A Short Night in Richmond


It was a short night for me and my Harrah's team last Friday at Richmond International Raceway.

The problems started in qualifying when the car ahead of me blew an engine during his qualifying run. I was concerned about oil on the track but NASCAR said to go and qualify anyway. You don't get a warm-up lap in NASCAR qualifying so I was on my qualifying lap when I found the oil in turn one. It slid my Harrah's Chevy pretty good. The second time around I almost hit the wall so I shut it down and just went back to the pits. The next car hit the wall so the officials shut down qualifying to clean the track. I was pretty angry and tried to get the officials to give me another shot but they wouldn't hear of it so I had to take a provisional to get in the field.

I had to start 40th. When you start that far back at a small track like Richmond which is just three-quarters of a mile around, you worry about getting lapped early. Heck you're still on the backstretch when the leaders are getting the green flag.

My Harrah's Chevy was "tight" in practice and we figured the track would be such that the car would be even tighter for the race. So we set it up to be loose to compensate. Well when that green flag dropped, I knew we overcompensated because it was way too loose. Fortunately there were a couple early cautions and I pitted and we adjusted it each time in. However, we still needed to adjust on it some more and were planning to do that when I became the reason for the next caution flag thrown.

Pole sitter Dale Earnhardt Jr. was coming fast and I was trying hard to put some distance between him and me because I didn't want to get lapped. I probably drove it into the turn too hard and the car snapped on me. It didn't give me any warning whatsoever. Before I knew it, I was in the wall. The hit was hard enough that we weren't able to fix the car and I was finished for the night after just 30 laps. I finished where I started – 40th.

Ironically, the guy ahead of me in points had an even worse night so I actually gained a position in the standings and am now 18th. Go figure.

The next day I headed for Houston to attend the wedding of my childhood friend Zack. Even though we don't see each other that often, we still keep in touch. I was glad my schedule allowed me to be there.

From there I flew back to Charlotte on Sunday and that night I went to a Toby Keith concert. There were several people from NASCAR there including Mike Wallace who had a great run in the Conseco Pontiac the night before. In fact, I sat next to Fatback McSwain who is Ricky Rudd's crew chief.

It was a lot of fun but today I'm in the race shop and will head out to Topeka, Kansas tomorrow for another Meals on Wheels appearance for Harrah's. It is very rewarding to be part of such a worthwhile program.

The NASCAR Busch Series has off this next weekend and I'm hoping to spend it at home. That will be a nice change of pace. The following week we race in Dover, Del. which will give me a chance to visit the Harrah's property in nearby Atlantic City, N.J. I'm looking forward to it because we always have a good time there.

See you at the races.

Notes & Quotes


Larry Foyt on Richmond: "At last year's race, I watched from the pit box because I was still very sore from my accident at Darlington the week before. That was not fun to do even though Mark Green did me a favor and did a good job. Drivers loathe watching other drivers in their cars--sort of like watching some guy take out your girlfriend. You get pretty jealous pretty fast. That won't be the case this weekend. I'm healthy and we're bringing one of our best cars. Our short track program has improved over last year, so I expect to run well."

Darlington Race Recap: With all practice and qualifying rained out, the race was the first and only time the Busch cars got on the track. Foyt's car started out loose, he fell from his 23rd starting position (based on owners' points) back to 33rd before he pitted and made some adjustments to the Harrah's Chevy. He then climbed back up to 25th before pitting again for more adjustments. He rejoined the field in 26th which is where he was when the race was red-flagged for rain and eventually called complete at 74 laps.

Foyt is 19th in the NASCAR Busch Series standings; he has earned $441,975 to date.

The Funai 250 will be televised Friday night at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on TNT.

Richmond 2001: Foyt was still recovering from injuries sustained the week before in Darlington. However, he qualified the Harrah's Chevy in 32nd spot but put Mark Green in it for the race. Green, who had to move to the rear of the grid at the start, got into the top 20 before dropping out with engine problems.