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[/media-credit]Friday, May 18, 2012
Dodge PR
Iowa Speedway
NASCAR Nationwide Series
Pioneer Hi-Bred 250
Parker Kligerman Q&A
Parker Kligerman (No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger) WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET AS YOU GO TO IOWA SPEEDWAY THIS WEEKEND? THIS WILL BE YOUR FIRST NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES START OF THE 2012 SEASON. “Well, first off, it’s the chance to do two races in one weekend, which is cool for any race car driver. We always want to race, so the more races you can offer us, especially in a short amount of time, the better. Obviously that No. 22 Discount Tire Dodge Challenger is a championship car, there’s no doubt about that. It’s a championship caliber team, organization and sponsor. All those things combined make it one of those rare opportunities for a young driver. You feel like it’s a situation where you can really measure yourself, kind of jump in there and have a shot to win. I’m excited. I think it’s going to be really fun. I’ve really gotten along with that team well over the last two years with some of the testing and practice I’ve done with them and that one race last year (Bristol, Tenn., in August). Jeremy Bullins (crew chief) has been a real big help from that team and I think they’re going in the right direction after finishing third at Darlington. I’m just excited to carry that momentum into Iowa and past Iowa and help them go win this owner’s championship.”
WHAT IS YOUR SCHEDULE LIKE THIS WEEKEND WITH THE NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES RACE ON FRIDAY NIGHT AND THE IOWA RACE ON SUNDAY? “Well, actually, it’s not terribly difficult. I’ll get out of Charlotte at 11 or 12 and hop on a plane and fly out to Iowa. The crazy part is I believe we practice at 8 a.m. in Iowa so it won’t be much sleep. We practice twice and qualify that afternoon. Thankfully, we don’t race (on Saturday). I’ll have a night of rest and on Sunday we’ll go get ‘em.”
HOW MANY LAPS DO YOU HAVE AT IOWA SPEEDWAY? THE TRACK APPEARS TO HAVE SHORT STRAIGHTAWAYS AND LONG CORNERS. IS THAT A CHALLENGE? “I’ve run the ARCA race there and I won it. I think we led 150 of 200 laps, so it was a pretty dominant win. The biggest thing about Iowa is it’s very much the short track that thinks it’s a superspeedway, if that makes sense. You maybe come there with a little bit of a short track mentality, but it has the speed of a superspeedway and the feel of a superspeedway. And those two things combined make it very unique which, in my mind, is a good thing because uniqueness in this sport is really key to keeping the interest of the fans, drivers and everyone involved.
“But at the same time, it also has some unique characteristics that separate itself from anywhere else. The bump in Turn 1 is on the bottom side and one of the biggest things that you hear about when drivers talk about Iowa. It’s a large bump and it’s right over the tunnel. It’s getting larger every year and it’s something that we have to be cognizant of as to how we set up our race cars. Another great way to describe Iowa is a larger Richmond. Everyone loves the racing that Richmond puts on, the excitement it puts on. I think Iowa does that, just at a faster speed. I love the place. I think it’s very exciting. It’s unique. I have a lot of fun driving there and lot of fun racing. I can’t wait to get out there and drive that Nationwide Challenger out there.”
YOU ARE MAKING A LIMITED NUMBER OF NATIONWIDE STARTS THIS SEASON. HOW CHALLENGING IS THAT? HOW MUCH PRESSURE IS THAT? “Well, I want to say it’s more difficult, and I’ll agree that it’s definitely more difficult jumping up a series, if that makes sense. Jumping from Trucks to Nationwide is a little bit of a different step, per se, if you were to go from a Nationwide car to a Truck or from a Cup car to Nationwide. It feels slower when you jump from a faster car to the lower series and that kind of makes it easier, especially for the drivers jumping from a Cup car to a Truck or a Nationwide. It’s very slow for them; they can make the transitions a lot slower because they’re used to going a faster speed.
“For a young driver like myself, though, it’s an opportunity like having a full-time Truck ride and then having the opportunity to jump into such great equipment in the Nationwide Series, even with a partial schedule, is huge. And I think as a young driver you need to accept the fact that you’re not going to be in it a lot, but you need to make the most of the opportunities. You need to take small opportunities and make ‘em into large opportunities and hopefully large successes to have a career in this sport. It’s kind of the idea of the pressure and all that on young drivers to make it happen. It’s just something you’ve got to live with and hopefully excel at. And I’ve found that I do excel in those situations and I can’t wait to prove I can excel in this situation also.”
WHAT WOULD BE A GOOD DAY FOR YOU IN THE NATIONWIDE RACE? “I think anything that you would say is a solid weekend. Run up front; hopefully be in the top five, place ourselves there in position to have a chance to capitalize on a victory if the opportunity presents itself. Other than that, we just need to come out of there with a solid weekend. And at the end of the day having a solid Truck race and a solid Nationwide race will only improve my chances of being able to hop in that car again more often in the season and hopefully we can go out there and have more opportunities and put ourselves in position to capitalize on wins and hopefully get more opportunities from there.”
