Richmond International Raceway
SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond

Race Report – Richmond

A.J. Foyt IV and the ABC Supply Racing team soldiered through the SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond International Raceway to finish 14th Saturday night. Helio Castroneves dominated the event to win his first race of the year.

Foyt IV managed to do what eight other drivers didn't--avoid hitting the wall. Despite doing a complete 360 spin on the backstretch early in the race, Foyt kept the No. 14 Dallara/Toyota off the walls surrounding the three-quarter mile high-banked oval located in Virginia's capital.

"The car just stepped out from under me coming off turn two and I did a quick spin down the back straight," said Foyt IV. "I was lucky."

He pitted for new tires and the team adjusted the front wings and sent him back out. He lost a lap but he didn't pit during the next caution 25 laps later for Scott Dixon's accident; that move enabled him to regain a lap.

However, he was not able to capitalize. He lost five laps during the course of the race, saying, "We never could get the car balanced. It was loose coming off the turns so I had to wait before I could get on the throttle. There was also a problem with the electronics in the shift mechanism and that hurt me on the restarts. It was a long night trying to stay out of people's way on a track that is very busy when you're running well. When you're not running well, it's even busier. It wasn't much fun tonight."

According to team owner A.J. Foyt, "We missed on the set-up. The last couple years here we've had a good set-up at Richmond and Anthony's been able to run competitively. It's disappointing because horsepower isn't as much of a factor at this track and it was one of our best opportunities to get a good finish.

"I will say that I'm glad that we were able to roll it back on the trailer. There are a lot of teams that weren't that lucky."

There was a little drama going on during qualifying which few were aware of also. Foyt qualified 17th quick but the drama lay in the fact that he made it onto the track with just seconds to spare. Many of the teams gave up their place in the qualifying line for the chance to go out later on a track that was cleaned off by previous qualifiers. The penalty was losing a lap and risking not qualifying at all (if the one hour 15 minute session was over before your turn to qualify came). With so many teams shuffling (and Foyt's team apparently shuffling more than most), they were last in line. As Ed Carpenter completed his run, the ABC Supply Dallara was fired up and Foyt IV moved onto the track with 12 seconds left in the session.

"It was close but the important thing is that we made it out there in time," he said afterwards.

Winner Castroneves, who qualified second alongside his teammate Sam Hornish Jr., was followed to the checkered by Dario Franchitti, Patrick Carpentier, Tomas Scheckter and Dan Wheldon.

The IRL IndyCar Series moves to Kansas Speedway this weekend. The race will be televised live on Sunday, July 3rd at 1:30pm on ESPN.
 

NOTES & QUOTES: SunTrust Indy Challenge at Richmond
A.J. Foyt IV: ABC Supply No. 14 Dallara/Toyota/Firestone

A.J. Foyt IV on Richmond: "I'm hoping we can qualify better here than we have the last two years when we seemed to have problems. We've had a good car for the race but starting so far back on such a short track is a real handicap because the leaders are on you in no time. Overall, I like racing at Richmond--things happen real fast but it's a fun track to drive."

At the Bombardier 500k in Texas, Foyt battled handling problems early in the race and adjustments to correct them slowed the car too much. By the time Foyt pitted again to put the car back the way it was, he'd lost too much track position although he was able to run competitive lap times. "We made too much of a correction on the pitstop which slowed the car too much," said team owner A.J. Foyt. "We finally got the car a lot better but he'd already lost too much time under green flag conditions to be able to make it up. It was a frustrating night." Foyt started last after his engine blew in qualifying. He finished 18th in the race.

Last year at Richmond, Foyt IV posted one of his best showings of the season. He started 21st and finished 11th. "The car was running good and we were passing cars all night. If we didn't have the problem in qualifying, I think we would've had a much better result," said Foyt IV.