Feels Like the First Time: With only one previous start to his credit at Phoenix International Raceway, Parker Kligerman heads into this weekend’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competition at the newly repaved one-mile oval with hopes to quickly latch onto a fast setup with his No. 7 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra. Following an impressive run and second place finish at Texas Motor Speedway last weekend, Kligerman is now only 27 points out of the championship points lead, but knows that success in Friday’s Lucas Oil 150 will be pivotal to his title hopes. However, he feels his team is up for the challenge and knows that all of the competitors will be on a level playing field with no experience on the new pavement.
“Phoenix to me is another wild card in our championship race since it’s been repaved and although there’s been two Sprint Cup and Nationwide races on the repave, the Truck Series has not raced there and none of us really know what to expect. So we go in there with what we can understand and what we’ve seen from those races. In a lot of ways I feel like this Red Horse Racing team can go in there and gain a lot and be successful right off the bat,” Kligerman said.
“The track is unique for us because it really combines a lot of high speed and high grip cornering with the new pavement and a lot of braking in turns three and four, so it’ll really be a challenge for me and my crew chief Chad Kendrick to find the best balance between the two corners since they’re so different.”
Appearing in Phoenix: Parker Kligerman and Red Horse Racing teammate Timothy Peters will be making a special guest appearance at the Toyota Racing Pit Pass display on Friday, November 9 at 1:00 PM. The two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship contenders will interact with fans and sign autographs at the display located in the vendor midway at Phoenix International Raceway.
Previous Race Recap: Capturing his sixth top-five NASCAR Camping World Truck Series finish since joining the Red Horse Racing stable nine races ago, Parker Kligerman drove his No. 7 Toyota Tundra up into the top-five early Friday night in the WinStar World Casino 350 at Texas Motor Speedway and never relinquished his track position. Running a solid race after starting from the 10th position, Kligerman was within striking distance of the lead prior to the final round of pit stops. After a two-tire stop and taking over the lead with 26 laps remaining, Kligerman slid back into the second position with 10 laps to go and came home with his fourth runner-up finish of the 2012 season.
Chassis History: Chad Kendrick and the entire Red Horse Racing organization worked long hours making a quick turnaround after the race at Martinsville Speedway to prepare chassis number 002 for Parker Kligerman to drive this weekend at Phoenix. This Tundra chassis received new sheet metal following the ninth place finish at Martinsville Speedway just two weeks ago and was completed just in time for competition this weekend.
Parker Kligerman on Phoenix International Raceway
What is your championship outlook heading into the final two races of 2012?
“Our races at Martinsville and Talladega really showed what any team in any sport would be considered a championship team and that’s fighting adversity and coming out on top and succeeding. At Talladega with the battery change and doing that quickly and successfully, and then Martinsville not having any brakes at a place where they are extremely important and still coming out with a top-10 finish shows what our team is made of and capable of. Our object is to lead the most laps and win and hopefully we can walk into Homestead with a realistic shot at the championship and let the cards fall as they may.”
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