2001 zMax 500

An estimated 40,000 fans attended the race.^[6] The grand marshal was Regina Kauffman, a U.S. Navy lieutenant.^[7] The race was held back thirty minutes due to rain showers prior to the race.^[6]

As the race began, Jeff Ward took the lead from pole sitter Greg Ray and led the first two laps before Ray took back the lead.^[6] On lap 5, the first caution came out after Brandon Erwin crashed in turn 3. After the caution, Ray grew a sizable lead over the rest of the field. Mark Dismore and Eddie Cheever, both of whom qualified inside the top 5, retired early due to engine issues.^[6] The second caution came out on lap 46 after oil was reported in turn 2. The race went back to green on lap 51, with Sam Hornish Jr. in hot pursuit of Greg Ray.

On lap 53, Cory Witherill's car slowed in turn 4 due to an engine problem. Al Unser Jr., who slammed the brakes to avoid Witherill, was hit from behind, which sparked a fiery eleven-car pileup. While most drivers suffered minor, if any, injuries, Jack Miller suffered a concussion and was taken to Atlanta Medical Center for further evaluation.^[1] He later withdrew his entry in the Indianapolis 500 and retired from racing in IRL.^[2] The remaining drivers drove under caution for 22 laps as track workers cleaned up the debris.^[6] After pit stops finally began, Buddy Lazier's left-front tire was not properly secured, causing it to come off of Lazier's car. As it happened, Lazier is heard on the radio, bluntly saying: "Oh, shit."

During the caution, Ray lost the lead to Jeff Ward again, though Ray quickly passed him on the restart. The fourth and final caution came out on lap 91, as Jon Herb's car lost power in turn 2. Under the caution, Jeff Ward went to pit road for a battery issue. He returned to the track 1 lap down, a lap that he never regained.

After the caution, Greg Ray would continue dominating. He briefly gave up the lead to Scott Sharp on lap 147 during green-flag pit stops, though he regained the lead five laps later. As the race wound down, Sam Hornish Jr. was again in hot pursuit of Greg Ray. However, Hornish's chances of winning were thwarted when he was forced to pit for a splash of fuel with 10 laps to go.^[6] Greg Ray, who slowed down over 20 mph in the closing laps, managed to stretch his fuel and earn his 5th Indy Racing League win, tying him with Scott Sharp for the most wins in the series.^[6]

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Laps Led	Pts.
1	2	Greg Ray  W	Team Menard	Dallara	Chevrolet	200	2:14:40.989	1	184	52
2	8	Scott Sharp  W	Kelley Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	200	+19.857	13	5	40
3	12	Buzz Calkins	Bradley Motorsports	Dallara	Oldsmobile	200	+24.890	8	0	35
4	4	Sam Hornish Jr.	Panther Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	199	+1 Lap	6	1	32
5	14	Eliseo Salazar	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Dallara	Oldsmobile	199	+1 Lap	7	0	30
6	91	Buddy Lazier	Hemelgarn Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	199	+1 Lap	9	0	28
7	35	Jeff Ward	Heritage Motorsports	G-Force	Oldsmobile	199	+1 Lap	2	10	26
8	55	Shigeaki Hattori	Vertex-Cunningham Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	198	+2 Laps	5	0	24
9	88	Airton Daré	Team Xtreme	G-Force	Oldsmobile	197	+3 Laps	11	0	22
10	21	Felipe Giaffone  R	Treadway-Hubbard Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile	182	+18 Laps	15	0	20
11	15	Sarah Fisher	Walker Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	178	+22 Laps	18	0	19
12	92	Stan Wattles	Hemelgarn Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	147	+53 Laps	16	0	18
13	32	Didier André  R	Galles Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile	139	Clutch	20	0	17
14	98	Billy Boat	Curb-Agajanian-Beck Motorsports	Dallara	Oldsmobile	109	+91 Laps	17	0	16
15	7	Stéphan Grégoire	Dick Simon Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	95	Mechanical	21	0	15
16	6	Jon Herb  R	Tri-Star Motorsports	Dallara	Oldsmobile	77	Engine	25	0	14
17	3	Al Unser Jr.	Galles Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile	52	Crash	14	0	13
18	99	Davey Hamilton	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	Dallara	Oldsmobile	52	Crash	12	0	12
19	9	Jeret Schroeder	PDM Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile	52	Crash	22	0	11
20	24	Robbie Buhl	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	G-Force	Infiniti	52	Crash	19	0	10
21	10	Robby McGehee	Cahill Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	52	Crash	10	0	9
22	16	Cory Witherill  R	Indy Regenecy Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile	51	Crash	24	0	8
23	31	Casey Mears  R	Galles Racing	G-Force	Oldsmobile	51	Crash	27	0	7
24	51	Eddie Cheever	Team Cheever	Dallara	Infiniti	34	Engine	3	0	6
25	11	Jack Miller	Cahill Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	28	Crash	23	0	5
26	28	Mark Dismore	Kelley Racing	Dallara	Oldsmobile	15	Engine	4	0	4
27	30	Brandon Erwin	McCormack Motorsports	G-Force	Oldsmobile	3	Crash	26	0	3
Fastest lap: Greg Ward (Team Menard) – 25.0331 (lap 155)
Source:[8]

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos.	Driver	Points
	1	Sam Hornish Jr.	136
	2	Eliseo Salazar	105 (–31)
1	3	Scott Sharp	96 (–40)
1	4	Jeff Ward	82 (–54)
2	5	Felipe Giaffone	80 (–56)
Source:[8]