TOYOTA NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS)
Post-Race Notes & Quotes
Talladega Superspeedway – October 6, 2012
Tundra driver Parker Kligerman claimed his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) victory in Saturday afternoon’s race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Kligerman started ninth and led two laps (of 94) en route to his first NASCAR win at the 2.66-mile superspeedway.
Kligerman’s victory came in the 300th race start for Red Horse Racing and marked the fifth victory for the team in 2012.
In addition to Kligerman, four additional Tundra drivers led laps at Talladega — Johnny Sauter (three laps), Timothy Peters (two), Matt Crafton (one) and Johnny Chapman (two).
Fellow Tundra drivers Sauter (second), Peters (fifth), Kurt Busch (seventh) and German Quiroga (eighth) also earned top-10 results in Alabama.
Other Tundra drivers in the field at Talladega included Crafton (18th), David Starr (22nd), Rick Crawford (23rd), John Wes Townley (25th), Chris Fontaine (29th), Chapman (32nd), Todd Bodine (33rd) and Ross Chastain (34th). Peters is currently in third-place in the unofficial NCWTS points, trailing current point leader Ty Dillon by 26 points. Kligerman (fourth), Crafton (sixth) and Sauter (ninth) also rank in the top-10 in the point standings for Toyota.
PARKER KLIGERMAN, No. 7 Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing Finishing Position: 1st Are you excited to get your first NCWTS win? “I can’t thank enough people for this win. There’s a ton of people that have made this possible to get to this point in my career. I can’t say enough about these guys. We fought every single possible thing you could fight. We had a vibration, we had a battery go down and had no alternator and we just went for it there at the end. Thank you to Johnny Sauter because he made that possible. That was pretty awesome. I can’t say enough about these guys. We’re going to go and fight for this championship for sure.”
Did you ever start to feel like your first win was not going to come? “First of all, as you said, when you get close to something so many times and don’t achieve it you can pick two paths. You can doubt yourself, you can doubt the situation you’re in, you can doubt everything around you or you can keep yourself believing and keep your self-confidence and look at the positives of what you did to get yourself in that position each and every time and say, ‘Hey, if I can do that, it’s just a matter of time.” And, I feel like switching teams and all of the things that’s happened, this team gave me a ton of confidence. Halfway through this season it looked like my career was kind of not on the upward slope I had hoped it would be on. I hadn’t won and we were fifth in points but we weren’t really achieving a lot and getting slower as a team. I felt like my career was looking at a position where I was probably not going to be a part of NASCAR for much longer. To come over here to Red Horse and have a reinvigoration of my career, I just can’t thank these guys enough and I can’t thank everyone else here enough for giving me that confidence. There is a vindication because we won. Winning fixes everything you like to say and it’s fixing everything right here.”
Who got you started in racing? “My mom was kind of the person that — even when I wanted to get a go-kart, my dad wouldn’t get me a go-kart and he hated the idea. He didn’t want to do it. My mom and my aunt went and looked at go-karts with me and they decided, ‘Hey, you know, this is something that we could do cheaply and if he’s terrible at it and we don’t like it we’ll just quit and hopefully it’s a hobby.’ We went out and we won and my dad didn’t come to my first year of racing, so it was my mom and I going to the race track. Then, from there, I did that for about two years and decided I wanted to go to cars and my mom was the one that fought my dad day in and day out and probably almost caused their divorce through my racing to help me go racing that first year. At the end of that first year, we won a lot of races and we won a championship, but my dad didn’t want to do it anymore. So, my mom went to her dad — my grandpa — and said, ‘Hey, you have that early inheritance and it could help Parker continue racing.’ He gave me that and that gave me my ability to race in ’07, which got me my ride in ’08 in the midget series which led me to Roger Penske and eventually to the stock car series. She’s been there the whole way and she’s been there the last two years when a lot of people doubted me and maybe if I didn’t doubt myself — she would never let me doubt myself. I appreciate it.”
What was your strategy after the battery in your Tundra needed to be changed? “We were sitting back there and we had trouble all day and I said, ‘What the hell — let’s go for it.” Jason (White) with the faster truck pushed him up to the front and all of a sudden got that caution and were looking for five (laps) to go and thank you to Timothy (Peters) and then eventually thank you to Johnny Sauter to make that possible.”
PARKER KLIGERMAN, No. 7 Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing (continued) What did it take to get your first NASCAR victory? “As you know, it’s been a long road to get to this victory. Two different teams and a lot of adversity, but today I was put with some of the best people I’ve ever worked with and some of the best people I’ve ever raced with. And, it starts at the top with Tom DeLoach (team owner) and this whole Red Horse Racing team. My crew chief Chad Kendrick right here and this entire team that we assembled mid-season to go after this championship when my situation changed. From there we’ve been on fire I feel like. It was just a matter of time before we’d get that first win and I probably never dreamed that it would happen here just because I haven’t finished a superspeedway race without incident in about I don’t know, three years. I’m proud to have it happen to here at Talladega and just proud of this whole racing team and proud of the people that make this happen.”
CHAD KENDRICK, crew chief, No. 7 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing What does it mean to win both NCWTS superspeedway races this year? “It’s pretty special. Before today started I kind of told a lot of people I didn’t really like superspeedway racing — right now I’m kind of liking it a lot, but there again with the Toyotas and the engines from Joe Gibbs (Racing), I feel like with the trucks we have and the driver I had I had a leg up on the competition and it’s just a matter of missing a couple things and then putting yourself in the right position. We missed a couple of things and Parker (Kligerman) put the truck in really good positions. It’s starting to sink in now maybe, but I don’t want to be known as the guy who wins the superspeedways, I want to be known as the guy who can win anywhere. I think now that Parker has got that first win behind him we’re going to really turn it on now, so I’m looking forward to that.”
