Confidence can come from many things.
In Nelson Piquet Jr.’s case, it’s last week’s test session at Texas. It could also be from his past success at the track in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
Although Piquet has never run a NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Texas Motor Speedway, he is nonetheless confident heading into Friday night’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2).
“I am looking forward to returning to Texas and the Nationwide series this weekend,” said Piquet. “We had a great test session there last week, so I feel pretty confident heading into the weekend. Chris Carrier and the guys at Turner Scott Motorsports have worked really hard to get my Camaro ready to race.”
In five races at Texas (all in the NCWTS), Piquet has three top fives, four top 10s and one pole. His lowest finishing position was a 13th in the 2011 truck race. In the most recent race there, he sat on the pole, led 65 of 147 laps and finished third (his highest at the track).
In his first season in Nationwide, he currently sits 14th in points, 79 points behind leader Sam Hornish Jr. He trails Mike Bliss, who is currently 13th, by only five points. Through the season’s first five races, Piquet’s best finish is an 11th at Daytona. Overall, he has four top-16 finishes and a 34th-place finish at Bristol, at which he was sidelined after only 104 laps due to an accident.
If he’s able to produce at Texas similarly to what he’s done there in the truck series, he should be able to improve his position.
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