2002 The 500

The 2002 The 500 was a Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART)-sanctioned open-wheel racing competition that was held on November 3, 2002, at California Speedway in Fontana, California. Contested over 250 laps, it was the 18th and penultimate round of the 2002 CART FedEx Championship Series and the sixth running of the event. Team Rahal driver Jimmy Vasser won the race from the sixth position. Michael Andretti, driving for Team Green, finished second, and Patrick Carpentier finished third for Forsythe Racing.

Tony Kanaan won his fourth career pole position by posting the fastest lap of qualifications. The early portions of the race were dominated by Andretti and Team Green teammate Paul Tracy, though the latter driver eventually fell out with engine issues. Vasser overtook Kanaan for the lead following a cycle of pit stops on lap 76 and dominated a majority of the race, only conceding the lead to Michel Jourdain Jr. and Dario Franchitti during pit stop sequences. With each cycle of stops, series champion Cristiano da Matta inched closer to Vasser until he finally assumed the lead on lap 203. After Vasser's team made a slight mistake during his final pit stop, da Matta seemed poised to take the win until his engine expired on lap 236. Andretti overtook Vasser for the lead on the ensuing restart, but after Franchitti suffered an engine failure, CART officials issued the red flag to ensure a green-flag finish. Vasser took the lead from Andretti shortly after the last restart to earn his 10th and final victory in CART and second at California Speedway.

With an average speed of 197.995 mph (318.642 km/h), this was the fastest 500-mile race in American open-wheel car racing history until 2014. The race wound up being CART's last at California Speedway as the 2003 running of the event was cancelled because of the Old Fire.