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Daytona International speedway
Stacker 2/GNC Live Well 250 at Daytona

Daytona International Speedway

Race Recap

I want to begin this column by congratulating Anthony, or A.J. Foyt IV as he is known professionally, for his winning performance in the Infiniti Pro Series this past weekend at Kansas Speedway. He did a great job in the No. 14 Harrah's car, sweeping both the pole and the race.

I'd like to congratulate my dad A.J., Airton Dare and the entire Harrah's crew on a great victory a couple hours later in the 300-mile Indy Car race at the same track. It's been a couple years since Dad has been to Victory Lane in Indy cars but he's proven he still knows how to get there. Dad had a pair of ones with his open wheel teams' finishes and so did I--with one small difference. My pair of ones applied to the same race – we finished 11th in the Busch Series race at Daytona -- a career best at that track.

When I first learned that the NASCAR Busch Series was becoming part of the July 4th weekend at Daytona, I was excited. I knew that competing at Daytona International Speedway at night would be a memorable experience and now, I wouldn't have to wait until I ran in Winston Cup to do it.

There's something about racing under the lights that makes everyone drive a little crazy. I'm not sure why it happens but it does. Driving at night on a super speedway adds another dimension of excitement. I guess that's why the fans enjoy night racing so much.

For our Harrah's team, Friday night at Daytona was as exciting as it was long and frustrating. Jon Wolfe and my Harrah's crew gave me a good car but it got into a couple of fender benders early. Despite our troubles, we still came up with a good result. It wasn't pretty, but we worked hard, never gave up and hung in there ‘til the end. We endured.

Starting out, I thought we had a pretty good shot at winning because we qualified the best we ever have there--23rd. We haven't qualified very well at those aero-dependent tracks, but we always raced well. Most of my best finishes in the Busch Series have come on the super speedways.

We ran the bright yellow No. 14 Harrah's car which we had run earlier this year at Talladega Superspeedway, where I got my career-best finish of eighth. Running a bright yellow car, I figured that people could see me coming but I was wrong. We got bounced around several times but never hard enough to knock us of the race. We kept coming back.

I got as high as 14th in the early stages. I was passing Jay Sauter on the outside when he slid up into me and put me in the wall. It really messed up the aerodynamics on the right side of the car. But the car was still drivable so I stayed out there until our next pitstop when we got a chance to fix it.

My crew did a good job fixing the Harrah's Chevy. I started coming up through the pack again. I made a move under Mike McLaughlin, he checked up and I got into the back of him and then the car behind me got into me. That incident tore up the front bodywork and the right rear bumper which I dragged around until our next pitstop. We fixed that and I started coming through the field again.

My bright yellow car was pretty beat up. With so much duct tape appearing to hold it together, no one wanted to draft with me. That's a tough situation to be in at a super speedway because you need drafting partners. Aerodynamics are such that two or three cars move through the air faster than one.

There were a lot of close calls in that race before they had "the big one." I couldn't see anything, nothing, so I just stopped. Once the smoke cleared, I picked my way through the wreckage. As beat up as my car was, it looked like we were part of the wreck!

Luckily we escaped the mess and finished 11th. Finally. a little good luck came to the Foyt/Harrah's Racing team.

I say, Let ‘em roll!

Notes & Quotes

"I love racing at Daytona," Foyt said. "The car we have isn't very slick through the air but it usually drafts pretty well. It just works better with someone behind it pushing it through the air. I'm really looking forward to my first night race at Daytona. I have always like night racing because it is so exciting – everyone drives a little crazy at night. The other thing that I like is being able to sleep in a little bit."
No. 50! Foyt will be making his 50th start in the NASCAR Busch Series this weekend. The car will also be the bright yellow Harrah's Chevrolet that he ran at Talladega Superspeedway earlier this year. At that race, Foyt qualified 31st but finished a career-best eighth.

Crew chief Jon Wolfe: "I believe we'll run pretty good at Daytona. We may not be real strong in qualifying--we're still missing something on our qualifying package on the super speedways--but the car races well and that is the most important thing in my book. As far as set-up on the car at night, it won't change too much on our end, other than having more grip on the track because it won't be as hot and slick as it is in the day. I hope the more inexperienced drivers do okay. It will be different for them going that fast at night and having to deal with the glare from the lights. But they've run at night at Kentucky which is pretty fast so it may not be a big deal."

Foyt is participating in the NASCAR Fan Forum Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Daytona USA. He and Stacy Compton will be answering questions from the fans.

Milwaukee Race Recap: Foyt qualified 25th after losing control of his car on the second qualifying lap and hitting the wall. He had been on pace for a top-10 qualifying slot because of the improvement in the Harrah's team's short track program. Unfortunately, the short track car was too heavily damaged so he had to go to a back-up car and start 41st. His back-up car was a super speedway car with less downforce so he struggled in the race with the handling, noting that it was "tight all day." He finished 23rd -- the same finish he had last year at Milwaukee.