Miguel Paludo
No. 7 Stemco/Duroline Toyota Tundra
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Race 16 of 25
Bristol Motor Speedway
BACK TO THE BEGINNING: This weekend Miguel Paludo will return to the site of where it all began, Bristol Motor Speedway. Paludo will celebrate his one year anniversary competing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series when the wheels of the No. 7 Stemco/Duroline Toyota Tundra hit the concrete surface at the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile”. Paludo is currently 14th in the Truck Series point standings with three top-five and four top-10 finishes in his first year of full-time competition.
CAMP INDEPENDENCE: Since being diagnosed with diabetes eight years ago, Paludo has made it his quest to spread the word about living with the disease. In July, Paludo and his wife Patricia traveled to Camp Independence in Greenville, South Carolina. Camp Independence is a day camp for children dealing with diabetes. Paludo served as keynote speaker, had lunch with the kids and created a special art project for each child at camp to participate in. This weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway as Paludo celebrates the milestone of one year in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series he will carry the hand prints of each of the children he visited with at Camp Independence on the hood of the No. 7 Toyota Tundra. Paludo continues to look for ways to talk with children living with diabetes and spread the message that you can do anything you set your mind to if you have diabetes as long as you are diligent about taking good care of yourself.
WELCOME TO THE WORLD: Paludo and his wife Patricia welcomed a bouncing baby boy, Oliver, to the world on Monday August 22, 2011. Oliver weighed in at 8 lbs 3 ounces.
MOST POPULAR DRIVER VOTING: The voting is now open to cast your ballot for this year’s most popular NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver. Fans can visit www.nascar.com in order to cast your vote for this year’s winner.Fans can vote once per day every day for their favorite driver.
CHASSIS HISTORY: The No. 7 team will unload chassis No. 002 this week at Bristol Motor Speedway. The last time this chassis hit the track was at Nashville Superspeedway earlier this season in July when Paludo earned a 14th-place finish.
PREVIOUS RACE RECAP: Last week at Michigan International Speedway Paludo ran in the top-10 throughout the 100-lap event. After avoiding two late-race incidents, Paludo found himself in the second position with five laps remaining and the opportunity to battle for the win. A late green-white-checkered finish allowed Paludo’s Red Horse Racing teammate Timothy Peters to slip past him. Paludo continued to battle and took the checkered flag in the third position. The run marked Paludo’s career-best Truck Series finish to date.
Miguel Paludo Talks about Bristol Motor Speedway:
What are your thoughts on your first year in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series? Is it everything you expected it to be?
“It is everything I had hoped for and more. I am very proud of my Red Horse Racing team. They have all worked so hard and I’m very lucky to have such a great team. The racing has been really competitive and I really enjoy all my fellow competitors. I have made some really great friends on and off the race track. I hope the second half of this season is just as good if not better than the first.”
Your life has changed a lot in the past two years, leaving Brazil, having a new baby, starting a new career and new life in a new country. What has that been like?
“It has been an adventure. There have been some hard parts and some very rewarding parts. Meeting Oliver this week has been amazing. Life has changed a lot but Patricia and I are getting used to it. We have a wonderful group of family and friends who help us out a lot.”
What does it mean to you to carry the diabetes banner and have the Camp Independence Hood on the truck this weekend at Bristol, a very special track for you?
“It is very special. Living with diabetes for me at first was very hard because I was diagnosed when I was 20, so I knew what life was like before having diabetes so I guess I thought I was missing out on some things. When I was able to learn more about having diabetes I realized that I could do anything that I had done before, just in moderation. I am glad Patricia and I had the chance to go to the camp and hang out with the kids, they were great and a lot of fun. We hope to continue to do things like that in the future.”
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.
