Race Report: Homestead-Miami Indy 300
HOMESTEAD, FL Oct. 10, 2009—Ryan Hunter-Reay closed out the
2009 season in the No. 14 ABC Supply car with a 13th place finish in
the Homestead-Miami Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway Saturday
evening. Hunter-Reay finished 15th in the Series point standings
while the ABC Supply team finished 16th in the final tally for the
team owners.
Dario Franchitti used fuel strategy to win the race and the IndyCar
Series title; it was his second career championship, with his first
coming in 2007 with Andretti-Green Racing. Scott Dixon, his teammate
and 2008 Series champion, finished third. However, Dixon edged out
race runner-up Ryan Briscoe by one point to finish second in the
Series point standings, giving the Target team a one-two sweep. Tony
Kanaan and Helio Castroneves rounded out the top five in the race.
On Friday, Hunter-Reay qualified 21st for the race; he had lost
valuable track time in the first practice session when debris
knocked a hole in the No. 14’s radiator. The team repaired the car
but with the limited practice, they didn’t find the right
combination in time for qualifying.
In the race, Hunter-Reay gained a couple spots in the beginning but
as the stint went on and the tires wore, he radioed in that he was
getting a push exiting turn four. He held his 19th place position
until the first stop and the crew made adjustments with front wings
and air pressures. His lap times improved, but towards the end of
the stint, he slowed as the car’s handling went away; the team
pitted him a couple laps early to make more adjustments. They got
the car to his liking in the final two stints which is when he ran
his quickest laps of the race. “We made some changes during the
race and found the sweet spot on the last stint,” said Hunter-Reay
afterwards. “I wish we could have started out that way. The ABC
Supply guys did a great job for me—we had solid stops. The track
conditions were pretty tough out there so I’m glad we’re rolling it
back in the truck.”
The race was the first in Series’ history to run caution-free which
made it tough for the drivers in the 100 degree heat. No cautions
meant no time to relax as it was ‘pedal to the metal’ for the entire
race, which, with an average speed of 201.420 mph, was the second
fastest race in IndyCar Series history. Only the 2003 race at
California Speedway’s two-mile oval had a faster average speed --
207 mph. That 400-mile race was slowed by only one caution period
for six laps.
Hunter-Reay, who ran the Grand Am sports car race earlier in the
afternoon where he’d run as high as second, became the first driver
to run both the road course and the oval tracks in the same day.
Despite the sweltering conditions, when asked how he felt after the
IndyCar race, he replied, “Fresh as a daisy! I feel good right now.”
The 2010 season will kick off in Brazil on Sunday, March 14th at a
venue still to be determined.
NOTES & QUOTES: Homestead-Miami Indy 300
Ryan Hunter-Reay: ABC Supply No. 14 Dallara/Honda/Firestone
· Ryan Hunter-Reay on Homestead-Miami Speedway: “The key for
Homestead is to minimize the push in turns 3 and 4. That’s where
most of the teams have a problem and that’s where we had a problem
when I ran for Team Rahal 18 months ago when we opened the season
there. We never really fixed it, we just made it a little less bad.
It’s not as easy to get around this track as it is the other 1.5
mile ovals. Homestead has its own characteristics to it--definitely
not a flat-out, hold-it-to-the-floor track. You get the lack of
front grip but then at the exit you have a snap and it gets a little
loose so that track brings out the worst in the car sometimes. In
the beginning of the race, you’ll have side by side racing but then
it becomes a bit of a single groove track once the tires start to go
away. I’m looking for a top-10 finish; we’ve had a couple this year
and that would be a good way to end the season. The season’s been
far from straightforward for the team. Those guys worked hard for me
all year and I’ve worked hard for them; and it would be good to get
a solid performance in for the entire ABC Supply team.”
· Hunter-Reay will do double duty Saturday for a new ‘first’ at
Homestead-Miami Speedway: In addition to driving the Indy car,
he will drive the No. 95 Supercar Life Racing/Level 5 Motorsports
Riley/BMW in the Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series race as teammate
to Scott Tucker who owns the team. “I saw this as a very unique
challenge,” said Hunter-Reay. “I was very interested in working with
Bill Riley and the Level 5 Motorsports team and driving for A.J.
