Nunez Ready to Rock in Mazda DPi and “Acceleration” Band at Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts

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Are you ready to rock? I said, ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?
 
Tristan Nunez is, which is a good thing, since he’s got a lot of rocking and rolling to do over the next day-and-a-half at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts. Friday morning, Nunez will be doing his day job, which is co-driving the No. 77 Mazda Team Joest RT24-P DPi car with Oliver Jarvis and Timo Bernhard.
 
That includes qualifying for Saturday’s legendary 12-hour race, and Nunez has a good shot, as the team was strong in practice on Thursday. Qualifying starts at 9:55 a.m. ET and will be streamed live on IMSA.tv.
 
After qualifying, Nunez will debrief with the team and set a plan for tomorrow’s race. And then … he’s going to be onstage in the Spring Brake Party Zone in the world-famous infield of the 3.74-mile Sebring International Raceway circuit.
 
And he won’t be there to do a driver Q&A or Fan Forum. Nope, Nunez is there to perform with his band.
“The band’s name is ‘Acceleration,’ which is pretty fitting, actually, for this year for Mazda,” Nunez said. “It’s the ‘Year of Acceleration’ as they like to call it. It’s their little slogan for this year, so it kind of worked out perfectly.
 
“It’s me, my dad, who’s a bass player, and then a family friend of ours. So, I play drums on some of the songs and vocals, and I’ll play guitar and vocals for some of the songs as well. It’s going to be fun. We’re doing a couple covers and then some of my original songs that I’ve written and have composed with the band. They come across really nicely, and I think on a live performance it’s going to sound really well.”
 
Nunez explained the band will be playing a mix of classic rock covers and original “alternative rock” songs he’s written and composed with his bandmates. It’s something he’s been doing for the past four years, and he applies the same focus to music that he does to driving the race car.
 
“I think there’s a lot of similarities,” he said. “With every musician and every driver, I think it’s different the way they prepare, but for me, it’s going to be the same. I just cannot think about it. If I overthink it, then I’m just going to dig myself into a rut, and I would do the same thing in the race car.
 
“If I overthink qualifying before I go out there, I’d overthink things and I’d make some mistakes. I think it’s going to be the same thing when I’m performing. I just need to not think about it at all, think about qualifying and then get on stage and do my thing.”
 
And when it happens, it’ll be the realization of a dream he’s had for some time.
 
“I think when I get on stage, I’m going to be all about it,” he said. “It’s going to be fun. I’m really excited. I’ve been thinking a lot about it.
 
“It’s been actually kind of a dream of mine to play here. I remember seeing the stage just on the inside of the front straightaway in years past. Now that it’s in the big fan zone with the new bridge, it’s going to be awesome.”
Adam Sinclair
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