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NASCAR's Turn 5: HEAD LINES from NASCAR "Coulter gets early Christmas present"
This is from the NASCAR NEWS
Coulter gets early Christmas present
From the Notebook: Truck award thrills rookie;
By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
December 01, 2011 7:40 AM, EST
Joey Coulter scored an early Christmas present, along with a unique twin score for Richard Childress Racing by achieving what the 21-year-old called "the biggest accomplishment" of his racing career, the 2011 Camping World Truck Series rookie of the year award.
Coulter eclipsed the most notable assembly of rookies in any of NASCAR's three national tours this season -- including Nelson Piquet Jr., Parker Kligerman, Cole Whitt and Miguel Paludo -- and followed his 2011 series champion teammate, Austin Dillon, who was the 2010 rookie award winner.
Truck Series
2011 Rookie Standings
Pos. Driver Behind
1. Joey Coulter --
2. Nelson Piquet Jr. -5
3. Cole Whitt -17
4. Parker Kligerman -34
5. Miguel Paludo -46
6. Johanna Long -129
7. Craig Goess -178
Complete Rookie Standings
Complete Driver Standings
Coulter 2011 Season Results
"It's unbelievable that we're here, just an unbelievable feeling to have that title," Coulter said. "I've been close to winning rookies of the year before, but this is so worth the wait -- definitely the coolest thing, most meaningful thing that's happened in my career."
Coulter had been a front-runner in the ARCA Racing Series, where he first battled with Kligerman, but 2011 was his first full-time foray into NASCAR, and he landed with both feet firmly planted. He was seventh in the final standings, with five top-five finishes and 13 top-10s, and showed -- most notably through fender scraping battles with such notables as Kyle Busch -- that he would back down from no one.
"We just were able to stay out of trouble most of the year," Coulter said of his biggest key for success. "The guys did an amazing job on pit road keeping me in the front when we were up there, and if we weren't already up front, they did a great job picking up spots getting us there.
"The equipment coming out of RCR is just ... it's unbelievable. I'm pretty sure we had zero mechanical failures this year, and that's huge for anything. It paid off for us in the rookie of the year, it paid off for the 3 [Dillon] winning the championship.
"I think that's one thing that RCR is so good at, is just every tiny little detail that goes into that truck, they make sure they go over it two or three times, and the trucks just ... they're so reliable. They're fast every weekend. And like I said, the team that was behind me, the entire 22 team just stayed in there and worked hard all year."
A cool side note to Coulter's award is it's the first NASCAR award for his crew chief, Harold Holly, since a dominating Nationwide Series championship score with Jeff Green in 2000. His insight was just one of many bits of minutiae Coulter said he acquired, and looks forward to applying next season.
"I've learned so much this year it's unbelievable," Coulter said. "I really didn't think I could learn that much. But just learning how to race with guys like Kevin [Harvick], I mean, that's been ... every time I can get behind a Cup driver, it's huge, just seeing the little things.
"It's not ever usually anything huge, it's tiny little things that I've kind of picked up all throughout the year. I've gotten to race with Kyle [Busch] really hard a few times, just things like that -- tiny little things that you pick up. I can't even describe them, but just small little things that just add up at the end of the year."
Man it is so cool to see these Kids do well. FASTRUCK's FASTKIDS has another one to be proud of. CONGRATS to Joey and his FAMILY and TEAM!!!!!
Now we've had a chance to see:
Joey Lagano, Aric Almirloa, Joey Coulter, Ross Chastain, Blake Koch, Ricky Moxley all get a shot at the BIG THREE Series in our SPORT!!!! Hope I didn't leave anyone out. We are proud of all of them. And there's more still coming!!!!
GOoooo NASCAR GOoooo!!!!!!! The next Generation sure looks GREAT!!!! Just 81 DAYS LEFT YEAH!!!!!!!
Coulter gets early Christmas present
From the Notebook: Truck award thrills rookie;
By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
December 01, 2011 7:40 AM, EST
Joey Coulter scored an early Christmas present, along with a unique twin score for Richard Childress Racing by achieving what the 21-year-old called "the biggest accomplishment" of his racing career, the 2011 Camping World Truck Series rookie of the year award.
Coulter eclipsed the most notable assembly of rookies in any of NASCAR's three national tours this season -- including Nelson Piquet Jr., Parker Kligerman, Cole Whitt and Miguel Paludo -- and followed his 2011 series champion teammate, Austin Dillon, who was the 2010 rookie award winner.
Truck Series
2011 Rookie Standings
Pos. Driver Behind
1. Joey Coulter --
2. Nelson Piquet Jr. -5
3. Cole Whitt -17
4. Parker Kligerman -34
5. Miguel Paludo -46
6. Johanna Long -129
7. Craig Goess -178
Complete Rookie Standings
Complete Driver Standings
Coulter 2011 Season Results
"It's unbelievable that we're here, just an unbelievable feeling to have that title," Coulter said. "I've been close to winning rookies of the year before, but this is so worth the wait -- definitely the coolest thing, most meaningful thing that's happened in my career."
Coulter had been a front-runner in the ARCA Racing Series, where he first battled with Kligerman, but 2011 was his first full-time foray into NASCAR, and he landed with both feet firmly planted. He was seventh in the final standings, with five top-five finishes and 13 top-10s, and showed -- most notably through fender scraping battles with such notables as Kyle Busch -- that he would back down from no one.
"We just were able to stay out of trouble most of the year," Coulter said of his biggest key for success. "The guys did an amazing job on pit road keeping me in the front when we were up there, and if we weren't already up front, they did a great job picking up spots getting us there.
"The equipment coming out of RCR is just ... it's unbelievable. I'm pretty sure we had zero mechanical failures this year, and that's huge for anything. It paid off for us in the rookie of the year, it paid off for the 3 [Dillon] winning the championship.
"I think that's one thing that RCR is so good at, is just every tiny little detail that goes into that truck, they make sure they go over it two or three times, and the trucks just ... they're so reliable. They're fast every weekend. And like I said, the team that was behind me, the entire 22 team just stayed in there and worked hard all year."
A cool side note to Coulter's award is it's the first NASCAR award for his crew chief, Harold Holly, since a dominating Nationwide Series championship score with Jeff Green in 2000. His insight was just one of many bits of minutiae Coulter said he acquired, and looks forward to applying next season.
"I've learned so much this year it's unbelievable," Coulter said. "I really didn't think I could learn that much. But just learning how to race with guys like Kevin [Harvick], I mean, that's been ... every time I can get behind a Cup driver, it's huge, just seeing the little things.
"It's not ever usually anything huge, it's tiny little things that I've kind of picked up all throughout the year. I've gotten to race with Kyle [Busch] really hard a few times, just things like that -- tiny little things that you pick up. I can't even describe them, but just small little things that just add up at the end of the year."
Man it is so cool to see these Kids do well. FASTRUCK's FASTKIDS has another one to be proud of. CONGRATS to Joey and his FAMILY and TEAM!!!!!
Now we've had a chance to see:
Joey Lagano, Aric Almirloa, Joey Coulter, Ross Chastain, Blake Koch, Ricky Moxley all get a shot at the BIG THREE Series in our SPORT!!!! Hope I didn't leave anyone out. We are proud of all of them. And there's more still coming!!!!
GOoooo NASCAR GOoooo!!!!!!! The next Generation sure looks GREAT!!!! Just 81 DAYS LEFT YEAH!!!!!!!
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