TOM DELOACH, team owner, Red Horse Racing Are you excited to get a win in your team’s 300th NCWTS start? “It’s not too shabby. Win on the 300 kind of makes it really special. The other thing that’s really special this year is every driver that we’ve had at Red Horse this year we’ve won. We’ve got five wins among four drivers, so it’s pretty special that everybody that comes here wins. This is a magic truck. This truck that Parker (Kligerman) was driving has won Daytona twice. It won Daytona earlier this year with John King and now it wins Talladega, so it’s a pretty special truck to us.”
JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 13 Hot Honey’s/Curb Records Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing Finishing Position: 2nd What happened on the final laps of the race? “First of all, I’m proud of everybody at ThorSport. This Hot Honey’s Curb Records Toyota didn’t qualify very good. We were 29th and just didn’t have any speed. I don’t know what it is about these Toyotas, but they just draft really, really well. We were fast at Daytona even though we didn’t qualify good and today here it was just kind of a chess match back and forth, back and forth. I was really hoping to get to work with my teammate (Matt) Crafton there and the opportunity just never came up. I felt like I was in the golden seat there. I had Parker (Kligerman) pushed out pretty far and knew that I could come down to the finish line here and step out and get by him, but nonetheless I’m proud of everybody at ThorSport. It’s a good effort. I’m happy for Parker. I like to see guys that get shuffled out at places come back and have success, so he deserves it.”
How was your race? “Personally, I always kind of dread coming to these places I guess. They’re a lot of fun throughout the course of the race, especially where we qualified 29th and to be able to come to the lead and lose a little bit of track position and then come back. Second place — the best finish at one of these places is good for us. You either love or hate these places. Just so many things happen out of your control, so today to get a top-five finish — I felt like I had Parker (Kligerman) setup and we had broke away from the field by five or eight truck lengths. I was in the golden chair there just being able to dip out of line there coming to the finish line and the caution came out so we didn’t get the opportunity to do that. Good day for our Hot Honey’s Curb Records Toyota. I like superspeedway racing today.”
TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing Finishing Position: 5th How was your race? “Wild. We just got disconnected there at the end and were so tight and weren’t able to get up there. I’m really happy for Parker (Kligerman). That truck has got some wins on it. Two Daytona’s and now a Talladega. Just really happy that Red Horse Racing Toyota is in victory lane. We had a great Toyota Tundra all race long, so nothing to hang our heads about.”
KURT BUSCH, No. 18 Dollar General Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports Finishing Position: 7th
GERMAN QUIROGA, No. 51 NET10 Wireless Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports Finishing Position: 8th How was your race? “My first top-10 in the series in my third race and I’m pretty happy. I feel very, very comfortable with my NET10 Toyota Tundra. KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) did an awesome job. They helped me a lot here during my off-season in getting back to speed and helping me out with pit stops in the shop. Going to the race tracks to watch Kyle (Busch) and Kurt (Busch) I learned a lot. I’m really, really happy and I’m really thankful. Right now, I have to focus on the next race.”
Can you describe the final laps? “It was wild those last few laps. I thought I was going to be closer to the truck in front of me and, unfortunately , I lost a little bit of speed and then there was enough space for trucks to go inside. But, I’m pretty happy with a top-10. We were looking forward to finish this race. That was our goal first and I think we accomplished what we wanted to this weekend. I’m very, very happy and very pleased with all of the people at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports).”
MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Goof Off/Menards Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing Finishing Position: 18th
DAVID STARR, No. 81 Zachry Toyota Tundra, Green Light Racing Finishing Position: 22nd
RICK CRAWFORD, No. 20 BRG Motorsports/Lilly Trucking Toyota Tundra, BRG Motorsports Finishing Position: 23rd
JOHN WES TOWNLEY, No. 09 Zaxby’s Toyota Tundra, RAB Racing Finishing Position: 25th
CHRIS FONTAINE, No. 84 Glenden Enterprises Toyota Tundra, Glenden Enterprises Finishing Positions: 29th
JOHNNY CHAPMAN, No. 07 Wear Your Gear/Bobber.info Toyota Tundra, SS Green Light Racing Finishing Position: 32nd
TODD BODINE, No. 11 Toyota Care Tundra, Red Horse Racing Finishing Position: 33rd What happened during to cause the incident? “I’m not really sure what happened, who got into me or anything. We had a miscue on the pit stop there early and didn’t get the wedge wrench — whatever — and we ended up in the back and it’s almost impossible to pass. I tried a couple moves and the guys were a little out of control back there, so I just decided to stay around the bottom, wait for 25 laps to go, 30 laps to go and then start trying to move up. I was afraid this was going to happen. The guys in the back — I tell you, that’s the first time I’ve raced in the back in a long time and the air is really dirty and the trucks move around a lot, so it’s real easy for something like to happen. It’s a shame. The Toyota Tundra Toyota Care truck was okay. We had a shot to get us a good run.”
ROSS CHASTAIN, No. 08 SC Melon 1 Toyota Tundra, Green Light Racing Finishing Position: 34th
