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Kentucky
By A.J. Foyt
 Well
we finished another race which is good news for the ABC Supply team.
Rookie Jeff Bucknum is learning with every lap he completes and his
improvement is noticeable. It's a challenge for him especially on those
tracks like Kentucky Speedway where he's seeing them for the first time
on race weekend.
Fortunately, we've been able to give him some good race set-ups on the
ABC Supply Dallara/Honda so he can work on his racing technique instead
of worrying about the car's handling. In the Meijer's Indy 300 Sunday he
never asked for a change on the pit stops, just tires and fuel.
We did get caught in the pits by a yellow coming out during our first
pit stop which cost us a lap. When the next yellow came, we had a chance
to get our lap back by staying out but I didn't want to put him in that
position this early in his oval track career. It meant he would have
been going wheel to wheel with the leaders who had pitted and frankly I
didn't want to take that chance so I didn't.
I think that was the smart way to go because he got better as the race
went on. He's still figuring out the drafting and the timing on the
restarts which can be pretty tricky. He had some problems with guys
ahead of him doing some brake checking, making him have to lift when he
should have been full throttle. We had a little talk about that
afterwards and I gave him some suggestions about breaking them of that
habit.
He is learning a lot. He made a move towards the end of the race right
in front of me where he passed about four cars going inside and outside
on the homestretch. It showed a lot of confidence.
 At
the end, he almost got by Sarah Fisher (who did a great job for not
being in an Indy car for the last two years). He was chopped by a guy
who was four laps down, forcing Jeff to lift (we had a talk about that
too). He finished 13th after starting 16th. While the results were just
okay, we felt pretty good about the race overall.
The ABC Supply pit crew did a good job on their stops so that improved
over the last race which I was happy to see. We're trying out new boys
and some work out and some don't. There's been a big change in my crew
this year and the pit stops have suffered a little but we're getting
that sorted out.
Racing in Kentucky is a lot of fun for me because I have a chance to
catch up with my friends from horse racing. Jockey Larry Melancon rode
for me when I had race horses and he came on Sunday. It'd been a while
since I saw Larry so we had a lot to catch up on. He's not riding as
much as he used to because he's getting up in years too. He picks and
chooses where he rides depending on the mounts and the race. Larry is
second on the list of stakes winners at Churchill Downs. It was good to
see him again.
Our next IndyCar race is the Infineon Indy Grand Prix August 27th at
Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. That is where Jeff drove the No.
14 for the first time last year. He finished tenth his first time ever
in an IndyCar race on a road course. Jeff, who was born and raised in
California, had a lot of laps at Infineon because he started racing
there and has taught at their driving school.
I think when he returns this year he'll be a lot more comfortable with
me, my team and our race car so I expect his results will be even
better. Not that I'm going to put any extra pressure on him. Race
drivers at this level put enough pressure on themselves; the key is to
make sure that the pressure doesn't work against them.
I hope you tune in to see how we do. The race will be televised live by
ESPN-TV starting at 3:30 p.m. eastern time.
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