Race Report: Nashville
 A.J.
Foyt IV posted another solid performance in the ABC Supply Dallara/Toyota
to finish 12th at Nashville Superspeedway's 1/3 mile oval in a race
that had as many twists as turns as a road course. Dario Franchitti
won the last Saturday night race of the season for the IRL IndyCar
Series.
Foyt IV avoided trouble throughout the Firestone Indy 200, a race
defined by mishaps which extended beyond the competitors to the
officials and the officiating.
 "Anthony
said the car handled really well -- we didn't change anything during
the race, but we were short on horsepower which we knew going in,"
said team owner A.J. Foyt afterwards. "Then we had the problem with Ed
Carpenter passing us [and Roger Yasukawa] under yellow and the
officials not doing anything about it during that caution. We filed a
protest after the race but they decided not to allow it. I wasn't too
happy afterwards."
The starting grid was set according to combined practice speeds when
qualifying was rained out on Friday afternoon. Foyt IV started 20th.
In the beginning of the race he dropped off the pace but soon picked
it up and was able to run competitive lap times. However, the
Honda-powered cars set a torrid pace and Foyt IV lost a lap during a
green flag pitstop on lap 91. He missed an opportunity to get it back
which proved costly at the end.
"We should have stayed out on the yellow but we gambled that it would
stay green because it had been pretty much a caution free race but we
lost that bet," said team owner Foyt afterwards.
There were three wall-banging incidents with only Tomas Enge, in a
single car crash, requiring a hospital stay for two broken vertebra in
his back. Leader Tony Kanaan crashed when his right front suspension
collapsed taking hapless Darren Manning with him. Neither driver was
injured. Kanaan's teammates Bryan Herta and Dan Wheldon also dropped
out due to right side suspension failures.
The most dramatic accident occurred between Alex Barron and Vitor
Meira fighting for third place; subsequent contact resulted in a fiery
crash off turn four. Both drivers escaped injury. An official's truck
rushed to the scene and cut across pit lane, colliding with Kosuke
Matsuura's race car which was following the field into the pit lane to
avoid the debris on the track. Nobody was hurt in that incident
either.
While this was going on, Ed Carpenter stayed on track and thereby
improved his position by two spots, passing both Roger Yasukawa and
Foyt IV. A call to the officials during the caution did not result in
the order being corrected causing both teams to file protests after
the race. They were denied.
Patrick Carpentier, who did regain his lap along with teammate Alex
Barron by staying out on the lap 161 caution, led laps 169 to 193 and
appeared to have a chance to win the race under caution when rain
started to fall. However, the rain stopped and Franchitti quickly
moved into the lead. He was challenged for the victory by Sam Hornish
who finished second over Carpentier, Scott Sharp and Helio Castroneves.
The IRL IndyCar Series heads to Milwaukee this weekend for the ABC
Supply/AJ Foyt 225 which will be televised live on ESPN at 2:30 pm
eastern time on Sunday afternoon, July 24th.
A.J. Foyt IV Featured on The Fast Life
 A.J.
Foyt IV will be one of three drivers featured on the IRL IndyCar
Series TV show "The Fast Life." The half-hour show will air this
Sunday, July 17th on ESPN2 at 12 noon eastern time. The other drivers
featured are defending IRL champion Tony Kanaan and Scott Sharp who
won the first IRL championship driving for Foyt IV's grandfather A.J.
Foyt, Jr.
 Hosted
by ESPN pit reporter Jamie Little, "The Fast Life" is a series
designed to give the viewer a behind-the-scenes look at the IndyCar
Series and its drivers. Each episode gives an all-access peek into the
life of different IndyCar Series drivers. This weekend's show will be
the fifth of eight episodes airing this year.
NOTES & QUOTES: Firestone Indy 200
A.J. Foyt IV: ABC Supply No. 14 Dallara/Toyota/Firestone
A.J. Foyt IV on Nashville Superspeedway: "Nashville is a
concrete track which can be very challenging to drive, it's
certainly different. We haven't run well there the last two years. I
feel like we've gotten better since then so hopefully we'll have a
better performance there this year."
Branching out: A.J. Foyt IV plans to drive a Silver Crown car
for USAC team owner George Snider at the Milwaukee Mile next weekend
as part of the ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225 weekend. "I like driving
different types of cars," said Foyt IV. "It's been four years since
I've been in a Silver Crown car but I'm looking forward to running
for George. My first test in a Silver Crown car was at Phoenix
driving George's car back in 2001. It was fun."
At the Argent Mortgage Kansas Indy 300: Foyt IV finished 16th
on the lead lap. "Overall, it was a solid run," said Foyt IV, who
started 21st. "We worked hard to get that finish and it feels like
we should have finished better, at least in the top 10. But I'm
happy for the team that everything went smoothly. The car was
pushing in the beginning but we made the car better throughout the
race."
At Nashville last year, A.J. IV weathered all sorts of
problems to finish 16th. Initially his right rear tire sustained a
puncture and developed a slow leak which necessitated an early
pitstop. Then debris from a crash damaged the rear wing's right end
fence which had to be replaced under green flag racing. It also
damaged the right rear wheel sensor which led to problems with the
traction control and eventually the engine necessitating a tow-in.
However, the traction control was disengaged enabling Foyt IV to
finish the race, albeit ten laps down.
Past performance at Nashville Superspeedway for Foyt's IRL
team shows his cars running well in the race but not finishing. In
2002 Airton Dare was leading when he moved high to avoid contact
with Sam Hornish who was challenging for the lead. Dare got into the
marbles and hit the wall. Eliseo Salazar was running as high as
second but a pitstop under green cost him two laps. He eventually
crashed out while getting passed by the leader. Greg Ray also
crashed after hitting fluid and spinning. In 2001, Donnie Beechler
finished 10th and Salazar was credited with 11th after the engine
blew on lap 148 of 200.
The Firestone Indy 200 will be televised live Saturday night
at 7:00 p.m. eastern on ESPN. |
