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.
TeamChassisEngineNoDriversRacesPrimary Sponsors Chip Ganassi Racing Lola B2K/00 Toyota RV8E 1 Juan Pablo Montoya All Target 12 Jimmy Vasser All Team Penske Reynard 2KI Honda HR-0 2 Gil de Ferran All Marlboro 3 Hélio Castroneves All Walker Motorsport Reynard 2KI Honda HR-0 5 Shinji Nakano 1, 4, 6–20 Avex Bryan Herta 2–3 Newman/Haas Racing Lola B2K/00 Ford-Cosworth XF 6 Michael Andretti All Texaco-Havoline 11 Christian Fittipaldi All Big Kmart Team Rahal Reynard 2KI Ford-Cosworth XF 7 Max Papis All Miller Lite 8 Kenny Bräck All Shell91 Casey Mears 20WorldCom Della Penna Motorsports Reynard 2KI Toyota RV8E 10 Norberto Fontana 1–5, 7–10 Video Match DirecTV Memo Gidley 11–18, 20 Jason Bright 19 Bettenhausen Racing Lola B2K/00 Mercedes IC 108E 16 Michel Jourdain Jr. All Herdez PacWest Racing Reynard 2KI Mercedes IC 108E 17 Maurício Gugelmin All Nextel 18 Mark Blundell All Motorola Dale Coyne Racing Lola B2K/00 Ford-Cosworth XF 19 Takuya Kurosawa 1–11 MTCI Sports Today Gualter Salles 12–14 Alex Barron 15–20 34 Gualter Salles 1–3, 5 Dale Coyne Racing Swift 011.c Tarso Marques 4–20 Panasonic Patrick Racing Reynard 2KI Ford-Cosworth XF 20 Roberto Moreno All Visteon 40 Adrián Fernández All Tecate Arciero Racing Reynard 2KI Mercedes IC 108E 25 Luiz Garcia Jr. All Hollywood Cigarettes Team Green Reynard 2KI Honda HR-0 26 Paul Tracy All KOOL 27 Dario Franchitti All Forsythe Racing Reynard 2KI Ford-Cosworth XF 32 Patrick Carpentier 1, 5–20 Player's Memo Gidley 2–4 33 Alex Tagliani All77 Bryan Herta16Rockingham Motor Speedway Mo Nunn Racing Reynard 2KI Mercedes IC 108E 55 Tony Kanaan 1–7, 11–20 Hollywood Cigarettes Bryan Herta 8–10 PPI Motorsports Reynard 2KI Toyota RV8E 96 Oriol Servià All Telefónica 97 Cristiano da Matta All Pioneer
Schedule Icon Legend Oval/Speedway Road course Street circuit
Rnd Date Race Name Circuit City/Location 1 March 26 Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami Homestead-Miami Speedway Homestead, Florida 2 April 16 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Streets of Long Beach Long Beach, California 3 April 30 Rio 200 Autódromo de Jacarepaguá Jacarepagua, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 4 May 14* Firestone Firehawk 500 Twin Ring Motegi Motegi, Tochigi, Japan 5 May 27 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix Nazareth Speedway Nazareth, Pennsylvania 6 June 5* Miller Lite 225 Milwaukee Mile West Allis, Wisconsin 7 June 18 Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit The Raceway on Belle Isle Park Detroit, Michigan 8 June 25 Freightliner/G. I. Joe's 200 Portland International Raceway Portland, Oregon 9 July 2 Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport Cleveland, Ohio 10 July 16 Molson Indy Toronto Exhibition Place Toronto, Ontario 11 July 23 Michigan 500 Michigan Speedway Brooklyn, Michigan 12 July 30 Target Grand Prix of Chicago