Foyt is competing in his first race since the Subway 400 Feb. 22 at
North Carolina Speedway where he finished 32nd. He returned to the
cockpit of the A.J. Foyt Racing Dodge for the first time when he
tested at Texas Motor Speedway March 16-17. "I'm not too concerned
about not having raced since the Rock," said Foyt. "I work out
regularly so I'm in pretty good physical shape. I think not being a
rookie anymore is the biggest help because I noticed this year that
I am much more relaxed in the race car. I didn't get tired at
Daytona or Rockingham."
Insurance Auto Auctions has been signed as an associate sponsor for
this event. IAA is a leading provider of automotive and specialty
salvage services in the U.S. providing cost effective turnkey
solutions to process and sell total-loss and recovered theft
vehicles. The logo is featured on the No. 14 car's rear deck lid;
the company's internet site location
www.iaai.com will appear on the car's TV panel.
Foyt on Bristol: "You are busy all the time at Bristol, hustling
every moment. Things happen so fast there that you barely have time
to catch your breath. I love it when my car is handling well and I
hate it when the car's bad."
Patience, patience, patience: "The key to that track is patience,"
say Foyt. "You may be faster than the guy ahead of you but you have
to time your passes right. You want to make sure that you don't get
caught up in somebody else's trouble which is easy to do on such a
small track."
In last year's spring event, there were 17 cautions for 121 laps for
an average speed of 76.185 mph. In the fall race, there were a
record-tying 20 cautions for 119 laps, for an average speed of
77.421 mph. The fastest race dates back to July 11, 1971 when
Charlie Glotzbach averaged 101.074 mph over 266.5 miles.
In his first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup start at the half-mile bullring last
fall, Foyt qualified 33rd and finished 39th. Foyt had an eventful
night. He was tapped and spun on lap 103 but managed to keep it off
the wall. However, he got hit again on lap 285 and spun off turn
two, hitting the inside retaining wall. The No. 14 car was too
damaged to continue.
Fox-TV: The Food City 500 will be televised live at I pm eastern
time. The pre-race show starts at 12:30 pm eastern time on Fox
Sports Network.
Larry Foyt Returns to the Cockpit;
Plans To Race at Bristol and Texas
After nearly a month off, Larry Foyt returned to the cockpit of the
A.J. Foyt Racing Dodge when he tested March 16th and 17th at Texas
Motor Speedway.
Foyt plans to compete in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway
this weekend and the Samsung/RadioShack 500 on April 4th.
"Our test at Texas went pretty decent," Foyt said. "We weren't the
fastest car there but we were only two to three tenths off guys like
Bill Elliott and Dale Earnhardt Jr. We didn't do any qualifying
runs, we were in race trim the whole time. On the second day, the
wind came up in the afternoon so we quit early. We only had the one
car and we were happy with where we were running so I didn't want to
take any chances."
Foyt is running a limited schedule this year because the team is
without primary sponsorship.
"We've been looking but it's been a challenge in this economy," said
team owner A.J. Foyt. "Right now I'm running Larry out of my pocket
basically, so we have to pick and choose our races. I hope we can
find a major sponsor soon."
Foyt's son competed in his first Daytona 500 in February and
finished 28th. He started 41st and had quickly moved into the top 25
but then he had to pit with a misfire in the power plant. The team's
engine specialist diagnosed the problem as a loose spark plug wire
which was fixed and Foyt returned to the race.
He competed in the next race at Rockingham, N.C. and finished 32nd
after struggling with the car's handling. "It was a tough weekend
but we brought the car home in one piece."
Foyt is currently 43rd in the driver standings after competing in
just two of the five races run to date. |
