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UP AND DOWN NIGHT FOR HARRAH'S TEAM AT DAYTONA
 DAYTONA
BEACH, Fla. – The Pepsi 400 proved to be a roller coaster ride for
Larry Foyt and the No. 14 Harrah's Racing team Saturday night at
Daytona International Raceway.
Foyt qualified 26th on Thursday, the best for the team this season,
and was among the fastest cars during the two practice sessions on
Friday. The Pepsi 400 also marked Foyt's first NASCAR Winston Cup
restrictor plate points race of his career. At Daytona in February,
Foyt competed in a qualifying race for the Daytona 500, but failed
to make the field after running out of gas.
 Needless
to say, Foyt was intent on redeeming himself on Saturday, and, early
on, it looked like he would accomplish that and a little more. He
raced the Harrah's Dodge into 23rd position just a few laps into the
event.
The team pitted on lap 31, but Foyt overshot his pit stall and it
cost the team precious seconds on pit road. The untimely error cost
him to lose the draft and endangered him of going a lap down.
"The superspeedway brakes are hard to get used to because they want
to lock up as soon as you touch them," Foyt said. "Fortunately, we
were able to team up some other cars who pitted later on and we
managed to stay on the lead lap."
On lap 64, Dave Blaney spun, bringing out the night's first caution.
Foyt was in 36th position on the restart, but wasted no time making
his way back through the field.
 "Our
car sucked up really well to the cars in front of us and I was able
to use the momentum to make a couple passes," said Foyt. "It was a
lot of fun out there."
The fun almost came to and end on lap 73 when a cut tire on Kurt
Bush's car triggered a seven-car accident directly in front of Foyt.
"All I saw was smoke, so I just put on the brakes," said Foyt. "We
ended up only cutting a tire, but it could have been a lot worse."
After the race resumed, Foyt worked his was to 24th position.
Problems during a green flag pit stop on lap 111 caused him to lose
the draft once again, but he was still on the lead lap.
With seven laps left in the race, the team pitted just for gas, but
Foyt barely overshot his pit stall, resulting in a one-lap penalty.
The engine expired when the car got back up to speed and the team
was forced to retire from the race with just three laps remaining.
Foyt finished 34th. Greg Biffle won the race.
"We had a lot of high hopes coming into tonight," said Foyt. "While
I would have liked to have a better finish, I think we did pretty
well considering everything that happened."
Foyt wasn't the only one who thought the same. After the race,
veteran Kyle Petty sought out Foyt and congratulated him on a job
well.
"That really means a lot coming from one of the most respected
drivers in the garage," Foyt said. "Hopefully we can duplicate that
next week at Chicago."
Qualifying Report
Pepsi 400 Daytona International Speedway 7/03/03
 Daytona
Beach,
Fla.
- "I'm racing at Daytona!"
That was the exclamation from Larry Foyt as he climbed out of the
No. 14 Harrah's Dodge following his qualifying run for the Pepsi 400
at Daytona International Speedway Thursday night.
Foyt qualified 26th, his best in his rookie season of NASCAR Winston
Cup racing. Steve Park won the pole.
"We're really pumped to be racing here, especially after not making
the Daytona 500 in February," Foyt said.
Foyt was one of the few cars that picked up speed from the afternoon
practice session.
"It was strange how cars weren't picking up with the cooler
temperatures during qualifying," said Foyt. "We changed a bunch of
different things and it worked out for us. I think I would have
picked up a little more if the car didn't bottom out in turns three
and four."
Although Foyt competed in a qualifying race at Daytona in February,
the Pepsi 400 is his first NASCAR Winston Cup points event in
restrictor plate racing.
"I think I proved in February that, even though I'm a rookie, I'm
not going to do anything crazy to put me and my fellow drivers at
risk. We're just going to be smart, hopefully avoid the 'big one'
and make our move at the end. I think we have a good chance of
coming away with our best finish of the year."
Notes & Quotes
Broadcast
Information:
Qualifying: Thursday, July 3, 8 p.m. on TNT
Race: Saturday, July 5, 7:00 p.m. on NBC and MRN Radio
*All times are EDT
Race Length:
400 miles (160 laps)
Track Records:
Qualifying: 210.364 mph (42.738 seconds) set by Bill Elliott
on 02/07/87
Race: 173.473 mph set by Bobby Allison on 7/04/80
Notes:
- Larry competed three times in the NASCAR Busch Series at Daytona.
In the February event in 2002 he climbed from the 36th starting
position to finish 15th and capped it off with an 11th place finish
later in the July event.
- A.J. Foyt Racing fought back from their 33rd starting position to
finish 18th in this event last season.
Fun Daytona Facts:
- Dirt from the infield of the track was used to construct the
steeply-banked turns, thus creating the 44-acre Lake Lloyd.
- In 1998 DIS hosted its first night race. Over 1,800 lights were
used, the equivalent of standard living lights of 24,285 city
blocks.
Larry Foyt on Daytona:
"I'm really looking forward to going back to Daytona. We had a
pretty good car there in February, but we ran out of gas in our
qualifying race and didn't make the 500.
"Restrictor plate racing is totally different than anything we do.
You can go from first to 20th in one lap because of the way the
draft works. I think I showed in February that I'm a rookie who
isn't going to anything stupid in the draft."
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