Photo Credit: Ashley McCubbin
With a win and a third in his two NASCAR Pinty’s Series starts this season, it’s no secret Alex Tagliani is feeling good right now.
“Honestly like I’m very excited and very happy,” he told OnPitRoad.com earlier this week. “The truth is when you look at the start of the year, we just literally from a little bit of bad luck have missed three wins.”
With being busy himself in Indianapolis, Tagliani got Pier-Luc Ouellette to fill-in for him in the season opener at Canaidan Tire Motorsports Park. Ouelette was in position to win till a flat tire in the late stages relegated him to an 11th place finish. Since then, though, everything has been clicking. Taking the lead at Sunset Speedway, Tagliani was able to lead the rest of the way en route to victory. Then at Autodrome Chaudiere, he put himself in position to win, running third with 20 laps to go.
“We had basically the fastest car and there was nowhere to go as they were running two-wide for 20 laps, and we were trying all kind of things to make it work,” he said. “Obviously, I needed to play bowling ball to make it work and it’s not my style.”
It’s why this weekend going into his road course of the season with the series, the Quebec native is confident he can do well once again. Though while there’s confidence, he knows the team has some work to do if they’re going to be successful, surrounding the set-up of the car.
“I think it’ll take some change in philosophy from our side and really understand what we need out of the shocks or something to get that car to be good,” he said.
The current set-up of the car allows for Tagliani to be strong on long runs as he can conserve the tires. He showed that at Sunset Speedway scoring the win on the 1/3 mile oval for the second straight season, followed by a podium finish at Autodrome Chaudiere after working his way from 10th to third on old tires.
However for ICAR, long-run isn’t what you need, but rather a short run car due to being a concrete course and slippery.
“You need a car that is hard on the tires, a car that is creating tire temperature and good on restarts,” he noted. “It’s such a short race – 30 laps – so the race is over and you’re literally haven’t had the chance to really wear your tires.”
Tagliani has proven before he can get the job done, as noted by his worse finish being eighth in three ICAR starts with a third place finish last season. Previous success, combined with confidence in the team, could be the ticket to a trip to victory lane.
“The guys are doing exactly what they’re supposed to do,” he said of his team. “We have good chemistry. Scott (Steckly) is doing a great job as a team owner and taking care of his boys. So I think we’re pumped and we feel that we just have to really do the best that we can, manage everything the best we can, keep pushing hard and not do anything different. I don’t think I could ask anything different from the team.”
