| Date/Time: | 2006-09-11 11:41:00 |
| Race: | The Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 |
Jeff Bucknum Completes Chicagoland Indycar Event, Looks Forward to 2007 With EnthusiasmJeff Bucknum reached the checkered flag once again in The Peak Antifreeze Indy 300 at Chicagoland Speedway today. This was the sixth race Jeff did for AJ Foyt this year and it bodes well for the future of him in the IndyCar Series. In a race with no attrition Jeff started 17th and finished also in 17th, results that do not adequately describe the experiences or the accomplishments of Jeff and the team. “There is so little time to accomplish team goals at an event compressed into two days,” stated Bucknum. “We only had two practice sessions on Saturday before Qualifying. During the first practice we didn’t improve much, but in the second session we made some gains for Qualifying. Ultimately we didn’t qualify as well as we wanted, but we felt Sunday mornings final practice session would help us get a good set up for the race. Rain interfered with that plan as pre-race practice was cancelled so the #14 ABC Supply/Investment Properties of America entry took the green flag with a set up the team used for A.J. Foyt IV the year before. “I quickly found myself in a car that was good in clean air, but had a push condition in traffic making it difficult to make any progress. The first yellow at lap 13 allowed AJ to call for a front wing adjustment that made the car much better. I got back into a pack with Bryan Herta, Sarah Fisher and Vitor Meira. We had some great racing and I was able to lead this group, running as high as 14th overall.” For the rest of the race Jeff concentrated on improving the car further and expanding on his experience base of close pack racing. “There were opportunities to race with other cars and learn just what balance the car likes in very close racing. I have learned so much about racing in tight packs on high banked super speedway tracks from when I joined Foyt midseason at Nashville.” Indeed Jeff completed his third consecutive oval event and has lots of enthusiasm reserved for the 2007 season. “AJ knew he was hiring a driver with less oval experience than those I compete against. I think he saw a willingness and ability to learn and I think I matched that expectation. The goal now is to take what we have learned together as a team and build on that with some winter testing getting ready for a full IndyCar season in 2007. |
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