2000 CART season


The 2000 FedEx Championship Series season was the twenty-second in the CART era of U.S. open-wheel racing, 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. 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. de Ferran and Helio Castroneves, the last minute replacement for the deceased 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.

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. So all cars ran on Firestone Firehawk tires.

Season summary

Schedule

RndRace NameCircuitCity/LocationDate
1 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Homestead-Miami SpeedwayHomestead, FloridaMarch 26
2 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Streets of Long BeachLong Beach, CaliforniaApril 16
3 Rio 200 Autódromo de JacarepaguáRio de Janeiro, BrazilApril 30
4 Firestone Firehawk 500 Twin Ring MotegiMotegi, JapanMay 14
5 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Nazareth SpeedwayNazareth, PennsylvaniaMay 27
6 Miller Lite 225 Milwaukee MileWest Allis, WisconsinJune 5*
7 Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit The Raceway on Belle Isle ParkDetroit, MichiganJune 18
8 Freightliner/G.I. Joe's 200 Portland International RacewayPortland, OregonJune 25
9 Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland Cleveland Burke Lakefront AirportCleveland, OhioJuly 2
10 Molson Indy Toronto Exhibition PlaceToronto, OntarioJuly 16
11 Michigan 500 Michigan International SpeedwayBrooklyn, MichiganJuly 23
12 Target Grand Prix of Chicago Chicago Motor SpeedwayCicero, IllinoisJuly 30
13 Miller Lite 200 Mid-Ohio Sports Car CourseLexington, OhioAugust 13
14 Motorola 220 Road AmericaElkhart Lake, WisconsinAugust 20
15 Molson Indy Vancouver Streets of VancouverVancouver, British ColumbiaSeptember 3
16 Honda Grand Prix of Monterey Mazda Raceway Laguna SecaMonterey, CaliforniaSeptember 10
17 Motorola 300 Gateway International RacewayMadison, IllinoisSeptember 17
18 Texaco Grand Prix of Houston Streets of HoustonHouston, TexasOctober 1
19 Honda Indy 300 Surfers Paradise Street CircuitSurfers Paradise, AustraliaOctober 15
20 Marlboro 500 California SpeedwayFontana, CaliforniaOctober 29-30*

Oval/Speedway
Dedicated road course
Temporary street circuit
The Nazareth round was initially scheduled to be the second round on April 9, 2000, but snow caused the race's postponement.
Milwaukee was scheduled to be on June 4, but was 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.

Race results

Final driver standings


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

    Nation's Cup

  • Top result per race counts towards Nation's Cup.
PosCountryMIA LBH RIO MOT NAZ MIL DET POR CLE TOR MIC CHI MDO ROA VAN LAG GAT HOU SUR FON Pts
1 Brazil22431511145114513341332
243216274412285687134256
3 Canada3136103510534971192456226
4 Mexico14111105881272656231210715165
5 Sweden18171053424621022453951115213135
6 Colombia23192274118176241122416176122410126
7 Scotland11231122364913253202212232425252392
8 Italy12016822722518892447816824161288
9 Spain1962524919382311815101011175992064
10 England1387191717112012221923141125132320111518
11 Japan8131914DNS2312111514201319221926218211613
12 Argentina151523Wth20Wth142111202
13 Australia180
PosCountryMIA LBH RIO MOT NAZ MIL DET POR CLE TOR MIC CHI MDO ROA VAN LAG GAT HOU SUR FON Pts

[Chassis] Constructor's Cup

PosChassisPtsWins
1 Reynard 2KI39313
2 Lola B2K/003137
PosChassisPtsWins

[Engine] Manufacturer's Cup

PosEnginePtsWins
1
Ford-Cosworth XF		3347
2 Honda HR-03148
3 Toyota RVA2755
4 Mercedes IC 108E660
PosEnginePtsWins

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