Zach Germain Energized for His Sophomore Season in No. 24 Germain.com Camry Earned Six Top-10’s at New Smyrna in Off-Season
Mooresville, N.C.(03-04-2011) – Germain Racing’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series driver, Zach Germain, did all the off-season things racers normally do. He tested with his team, he vacationed with family and made plans for his 2011 racing season. In February, he and his crew, led by Jamie Jones, headed to New Smyrna Speedway to shake the cobwebs off at the Annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing. The experience exceeded the expectations of Germain and his crew. The Columbus , OH , native competed in NKNPSE as a rookie in 2010. He is confident the seven days of racing in Florida were a great precursor to the 2011 season which kicks off March 26th at Greenville-Pickens Speedway.
“The best word to describe my mindset, and that of my team’s, after our World Series experience is ‘excited.’ We are all ready to go back to the race track with our No. 24 Germain.com Camry. New Smyrna showed how much I’ve grown since my rookie season. I can’t wait to get to Greenville-Pickens to see if we can improve on last year’s season opener,” said Germain, who finished tenth in his NKNPSE debut at Greenville last March.
Germain and his crew of three had a simple goal for their New Smyrna trip this year. The plan was to shake the dust off after the two months of the off-season. The results, however, far exceeded the goal.
“The World Series was seven races over ten days. Our team worked great together. The car was awesome. We had two second-place finishes and six top-ten finishes in seven races. We had one night where we had carburetor issues and had to take some green flag laps to fix the problem. But, other than that problem, we raced competitively every night. It turned into a real confidence-builder for this Germain Racing team,” said Germain.
Continuity has played a part in the huge strides Germain feels he has made coming into his second year in NASCAR. He is starting this season with the same crew from last year. Another part of the equation has been the opportunity to learn key lessons from NASCAR champion driver David Green. Green stood in on the spotter stand for five of the seven New Smyrna races and Germain says the champion’s coaching has given him a complete sense of preparation for the 2011 racing season.
“Running all seven races gave me the opportunity to put the lessons I was learning from David to use. He really worked with me to improve my confidence in passing cars. In the crate late models, it’s similar to restrictor plate racing. It’s all about momentum and car control. The World Series schedule gave me the unique opportunity to get the lessons, apply them, then discuss the results and go back and apply them again night after night,” said Germain, who also worked with long-time spotter and coach BJ McLeod throughout the New Smyrna experience.
Looking ahead to the NKNPSE season opener in South Carolina , Germain says his perspective has changed and his goals have been altered.
“ Greenville was a great way for our team to kick off our rookie year. We completed all 156 laps. I’m looking for that again, but, I want those laps to come from me racing in the top-five all night. I see 2011 as a great opportunity for the Germain.com Camry team to improve our results. We have been to many of the tracks on the schedule at least once. I’ve even raced at Columbus – it was my home track,” said Germain. “When we get to each race track, we’ll immediately be working on making our Toyota faster instead of spending time on me learning the race tracks. We’re looking at the season differently. We know we can finish races, now we want to run competitively each week.”
Of the tracks new on the NKNPSE schedule for 2011, Germain and his crew are particularly curious about how the Bowman Gray weekend will go.
“A couple of our guys have been there to watch weekly racing. I just can’t believe it’s 150 laps of racing and only 37.5 miles! It’ll be a crazy race. I’ve heard the Bowman Gray fans are awesome. I’m looking forward to that race, and, of course, I can’t wait to return to my home track fans at Columbus ,” said Germain. In addition to watching race broadcasts on SPEED this season and following updates at NASCARHomeTracks.com, NASCAR.com’s official home for touring and weekly series news and results, the NKNPSE will have several live radio broadcasts provided by the team from Speed 51 Radio, which is led by SPEED announcer Bob Dillner. The broadcasts will feature flag-to-flag coverage of many of the top events in NASCAR’s touring series, including the NKNPSE season opener at Greenville , championship season finales in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour.
Zach Germain is on Twitter @ZachGermain and Facebook (facebook.com/pages/Zach-Germain-Racing/117537741607395). Follow Germain Racing on Twitter @GermainRacing or on the web at Germainracing.com or become a fan on Facebook: Facebook.com/pages/Germain-Racing/198863890135.
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