Chicago Motor Speedway Cicero, Illinois 13 August 13 Miller Lite 200 Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Lexington, Ohio 14 August 20 Motorola 220 Road America Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin 15 September 3 Molson Indy Vancouver Concord Pacific Place Vancouver, British Columbia 16 September 10 Honda Grand Prix of Monterey Laguna Seca Raceway Monterey, California 17 September 17 Motorola 300 Gateway International Raceway Madison, Illinois 18 October 1 Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston George R. Brown Convention Center Houston, Texas 19 October 15 Honda Indy 300 Surfers Paradise Street Circuit Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia 20 October 29–30* 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
RoundRacePole positionFastest lapLead Most LapsRace WinnerRaceTimeReportDriverTeamChassisEngine 1 Homestead Gil de Ferran Juan Pablo Montoya Gil de Ferran Max Papis Team RahalReynard 2KI Ford-Cosworth XF1:22:01 Report 2 Long Beach Gil de Ferran Gil de Ferran Gil de Ferran Paul Tracy Team Green Reynard 2KI Honda HR-01:57:11 Report 3 Rio Alex Tagliani Alex Tagliani Alex Tagliani Adrián Fernández Patrick Racing Reynard 2KI Ford-Cosworth XF1:37:12 Report 4 Motegi Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Michael Andretti Newman/Haas Racing Lola B2K/00 Ford-Cosworth XF1:58:52 Report 5 Nazareth Juan Pablo Montoya Hélio Castroneves Juan Pablo Montoya Gil de Ferran Team Penske Reynard 2KI Honda HR-02:06:10 Report 6 Milwaukee Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing Lola B2K/00 Toyota RV8E1:37:38 Report 7 Belle Isle Juan Pablo Montoya Hélio Castroneves Juan Pablo Montoya Hélio Castroneves Team Penske Reynard 2KI Honda HR-02:01:23 Report 8 Portland Hélio Castroneves Kenny Bräck Hélio Castroneves Gil de Ferran Team Penske Reynard 2KI Honda HR-02:00:46 Report 9 Cleveland Roberto Moreno Juan Pablo Montoya Roberto Moreno Roberto Moreno Patrick Racing Reynard 2KI Ford-Cosworth XF1:52:12 Report 10 Toronto Hélio Castroneves Michael Andretti Cristiano da Matta Michael Andretti Newman/Haas Racing Lola B2K/00 Ford-Cosworth XF2:00:02 Report 11 Michigan Paul Tracy Juan Pablo Montoya Hélio Castroneves Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing Lola B2K/00 Toyota RV8E2:48:49 Report 12 Chicago Juan Pablo Montoya Adrián Fernández Juan Pablo Montoya Cristiano da Matta PPI Motorsports Reynard 2KI Toyota RV8E2:01:23 Report 13 Mid-Ohio Gil de Ferran Dario Franchitti Hélio Castroneves Hélio Castroneves Team Penske Reynard 2KI Honda HR-01:44:59 Report 14 Road America Dario Franchitti Paul Tracy Alex Tagliani Paul Tracy Team Green Reynard 2KI Honda HR-01:37:53 Report 15 Vancouver Dario Franchitti Juan Pablo Montoya Dario Franchitti Paul Tracy Team Green Reynard 2KI Honda HR-01:53:06 Report 16 Laguna Seca Hélio Castroneves Gil de Ferran Hélio Castroneves Hélio Castroneves Team Penske Reynard 2KI Honda