A race to forget for Tagliani in Daytona - Speedway Digest

New starting rules awaited Alex Tagliani when he arrived at Daytona International Speedway Road Course this past weekend. Based on new rules, TAG would start 21st on the grid in Sunday afternoon’s NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race and would have to patiently work his way to the top of the field. Whatever race strategy Kyle Busch Motorsports used, it worked well for the first two segments of the Sunoco 159 and Tagliani found himself in second place behind his teammate Raphael Lessard in truck #4.

Then on lap 27 everything fell apart for Tagliani when the green flag was waved for the third segment and both trucks touched. The damage to Tagliani’s number 51 KBM truck was severe. Following the contact, part of the left front end was rubbing against his tire and the front end of his truck was also damaged, causing the engine to overheat.

“It’s not the kind of result I was looking for and it’s a bit sad, especially since the truck was nearly demolished by my teammates in trucks #4 and #18 near the end of the race,” said a disappointed Tagliani. “Before the incident, everything was going as smooth as we had planned and the truck was running real fine. I did not push too hard in the first two segments of the race (1 to 26). But on lap 30, I found myself in third place and then began to see that I should save the mechanics and the tires for the end of the race because there were 14 laps to go.

“I was still third and on the inside lane, exactly where I wanted to be in case of a restart. I could have run at least half a second faster a lap, but I was saving the engine because I knew there would be more yellows to come and I would need more power then. The first contact was a hard hit on my driver’s side and it was a shock. I protected my Toyota Tundra all race long. I think that I was quite patient and waited for my moment. When I was first hit, the problems with the truck began. It broke a brake line which did not work properly after Christian Eckes in truck #18 hit my rear end. It got worst when the engine ran out of power, and I lost quite a bit of speed. That’s how my racing day slowly got worse.”

Tagliani finished the race 22nd overall, while his teammate Lessard scored his best NGROTS finish with a third place.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.