Kentucky Speedway
Belterra Indy 300

Location: Sparta, KY Shape: Tri-Oval Distance: 1.5-miles Banking, Turns: 14 degrees Front Straight: 1,662 feet Banking, Front Straight: 8 degrees Back Straight: 1,600 feet Banking, Back Straight: 4 degrees

Kentucky  Speedway

Start: 15
Finish: 18


A.J. Foyt IV drove one of his best races of the season in the Conseco Dallara at Kentucky Speedway Sunday afternoon but an untimely caution period robbed him of what easily should have been a top-10 finish.

Starting 15th, Foyt IV dropped back to 20th on the initial start but worked his way up to 17th when the first caution came out for debris on lap 33. Team Conseco pitted him in just 7.5 seconds and picked up a position with their quick work.

Unfortunately on the restart, Foyt IV lost ground and was in 19th position. He worked his way back to 12th. On the next stop, Team Conseco serviced him in 8.5 seconds under green flag conditions. He had worked his way back to 13th when the fateful stop occurred.

He had pitted under green and rejoined the field when the yellow came out on lap 139 (two laps later) because of a fire in Tomas Scheckter's pits. When the caution period had ended Foyt IV was one lap down to many of the cars he had passed earlier in the race because they were able to pit under yellow.

"At that point, I told him to just try to finish the race," said Team Conseco owner A.J. Foyt afterwards. "He drove his butt off and it's a shame that the yellow came out when it did. That cost us a top-10 finish."

"The car was good all day," said Foyt IV, who didn't require any adjustments to the chassis during the race. "We didn't get the fuel mileage we should have, so we were the first car to the pits. With the yellow coming out when it did, it killed our chances of a good finish. We had a top-10 car easy but just didn't have the luck we needed.

"I'm disappointed for my team because they gave me a great car and great stops all day. We just need to have some better luck."

Foyt IV finished 18th. Adrian Fernandez won the race in his Honda-powered car and clinched the manufacturer's championship for Honda with five races still left in the season. Honda has won all but the first IRL IndyCar Series race this season.

The next event is the Honda Indy 225 at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Colorado Springs, Colo. It will be televised live Sunday, July 22nd at 3:30 pm Eastern time by ABC Sports.
 

NOTES & QUOTES: Belterra Casino Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway
A.J. Foyt IV: Conseco No. 14 Dallara/Toyota/Firestone


A.J. Foyt IV on Kentucky: "I enjoy racing at Kentucky because we have a lot of friends that we see from when my dad trained horses there in the late 80's. This year we'll be running a Dallara chassis instead of the G-Force. It'll be different but we've been working with the Conseco Dallara all year so we know pretty much what it needs. Kentucky is flatter than the other 1.5 tracks and rougher too, so we'll be dealing with the shocks and springs a lot more than we do at the other superspeedways. Last year's race was fast because there was just one caution, which puts a premium on pit stops because they mostly happen under green. Team Conseco has been giving me great stops and Toyota is finding more horsepower with each race, so I'm confident we'll have a solid run on Sunday."

At the Michigan Indy 400: A.J. IV started 16th and finished 15th in a steady race at Michigan Int'l Speedway Aug 1st. Foyt IV was hampered on the start and restarts by having three top gears. Team Conseco owner A.J. Foyt explained, "We had problems with the motor on Saturday and never got a good run so I had to guess on the gearing. I ran three top gears to cover our bases and it really hurt A.J. IV on the restarts because the car would bog down going from third to fourth."
"The Conseco car handled really well all day but we were a little off on our gearing," said Foyt IV. Then at the end we had to conserve fuel so we lost a position. But Team Conseco had great stops so that was a positive. We ran flat out all day long and did the best we could with what we had."

A.J. IV's past performance at Kentucky: Last year Foyt IV finished 17th. The only miscue happened when he stalled leaving the pits on a green flag stop. When he rejoined the race, he was holding his own with the top five but he was two laps down. A different set of tires on the last stop didn't work like previous sets, as Foyt IV explained, "Towards the end, the car got real loose so I was just trying to bring it home for a finish." In his first ever visit to Kentucky Speedway, Foyt IV swept the pole and the race in the inaugural season of the Infiniti Pro Series, and went on to win the 2002 IPS title.

The Belterra Casino Indy 300 will be televised live Sunday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. Eastern time on ABC.