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2000 CART FedEx Championship Series

Sports season

The 2000 FedEx Championship Series season was the twenty-second in the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) era of American open-wheel car racing. It consisted of 20 races, beginning in Homestead, Florida on March 26, 2000 and concluding in Fontana, California on October 30, 2000. The FedEx Championship Series Drivers' Champion was Gil de Ferran. The Rookie of the Year was Kenny Bräck.

The relative decline of Chip Ganassi Racing and an atypical parity among the major engine and chassis builders led to the most wide-open championship race in the history of the series, with seven different winners in the first seven races of the year and 11 drivers winning a race. From 1997–1999, only two drivers came within 50 points of the champion, 9 would do so in 2000.

Penske Racing returned to prominence using Honda engines and abandoning their house chassis for a Reynard 2KI. Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves (the latter signed following the death of Greg Moore), combined for 5 wins, 4 of which were on the road courses the team had not been competitive on in their previous chassis and engine. Veterans Michael Andretti and Paul Tracy, who were 1 and 2 in the championship after the Vancouver round, would fall short after poor finishes down the stretch. Most surprising of all to observers was the return to prominence of Patrick Racing, with veterans Adrian Fernandez and Roberto Moreno finishing second and third respectively in the championship.

Off the track, while CART remained fiscally strong, anxiety regarding the series' decline in prominence led to the ouster of CEO Andrew Craig at the midpoint of the season, leading to his replacement by Bobby Rahal. The series left open the traditional Indianapolis 500 date of Memorial Day, allowing teams to enter the Indy Racing League-sanctioned race for the first time since 1995. Chip Ganassi Racing did so, with their driver Juan Pablo Montoya winning the race handily with purchased IRL equipment. While a competitive triumph for CART, Ganassi's efforts showed the continuing allure of the 500 for CART teams and their sponsors. 2000 would also be the final season for DaimlerChrysler via the Mercedes-Benz brand as an engine manufacturer, after DaimlerChrysler decided to shut down their CART program and coincidentally defected to the NASCAR Winston Cup Series via the Dodge brand in 2001.

Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed in the 2000 CART Championship Series season. Five years after the return of Firestone, rival tire manufacturer Goodyear withdrew from CART and its rival the Indy Racing League and hence all cars would ran on Firestone Firehawk tires for the first time in history. All teams were based in the United States.

Team	Chassis	Engine	No	Drivers	Races	Primary Sponsors
Chip Ganassi Racing	Lola B2K/00	Toyota RV8E	1	Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya	All	Target
12	USA Jimmy Vasser	All
Team Penske	Reynard 2KI	Honda HR-0	2	Brazil Gil de Ferran	All	Marlboro
3	Brazil Hélio Castroneves	All
Walker Motorsport	Reynard 2KI	Honda HR-0	5	Japan Shinji Nakano ****	1, 4, 6–20	Avex
USA Bryan Herta	2–3
Newman/Haas Racing	Lola B2K/00	Ford-Cosworth XF	6	USA Michael Andretti	All	Texaco-Havoline
11	Brazil Christian Fittipaldi	All	Big Kmart
Team Rahal	Reynard 2KI	Ford-Cosworth XF	7	ITA Max Papis	All	Miller Lite
8	SWE Kenny Bräck ****	All	Shell
91	USA Casey Mears ****	20	WorldCom
Della Penna Motorsports	Reynard 2KI	Toyota RV8E	10	Argentina Norberto Fontana ****	1–5, 7–10	Video Match 9
DirecTV 11
USA Memo Gidley	11–18, 20
Australia Jason Bright ****	19
Bettenhausen Racing	Lola B2K/00	Mercedes IC 108E	16	Mexico Michel Jourdain Jr.	All	Herdez
PacWest Racing	Reynard 2KI	Mercedes IC 108E	17	Brazil Maurício Gugelmin	All	Nextel
18	GBR Mark Blundell	All	Motorola
Dale Coyne Racing	Lola B2K/00	Ford-Cosworth XF	19	Japan Takuya Kurosawa ****	1–11	MTCI 6
Sports Today 14
Brazil Gualter Salles	12–14
USA Alex Barron	15–20
34	Brazil Gualter Salles	1–3, 5	Dale Coyne Racing
Swift 011.c	Brazil Tarso Marques	4–20	Panasonic
Patrick Racing	Reynard 2KI	Ford-Cosworth XF	20	BRA Roberto Moreno	All	Visteon
40	Mexico Adrián Fernández	All	Tecate
Arciero Racing	Reynard 2KI	Mercedes IC 108E	25	BRA Luiz Garcia Jr.	All	Hollywood Cigarettes
Team Green	Reynard 2KI	Honda HR-0	26	CAN Paul Tracy	All	KOOL
27	GBR Dario Franchitti	All
Forsythe Racing	Reynard 2KI	Ford-Cosworth XF	32	Canada Patrick Carpentier	1, 5–20	Player's
USA Memo Gidley	2–4
33	Canada Alex Tagliani ****	All
77	USA Bryan Herta	16	Rockingham Motor Speedway
Mo Nunn Racing	Reynard 2KI	Mercedes IC 108E	55	BRA Tony Kanaan	1–7, 11–20	Hollywood Cigarettes
USA Bryan Herta	8–10
PPI Motorsports	Reynard 2KI	Toyota RV8E	96	Spain Oriol Servià ****	All	Telefónica
97	Brazil Cristiano da Matta	All	Pioneer

