MOORESVILLE, N.C. (May 30, 2010) – Nelson Piquet Jr. made his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) start at a 1.5-mile race track in May’s N.C. Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Piquet piloted his Qualcomm, ArcSight Toyota Tundra from his 23rd-place starting position to a 16th-place finish. 

Piquet hopes what he learned at Charlotte, combined with his knowledge of Texas Motor Speedway (TMS), will pay dividends in this week’s WinStar World Casino 400 at TMS. Piquet has competed in one prior event at TMS.  In last April’s ARCA Series race, Piquet started in first-place and finished ninth driving for Eddie Sharp Racing. This week will mark Piquet’s second of three starts for Billy Ballew Motorsports.

Piquet Jr. on WinStar World Casino 400:

“My goal is to learn as much as I can. Obviously it’s my beginning in America. Of course we want to win races, but we need to keep everything in check. If we achieve a top-10 or top-five, it would be awesome. I’m not quite sure what to expect.  I’m going to give it my best. I’m going to be competing against guys who have a lot more experience than I do, so it will be tough to arrive out of the blue and shine. It will be difficult. It’s a hard beginning, but I’ve had a lot of help from the other drivers and really looking forward to racing against them at Texas. I’m sure we’ll have a good time.

“I’ve been to Texas. I raced in the ARCA event earlier this season. We had a couple of problems with my car and I finished ninth. It’s a different story with the trucks, though. Hopefully my experience at the track, and what I learned at Charlotte, will help my learning curve in the race.  I learned so much in the last Truck Series race. I felt like I was finding the right line and settling into the groove by the time it ended. I wish we could have started it over. Hopefully I’ll be able to pick up in Texas where I left off in Charlotte. The team has been helping me a lot and we are continuing to improve our communication during practice and the race as I learn. It would be great to leave with a top-10.”

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (May 31, 2010) – The No. 51 Graceway Pharmaceuticals team’s track record at Texas Motor Speedway has Aric Almirola excited about competing in this week’s  WinStar World Casino 400.  The Billy Ballew Motorsports team has three top-two finishes in six starts at TMS, including one win (Kyle Busch, 2009). Aric Almirola will be piloting the same chassis that Kyle Busch drove to victory lane last season. 

Almirola is currently riding a streak of six consecutive top-10 finishes, and has finished no worse than seventh-place at the mile-and-a-half venues this season. 

The No. 51 truck will carry a different paint scheme this week.  Zyclara, a new product from Graceway Pharmaceuticals which is FDA-approved for the treatment of actinic keratoses (AK), will be on Almirola’s truck for the remainder of the season. Zyclara can be used on large areas of skin, including the full face or balding scalp on a convenient, 6-week dosing cycle.

“We have run well at the mile-and-a-half race tracks. We’ve run good everywhere, so I’m looking forward to racing at Texas.

“The truck we are taking is chassis number No. 32. Kyle won there at Texas in truck No.32, so we should have a good starting package. We can hopefully get back to victory lane soon, hopefully there at Texas.

“This is shaping up to be a close points battle. Todd (Bodine) and I are really close in the points now, but there are so many good teams in the Truck Series garage. Hornaday, Timothy Peters, Matt Crafton, Mike Skinner are all going to be there at the end. The Graceway Pharmaceuticals’ team can’t focus on just Todd Bodine, we have to focus on beating everyone or we’ll get left behind.”

CONCORD, N.C. (May 22, 2010) – Nelson Piquet Jr. came a long way in 200 miles. The Brazilia, Brazil native continued his progression in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, showing poise and a steadily-growing aptitude of stock car racing, in Friday night’s N.C. Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Piquet overcame an early-race accident and fought his way back onto the lead lap to score a 16^th-place finish. 

Piquet started the event from the 23^rd position. As he settled into the race, the Qualcomm, ArcSight Toyota Tundra tightened up on Piquet. He began experimenting with his line around the 1.5-mile race track, which led to an improvement in his lap times.

On Lap 25, Piquet was battling for position with the truck above him.  Piquet’s truck lost grip and shoved into the competitor on his outside and looped him around. The incident brought out the caution flag. Piquet’s No. 15 machine suffered damage to the right-side fenders and needed attention from his crew, so he made a trip down pit lane.  The team made multiple stops during the caution period to re-form the sheet metal to its original state. They also changed his tires and topped off the fuel cell before sending him back on the track.

