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Race Recap
 This weekend we raced at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North
Carolina which is just 20 minutes from our race shop in Mooresville.
It's great for my Harrah's race team because many of them can bring
their family members to the race. In my case, my dad A.J. was there
because the IRL season was over with and he brought A.J. Foyt IV
with him. After winning the Infiniti Pro Series championship in the
Harrah's car this year, A.J. IV had some spare time and it was great
to spend it with him.
Before we even got to the track this weekend, my dad and I were busy
at the race shop where we taped a public service announcement for
the Meals on Wheels Association of America. It's a 30-second TV
commercial asking for donations and volunteers. It will air early
next year as part of their "March for Meals" campaign. We were happy
to do it.
The next day I went to the track and despite a little delay in the
morning due to rain, we got our practice in and were able to
qualify. We were 10th quick in practice and we qualified ninth which
was one of our best efforts this year.
We had taken part in the open test at Lowe's the week before and I
think it really helped us in our race set-up. In fact, we
concentrated on our race set-up so I was happily surprised by our
qualifying run. If I hadn't tried so hard on the second lap, we
probably would have been even faster!
I was pumped for the Little Trees 300 race because I knew the
Harrah's Chevy was going to be a good race car.
The race started off well enough, we dropped back a little at the
start but just a couple positions. The car was working pretty well
but it was a little too loose when I came off the turn. When it came
time to pit I told Lance Ferno, my new crew chief, what I wanted as
far as changes.
When we did pit, I pulled in too close to the pit wall which led to
some other problems. Our stop didn't come off very well as we went
from 14th to 22nd. I was disappointed but I knew we could gain it
back. We didn't gain it back as quick as I hoped because in curing
the loose condition, the car became way too tight, causing the front
of the car to slide towards the wall (just the opposite of a loose
handling condition).
The crew made further adjustments on the next pit stop (which went
smoothly by the way), but I never got the chance to see if they were
the right changes.
A car several rows ahead got crossways and tangled with another car
on the restart. We were all running wide open because we were coming
up through the gears. I saw a puff of smoke, two cars sideways and
nowhere to go. I got caught up in it as did about 10 other cars. My
right front fender got badly damaged and my tires were flat-spotted
but it could have been a lot worse.
My Harrah's crew did a great job making repairs on the No. 14 car –
they banged out the fender, taped up the hood, changed tires and we
never lost a lap! In fact, when the race had restarted, I had picked
up a position!
A.J. had made a call on the chassis set-up to give us more
mechanical grip since the body damage lessened our aerodynamic
efficiency. Believe it or not, the car was pretty decent to drive.
We managed to get a 17th place finish which felt pretty good given
the accident.
Going into the race, I was looking for a top-10 or a top-five
finish. The accident on the restart pretty much ended those hopes
but my Harrah's team fought back and gave me a car I could drive to
the finish. It wasn't the best day we've had at the track but after
all that happened, 17th wasn't all that bad.
We'll be testing at a local short track this week before we head to
Memphis Motorsports Park which is a ¾-mile flat track. The secret to
that track is getting the car to rotate in the middle of the corner
which is what we'll work on at our test this week.
See you at the races!
Notes & Quotes:
 Larry
Foyt on Charlotte: "It's going to be tough because there are
over 50 cars entered for this race. Even qualifying in the top 30 is
going to be tough. At our test last week we worked on race trim so
we may give up a little in qualifying but we have a car to run good
in the race. It's our hometown race and we want to run well because
it gives the whole team a big boost, especially when it's in front
of family and friends."
Foyt participated in the open test for NASCAR Busch series cars at
Lowe's Motor Speedway last week. "We didn't really work on a
qualifying set-up for the Harrah's Chevrolet, we were concentrating
on the car in race trim. I'm more excited than I have been in a
while because I think we have a really good car for the race."
Meals on Wheels PSA: Although Foyt didn't deliver any meals
to hungry seniors this week, he and his father A.J. taped a public
service announcement for the Meals on Wheels Association of America
in their Mooresville, N.C. race shop. The :30 spot, which asks for
volunteers and donations to the "March for Meals" campaign to end
senior hunger, is scheduled to start airing in February, 2003. More
information is available at www.marchformeals.org.
Foyt is 19th in the NASCAR Busch Series standings; he has earned
$484,335 to date.
Lowe's in October 2001: Foyt qualified 15th but the car
jumped out of fourth gear on the start causing Foyt to drop back to
last and lose substantial track position which he was never able to
make up. On subsequent restarts, he held the car in third gear. He
finished 24th.
Best 2002 Start: 5th at Nashville (Apr. 13) and
Kentucky (June 15)
Best 2002 Finish: 8th at Talladega (Apr. 20)
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