Schedule

Icon	Legend
	Oval/Speedway
	Road course
	Street circuit

Rnd	Date	Race Name	Circuit
March 26	US Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami	Homestead-Miami Speedway	Homestead, Florida
April 16	US Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	Streets of Long Beach	Long Beach, California
April 30	Brazil Rio 200	Autódromo de Jacarepaguá	Jacarepagua, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
May 14*	Japan Firestone Firehawk 500	Twin Ring Motegi	Motegi, Tochigi, Japan
May 27	US Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix	Nazareth Speedway	Nazareth, Pennsylvania
June 5*	US Miller Lite 225	Milwaukee Mile	West Allis, Wisconsin
June 18	United States Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit	The Raceway on Belle Isle Park	Detroit, Michigan
June 25	United States Freightliner/G. I. Joe's 200	Portland International Raceway	Portland, Oregon
July 2	United States Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland	Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport	Cleveland, Ohio
July 16	Canada Molson Indy Toronto	Exhibition Place	Toronto, Ontario
July 23	US Michigan 500	Michigan Speedway	Brooklyn, Michigan
July 30	US Target Grand Prix of Chicago	Chicago Motor Speedway	Cicero, Illinois
August 13	US Miller Lite 200	Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course	Lexington, Ohio
August 20	United States Motorola 220	Road America	Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin
September 3	Canada Molson Indy Vancouver	Concord Pacific Place	Vancouver, British Columbia
September 10	United States Honda Grand Prix of Monterey	Laguna Seca Raceway	Monterey, California
September 17	USA Motorola 300	Gateway International Raceway	Madison, Illinois
October 1	US Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston	George R. Brown Convention Center	Houston, Texas
October 15	Australia Honda Indy 300	Surfers Paradise Street Circuit	Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia
October 29–30*	US Marlboro 500	California Speedway	Fontana, California

The Nazareth round was initially scheduled to be the second round on April 9, 2000, but snow caused the race's postponement. Motegi was scheduled to be on May 13, and Milwaukee was scheduled to be on June 4. Both were postponed due to rain. Fontana was scheduled for October 29, but during a caution on lap 22 for Cristiano da Matta crashing, rain began to fall and the remainder of the race was postponed to the next day.

