| Date/Time: | 2006-08-14 17:34:00 |
| Race: | Meijer Indy 300 |
Bucknum Moves Forward at Kentucky, Brings Home Solid FinishJeff Bucknum, in the ABC Supply/AJ Foyt/Investment Properties of America entry, scored his second consecutive IndyCar oval finish today in a very credible 13th place result at Kentucky Speedway. This marked the first visit for Bucknum to the increasingly common mile and a half tri-oval style of track and Jeff learned a lot during this short, two-day event. “I feel pretty good about this weekend,” stated Bucknum. “My learning process over the past four oval events is paying dividends. I am far more comfortable knowing what kind of a car I need to handle traffic and much more confident giving feedback to the team to achieve that goal.” Bucknum held a good pace on the initial start and was comfortable maintaining his lead lap position. The first round of pit stops proved pivotal to the day’s result when Bucknum brought the #14 in under green flag conditions along with a good portion of the field. While on pit lane the yellow flag flew for Ed Carpenter’s spin at pit exit and caused Jeff to fall off the lead lap. That deficit would haunt Bucknum for the remainder of the event. “It is absolutely critical to stay in touch with the pack and when the yellow flag came out our very valid strategy turned very wrong in an instant,” continued Bucknum. “We were forced to rethink our pit strategy later in the race and almost made it work. On a later yellow we stayed out to gain our lap back but one driver on the lead lap (Herta) also stayed out and that foiled our plans.” “Although we lost a lap early we were never passed on the track by the leaders, which shows a lot of team strength. It is something to build on for future races. We aren’t where we want to be but we are getting closer.” Jeff, and the IndyCar troupe now prepares for a complete change of environment as they head for the road course at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. Just one year ago Jeff made his debut with Foyt at Infineon, his home track, and earned a valuable top ten finish. |
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