(Stafford Springs, CT)—After a 2011 season that saw Joe Nogiec and the #00
Adopt a Pet team post a career best 9 top-10 finishes as well as a career
best finish of 11th in the points standings, Nogiec and his team will look
to continue that forward trend in the 2012 season at Stafford Motor
Speedway. Nogiec will have a new car with which to carry on his momentum
from the 2011 season. Nogiec and his team have purchased the #38 car from
Gary Bienkowski that was driven to 5 wins and a second place finish in the
2011 standings by George Nocera, Jr, and they are looking forward the 2012
season after what Nogiec says was a trying 2011 season.
“We had an opportunity to buy the 38 car, so we jumped on it and hopefully
we can get something going for next year,” said Nogiec. “Last year was an
abomination for us, we’ve definitely had better years than we had last year.
It was a tough year, I was ready to hang it up after the season was over.
We were so close to finishing in the top-10, but we had an awful last race
and Carla [Botticello] got by us for that spot. But we had a lot of great
support from guys like Norm Sears and Shawn Thibeault in our division as
well as drivers from other divisions, and we appreciated everyone’s support
throughout the season. With this new car, it seems like we have a new life
and we’re looking forward to coming to the track. We’re putting the same
equipment back into the car that was taken out of it before we bought it, so
we’re feeling good about the 2012 season. We have Adopt A Pet coming back
on board with us as a sponsor and I’d like to give them a special thanks for
their support, and I’d also like to thank the guys at Civali’s Auto Service
for their support.”
With the new car seeming to be half of the success equation for Nogiec and
the #00 team, Nogiec knows the second half of success will be to improve his
driving style on track.
“We’ve taken care of the car part this winter, so now I have to work on my
driving style come April,” said Nogiec. “I know I have to work on my
patience behind the wheel. I’ve learned that Stafford is a patience track
and I find that sometimes I try to do too much too quickly. We need to work
on setup and get a handle on the car. Although this will be our 4th season
at Stafford, I feel like I still have a lot to learn to be better. Right
now, I’m only touching the tip of the iceberg. Norm [Sears] and Shawn
[Thibeault] took my car out a couple of times in practice this year and they
were seeing some of the same things wrong with the car that I was, so that
was a good confidence builder in my feedback to the team with them being
Stafford veterans.”
While Nogiec enjoyed a career high in top-10 finishes this past season with
9, his best career finish was a second place effort at the 2010 Fall Final
feature event, and Nogiec and his team have their sights set on repeating
that second place performance as many times as they can during the 2012
season.
“I remember that race like it was yesterday,” said Nogiec. “While it felt
really good to be on the podium that day, we kind of fell into that second
place and this year we want to be able to earn second place finishes. Our
main goal is to be in the mix every week and be in the top-5 every week. If
we could win a race or two, that would be super. It’s been a while since we
’ve won a race, so we’re all hungry and this is our best opportunity to win
in a long time. We really have good hopes for the 2012 season.”
One thing that Nogiec can depend on is his family. His crew consists of
himself, his father Mike, his wife Amanda, his uncle Dave, and his cousin
Josh.
“Good or bad, my family is always there for me,” said Nogiec. “My wife does
a lot more than any other racing wife, she gives me great support win or
lose. We all have some revived faith for the upcoming season and we’d like
to be able to win it all at the end of the year.”
The 2012 season at Stafford Motor Speedway begins with the 41st Annual
CARQUEST Tech-Net Spring Sizzler on April 27-April 29, 2012.
For more information, contact the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at
860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at www.staffordspeedway.com