Larry Foyt has momentum rolling into Vegas

CONCORD, N.C. -- Say hello to Larry Foyt, currently a top-10 kind of guy in the Busch Series.

While the last name may be very familiar to fans of racing, the first name hasn’t been on the tip of tongues until recently. Foyt, driver of the No. 14 Harrah’s Chevrolet, currently sits 10th in points and is coming off his first series top-10 finish, which he achieved in Rockingham last Saturday.

Foyt, who turned 25 last Friday, can be proud of the way he’s achieved those noteworthy statistics in his career.

At Daytona, the sophomore driver finished 15th after starting 36th in the 43-car field. Rockingham tossed him another bad curve as he qualified 27th, but was relegated to the rear after changing engines prior to the race.

While Jason Keller was handily stomping the competition to oblivion en route to victory in the closing laps, Foyt had his hands full trying to get that elusive 10th-place finish. Adding to the challenge, he was battling none other than Jeff Green, the 2000 Busch Series champion.

“I just wanted that first top-10 finish so bad and get that monkey off my back,” Foyt said on Tuesday. “I knew Jeff was going to be really tough to pass, but I also knew he was going to race me clean.

“We battled for the last five laps back and forth. It was fun, but it seemed longer than that. My car was working really well on the bottom in Turn 1 and he was running the top in all the turns.

“I was working the high side in Turns 3 and 4, so he had my line where my car was working well. That really made it tough.”

Tough is one word that Foyt could attribute to his rookie campaign in 2001. Through last year, he had no poles and his best finish was 12th at Talladega. Also, the former Formula 2000 racer did have nine DNFs and finished 22nd in points.

This year, Foyt is more comfortable with his surroundings when he arrives at each race track. Last year, he hardly saw half of them before the first practice sessions.

“It’s really good for me and the team to be where we are now compared to last year with the struggles we had,” Foyt said. “I had a feeling just going to Daytona that things were going to be better.

“It does good for me to get that first top and be 10th in points. Now, I have a taste of it and I want to keep going and stay there. I don’t want to go back down the other way.

“When the season began, we wanted to be 15th in points when we it was all over. If we can keep getting some pretty decent finishes, we can do that.”

A.J. Foyt, team owner, expressed his pleasure with the younger Foyt’s progress, telling him he knew all along that he was capable of those good finishes. Larry, in addition to be the driver, is also the general manager for A.J. Foyt Racing that also fields the No. 14 Pontiac in Winston Cup.

This weekend, Foyt will head to Las Vegas for Saturday’s Busch Series race. If the pressure of being a general manager/driver/relative to the owner and top-10 status isn’t enough, Vegas is also the home of his sponsor Harrah’s Casino.

“Yes, it’s very important to be running in front of them this weekend.” Foyt said. “It’s not as great as it would’ve been if we had been running poorly. They are excited about this weekend, and so am I for that matter.

“Luckily, the people at Harrah’s are really racing educated and know what racing is all about. If anything, they know all about luck and the things that can go wrong in a race.

“We just want to keep this momentum going into this weekend and through the whole season, as well.”