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Larry's Gatorade 125
13 February 2004
Larry Foyt finished 19th today in the first Gatorade 125, a qualifying heat for the Daytona 500. While he didn't race his way into the field, he will start the Great American Race with a 41st provisional spot.
Larry started 22nd in today's race. Staying with the draft, he advanced to 17th within the next couple of laps. He was just 0.912 seconds outside the lead. As dominate lines changed on the track, Larry dropped to 22nd. He held with the rear fender of Scott Wimmer's #23 Caterpillar Dodge, and ran side-by-side with Dale Jarrett. Early on, he ran speeds even with Michael Waltrip in 4th.
Ten laps into the race, Jarrett's #88 was struggling. While Larry advanced two spots, he was still right behind the UPS Ford. They fell to three and a half seconds off the pace, and lost another second five laps later. Larry was still in 20th when the yellow flag waved.
Caution came out on lap 23 when Scott Riggs' right front tire blew. Riggs fell out of the race, while Larry advanced to 18th under yellow. He restarted there on lap 29.
Larry lost a couple spots shortly after the race went back to green, but he fought his way back to 18th with 10 laps to go. One more time, Larry fell to 20th, but was able to get past Jeff Green with 4 to go. He finished there.
Watch for Larry in Sunday's Daytona 500! Coverage starts at 12:00 pm ET on NBC.
~ dearjoan
Also of note:
Larry never lost the draft during the Gatorade 125, and he stayed on the lead lap. This will be Larry's first Daytona 500. He didn't qualify for the race last year, so he's definitely starting out on a better foot!
= D
Hope to see him do well on Sunday!
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