to 2001, the event was better-known as the Michigan 500, and was held in high pres ...

was the eleventh round of the twenty-round

2000 CART season The 2000 FedEx Championship Series season was the twenty-second in the CART era of open-wheel racing in the United States. It consisted of 20 races, beginning in Homestead, Florida on March 26, 2000 and concluding in Fontana, California on Octo ...

. It happened at the

Michigan International Speedway Michigan International Speedway (MIS) is a moderate-banked D-shaped speedway located off U.S. Highway 12 on more than approximately south of the village of Brooklyn, in the scenic Irish Hills area of southeastern Michigan. The track is ...

Qualifying

The

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

driver

Paul Tracy Paul Anthony Tracy (born December 17, 1968) is a Canadian-American former professional auto racing driver who competed in CART, the Champ Car World Series and the IndyCar Series. He is known by the nicknames "PT" and "the Thrill from West Hill" ...

, from Team Green, set the pole, followed by

Michael Andretti Michael Mario Andretti (born October 5, 1962) is an American semi-retired auto racing driver and current team owner. Statistically one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, Andretti won the 1991 CART P ...

and

Christian Fittipaldi Christian Fittipaldi (born 18 January 1971) is a Brazilian former racing driver who has competed in various forms of motorsport including Formula One, Champ Car, and NASCAR. He was a highly rated young racing driver in the early 1990s, and parti ...

. * Eligible for Rookie of the Year

Race

Eventual winner

Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (; born September 20, 1975) is a Colombian racing driver. He won the International F3000 championship in 1998, the CART FedEx Championship Series in 1999 in his debut year in the series, and the IMSA WeatherTech S ...

led the race at the end of the first lap through to lap 16, where he was overtaken by eventual runner up

. 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. 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. Montoya's margin of victory was just 0.040s. Montoya's victory was

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

's second in ChampCar, and he became the first driver since

Rick Mears Rick Ravon Mears (born December 3, 1951) is a retired American race car driver. He is one of four men to win the Indianapolis 500 four times (1979, 1984, 1988, 1991) and is the current record-holder for pole positions in the race with six (197 ...

in 1991 to win both the

Indy 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of India ...

and Michigan 500 in the same year.

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.

Standings after the race

*Note: Only the top five positions are included for the drivers' standings.

References

{{CART World Series race report, Name_of_race = Marlboro 500 , Year_of_race = 2000 , Previous_race_in_season = 2000 Molson Indy Toronto , Next_race_in_season = 2000 TARGET Grand Prix , Previous_year's_race = 1999 U.S. 500 Presented by Toyota , Next_year's_race = 2001 Harrah's 500 , Michigan 500, 2000 Michigan Indy 400