Results

Round	Race	Pole position	Fastest lap	Lead Most Laps	Race Winner	Race
Time	Report	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
USA Homestead	BRA Gil de Ferran	nowrap	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	BRA Gil de Ferran	ITA Max Papis	Team Rahal	Reynard 2KI	Ford-Cosworth XF	1:22:01	[Report](2000-marlboro-grand-prix-of-miami)
USA Long Beach	BRA Gil de Ferran	BRA Gil de Ferran	BRA Gil de Ferran	CAN Paul Tracy	Team Green	Reynard 2KI	Honda HR-0	1:57:11	[Report](https://www.racing-reference.info/race/2000_Toyota_Grand_Prix_of_Long_Beach/R)
Brazil Rio	CAN Alex Tagliani	CAN Alex Tagliani	CAN Alex Tagliani	Mexico Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	Reynard 2KI	Ford-Cosworth XF	1:37:12	[Report](2000-rio-200)
Japan Motegi	nowrap	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	nowrap	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	nowrap	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	USA Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola B2K/00	Ford-Cosworth XF	1:58:52	[Report](https://www.racing-reference.info/race/2000_Firestone_Firehawk_500K/R)
US Nazareth	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	BRA Hélio Castroneves	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	BRA Gil de Ferran	Team Penske	Reynard 2KI	Honda HR-0	2:06:10	[Report](https://www.racing-reference.info/race/2000_Bosch_Spark_Plug_Grand_Prix_Presented_By_Toyota/R)
USA Milwaukee	nowrap	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	nowrap	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	nowrap	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	nowrap	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	nowrap	Chip Ganassi Racing	Lola B2K/00	Toyota RV8E	1:37:38	[Report](https://www.racing-reference.info/race/2000_Miller_Lite_225/R)
United States Belle Isle	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	BRA Hélio Castroneves	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	BRA Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Reynard 2KI	Honda HR-0	2:01:23	[Report](2000-tenneco-automotive-grand-prix-of-detroit)
USA Portland	BRA Hélio Castroneves	SWE Kenny Bräck	BRA Hélio Castroneves	BRA Gil de Ferran	Team Penske	Reynard 2KI	Honda HR-0	2:00:46	[Report](https://www.racing-reference.info/race/2000_Freightliner_G.I._Joes_200_Presented_By_Texaco/R)
USA Cleveland	BRA Roberto Moreno	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	BRA Roberto Moreno	BRA Roberto Moreno	Patrick Racing	Reynard 2KI	Ford-Cosworth XF	1:52:12	[Report](https://www.racing-reference.info/race/2000_Marconi_Grand_Prix_of_Cleveland/R)
CAN Toronto	BRA Hélio Castroneves	USA Michael Andretti	BRA Cristiano da Matta	USA Michael Andretti	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola B2K/00	Ford-Cosworth XF	2:00:02	[Report](https://www.racing-reference.info/race/2000_Molson_Indy_Toronto/R)
USA Michigan	CAN Paul Tracy	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	BRA Hélio Castroneves	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	Chip Ganassi Racing	Lola B2K/00	Toyota RV8E	2:48:49	[Report](2000-michigan-500)
US Chicago	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	MEX Adrián Fernández	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	BRA Cristiano da Matta	PPI Motorsports	Reynard 2KI	Toyota RV8E	2:01:23	[Report](https://www.racing-reference.info/race/2000_Target_Grand_Prix_of_Chicago/R)
US Mid-Ohio	BRA Gil de Ferran	UK Dario Franchitti	BRA Hélio Castroneves	BRA Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Reynard 2KI	Honda HR-0	1:44:59	[Report](https://www.racing-reference.info/race/2000_Miller_Lite_200/R)
US Road America	GBR Dario Franchitti	CAN Paul Tracy	CAN Alex Tagliani	CAN Paul Tracy	Team Green	Reynard 2KI	Honda HR-0	1:37:53	[Report](https://www.racing-reference.info/race/2000_Motorola_220/R)
CAN Vancouver	GBR Dario Franchitti	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	GBR Dario Franchitti	CAN Paul Tracy	Team Green	Reynard 2KI	Honda HR-0	1:53:06	[Report](2000-molson-indy-vancouver)
United States Laguna Seca	BRA Hélio Castroneves	BRA Gil de Ferran	BRA Hélio Castroneves	BRA Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Reynard 2KI	Honda HR-0	1:46:11	[Report](https://www.racing-reference.info/race/2000_Honda_Grand_Prix_of_Monterey_Presented_By_Shell/R)
USA Gateway	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	CAN Patrick Carpentier	US Michael Andretti	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	Chip Ganassi Racing	Lola B2K/00	Toyota RV8E	1:55:38	[Report](https://www.racing-reference.info/race/2000_Motorola_300/R)
US Houston	BRA Gil de Ferran	US Michael Andretti	BRA Gil de Ferran	USA Jimmy Vasser	Chip Ganassi Racing	Lola B2K/00	Toyota RV8E	1:59:02	[Report](https://www.racing-reference.info/race/2000_Texaco_Grand_Prix_of_Houston/R)
nowrap	Australia Surfers Paradise	COL Juan Pablo Montoya	USA Jimmy Vasser	MEX Adrián Fernández	MEX Adrián Fernández	Patrick Racing	nowrap	Reynard 2KI	nowrap	Ford-Cosworth XF	2:01:14	[Report](2000-honda-indy-300)
US Fontana	BRA Gil de Ferran	BRA Hélio Castroneves	SWE Kenny Bräck	BRA Christian Fittipaldi	nowrap	Newman/Haas Racing	Lola B2K/00	Ford-Cosworth XF	3:38:04	[Report](2000-marlboro-500)

