Toyota NNS Talladega Post-Qualifying Notes & Quotes
TOYOTA NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS)
Post-Qualifying Notes & Quotes
Talladega Superspeedway – May 3, 2013
7th, ELLIOTT SADLER
10th, JOEY COULTER
13th, JEFF GREEN
14th, ALEX BOWMAN
18th, PARKER KLIGERMAN
21st, BRIAN VICKERS
23rd, ERIC MCCLURE
24th, MIKE BLISS
30th, JOE NEMECHEK
31st, JASON WHITE
32nd, HAL MARTIN
34th, BLAKE KOCH
DNQ, JOHN WES TOWNLEY
ELLIOTT SADLER, No. 11 OneMain Financial Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 7th
How was your qualifying effort?
“Well, I think it’s a great effort by our OneMain Financial Toyota team and we’re best in class with the Toyotas right now, so it shows how much hard work my guys put into this car. We feel really good about it. We had a really fast car at Daytona and we don’t see any difference here this weekend. It’s just all being in the right place at the right time, missing the wrecks as much as you can to be there at the end. I know that the team and the guys put a lot of pride in coming in here and qualifying up front and we’ve seemed to have done that. So, great job to my team to give us a good starting spot, which gives us a great pit selection and sets us up for a really good run on Saturday.”
JOEY COULTER, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 10th
Do you enjoy superspeedway qualifying?
“Superspeedway racing, that’s my favorite type of qualifying because it’s really not about me — it’s about all the hard work guys do back in the shop getting the cars ready and engine builders and everybody. This is kind of their chance to really show what they’ve got. I felt real good about it. Really, really windy down the backstretch — I could feel it trying to move the car around. Can’t thank everybody at Monster Energy, Joe Gibbs Racing, Kyle Busch Motorsports enough for this opportunity. It’s going to be a fun weekend.”
What do you expect in the race?
“It’s going to be crazy. Watching the races from the past couple years, there’s a lot of tandem racing, there’s a lot of pack racing, so I think it will be a pretty good mix of both. Should be real exciting.”
JEFF GREEN, No. 10 Gadsden Inn & Suites Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Starting Position: 13th
ALEX BOWMAN, No. 99 SchoolTipLine.com Toyota Camry, RAB Racing
Starting Position: 14th
How comfortable do you feel with the draft?
“I’m pretty comfortable with it. We were pretty successful there at Daytona, but I mean it’s Nationwide superspeedway racing and it’s probably going to be another big wreck there towards the end of the race. Got a really good car. All of the guys at RAB Racing built a great car. On paper, it’s better than our Daytona car so it should be pretty good. Cool to have School Tip Line on board and hopefully we’ll get them another top-five finish.”
Do you expect a wreck at the end of all restrictor-plate races?
“We’ll just have to see. I thought we were going to be in front of it coming to the checkered there at Daytona and we ended up in it. If there’s not a wreck hopefully we’re just in the front anyway. It almost seems like every speedway race that you have it. It’s just part of what you’ve got to deal with being in a pack.”
Do you enjoy restrictor-plate racing?
“It’s a lot of fun. I can say that. It’s pretty stressful, but when RAB Racing brings Toyota Camrys like this to the race track it makes my life pretty easy.”
PARKER KLIGERMAN, No. 77 Camp Horsin’ Around/Bandit Chippers Toyota Camry, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Starting Position: 18th
How was your qualifying effort?
“This number 77 Camp Horsin’ Around Bandit Chippers Camry was I thought good. I thought we had more speed like we did at Daytona, but for some reason we just didn’t have single car speed. But, yesterday in practice we were real happy with it. No matter where we start, I’m not worried. These Joe Gibbs (Racing) motors and these Camrys are pretty good in the draft. We had an excellent race in Daytona. I don’t see any reason we can’t repeat that.”
Did the wind impact qualifying?
“It buffeted us around a lot right there. I don’t know. Maybe that was some of our speed. Maybe the wind picked up. I don’t know. We might have caught a bad break with the wind. Who knows? But in the race with the way the draft is, once you get in the draft and the turbulent air around all of those other cars — 40 cars out there — you don’t notice the wind as much as you do when you’re by yourself.”
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 21st
Do you have a plan for tomorrow’s race?
“I do, but that’s before the green flag. We have a lot of people lined up — mainly our teammate Elliott Sadler. Obviously we have a couple of teammates in the race, but Elliott and I worked together in Daytona and worked together great. We practiced really well together yesterday. The guys did a good job with the Dollar General Toyota. I felt pretty good about it. We made a lengthy little run there to begin and we were happy with it so we parked it. We didn’t get to make a qualifying run — the rain was kind of coming. Now, I would preface all of that by saying that that’s the plan before the green drops. Things can change so fast in this sport, especially here at Talladega. I think we’ve got a great partner to work with, but if something happens to him we’ll have to adjust.”
