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Quiroga Making His Mark

Three-time Mexico Series champ eyes Camping World Truck ride

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – German Quiroga is trying to show people that the NASCAR Mexico Series can be a proving ground for the next wave of NASCAR stars.

Quiroga was recognized along with five other NASCAR touring series champions at the Grand Champions Awards ceremony Charlotte Convention Center on Saturday morning. Quiroga, who made two Camping World Truck Series starts this season, won his third consecutive Mexico Series title in 2011.

“That's what our goal is – that everybody sees that if you are a Mexican champion, you're going to start going into the bigger series,” said the 31-year-old Quiroga, who won three races this season. “The K&N (Pro) Series is a great series, but we've already been there. I think for younger kids it's fine, but I think we have to think even higher.

“Our goal is to open the window to people who want to come to the Trucks and then maybe after the Nationwide Series in a few years. I think if we're doing great, it's going to be easier for them to get into those series.”

Federico Alaman is the the sports marketing director for OCESA – one of the largest entertainment companies in Mexico. He's a big supporter of NASCAR racing in Mexico and believes that – despite a passionate motorsports fan base in the country already – NASCAR is just starting to take hold.

The sky is the proverbial limit.

“We're really looking forward on the long-term basis,” Alaman said Saturday. “The fans just receive the sport really good. I think there's huge knowledge of the sport in a very short time period. We have been eight years with the format, but just five years with NASCAR – and right now, the exposure we have not only in Mexico, but in Latin America, too, is huge. I think the future for our sport is big.”

Quiroga ran five K&N Pro Series East races in 2007, but thedriver's career has taken off in his home country. He hasn't finished outside of the top two in the final standings in each of the last five seasons, and he's won nine races over his last three championships seasons.

Alaman believes Quiroga is the ideal face of the series.

“German is a great kid. Very talented,” Alaman said. “We're really looking forward to putting together a project for him in the U.S. I think he deserves it. He's a great quality driver. He's very talented, and I'm really looking forward to having him in the U.S. in the Truck Series in order to have a better success for him in his career.”

Quiroga said that the championship has been harder to come by as the years past, as Mexican teams gain a better understanding of NASCAR and as fans have also come to understand the sport better.

“It's rhythm,” Quiroga said. “At the beginning, the races were short in time, but also short in laps because of accidents – stupid accidents, not things that happen when you're racing. We were used to very short races, like Formula 1. All the drivers were thinking of it as a different (type) of racing. Now that we've learned the rules and learned about pit stops and everyone has better strategies during the races, I think that's helped with a lot of the races.

“The fans didn't know what was happening at the beginning. Now they understand what's happening. They understand that if someone doesn't come in for pit stops, that's why he's in first place – all kinds of stuff like that. Everyone has caught what it is with NASCAR, and everyone has done a better job.”

SPORTSMANSHIP COUNTS: Andy Seuss was this year's recipient of the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour Sportsmanship Award. The New Hampshire native said that he was especially honored to be chosen.

“I was actually caught off-guard, because it does mean a lot to me,” said Seuss. “When you look at the people that have won it in the past, it's pretty cool. It's about people that help other people out and stay calm under conditions that they probably didn't want to arise.

“We had some situations this year that I really thought put me out of this award, but I guess I must have handled them better than I thought. It's pretty cool. Out of all the awards, I guess I have a little bit of respect among officials and whoever else goes into voting for this. It really does mean a lot. It means a lot to me to be part of this NASCAR community, so it's pretty cool to be thought of as the Sportsman of the Year.”

Seuss said that breaking into the Southern ranks was a challenge.

“It's a really close-knit group of people. I used to get all the time, people at autograph sessions, people that really didn't accept me,” Seuss said. “Now, I've gotten to know all of the people that maybe had questions about me coming down from the north. It's been cool getting to know them, and I think I've earned the respect of the fans. Now to have the respect of the other drivers and the officials, it's pretty neat.”

ROOKIE STRIPE: This year's NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Sunoco Rookie of the Year went to Alex Bowman, but Bowman hardly took a traditional route to the award.

Bowman drove for a total of three teams in 2011, not knowing from race to race whether he'd even have a ride.

“It was a learning experience,” Bowman said. “I got to work with quite a few different people, a few different crew chiefs and a few different teams. I just had a lot of fun with it – got to work with a lot of great guys and I appreciate everybody's support.”

Though Bowman didn't win a race this year, he did win a pair of ARCA events, including his series debut at Madison International Raceway. He said that having the opportunity to race stock cars on tracks like New Hampshire, Dover and Richmond helped his career immensely.

“We got to go to some really cool race tracks, that was probably the biggest thing for me. That was a blast,” said the Tucson, Ariz., native and graduate of sprint-car racing. “You can race a lot harder in these cars than you can in anything I've ever driven before in open-wheel cars. So that was a lot of fun.”

NEXT STEP: Joe Gibbs Racing development driver Darrell Wallace Jr. will compete for the team full-time in the K&N Pro Series East in 2012, as well as run six NASCAR Nationwide Series events for the team after two full seasons with Revolution Racing.

Wallace, who finished second in the 2011 standings, is excited about the upcoming season.

“I'm really looking forward to jumping in the 18 car,” said Wallace, who has five career K&N Pro Series wins. “It's been strong the last couple of years I've ran against it. That's pretty much been the top car to beat every time. It's going to be cool to be in the driver's seat, I'll just have to get used to the new number.

“It's the same goal as everything – go out there and win the championship, win some races and make a name for myself. Hopefully, I can land some more Nationwide races or maybe some Truck stuff with Kyle (Busch) or something. You never know.”