rpm.espn.com: Eliseo Salazar

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Friday, December 7
Updated: February 15, 12:30 PM ET

Eliseo Salazar
By Jack Arute
ESPN.com

Team: A.J. Foyt Racing
Nationality: Chile

STATS

Year
Rank
Wins
Poles
Top 5
Top 10
Money
Best finish

2001 5 0 0 4 7 $949,900 2nd, Phoenix

Career 1 0 12 23 $3,045,403 1st, Las Vegas

Salazar
Salazar

2001 Recap
The Good: Salazar started the season as a one-car operation for A.J. Foyt Enterprises and racked up three top-five finishes in the first three starts, including a second-place effort in the season opener at Phoenix.

Season Highlight: Salazar was the top IRL finisher in the Indianapolis 500. His seventh-place finish culminated a gut-wrenching May that saw him trash a couple of cars and qualify on the last weekend.

The Bad: Things changed for Salazar when Foyt expanded his operation at Indy to include Donnie Beechler and Robby Gordon.

"Engines were our main problem," Foyt said. "They either blew or just lacked horsepower. It became more and more evident as the season wore on."

Season Lowlight: With 53 laps remaining in the SunTrust 300 at Richmond International Raceway, Salazar took the lead. With no pit stops scheduled between then and the checkered flag it seemed like Salazar was poised to score his second career win -- his first came in the 1997 Vegas race. Then, with 27 laps to go, he and Eddie Cheever tangled battling for the lead, knocking both out of the race.

Key Stat: Despite horsepower woes, Salazar was running at the end of nine races on the 13-race 2001 schedule.

2002 Outlook
What needs to be done: "I know that there will be some changes in the horsepower department, but I am undecided as to exactly what those changes will be," Foyt said.

The team did toy with the Infiniti engine at Texas, where Greg Ray drove an Infiniti-powered entry for Super Tex, but the odds are Salazar will remain in the Chevy camp.

Prediction: Salazar takes over the No. 11 with sponsorship from the Bank of Chile. A two-car Foyt team with Beechler driving the No. 14 Harrah's ride should motivate Salazar to up his game.

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