page_title: 2001 Harrah's 500
section_title: Post-race
hierarchical_section_title: 2001 Harrah's 500 / Race / Post-race
caption_attribution_description: English: Dario before qualifying on Pole Day, May 12, 2007 at Indy
context_page_description: The 2001 Harrah's 500 Presented by Toyota was a Championship Auto Racing Teams race held on July 22, 2001, at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan, before a crowd of 40,000 spectators. It was the eleventh round of the 2001 CART season, the 32nd running of the event, and the last time the race was held as part of the CART series as it moved to the Indy Racing League in 2002. Forsythe Racing's Patrick Carpentier won the 250-lap event with a 0.243-second margin of victory over Dario Franchitti of Team Green and Bettenhausen Racing driver 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. He 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. On lap 248, Carpentier moved into the lead, and held it until Franchitti and Jourdain overtook him on the final lap.
context_section_description: Carpentier appeared in victory lane to celebrate the first win of his career in front of the crowd; the win earned him $100,000. He spoke of his delight with the win and was crying on his way to pit road:
   "It's been a long time coming and today we were a lap down, were struggling at the beginning of the race and I never thought I would win this one. There were some races (in the past) that we thought we had a serious chance of winning and today for awhile we didn't think so. You need everything to win a race. You need yellow flags to work for you and you need to have a good car, a car that lasts and good pit stops with the team. Then with good luck and good timing, everything worked out for us today."
   Franchitti congratulated Carpentier on his win and was generous over coming second, "It was an eventful day. For the first time in my career I started last because of the way they decided qualifying. I was really lucky to not go a lap down. It's not last to first, but last to second isn't too bad, and we picked up some good points." Jourdain said of his third-place finish, "What an unbelievable race. My team did a great job, and we gained positions in the pits. On the last lap, I was sure it was going to be Dario and I. Pat was there the whole time, but then Alex appeared from nowhere. I think Dario and I should both get points for second."
  Tagliani's manoeuvre on the last lap that led to him providing Carpentier with drafting assistance attracted criticism from Franchitti and Jourdain, but both refused to voice their anger towards him. Franchitti stated his belief that in the event any driver went a lap down, it was up to that person to attempt to remain in front of the competitor by having sufficient driving standards, "It's different at a superspeedway than it is at a smaller oval like Chicago, but at that point, at the end of the race when there are five guys on the lead lap, I think it would be nice to fight it out amongst ourselves. But it's very difficult to police something like that." Jourdain spoke of his feeling that the manoeuvre was "pretty dangerous" because it had the potential to create a multi-car accident, "I was sure we were both gone. I was really scared at that point because I thought the four of us (Tagliani, Jourdain, Franchitti and Carpentier) were going to crash. It was an eight or a nine on a 10 scale – very dangerous." Carpentier noted that while the manoeuvre was dangerous, it helped him win, "I think it was a risky move, but in a series as competitive as we have today, one point or two points can make a huge difference at the end of the year. If he was racing for points with Paul, hey, it's racing."
  Media and series reactions to the race were positive. Autoweek's Bill McGuire wrote, "It might have been the last 500 mile CART race at Michigan International Speedway, but it was certainly one of the best." Charles Googe of The Albuquerque Tribune spoke of a "thrilling" race in his first half of the season awards for the newspaper, and the Daily Herald's Mike Spellman opined that the round was a good way of attracting people back to open-wheel racing. Spellman reported Bräck lobbied CART to visit more high-banked circuits because of the excitement it provides for the fans with continuous side-by-side racing, and the driver noted the large amount of passing, something that is not seen in Formula One. The reporter for the Associated Press said that the high level of competition witnessed (167 unofficial lead changes) was atypical of all CART races held at the track since the introduction of the Handford device in 1998. In his report for Knight Ridder/Tribune, Steve Crowe wrote, "More than 100,000 empty seats seemed to scream, "Good riddance." But the 25,000 or so who braved the sweltering Sunday farewell party had reason to rave, "Good show." Former CART chief steward Wally Dallenbach Sr. said of the event, "it was the darnedest race I've ever seen."
  The final positions left Bräck still at the top of the Drivers' Championship with 84 points but his gap was lowered to three points due to Franchitti's
caption: Dario Franchitti (pictured in 2007) was awarded second place by CART after a photo finish with Michel Jourdain Jr.
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