The 2001 Michigan 500 was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) race held on July 22, 2001, at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan, before a crowd of 40,000 spectators. Branded as the 2001 Harrah's 500 Presented by Toyota for sponsorship reasons, it was the 11th round of the 2001 CART season, the 32nd running of the event, and the last time the event was held to CART rules as it became an Indy Racing League (IRL) race in 2002. Forsythe Racing's Patrick Carpentier won the 250-lap event by 0.243 seconds over Dario Franchitti of Team Green and Bettenhausen Racing's Michel Jourdain Jr. was third.
The season points leader going into the race, Kenny Bräck, was awarded the pole position when qualifying was cancelled due to rain. The starting grid was determined by the fastest lap times from the third practice session. Bräck led until his teammate Max Papis overtook him on lap six. Papis and Bräck exchanged the lead for six laps, which ended when Bräck strengthened his hold on the position. The lead changed 60 times among ten different drivers, with Papis leading the most laps (83). On lap 248, Carpentier moved to the lead, and held it until Franchitti and Jourdain overtook him on the final lap. Carpentier's lapped teammate Alex Tagliani passed Franchitti and Jourdain to provide Carpentier with drafting assistance at the exit of turn four, allowing Carpentier to achieve his first CART victory.
Bräck still led the Drivers' Championship with 83 points, but he failed to finish after a collision with his teammate Papis on the 233rd lap. Franchitti moved from fourth to second and lowered Bräck's lead to three points. Hélio Castroneves kept third, while Michael Andretti fell to fourth after his engine failed. His teammate Cristiano da Matta overtook Gil de Ferran for fifth. Honda increased its Manufacturers' Championship lead over Toyota to 20 points, while Ford Cosworth kept third with ten races left in the season.
Background
The Michigan 500 was confirmed as part of CART's 2001 schedule in August 2000. It was the 32nd consecutive year that Michigan International Speedway had held a race in the series and the eighth round to occur in the United States that year. The event was the 11th of 21 scheduled races for the 2001 season, and was to be held on July 22 of that year. Before the race, Team Rahal driver Kenny Bräck led the Drivers' Championship with 83 points, 10 ahead of Michael Andretti in second and a further 3 in front of Hélio Castroneves in third. Dario Franchitti was fourth on 65 points, ahead of fifth-placed Gil de Ferran with 58 points. Honda led the Manufacturers' Championship with 158 points; Toyota was second on 142 points, 12 ahead of Ford Cosworth in third.
In June 2001, it was announced that Michigan International Speedway would not hold a CART race for the 2002 season. Track president Brett Shelton said the circuit and its parent company International Speedway Corporation (ISC) sought to pursue other alternatives. It was later reported that Michigan International Speedway requiested from paying sanctioning fees for the event, estimated to be around $2 to $2.5 million, to alleviate the financial losses from decreasing track attendance. Other reasons included the lack of promotion of the event by the ISC and CART compared to the promotion of an ARCA stock car race held at the same track. Andretti had mixed feelings on not returning to the track, saying from a spectator viewpoint, it would be a loss for television. However, he spoke of his relief at CART not returning to Michigan International Speedway, citing series regulations on top speeds. Michigan International Speedway went on to hold a race in the Indy Racing League (IRL) (later IndyCar Series) from 2002 to 2007.
On July 19, 2001, only three days before the Michigan 500 was to be held, Harrah's Entertainment, more widely known for its involvement with the IRL, signed on as the title sponsor for the race. The event would henceforth be known as the Harrah's 500 Presented by Toyota.