GERMAN QUIROGA, No. 77 Net 10 Wireless Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
How was practice and what is your outlook this weekend at Talladega?
“Thank you. Hello to everybody. Practice went pretty good, pretty smooth for the No. 77 Net 10 Wireless team. The truck was fast. We got in the draft and we tried to setup a lap, but we weren’t in a good position and so we came back to pit road and start changing things that we knew weren’t going to work. We wanted to make sure we were on the right path and pretty much we worked on that for a couple of more runs and then we came back to where we started. I think we have a competitive truck. I tried to side-draft a couple of times and tried to see how the balance of the truck was for the race and I think we have a pretty good truck. We just have to keep the nose clean and be smart. I know qualifying is going to be crazy. You need to be in a good position to start well for tomorrow and I think it’s going to be very important to run your primary truck and not try to gain a couple of spots during qualifying and wreck. So, we’re going to try to do that with the 77 and hopefully we can start as closest to the front as we can — top-five would be amazing — and start from there tomorrow.”
When did you first learn about Talladega and the history of the track?
“For me, it was when I was pretty young. My father used to watch Formula One and NASCAR and we used to follow Dale Sr., so I was really excited about superspeedways and how they used to race here because it wasn’t as smooth as nowadays. It was pretty competitive and actually it was my first superspeedway (race) as well and it was two years ago and I finished top-10 and I was very, very excited. My first experience was really good. They told me you can go flat out since you go out of pits and I was like, ‘Okay, I haven’t been in a race car for a year but that’s fine.’ And, then when we were coming to the start of the race you go to pace lap was pretty slow and we go into the banking and I was like, ‘Wow, we’re going to flip.’ It’s so banked, it feels like the truck is going to flip. It was an experience and now I’m used to it, but it’s fun. It’s one of the races I look forward every year.”
Can you describe side-drafting and what it does and what it means to the trucks?
“Well, basically what you want to do is just follow the truck on the side of you and with some trucks it works and with some trucks it doesn’t work. If you get side-by-side or even you’re not going to do anything. Actually you’re going to let the guys in front of you just pull away. You’re opening such a gap of air that you’re just slowing down both trucks. So, you have to be aware of how to do it and if you get to the right quarter panel of the guy that’s in front of you — well right or left, it all depends where you are on the track — you kind of stall that truck and you gain a lot of speed. And, once you’re ready to pass him you have to open up a huge gap so both trucks get enough air and you can pull away. If you don’t side-draft good you’re just going to be side-by-side for the whole race and you’re going to go to the back because there are going to be other drivers trying to do the same thing. It’s going to take a while — now that we can’t push each other I think the guy that does it the best is the guy that can win the race and that’s why I wanted to try in practice and try to learn which trucks I can do it with and which trucks I just can’t side-draft. I think we gained a lot in practice and we’ll see what tomorrow comes up.”
