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1999 U.S. 500 Presented by Toyota

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Date
  
July 25, 1999

Weather
  
Dry

1999 U.S. 500 Presented by Toyota

Official name
  
1999 U.S. 500 Presented by Toyota

Location
  
Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Michigan, United States

Course
  
Permanent racing facility 2.000 mi / 3.219 km

Distance
  
250 laps 500.000 mi / 804.672 km

The 1999 U.S. 500 Presented by Toyota was the twelfth round of the 1999 CART FedEx Champ Car World Series season, held on July 25, 1999 at the Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan.

Race

Qualifying saw Jimmy Vasser take pole with Adrián Fernández alongside, but at the second attempt to start (first was called off due to field alignment issues), it was the second row starters Juan Pablo Montoya and Michael Andretti who raced away into the first two spots. In the early stages, the duo exchanged the lead many times (most unoffcial though) before Andretti was able to build a lead. He led until the second round of pitstops when a caution due to Gil de Ferran's crash bunched the field up, allowing second-placed Montoya to close and pass him on the restart. The duo again batted for the lead, but then Max Papis surged bast both of them and began to pull away. Papis led comfortably until a crash for P. J. Jones erased a nine-second lead and allowed Andretti to jump him in the pitstops. The restart saw Papis battle with Andretti and Dario Franchitti for a few laps before breaking away again, only for another caution caused by Scott Pruett's crash to again bring the field closer to him. Once again Papis was able to pull away from his purseurs when the race went green, as an epic battle for second commenced between the Team Green duo of Franchitti and Paul Tracy, and the Newman-Haas duo of Andretti and Christian Fittipaldi, which was later joined by Montoya and Tony Kanaan as well. After the final round of pitstops, Papis continued to lead, though Kanaan, on an alternate strategy was able to run 5-7 laps longer than other frontrunners and thus had a shorter stop and was up to second, only three seconds behind Papis, and well ahead of a battle between Andretti, Franchitti and Tracy for third. Kanaan initially closed up on Papis, but Papis was able to pull away again, and, behind them, the Ganassi drivers, Montoya and Jimmy Vasser started to set a searing pace. Both passed Andretti, Franchitti and Tracy and set off after Kanaan, lapping much quicker than anyone else. However, Vasser had to pit for more fuel after a problem with the fuel rig, and this also made Montoya's task harder as he now had to chase Kanaan on his own without his teammate's help. Papis continued to lead and was well set to take his first career win only for his car to run out of fuel midway through the last lap. Kanaan went by but Montoya was right with him and attempted to pass him at the line. Kanaan however, held on to beat Montoya by 0.032 seconds, with Tracy taking the final step of the podium after pipping Andretti at the line.

References

1999 U.S. 500 Presented by Toyota Wikipedia