Rookie qualifies 39th at Texas for second Cup oval start
Papis has been able to keep the stress to a minimum thanks to strong runs at the ovals
By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
April 4, 2009
11:30 AM EDT
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Max Papis and Germain Racing have made a quantum leap in 2009 as the Italian racing veteran seeks to consummate his dream of racing in NASCAR.
Papis proved just how much he's improved as he easily qualified Friday for the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, locking his No. 13 Toyota into the field in 39th. The more telling stat was that Papis improved a full second over the time he logged last November when he failed to make the fall Texas event.
“I'm putting every single minute of my time into this and the team is doing the same, dedicating their time and that's why you see the progress.” -- MAX PAPIS
Friday at Texas, Papis spent much of the 90-minute practice in the top 10, including stretches in the top five; before ending up 18th.
"We are still very much on a learning curve, both me and the team, and this is only the second time I've tried to put it into the show this year while the other guys have been at all the other tracks," Papis said. "So we have to put in a lot of work at the shop. MWR [Michael Waltrip Racing] and my engineer Ryan Coniam have been spending hours and hours doing simulation."
Papis, whose first of three CART Indy car victories came on the oval at Homestead-Miami Speedway, made his first two Sprint Cup starts on road courses in 2008; but badly failed to make the two oval races he attempted at the end of the season.
One of those came at Texas, where his qualifying attempt was in 29.97 seconds, 1.32 seconds off the pole and in 47th place. On Friday, Papis' improvement was stark as his run was in 28.95 seconds, just .61 seconds behind pole winner David Reutimann.
Papis said his goal was to compare himself with the three MWR drivers, Reutimann, Marcos Ambrose and the team owner, who he considers his teammates.
"My reference point, in one way is Marcos Ambrose, because he's a [Sprint Cup] rookie like me," Papis said. "I'm trying to gap the two-and-a-half to three years experience he has in Truck and Nationwide in the 18 Cup races I have this year and the six Truck races. It's not easy and I'm putting every single moment that I have of my life into this; sharing the time in the Cup car with my family, in the best way that I can."
As much as it was for Papis, who made his NASCAR debut in 2006 in the Nationwide Series' Zippo 200 on the Watkins Glen road course and his oval debut later in the year at Texas, driving the same No. 36 for McGill Motorsports; the two late-season attempts were a shock for Germain general manager Mike Hillman, who's serving as Papis' crew chief this weekend.
"We're all trying to learn the Cup Series again, and in today's economy you've got to multi-task a little bit -- and I missed sitting on the box making all them calls, so that made it a little more fun," Hillman said. "We have an engineering agreement with Michael Waltrip Racing that helps us a lot and TRD [Toyota Racing Development] supports us pretty good with their engineering, shaker rig testing and that stuff.
"But we used last year as a refresher course, to kind of find out where our weak points were and what we needed to improve so coming into this year we'd know what we were up against. When you stand on the outside looking in, you might not think it's as hard as it was, and we got a rude awakening last year that it was harder than we anticipated."
Germain Racing is committed to the Sprint Cup program, as witnessed by Hillman saying "we've hired some good people," and there's also the alliance with MWR. The handful of employees dedicated to the Cup team, which has made a difference, according to Hillman, as well as getting Papis seat time in the Truck Series.
"We've stepped the program up and it's starting to show," Hillman said. "The set-ups and the way you drive 'em doesn't really compare, because the horsepower to weight ratio is so much different, but just getting him seat time is key. Max has the biggest heart of anybody that's in this garage area -- he wants this more than anything -- but he just doesn't have a lot of seat time on ovals.
"The information he's been able to give us from last year to now is really good and even the improvement from Vegas to now has been substantial. He definitely has the raw ability to do it, he's just got to take the time, and not testing this year has really hurt us, although we took him to Rockingham -- both the big and little track -- but we thought the Truck Series would be the next-best-thing."
Papis, who says he's made an equal commitment to NASCAR as he has to his wife, Tatiana and their two young children; displayed a calm precision in his practice interchanges on the radio with his crew that belied the pressure the team was under as a go-or-go-home entry.
Papis said preparation, and primarily his work with MWR engineer Coniam, who works for both Waltrip's team as well as the Germain operation, has been a key. While Hillman and Papis said the lack of testing has hurt their effort, Papis' broad experience with data acquired in Formula One, sports cars, CART and the IRL has been priceless.
"I try to be as intense about spending time at the shop as I can, not just putzing around but spending time with my engineer and my crew chief to see how we can make the car better, learning the lingo, the terminology and what does what," Papis said. "I'm trying to soak in as much as I can, without being at the race track. Racing the truck is like comparing a dirt bike to a Moto GP -- it's not even close -- but at you are racing with people in a NASCAR vehicle and that's what I like about it."
He proved his heart when he made an amazing qualifying performance at Las Vegas to make his Sprint Cup oval debut. At Martinsville last weekend, he qualified seventh for the Truck Series race -- his first NASCAR short track start, and raced well before finishing 13th.
"I'm putting every single minute of my time into this and the team is doing the same, dedicating their time and that's why you see the progress," Papis said. "That's what I love about NASCAR. I have raced everything in my life. But the intensity level that I see on this track I've never seen in anything else -- all the way down the field, from first to 43rd.
"To me a top 20 is almost like a pole position considering we have no running time, the lack of experience of me and my team. We are bridging a lot of gaps and trying to do it in a hurry but at the same time I always keep in mind what's my goal: Learning, run every lap and to get experience and have my tools for when my time is gonna come."
His next time occurs Sunday afternoon at Texas.