HR-01:46:11 Report 17 Gateway Juan Pablo Montoya Patrick Carpentier Michael Andretti Juan Pablo Montoya Chip Ganassi Racing Lola B2K/00 Toyota RV8E1:55:38 Report 18 Houston Gil de Ferran Michael Andretti Gil de Ferran Jimmy Vasser Chip Ganassi Racing Lola B2K/00 Toyota RV8E1:59:02 Report 19 Surfers Paradise Juan Pablo Montoya Jimmy Vasser Adrián Fernández Adrián Fernández Patrick Racing Reynard 2KI Ford-Cosworth XF2:01:14 Report 20 Fontana Gil de Ferran Hélio Castroneves Kenny Bräck Christian Fittipaldi Newman/Haas Racing Lola B2K/00 Ford-Cosworth XF3:38:04 Report
Final driver standings
Pos Driver HOM LBH RIO MOT NAZ MIL BEL POR CLE TOR MIS CMS MOH ROA VAN LAG GTW HOU SUR CAL Pts 1 Gil de Ferran 6* 7* 17 9 1 12 9 1 14 6 18 3 2 25 5 2 8 3* 23 3 168 2 Adrián Fernández 21 24 1 10 5 8 21 12 7 2 6 5 6 2 3 12 10 7 1* 5 158 3 Roberto Moreno 2 9 6 3 14 5 17 2 1* 13 23 6 11 4 10 25 3 11 19 2 147 4 Kenny Bräck 18 17 10 5 3 4 24 6 2 10 22 4 5 3 9 5 11 15 2 13* 135 5 Paul Tracy 3 1 3 6 10 15 DSQ 18 19 3 7 19 16 1 1 11 18 4 17 24 134 6 Jimmy Vasser 4 3 2 21 7 13 7 24 8 9 21 8 21 5 6 8 7 1 3 22 131 7 Hélio Castroneves 25 2 24 13 16 16 1 7* 21 16 5* 21 1* 9 20 1* 9 5 6 9 129 8 Michael Andretti 22 14 9 1 6 2 13 4 4 1 2 2 8 19 12 14 20* 13 20 19 127 9 23 19 22 7* 4* 1* 18* 17 6 24 1 12* 24 16 17 6 1 2 24 10 126 10 Cristiano da Matta 12 25 4 4 13 14 23 5 3 4* 17 1 17 13 7 15 4 14 4 25 112 11 Patrick Carpentier 5 21 3 5 10 5 7 4 14 7 21 24 9 2 19 5 14 101 12 Christian Fittipaldi 7 18 5 11 11 9 19 3 17 17 14 Wth 3 15 4 10 12 6 15 1 96 13 Dario Franchitti 11 23 11 2 23 6 4 9 13 25 3 20 22 12 2* 3 24 25 25 23 92 14 Max Papis 1 20 16 8 22 7 2 25 18 8 9 24 4 7 8 16 6 24 16 12 88 15 Oriol Servià 19 6 25 24 9 19 3 8 23 11 8 15 10 10 11 17 5 9 9 20 60 16 Alex Tagliani 9 4 13* 15 19 22 6 13 16 5 16 9 9 14* 18 23 14 16 22 6 53 17 Maurício Gugelmin 16 10 21 22 2 11 16 19 10 15 13 7 20 17 21 7 19 23 10 17 39 18 Bryan Herta 5 20 16 9 18 4 26 19 Tony Kanaan 10 16 18 16 8 10 DNS 24 16 13 8 14 22 13 10 8 18 24 20 Memo Gidley 21 8 18 10 10 12 6 16 19 22 21 21 20 21 Mark Blundell 13 8 7 19 17 17 11 20 12 22 19 23 14 11 25 13 23 20 11 15 18 22 Michel Jourdain Jr. 14 11 15 12 18 18 8 23 22 19 15 11 15 18 23 24 16 18 7 11 18 23 Casey Mears 4 12 24 Shinji Nakano 8 14 23 15 11 15 14 20 13 19 22 19 26 21 8 21 16 12 25 Tarso Marques 17 12 20 10 15 24 21 12 18 18 23 22 18 15 17 13 7 11 26 Alex Barron 13 21 17 12 14 8 6 27 Luiz Garcia Jr. 17 12 12 23 15 21 22 14 20 12 11 17 25 24 15 20 25 22 12 DNS 6 28 Norberto Fontana 15 15 23 Wth 20 14 21 11 20 2 29 24 13 19 20 DNS Wth 12 22 25 23 DNS 1 30 Gualter Salles 20 22 14 Wth 22 23 20 0 31 Jason Bright 18 0 Pos Driver HOM LBH RIO MOT NAZ MIL BEL POR CLE TOR MIS CMS MOH ROA VAN LAG GTW HOU SUR CAL Pts 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 notparticipate(DNP) Not competingIn-line notationBoldPole positionItalicsRan fastest race lap*Led most race laps Rookie of the Year Rookie