Green flag action returned on Lap 29 with Piquet in 31^st-place. The field made a 51 lap green flag run before the next caution flag waved. Piquet methodically worked his way through the field into the 14^th position by Lap 80, but fell one lap down to the leaders during that period. The team used the caution to bring the No.15 truck down pit lane. Piquet relayed that his truck was “tight in traffic, but good in clean air” to his team, so his crew changed his tires, topped off the fuel cell and sent him back on the track.

The race went back to green on Lap 90 with Piquet in 17^th-place. Piquet continued to learn the handling characteristics of his Toyota Tundra and how to improve its performance.  His efforts paid off on Lap 109, when the caution flag waved. Piquet had fought his way into the “Lucky Dog” position and earned his way back onto the lead lap. He passed the pace car during the yellow flag and rejoined the field in 18^th-place.

On Lap 118, the race returned to green. In the 27 remaining laps, Piquet moved up the leader board and into 16^th-place before taking the checkered flag.

“I wish I could have started this race over,” Piquet said.  “There was so much I learned tonight. At the beginning, I just slid into another car next to us and that hurt our right-front.  I’m not used to some of the stuff and just getting used to everything.  I think the car was pretty stable at the end of the race.  We were able to get back on the lead lap.  The last restart I didn’t turn off a fan and the car was really tight.  I should have finished maybe 12^th or 13^th, but the truck was just too tight.

“I’m ready to get to the next race because I’ve learned so much tonight.  I’ll feel more confident and hopefully we’ll improve from our result today.”

Piquet will return to Truck Series action in the WinStar World Casino 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 4. Coverage will be on MRN and SPEED.

CONCORD, N.C. (May 21, 2010) – As fast as the competitors in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series are, there’s one person no one can outrun – Mother Nature. Rain showers delayed the start of the N.C. Education Lottery 200 for nearly three hours past its original start time of 8:00 p.m. When the action got underway, Almirola fought an ill-handling truck for most of the night, but after a host of adjustments, battled to take the checkers in seventh-place. Almirola’s performance marked the No. 51 team’s sixth-consecutive top-10 finish.

Almirola started the event from the 12^th position. The race started with a 10-lap green flag run before a caution slowed the action.  Almirola reported that his truck was dragging the splitter and disrupting its handling.  Crew chief Richie Wauters knew he needed to handle the problem or the Graceway Pharmaceuticals truck didn’t stand a chance of competing for the win, so he called Almirola into the pits. The 51 crew lifted the hood and adjusted the shocks to raise the front end off the track. They sent Almirola back on the track in 28^th-place.

The race went back to green on Lap 15. The field ran 10 laps before another yellow flag halted the race. Almirola had picked up 11 positions, but his truck was “snug in, loose off” throughout the run.  Almirola made his second trip down pit lane, where the crew changed his tires, topped off the fuel cell and pulled the spring rubbers from the right-rear of the truck to help correct the handling. He rejoined the field in 19^th-place.

Green flag action returned on Lap 29. Almirola’s Tundra was “really loose,” but his lap times were on par with the leaders. He diced through the field into sixth-place before the next caution flag waved, Lap 80. Wauters took advantage of the caution period to call Almirola into the pits for his final stop. His team changed his Goodyears, topped off the fuel cell and made an air pressure adjustment to loosen up the truck. The crew bolted off a super-fast stop and got Almirola back on track in fifth-place.

The race restarted on Lap 90. A series of four cautions disrupted the action over the remaining 45 laps.  Unfortunately, the adjustments on the previous pit stop made Almirola’s Toyota too tight. Ideally Almirola would have lined up on the outside row for each of the final restarts, where his truck handled its best, but Almirola lined up on the inside lane each time. He lost two positions before taking the checkered flag, finishing in seventh-place.

“We started out a little too loose today, then swung the opposite way,” said Almirola.  “We jumped the fence on our final pit stop and our truck was too tight for the last few runs. All of the cautions in the final 45 laps made it hard for us to stay in the top-five. We were really good on long runs when our truck settled in, but it took a few laps to get going.  Those restarts made it tough for us to hang on to our track position. 

“I really wish we had another 50 laps.  We would have made one more pit stop and another set of adjustments. That’s all we really needed to get back up front with the leaders and fight for a win. Seventh-place isn’t bad, though.  If we can have an off-day and still finish in the top-10, that’s pretty good.”

Almirola is now second in the championship point standings, only two points behind Todd Bodine. His next race is the WinStar World Casino 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 4. Coverage will be on MRN and SPEED.