ERIC MCCLURE, No. 14 Hefty/Reynolds Wrap Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Starting Position: 23rd
MIKE BLISS, No. 19 Gadsden Inn & Suites Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Starting Position: 24th
JOE NEMECHEK, No. 87 MaddiesPlaceRocks.com Toyota Camry, Nemco Motorsports
Starting Position: 30th
JASON WHITE, No. 24 JW Demolition Toyota Camry
Starting Position: 31st
HAL MARTIN, No. 44 American Yachts Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports
Starting Position: 32nd
BLAKE KOCH, No. 00 Toyota Camry, SR2 Motorsports
Starting Position: 34th
JOHN WES TOWNLEY, No. 25 Zaxby’s Toyota Camry, Venturini Motorsports
Starting Position: DNQ
Patrick hoping to duplicate her Daytona success at Talladega
Danica Patrick’s rookie season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition has been a roller coaster to say the least. When the announcement was made that she would make the move to NASCAR’s top series, it quickly became one of the sports most divisive topics. While she has many supporters, made evident by the long lines at her souvenir trailer, she also has acquired many critics. A large number of race fans feel she “doesn’t deserve to be here” and that she “hasn’t paid her dues”.
With already being in the spotlight during the pre-season media tour, the season opening Daytona 500 only solidified her place there. Patrick surprised everyone by clinching the pole for the “Great American Race”. Instantly, the NASCAR talk shows lit up with callers saying “Anyone can qualify, she will go straight to the back!” Patrick did just the opposite however, staying in the top ten most of the day and finished in a very respectable eighth place.
After Daytona, the roller coaster took a downward turn. Patrick qualified no better than 37th over the next five races and the critics were having a field day with these stats. However Patrick’s finishing position was a different story. A blown tire ended her day after only 184 laps at Phoenix, relegating her to a 39th place finish. After Phoenix her finishes, though not great, did steadily improve each week. Patrick had a 33rd at Las Vegas, 28th at a tough Bristol track and 26th the following week at Fontana. This steady improvement was what crew chief Tony Gibson and car owner Tony Stewart were looking for.
The surprise of the season came the next week at Martinsville. A tough, flat half-mile track, known for being extremely difficult for rookie drivers. Patrick would start the race 32nd, but slowly and methodically work her way through the field. It looked as if she would grab her second top ten finish of the season, but late race contact with Brian Vickers, dropped her to 12th. A great finish for a rookie at Martinsville and probably a big hit to Las Vegas odds makers! No one expected Patrick to even finish the event much less with a solid very respectable finish.
Fast forward to the Aarons 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. Talladega will be the second plate race of the season and Patrick is hoping to duplicate her earlier “plate track” success. She spoke to reporters Friday morning from the garage area, where she was asked about her expectations. Patrick responded saying, “ I suppose based on Daytona and how fast this car is, which is the same car we ran at Daytona, and how the race went. I suppose it’s fair to say that there should be a little spike in expectation, but you also have to take into consideration on these big speedways that there is a whole lot of luck that comes into it.”
Patrick will also get some extra track time over the weekend, as she will also compete in the Aaron’s 312 NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Saturday. Patrick pointed out that she believes that racing on Saturday will help, “Yeah, the Nationwide race, that is why we are doing it. We are going to try to win and we are doing it to get a little more practice for Sunday.” Patrick will be driving the No.34 Chevrolet for Turner-Scott Motorsports.
It’s worth pointing out that while this season’s results have been up and down, we should remember that she is a rookie and she sits 26th in the standings, only four positions behind her boss, Tony Stewart.
Only time will tell if Patrick will be the first female to win a race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Talladega is known for hosting many first time winners and could be the place for her to make history……..again!
The Parrott/Amirola Combination Beginning to Show Success
Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 43 Gwaltney Ford will make his 7th career start at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Aaron’s 499. Going into this weekend, Almirola sits 11th in the series points standings with three top-10 finishes in the last three races. This is significantly better than his 20th place finish in final NSCS points standings last season. Almirola’s success this season comes after Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) swapped crew chiefs for Almirola and No. 9, Marcos Ambrose, with ten races to go last season.
Todd Parrott took over as crew chief for Almirola after the swap. Parrott has 31 career wins and a 1999 Sprint Cup Series Championship with Dale Jarrett. “Aric has really shown the desire and dedication to get his first Sprint Cup Series win,” Parrot said. “It was great our team helped Marcos to his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win and poles. We are now ready to help direct Almirola and the No. 43 team to the same results and better.”
When asked about his team’s recent success on Friday morning at Talladega Superspeedway, Parrott said, “Things have gone well so far for us this year. We have had some good finishes the last three weeks. The guys are doing a good job in the shop. My team at the race track are probably the best guys in the garage. We are really happy with the job they do, and we will just keep doing what we are doing.”
Almirola and the RPM team look to avoid the ‘big one’ and continue their streak of top-10 finishes at the series’ largest track, Talladega Superspeedway.
