TOYOTA NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Mike Bliss & Tayler Malsam — Notes & Quotes Auto Club Speedway – March 23, 2012
MIKE BLISS, No. 44 Doubletree Claremont Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports How has your season been so far? “The start of the season was Daytona and we ended up in a basket with about 30 cars. We started off the season really bad, I think we were 39th in points. After that point, we’ve steadily had pretty good finishes and now we’re at our fourth race. We’ve been having steady finishes.”
How has your past experience in the NCWTS helped you in your career? “I was fortunate to work with you (Amanda Ellis) in the Truck Series. You probably want to hear that. Pat yourself on the back. The Truck Series has been a great starting point for all of us drivers. It’s not really a starting point, it’s just where we started and raced there in the Camping World Truck Series. I’ve ran here a lot of times and I’ve won here once in a Truck. I just think the Truck Series really helped a lot in my career and where I started in NASCAR.”
What are your future racing goals in NASCAR? “Well, I’ve been doing some Sprint Cup races and I’m actually running one here. My career has kind of been weird — it’s been all over the place. I’ve never really landed any where. I’m kind of happy that way. I’m kind of every where, in the Camping World Truck Series, Nationwide and doing some Cup racing. I kind of just bounce around. Would I love to be just in the Sprint Cup Series and running that full-time? Yeah, that would be nice, but I enjoy what I’m doing right now. I enjoy bouncing around.”
Do you think NASCAR will ever bring Electronic Fuel Injection to the NNS? “I think definitely that’s a future that we’re probably going to be headed towards. I don’t know if it’s going to be next year or the year after. It’s quite a bit of money to change these cars over to that. I think in the Sprint Cup Series they pretty well have a handle on it. Surprisingly everything seems to be going good. We’ve ran into some problems, but it’s just stupid stuff putting stuff together, you have to be a little better putting stuff together a little smarter. It will definitely come over here, if its next year or the year after. I’m sure we’ll be running the fuel injection.”
Are you doing anything fun for the off-weeks? “I’m going to Martinsville.”
TAYLER MALSAM, No. 19 G-Oil Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports How has your season been so far? “We had a good finish at Daytona, stayed out of trouble there. The team has been working really hard all year. Like Mike (Bliss) said, we’ve had steady finishes and have finished races — that’s the key in this series. I think we’ll just keep going forward and hopefully stay in the top-10 in points.”
How has your past experience in the NCWTS helped you in your career? “I’ve ran all the tracks. I’ve been here in the Trucks once and at other tracks we’ve been in the Trucks, too. It’s a good learning experience there and helped me a lot in the Nationwide car. They don’t drive at all the same, but for the most part its still a race car and still the same track.”
Are you doing anything fun for the off-weeks? “I’m going to Disneyland — that will be fun. That’s about it, all I’m doing.”
Is it nice to have off-weekends? “Yeah, it will be fun. My sister lives down here in San Diego, so I’ll hang out with her all week and it’s just nice getting away for a bit and staying in the same town for more than three days. Obviously in the summer when you’re in Charlotte, it’s nice because you have the lake there. I’m just a huge Disney fan, so I’m going to be out here spending as much time as I can with all those characters.”