Final driver standings

Pos	Driver	HOM US	LBH US	RIO BRA	MOT JPN	NAZ US	MIL US	BEL US	POR US	CLE US	TOR CAN	[MIS](2000-michigan-500) US	CMS US	MOH US	ROA US	VAN CAN	LAG US	GTW US	HOU US	[SUR](2000-honda-indy-300) AUS
BRA Gil de Ferran	6*	*7**	17	9	1	12	9	1	14	6	18	3	2	25	5	2	8	3*	23	3
Mexico Adrián Fernández	21	24	1	10	5	8	21	12	7	2	6	5	6	2	3	12	10	7	1*	5
Brazil Roberto Moreno	2	9	6	3	14	5	17	2	1*	13	23	6	11	4	10	25	3	11	19	2
SWE Kenny Bräck	18	17	10	5	3	4	24	6	2	10	22	4	5	3	9	5	11	15	2	13*
CAN Paul Tracy	3	1	3	6	10	15	DSQ	18	19	3	7	19	16	1	1	11	18	4	17	24
US Jimmy Vasser	4	3	2	21	7	13	7	24	8	9	21	8	21	5	6	8	7	1	3	22
BRA Hélio Castroneves	25	2	24	13	16	16	1	7*	21	16	5*	21	1*	9	20	1*	9	5	6	9
US Michael Andretti	22	14	9	1	6	2	13	4	4	1	2	2	8	19	12	14	20*	13	20	19
COL Juan Pablo Montoya	23	19	22	*7**	4*	*1**	18*	17	6	24	1	12*	24	16	17	6	1	2	24	10
BRA Cristiano da Matta	12	25	4	4	13	14	23	5	3	4*	17	1	17	13	7	15	4	14	4	25
Canada Patrick Carpentier	5				21	3	5	10	5	7	4	14	7	21	24	9	2	19	5	14
BRA Christian Fittipaldi	7	18	5	11	11	9	19	3	17	17	14	Wth	3	15	4	10	12	6	15	1
GBR Dario Franchitti	11	23	11	2	23	6	4	9	13	25	3	20	22	12	2*	3	24	25	25	23
ITA Max Papis	1	20	16	8	22	7	2	25	18	8	9	24	4	7	8	16	6	24	16	12
ESP Oriol Servià	19	6	25	24	9	19	3	8	23	11	8	15	10	10	11	17	5	9	9	20
CAN Alex Tagliani	9	4	*13**	15	19	22	6	13	16	5	16	9	9	14*	18	23	14	16	22	6
BRA Maurício Gugelmin	16	10	21	22	2	11	16	19	10	15	13	7	20	17	21	7	19	23	10	17
US Bryan Herta		5	20					16	9	18						4
BRA Tony Kanaan	10	16	18	16	8	10	DNS				24	16	13	8	14	22	13	10	8	18
USA Memo Gidley		21	8	18							10	10	12	6	16	19	22	21		21
GBR Mark Blundell	13	8	7	19	17	17	11	20	12	22	19	23	14	11	25	13	23	20	11	15
MEX Michel Jourdain Jr.	14	11	15	12	18	18	8	23	22	19	15	11	15	18	23	24	16	18	7	11
US Casey Mears																				4
Japan Shinji Nakano	8			14		23	15	11	15	14	20	13	19	22	19	26	21	8	21	16
Brazil Tarso Marques				17	12	20	10	15	24	21	12	18	18	23	22	18	15	17	13	7
US Alex Barron															13	21	17	12	14	8
BRA Luiz Garcia Jr.	17	12	12	23	15	21	22	14	20	12	11	17	25	24	15	20	25	22	12	DNS
ARG Norberto Fontana	15	15	23	Wth	20		14	21	11	20
	24	13	19	20	DNS	Wth	12	22	25	23	DNS
BRA Gualter Salles	20	22	14		Wth							22	23	20
AUS Jason Bright																			18

