CART Preview - Round 20 - Fontana.

This year's enthralling Fed-Ex Championship Series reaches its climax this weekend on the two-mile Fontana Superspeedway where any one of five drivers can still win the title.

A crazy race at Surfers Paradise two weeks ago means that the five remaining Championship contenders arrive at Fontana knowing that anything can happen in the joint longest race of the year entitled simply 'The 500.'

To the winner of Sunday's 500 mile event, a cheque for one million dollars and to the overall winner, the glory of being announced as the CART Champion of 2000. The high stakes merely reflect the current regard in which CART is held after its most ambitious season to date.

On the track itself, Gil De Ferran will defend a five point lead going into the final race of the year from defending Fontana champion Adrian Fernandez and the Brazilian Marlboro Team Penske driver will be counting on Penske's legendary reliability to carry him to his first Fed-Ex title. His Reynard-Honda should once again give him prodigious power and drive while Penske's innovative modifications of the chassis during the year will play a crucial part in such a close race.

De Ferran was an innocent victim at Surfers Paradise last time out on a day where he looked set to claim the title and he will undoubtedly de trying to drive as cautiously as is humanly possible at over 230 mph and just do what he needs to do to take the title.

Fernandez on the other hand will be going for every single point he can get and the Patrick Racing Reynard-Ford driver will be starting the weekend on a high after his dramatic Surfers Paradise victory. The Mexican may well be in his last race for veteran team-owner Pat Patrick but the team could well be the winning factor on the day such is their tactical and technical prowess.

One concern for Fernandez, who took a joyless win here last season in the aftermath of Greg Moore's fatal accident, will be the difficulty that both he and team-mate Roberto Moreno experienced at CART's other Superspeedway in Michigan where the pair struggled for grip. Moreno, who can still win the title if he scores a maximum 22 points and the other contenders slip up, is rounding out what has been a superb season with Patrick and he will be keen to prove that experience counts when it comes to winning championships.

Paul Tracy and Kenny Brack both have an outside chance of taking the title should De Ferran and Fernandez fall by the wayside on Sunday, but with a 19 point deficit to recover it will take a certain amount of good luck for either to take the title.

Of the latter pair, Tracy goes into the event slightly better placed as he took pole position at Michigan earlier this year although Brack's two years of oval racing experience in the IRL proved invaluable at Michigan where he was a contender for victory until being taken out in a crash with Christian Fittipaldi.

The main focus of attention will be surrounding that quartet but there are many others who can steal their thunder and claim the $1 million winning bonus for the race win.

Juan Montoya and Michael Andretti have a Superspeedway score to settle after the Colombian pipped the American by a whisker at Michigan. Montoya is saying goodbye to CART after a fantastic two seasons and he will be desperate to give Chip Ganassi a thank-you present after all the success that his team have given him.

Andretti too will be saying goodbye to his long-time employees, Carl Haas and Paul Newman before he moves to the Team Green stable and the veteran American will want to even the score with Montoya before he jets off to Williams. Providing his luck holds out, Andretti could well be the man to beat on Sunday, especially after his dominant performance at Gateway in the last oval round of the series.

Max Papis will be trying to finish the 2000 just like he started it, in the winners circle, and the Italian Team Rahal driver has been the most consistent Superspeedway performer over the past two seasons, despite only having one second place to show for his efforts. Papis led the 1999 Michigan event until the final corner when he ran out of fuel and was a close second to Fernandez last year. Third in the closing stages behind Montoya and Andretti at Michigan this year, Papis' miserable luck struck once more when his engine died just three laps from home. If ever someone had a point to prove then it is Max Papis this weekend.

There will be many 'lasts' this weekend as the CART teams go in to winter hibernation - Montoya's last race in CART, PPI and Della Penna's last race before closing their doors, Mark Blundell's last race for PacWest, Jimmy Vasser's last race for Ganassi, Carpentier's last race for Forsythe and Mercedes' last race as an engine supplier. Sunday's race is shaping up to be a classic as nearly every driver and team still has a lot to race for meaning that the competition will surely be red hot as soon as the cars take to the track.

There will be one first this weekend however in the form of 22 year old Casey Mears who makes his Champ Car debut in a third Team Rahal entry and continuing the legendary Mears name in American Motorsport. Could it be that as one champion leaves another one arrives?