500 becomes 400 at Rockingham.

The Rockingham 500 will now be the Rockingham 400 after CART officials decided that with delays continuing to mount and the prospect of some early evening rain, the first ever CART event at the Rockingham Motor Speedway would now be run over 168 laps as opposed to 210, a shortening of 100 kilometers.

CART are desperate to race on Saturday at the Rockingham Motor Speedway after a weekend fraught with delays, cancellations and ultimately frustrations.

With Saturday's two hour practice session being reduced to just under 90 minutes and the hoped for 3:10pm start time looking ever more unlikely, CART took the decision to reduce the length of the Rockingham 500 by 100 kilometers giving round 17 of the 2001 CART FedEx Championship Series a total of 168 laps as opposed to 210.

The race will start at 4:30pm local time and will run until rain, bad light or the chequered flag ends proceedings for good. For a CART race to be declared a result, 50 per cent of the distance plus one lap needs to be completed meaning that if we get to lap 85, the race can be called.