The 2000 Pocono 500 was the 15th stock car race of the

2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series file:MattKenseth&KevinHarvick.jpg, Matt Kenseth, (pictured in 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, 2007) was the NASCAR Rookie of the Year. The 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 52nd season of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, professional sto ...

and the 19th iteration of the

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

. The race was originally scheduled to be held on Sunday, June 18, 2000, but was delayed by one day due to rain. The race was held before an audience of 75,000 in

Long Pond, Pennsylvania Long Pond is an unincorporated community in Monroe County in the Pocono Mountains region of Pennsylvania, a part of the Appalachian Mountains. Long Pond is located within the Tunkhannock Creek Watershed. Its ZIP code is 18334. Geography Long ...

, at

Pocono Raceway Pocono Raceway (formerly known as the Pocono International Raceway in early years) is a tri-oval track in Blakeslee, Pennsylvania. The track has held a variety of events since its opening in 1969, including NASCAR, IndyCar Series, and IMSA GT ...

, a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) triangular permanent course. The race took the scheduled 200 laps to complete. In the final laps of the race,

Penske-Kranefuss Racing Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Day ...

Jeremy Mayfield Jeremy Allen Mayfield (born May 27, 1969) is an American former stock car racing driver. He drove cars for the Sadler brothers, T.W. Taylor, Cale Yarborough, Michael Kranefuss, Roger Penske, Ray Evernham, Bill Davis, and Gene Haas. In 2009, he d ...

engaged in a battle with

Richard Childress Racing Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is based in Welcome, North Carolina, and is owned and operated by Richard C ...

Dale Earnhardt Ralph Dale Earnhardt (; April 29, 1951February 18, 2001) was an American professional Stock car racing, stock car driver and racing team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Serie ...

for the lead. Heading into the final lap of the race, Mayfield performed a bump and run maneuver on Earnhardt, allowing Mayfield to take the victory. The victory was Mayfield's third career

NASCAR Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

victory and his second and final victory of the season. To fill out the top three,

Dale Jarrett Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956) is an American former race car driver and current racing commentator for NBC. He is best known for winning the Daytona 500 three times (in 1993, 1996, and 2000) and winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series ...

and

Ricky Rudd Richard Lee Rudd (born September 12, 1956), nicknamed "the Rooster", is an American former racing driver and racing team owner. He is the uncle of actor Skeet Ulrich and former NASCAR Busch Series driver Jason Rudd. He retired in 2007 with 23 ...

, both drivers for

Robert Yates Racing Yates Racing was an American stock car racing team that competed in NASCAR through the 2009 season, after which it merged into Richard Petty Motorsports. Previously known as Robert Yates Racing, the team was owned by Doug Yates, who has offici ...

, finished second and third, respectively.

Background

The race was held at

, which is a three-turn

superspeedway Oval track racing is a form of motorsport that is contested on an oval-shaped race track. An oval track differs from a road course in that the layout resembles an oval with turns in only one direction, and the direction of traffic is almost uni ...

located in

. The track hosts two annual

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

Sprint Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...

races, as well as one

Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

and

Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck-based stock cars. The series i ...

event. Until 2019, the track also hosted an

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, officially known as the NTT IndyCar Series for sponsorship reasons, is the highest class of American open-wheel car racing in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of various sanctioning bodies sinc ...

race. Pocono International Raceway is one of a very few NASCAR tracks not owned by either

Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Speedway Motorsports, LLC is an American company that owns and manages auto racing facilities that host races sanctioned by NASCAR, NHRA, World of Outlaws and other racing series. The company was founded by Bruton Smith and has its headquarters ...

International Speedway Corporation International Speedway Corporation (ISC) was a corporation whose primary business was the ownership and management of motorsports race tracks. ISC was founded by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. in 1953 for the construction of Daytona International ...

. It is operated by the Igdalsky siblings Brandon, Nicholas, and sister Ashley, and cousins Joseph IV and Chase Mattioli, all of whom are third-generation members of the family-owned Mattco Inc, started by Joseph II and Rose Mattioli. Outside of the NASCAR races, the track is used throughout the year by the

Sports Car Club of America The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting Autocross, Rallycross, HPDE, Time Trial, Road Racing, RoadRally, and Hill Climbs in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs ...

(SCCA) and motorcycle clubs as well as racing schools and an

IndyCar IndyCar, LLC (stylized as INDYCAR), is an auto racing sanctioning body for American open-wheel car racing headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The organization sanctions two racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with the Indianapolis ...

race. The triangular oval also has three separate infield sections of racetrack – North Course, East Course and South Course. Each of these infield sections use a separate portion of the tri-oval to complete the track. During regular non-race weekends, multiple clubs can use the track by running on different infield sections. Also some of the infield sections can be run in either direction, or multiple infield sections can be put together – such as running the North Course and the South Course and using the tri-oval to connect the two.

Entry list

* (R) denotes rookie driver.

Practice

First practice

The first practice session was held on Friday, June 16, at 11:00 AM EST. The session lasted for three hours.

Rusty Wallace Russell "Rusty" William Wallace Jr. (born August 14, 1956) is an American former NASCAR racing driver. He won the 1984 NASCAR Cup series NASCAR Rookie of the Year, Rookie of the Year and the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup ...

set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 52.557 and an average speed of .

Second practice

The second practice session was held on Saturday, June 17, at 9:30 AM EST. The session lasted for one hour and 20 minutes. Joe Bessey Racing's

Geoff Bodine Geoffrey Eli Bodine (born April 18, 1949) is an American former motorsport driver and bobsled builder. He raced at the NASCAR Cup Series from 1979 to 2011, earning 18 wins and a best season finish of third in 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, 1990. ...

set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 53.867 and an average speed of .

Final practice

The final practice session, sometimes referred to as Happy Hour, was held on Saturday, June 17, after the preliminary 2000 Pocono ARCA 200. The session lasted for one hour.

set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 54.412 and an average speed of .

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, June 16, at 3:00 PM EST. Each driver had two laps to set a fastest time; the fastest of the two counted as their official qualifying lap. During the first round, the top 25 drivers in the round was guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Saturday, June 17, at 11:30 AM EST. As with the first round, each driver had two laps to set a fastest time; the fastest of the two would count as their official qualifying lap. Positions 26–36 were decided on time, while positions 37–43 were based on provisionals. Six spots were awarded by the use of provisionals based on owner's points. The seventh was awarded to a past champion who has not otherwise qualified for the race. If no past champion needs the provisional, the next team in the owner points was awarded a provisional.

, driving for

, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 52.440 and an average speed of in the first round. Three drivers failed to qualify.

Full qualifying results

Race results

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings * Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References

{{2000 Winston Cup 2000 in sports in Pennsylvania 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series NASCAR races at Pocono Raceway June 2000 sports events in the United States