Miguel Paludo
No. 7 Stemco/Duroline Toyota Tundra
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race 10 of 25
Kentucky Speedway
BLUEGRASS BOUND: One year ago Miguel Paludo traveled to the United States to embark on his new journey as a competitor in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Last season, Paludo made his second of four Truck Series starts at Kentucky Speedway. He drove to a 20th-place finish. After two solid runs in the last two Truck Series events in 2011 at Kansas Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway, Paludo and the No. 7 team hope to continue their forward momentum as they head to Kentucky, where the Nova Prata, Brazil native has already logged laps and has experience.
CAMP INDEPENDENCE: In late June, Paludo and his wife Patricia traveled to Greenville, South Carolina to attend a day long diabetes camp. Paludo served as keynote speaker to approximately 30 children ranging in age from 5 to 18 about coping with diabetes. Paludo, who was diagnosed with Type I diabetes seven years ago, is on a mission to educate children about diabetes and to send the message that even though a person has diabetes they can achieve any goal they may have. While at Camp Independence, which was held at Furman University, the kids placed their handprints in paint and decorated one of Paludo’s No. 7 Toyota Tundra hoods. The team plans to run this hood at an upcoming race event.
TESTING 1, 2, 3:Paludo has been very busy during the break in the Truck Series schedule. Following his eighth place run at Texas Motor Speedway, Paludo and the No. 7 team headed to the Milwaukee, Wisconsin to participate in a two day test session. The team began preparing and gathering data to be used for the short-track and flat-track events that are on the horizon on the Truck Series schedule. Although the weather did not cooperate as planned, the team did learn some valuable information and Paludo gained some seat time in the No. 7 Toyota Tundra.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION: Last week, Paludo traveled to Daytona Beach, Florida where he joined Juan Pablo Montoya and other NASCAR diversity drivers to film a commercial. The TV spot will air in key Hispanic markets across the United States in an effort to reach a broader spectrum of NASCAR fans. The piece is scheduled to air later this season.
CHASSIS HISTORY: The No. 7 team will unload chassis No. 123 this weekend at Kentucky Speedway. This truck last competed at Texas Motor Speedway where Paludo earned his second top-10 finish of 2011 crossing the finish line in eighth.
PREVIOUS RACE RECAP: Three weeks ago at Texas Motor Speedway, Paludo and the No. 7 team fought their way from the 22nd starting position to lead 10 laps. Late in the event Paludo’s No. 7 Stemco/Duroline Toyota Tundra became too tight but, Paludo managed to hold on and score his second top-10 finish of 2011 coming home eighth.
Miguel Paludo Talks about Kentucky Speedway
What kind of track is Kentucky Speedway? What do you think is the biggest challenge you will face?
“Kentucky Speedway is a 1.5-mile track. It is pretty bumpy. When I started racing in the Truck Series last season I started at Bristol Motor Speedway which is a short-track. I had previously raced several races in the K&N Pro Series which were all short tracks. I was not sure how I was going to adapt to the fast 1.5-mile tracks, but I have really come to like them. Last year at Kentucky we ran in the top 12 all day, but got caught a lap down the way that the cautions fell. We had a better truck than the finish shows so I’m excited to go back and race there again.”
Crew chief Rick Gay and the No. 7 team have chosen to bring the same truck you ran at Kansas and Texas, does that make a difference?
“Running the same truck that I am used to helps, but the biggest advantage that we are going to have as a team in Kentucky is that I have competed on that track before. It just helps us during practice to come up to speed faster and get on the same page as everyone else.”
About Red Horse Racing:
Founded in 2005 by former Mobil Corporation executive Tom DeLoach and NASCAR veteran Jeff Hammond, Red Horse Racing aims to be a professional racing team that strives for excellence on and off the race track. Red Horse Racing hopes to build and maintain solid, mutual relationships with its partners to win races and championships and to represent itself in a professional manner. The team has four victories and five poles in its brief existence. DeLoach and Hammond also own Performance Instruction Training (PIT), the number one pit crew training center in the world that also has many corporate training options that include team-building, lean manufacturing, motorsports demonstrations and more.