Foyt on the same weekend. I drove with Bill in two SunTrust 24 Hour
races at Daytona and he is going to be running the second Supercar
Life Racing DP car this weekend for Scott. My first priority is the
IndyCar team. Indycar racing is number one for me, that’s my goal,
it’s where I want to stay and nothing comes before that. But at the
same time, the opportunity was offered to do something that nobody
has done at that track--racing both the oval and the road course on
the same day! I’m looking forward to having a lot of fun this
weekend. Hopefully we can come out with two great finishes! I’m
doing the best I can to emulate ‘A.J. the Ironman’.”
· Hunter-Reay will host several Miami Dolphins football players
(including linebacker Jason Taylor and rookie running back Lex
Hilliard) and cheerleaders at the race Saturday afternoon. The
Dolphins are Hunter-Reay’s all-time favorite football team. He plans
to exchange helmets with linebacker Jason Taylor next week. Hunter-Reay
will be a guest of the Dolphins when they play the N.Y. Jets in the
Monday Night football game at Land Shark Stadium. This past Tuesday,
Hunter-Reay took part in the 11th Annual NFL/United Way Hometown
Huddle, a series of volunteer projects implemented on the same day
across the country. This year’s local Hometown Huddle in Miami
focused on the prevention of obesity among special needs children as
part of NFL PLAY 60, the league’s youth health and fitness campaign.
About 200 children and young adults with disabilities between the
ages of five and 22 from both counties joined Miami Dolphins players
and United Way volunteers at the Dolphins’ Indoor training facility.
Hunter-Reay and the Dolphins players manned a variety of fitness
stations, and children and their families got a chance to meet and
interact with the athletes, get autographs, enjoy nutritious snacks,
get a workout, and learn about the importance of physical fitness.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Hunter-Reay. “I don’t know who was
happier being there, me or the kids!”
· Vitor Meira tested the No. 14 ABC Supply car at Indianapolis
Motor Speedway on Sept.30. It was Meira’s first time back in an
Indy car since he broke two vertebrae in his back when he crashed
with Raphael Matos in the Indy 500. “It feels really good to be
back,” said Meira. “I can’t deny that I was a little bit
apprehensive coming in here today. It wasn’t a normal test day for
me but now it’s all good. Everything that I’m supposed to feel, I’m
feeling so I’m happy about that. That’s what I was most concerned
about because you don’t really know what you have mentally since you
can’t simulate the conditions out there. You can train as much as
you want but you can’t simulate the car running so I was a bit
apprehensive on that but now all the questions are answered.” Meira
will return to the ABC Supply-sponsored No. 14 Indy car for the 2010
season.
ABC Supply roofing customer Chase Contracting and Roofing of
Cooper City, FL won the ‘Your Name Here’ contest for the
Homestead-Miami Indy 300. The company name will be atop the sidepods
of the No. 14 ABC Supply Dallara/Honda. John Chase will receive
selected merchandise, race tickets, hospitality and garage passes,
plus Meet and Greets with Vitor Meira and A.J. Foyt. The “Your Name
Here” promotion selected winners by random drawing from a pool of
entries sent in by ABC Supply customers earlier this year.
The IndyCar Series autograph session will be held Thursday, Oct.
8th at Macy’s in the Dadeland Mall. The drivers will be signing
from 6 to 7 pm at the store located at 7535 N. Kendall Drive; Miami,
FL.
· Past performance at Homestead: Ryan Hunter-Reay has one
start at Homestead-Miami Speedway; he started ninth and finished
seventh. The Foyt team has nine starts (fielding two cars in 2002)
and has five top-10s, two of which are top-fives. Eliseo Salazar
posted the best finish for the team in 2001 with his third place
finish.
· The Homestead-Miami Indy 300 will be shown live Saturday, Oct. 10
with coverage on VERSUS starting at 4:00 p.m. ET.
· For more information on the Foyt Racing program, please check
these web sites: www.ajfoytracing.com and www.ryanracing.com.
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