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P.J. Jones to drive for Foyt at Sonoma
by nascar.com
4 June 2003
MOORESVILLE, N.C. - Road racing specialist P.J. Jones will drive the No. 14 A.J. Foyt/Harrah's Racing Dodge at Infineon Raceway on June 22.
Jones will substitute for Larry Foyt, a rookie in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.
"We're glad to have P.J. in the Harrah's Dodge at Sonoma," said team owner A.J. Foyt. "He did a fine job for us on the road course at Watkins Glen last year."
Jones, son of racing legend Parnelli Jones, raced in the Watkins Glen event in 2002 for A.J. Foyt Racing and finished fourth, the best finish in team history.
"A lot of teams have road course specialists come in to drive at these Winston Cup road course events," Foyt said. "Since Larry doesn't have any experience on road courses in the stock cars, I didn't think it'd be fair to him to have to compete against those guys at this point in his career.
"I've known P.J. for years -- I used to race against his father -- and P.J.'s proven he's a strong road racer. I think he'll do a good job for the team."
"I'm really excited to be back with A.J. and Harrah's," said Jones. "I hope we can get the same result we did last year. I'm glad that Larry was able to give me this opportunity."
"I'm 100 percent behind the decision," said Larry Foyt. "I've never even seen the track and that's a long way to travel to possibly not qualify.
"P.J. did an outstanding job for us last year and I think we'll have a good shot at winning the race."
Weather permitting, Larry and P.J. will each drive the car in a test session at Virginia International Raceway, a road course near Danville, Va., in the coming weeks.
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