Color	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	4th–6th place
Light Blue	7th–12th place
Dark Blue	Finished
(Outside Top 12)
Purple	Did not finish
Red	Did not qualify
(DNQ)
Brown	Withdrawn
(Wth)
Black	Disqualified
(DSQ)
White	Did not start
(DNS)
Blank	Did not
participate
(DNP)
Not competing

|- |

In-line notation
Bold
Italics
*

|} |}

Oriol Servià was penalized 4 points for rough driving in Surfers Paradise.

Nations' Cup

Top result per race counts towards Nations' Cup.

Pos	Country	HOM US	LBH US	RIO BRA	MOT JPN	NAZ US	MIL US	BEL US	POR US	CLE US	TOR CAN	[MIS](2000-michigan-500) US	CMS US	MOH US	ROA US	VAN CAN	LAG US	GTW US	HOU US	[SUR](2000-honda-indy-300) AUS
Brazil Brazil	2	2	4	3	1	5	1	1	1	4	5	1	1	4	5	1	3	3	4	1
US United States	4	3	2	1	6	2	7	4	4	1	2	2	8	5	6	8	7	1	3	4
CAN Canada	3	1	3	6	10	3	5	10	5	3	4	9	7	1	1	9	2	4	5	6
MEX Mexico	14	11	1	10	5	8	8	12	7	2	6	5	6	2	3	12	10	7	1	5
SWE Sweden	18	17	10	5	3	4	24	6	2	10	22	4	5	3	9	5	11	15	2	13
COL Colombia	23	19	22	7	4	1	18	17	6	24	1	12	24	16	17	6	1	2	24	10
SCO Scotland	11	23	11	2	23	6	4	9	13	25	3	20	22	12	2	3	24	25	25	23
ITA Italy	1	20	16	8	22	7	2	25	18	8	9	24	4	7	8	16	8	24	16	12
ESP Spain	19	6	25	24	9	19	3	8	23	11	8	15	10	10	11	17	5	9	9	20
ENG England	13	8	7	19	17	17	11	20	12	22	19	23	14	11	25	13	23	20	11	15
JPN Japan	8	13	19	14	DNS	23	12	11	15	14	20	13	19	22	19	26	21	8	21	16
ARG Argentina	15	15	23	Wth	20	Wth	14	21	11	20
AUS Australia																			18

[[Chassis]] Constructors' Cup

Pos	Chassis	Pts	Wins	1	393	13	2	313	7	Pos	Chassis	Pts	Wins
GBR Reynard 2KI
GBR Lola B2K/00

[[Engine]] Manufacturers' Cup

Pos	Engine	Pts	Wins	1	334	7	2	314	8	3	275	5	4	66	0	Pos	Engine	Pts	Wins
USA
UK Ford-Cosworth XF
Japan Honda HR-0
Japan Toyota RV8E
GER Mercedes IC 108E

References

(April 2002). "Honda Championship Auto Racing Highlights".

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