TOYOTA NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS)
Parker Kligerman & Timothy Peters — Notes & Quotes
Martinsville Speedway – October 26, 2012
PARKER KLIGERMAN, No. 7 Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing Do you rely on the veteran drivers in the series? “Actually one of the guys that I’ve gone to is my teammate Todd Bodine. For about the last year and a half, he has been a big mentor of mine and he was a big reason that I was able to come over to Red Horse. He’s just been a go-to guy for me to give me tons of advice both on and off the track. As well as Timothy (Peters) for the tracks like coming here to Martinsville or Motor Mile where we went and tested — I relied a lot on Timothy to figure out the things I was doing wrong and how to improve. You just have to take what you can from those guys if they’re willing to help you. At the end of the day, you have to figure it out yourself. If you don’t put their advice to good use or use it then it won’t be worth anything.”
How do you plan to make up the 34-point deficit in four races? “I have a running joke this year — I’ve been fired twice this year so I’ve got nothing to lose. Sitting fourth (in points) and being the wild card — just being a part of this team and being 34 points out — the way we need to go about it and the way the points situation is, we need to gain about eight points per race to be tied in Homestead. I feel like if we went in there putting the pressure on these guys in front of us then it’s possible and it’s doable. At the end of the day, we’re here to win races and lead laps and have fun with it. If we can catch them, we can catch them and if we don’t, we don’t.”
What do you think about the potential of the Truck Series racing on dirt next season? “Dirt racing for me — I’ve only done two dirt races in my life, which was ARCA and I won them both. I kind of look at it as, ‘Hey, let’s do it.’ I said I would never do a dirt race again because I have a perfect record, but I guess Ty (Dillon) is the better one for the question because he was the only one invited to the test. Let’s see what he thought of driving a truck around dirt. I think any diversification of our schedule is really enhancing our series and in a lot of ways I think adding a road course or adding a dirt track — when you have a well-rounded champion like that you can consider that guy to be a well- rounded race car driver. I think that adding dirt racing and adding road courses only adds to that.”
TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing What do you enjoy about being at Martinsville? “What I like about coming back is that its home for me. You look at how tight the championship battle is and everybody has run good all year. We were pretty decent in the spring and we went to Motor Mile (Fairlawn, Va.) last week and tested and we felt really good about our improvement to come back to give this championship battle a run for its money. The key here is to take care of your equipment, take care of your brakes and as Bobby Hamilton always said, ‘If you keep the fenders on it then you finish on the lead lap and you’ll have a good finish.”
What would a victory at Martinsville mean to you? “It’s always special if you can go to victory lane here. Number one — the history of the place and my hero growing up was DW (Darrell Waltrip) and he pretty much ruled here in Bristol. To join the win column of people like that who have won and winning my first race here — that’s pretty special within itself. With that said, this is the start of the final four heading to Homestead and obviously, it’s going to be a tight battle until the checkered flag drops. For me, this is more momentum and more confidence starting these four weeks at home. I feel better than ever about this race than I have in a long time. We had a good run here in the spring and just missed it a little bit and still finished really good with a top-five finish. We tested in preparation and learned from our mistakes and we left Motor Mile (Fairlawn, Va.) with a good feeling. Can’t wait to get out on the track and see what happens today.”
How prepared are you and crew chief Butch Hylton to win at Martinsville? “I think we’re prepared better than ever. We’ve got the bullet in the chamber and we’re just waiting until the checkered flag falls.”
