The season points leader going into the race, Kenny Bräck, was awarded the pole position when qualifying was cancelled due to rain.

Honda increased its Manufacturers' Championship lead over Toyota to 20 points, while Ford Cosworth kept third with ten races left in the season.

Track president Brett Shelton said the circuit and its parent company International Speedway Corporation (ISC) sought to pursue other alternatives.

[5] 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.

However, he spoke of his relief at CART not returning to Michigan International Speedway, citing series regulations on top speeds.

[9] 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.

[10][11] For the Harrah's 500 and the season-ending Marlboro 500 in November, a reduction of permissible manifold value pressure from 37 in (940 mm) to 36 in (910 mm) was mandated by CART after the series and its engine manufacturers reached an agreement over how the problem should be dealt with when Toyota complained that Ford Cosworth and Honda developed a turbocharger pop-off valve technology improvement at the Tenneco Automotive Grand Prix of Detroit in June.

[12][13] CART also instructed all teams to run a new version of the Handford device, which had a 3 in (76 mm) extension to the backboard below the rear wing.

Another alteration to the cars was the introduction of an extended "pop-off" value case extension of 3⁄4 in (19 mm) to the base of the manifold pressure relief valve.

[14] CART chairman and CEO Joseph Heitzler said he was pleased the issue had been resolved but regretted the position it presented to its partners.

"CART's position that it is our duty as a sanctioning body to provide strong leadership to our members, under the rule book, while maintaining a process enabling them to make informed decisions.

[2] A half hour test for rookie drivers scheduled for mid-morning on Friday was delayed twice due to a thick fog that later lifted, and a major technical problem with the communication loop in race control preventing direct contact with teams and shortening the session to ten minutes.

Roberto Moreno, Cristiano da Matta, Castroneves, Oriol Servià, Junqueira, Maurício Gugelmin, and Max Papis were in fourth to tenth.

[17] After 45 minutes, the first caution was waved for officials to inspect the track because several teams reported cut tires after examining them on pit road.

[16][18] The impact cracked the interior of Moreno's helmet, but a HANS device prevented him from sustaining more serious injuries and from being rendered unconscious.

[16] Moreno was transported to the infield care center by stretcher, and was declared fit to partake in the second practice session.

Second to tenth were Papis, Takagi, Tracy, and Kanaan, Michel Jourdain Jr., Herta, Shinji Nakano, Fittipaldi, and Gugelmin.

[21] During the session, Max Wilson spun leaving turn one below the white line denoting the boundaries of the trackat approximately 219 mph (352 km/h).

[22][24] Franchitti caused the second caution after the plenum flew off his car's top, and lodged in his rear wing in turn two.

[2] Plans were made to begin qualifying with the slowest driver in the weekend's combined practice sessions going out first and the quickest competitor heading out last.

[27] The session was officially cancelled by CART chief steward Chris Kneifel at 3:00 p.m. local time after attempts to make the track driveable again were unsuccessful.

[28] The drivers took to the track at 09:30 a.m. local time for a half hour warm-up session that went incident-free in warm, dry and sunny weather.

[36] On lap 97, de Ferran pulled off the track at turn one and became the second retiree with a loss of power in his vehicle's engine, caused by an electrical fault.

[36] On lap 215, the fourth caution was given; a mechanical failure at the rear of Fittipaldi's car sent him up the turn four banking, and into a concrete wall heavily.

[41] Leaving the final corner, his teammate Tagliani provided Carpentier with drafting help,[37][41] allowing him to pull away and claim the first win of his career in his 79th CART race by 0.243 seconds.

[38][39] A malfunctioning air jack system dropped Da Matta off the lead lap but good fuel mileage allowed him to finish fourth.

[39] Tagliani, Tracy, Castroneves, Junqueira, Dixon, Servià, Moreno, Takagi, Gidley, and Gugelmin were the final classified finishers.

"[41] 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.

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.

[47] 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.