The status of AJ Foyt Racing’s No. 11 Chevrolet is currently unknown beyond this weekend’s event at Mid-Ohio, due to funding issues with the entry’s primary sponsor, ROKiT, the team confirmed on Tuesday in a pre-race advance.
“We are trying to work through a difficult situation as I know ROKiT wishes to continue the program but there are some issues which may prevent that,” said Larry Foyt, team president. “We will continue to either resolve it with ROKiT or try to find alternate funding which is difficult at best at this point in the season.”
New for the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series, AJ Foyt Racing has fielded a third full-time entry in the series, with Tatiana Calderón competing on road and street courses, and JR Hildebrand running the ovals, including the Indianapolis 500, where he scored a team-high 12th-place result.
Calderón, a rookie in the NTT IndyCar Series, is the first woman to run a majority schedule in the series since Simona de Silvestro in 2013. In six starts this season, Calderón has a best finish of 15th.
Hildebrand, who only has three races left – the Iowa doubleheader and WWT Raceway – on his IndyCar schedule with AJ Foyt Racing, has not been supported by ROKiT in his first three starts of the season.
In addition to the team’s third full-time entry, ROKiT is also the anchor partner of Kyle Kirkwood’s Chevrolet, although the organization says that the No. 14 isn’t totally reliant on the funding from ROKiT.
“The No. 14 entry will run the entire season as it is not solely dependent on the ROKiT funding,” Foyt added.
