| Date/Time: | 2006-07-17 14:54:00 |
| Race: | Firestone Indy 200 |
Bucknum’s Nashville Effort Thwarted By HandlingJeff Bucknum began his assumption of the most famous car in IndyCar history, the #14 AJ Foyt ABC Supply Dallara Honda at the Firestone 200 at the Nashville Superspeedway. After a solid qualifying effort, within .5 of a second of pole sitter Dan Weldon, the Foyt entry encountered handling difficulties in the race, which brought a premature end to his event, withdrawing at lap 36. Bucknum was candid after the event. "I wanted a much better result tonight for AJ, ABC Supply and the crew. But I am also pretty upbeat about the future. Nashville is a tough event, with so little track time. We got close to the sweet spot in practice and qualifying but found out in final practice and then in the race that our car was just not right. The good news is that we know more now than before and are hard at work to identify the core issues. The car just did not respond in race trim.” “There is a lot of great minds here, with AJ leading the way and Team Manager Craig Baranouski fully involved. We are all talking about the issues and working together. The car is going to a temp shop in Indy on the way to Milwaukee which will give the team some extra time to go through the car top to bottom. The fact that Milwaukee is AJ and ABC’s big event makes this work all the more critical." "I also have to thank our Engineer Bruce Ashmore for his efforts this weekend. His legend is well deserved and we worked very well together. Larry Foyt was playing a key role standing in for his dad. He is a real talent on the pit stand. This was a learning weekend and we learned a ton. We are not standing still." There is little time to get ready. The IndyCar circus arrives at the famed Milwaukee Mile this Friday in preparation for the ABC Supply Co AJ Foyt Indy 225 to be run on Sunday, July 23 and televised live on ESPN at 1:30 p.m. EDT. |
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