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JUSTIN LOFTON SETTLES IN WITH GERMAIN RACING
JUSTIN LOFTON SETTLES IN WITH GERMAIN RACING
http://www.toyotaracing.com/motorsports/ncwts/news/2011/01-20-11-01...
Two of the more commonly asked questions of any driver who moves to a new team are, ‘How did this deal come together?’ and ‘How well do you get along with your new teammate or teammates?’
In the case of Justin Lofton, who will drive Germain Racing’s No. 77 Toyota Tundra for his second year of competition in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2011, both of those questions were answered at one time.
“Me and (2010 Truck Series champion) Todd (Bodine) became friends,” says Lofton (pictured on the right next to Bodine on the left). “About Dover, he started kind of helping me out and I went to him more and more each race. More and more, he started giving me advice on the racetrack.
“He started asking me, ‘What are your plans for 2011?’ I said, ‘I’m not quite sure right now.’ He kind of suggested, ‘Hey, I’m going to talk to the Hillmans (Mike Sr. is Germain Racing’s general manager and Mike Jr. is the crew chief of the No. 30 Tundra Bodine drives) and the Germains (team co-owners Steve, Bob and Rick Germain) and see if they have room for you over here.’ It was just kind of a natural transition. I started talking with Mike Hillman Sr. at the races and became friends. They called me up after Homestead and said, ‘Look, let’s do this deal and go racing together.’”
Close relationships between drivers on the same team are not a new phenomenon, but it is fairly unique for one driver to lobby his team to specifically hire another driver to be his teammate. However, it’s obvious that Bodine saw something special in Lofton, who is a native of Westmorland, California.
"I'm really excited about having Justin as a teammate at Germain Racing as we've become friends over the last season,” said Bodine in the team’s news release announcing the addition of Lofton. “He's a real good kid and I think he's got real potential as a race car driver. I'm looking forward to Justin's input and seeing him grow as a driver."
The fact that Bodine is so openly willing to mentor Lofton says a lot about the two-time Truck champion. It also says a lot about the Truck Series as a whole, which features a nice mix of veteran racers who have been “to the mountaintop” in the Sprint Cup Series and are now racing alongside young rising stars like the 24-year-old Lofton.
“That’s what makes for great racing is you have young talent and you have veterans that have been there,” Lofton says. “They’ve been Cup racing and they’ve won championships. The cool thing is, all those guys are open books. You don’t go to them and they push you off. If you ask them a question, they’ll give you an answer.
“Whether you like it or not, they’re going to give it to you and they’re going to give it the way that they’ve been taught and the way that they race. It really makes for great racing. For any young, up-and-coming driver, it’s a great series if you can go there and race all 25 races, because you get to know those guys and they help you out every step of the way.”
Lofton learned a lot last year in his first Truck Series season aboard the No. 7 Tundra for Red Horse Racing after winning the ARCA championship in 2009. He finished 12th in the overall championship standings and finished second to Austin Dillon in the race for Rookie of the Year honors. He had four top-five finishes and a total of eight top 10s in 2010.
“I kind of grade myself at a C average, maybe C-plus average,” says Lofton of his rookie season in the Truck Series. “Especially coming from the 2009 ARCA season and knowing what I can do and what I’ve done. Going in, it was a big learning curve, but I put myself in bad positions and we paid for them, ultimately.”
He’s obviously looking for much bigger things in 2011 with Germain Racing, which brought Bodine his second Truck Series championship last season. Bodine also won the Truck title with Germain in 2006, so Lofton knows the team can get it done.
“I know I’ve got to work for wins,” Lofton says. “I know I’m with a team that knows how to win races and is capable of winning races. Definitely, I need to win some races this year, for myself and for my career and for the Germains. Going out there and being competitive every weekend is probably what I’m most concerned about.
“I want to go out there and I want to be a threat for a top five every weekend and if you slip up, I’m there for a win. Not just a kind of ‘Oh, he’s going to run 10th to seventh’ kind of thing. I think that’s where my expectations are at and I definitely foresee a top five in year-end points.”
Lofton will actually be part of a four-truck Germain Racing team in 2011, alongside Bodine, Max Papis and Brendan Gaughan. He sees that as being a key to his own success, as well as the success of the whole team.
“It’s all of us working together,” Lofton says. “We have four trucks going to every race. At a track that Todd might not be strong at, Brendan might be strong at it, and when he’s not strong, hopefully I’m strong. I think us working together is going to have a lot to do with our individual performance and our team performance.”
Lofton is hoping that the team’s performance remains top of mind for him well into the future. After all, Germain Racing also fields programs in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and the Sprint Cup Series in addition to the mammoth Truck Series effort. He sees Germain Racing as a potential long-term home for him.
“I definitely do,” he says. “That’s just how the relationship is that we have already. All our goals are in line with each other, which really helps out. When we show up to a racetrack every weekend and we approach different situations, if we’re all thinking the same way, it really helps. It keeps me down the right path and really boosts my career.
“It’s really cool, because they have Nationwide cars, they have Cup cars and they really want to boost their Cup involvement. With Todd there and myself there, we should be able to draw some sponsors to come in and really take the Cup program to the next level. It’s a team that, if all works out right, I really don’t have to go anywhere. I can stay with them every step of the way and really grow with them and hopefully win a Cup championship for them someday.”
http://www.toyotaracing.com/motorsports/ncwts/news/2011/01-20-11-01...
Two of the more commonly asked questions of any driver who moves to a new team are, ‘How did this deal come together?’ and ‘How well do you get along with your new teammate or teammates?’
In the case of Justin Lofton, who will drive Germain Racing’s No. 77 Toyota Tundra for his second year of competition in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2011, both of those questions were answered at one time.
“Me and (2010 Truck Series champion) Todd (Bodine) became friends,” says Lofton (pictured on the right next to Bodine on the left). “About Dover, he started kind of helping me out and I went to him more and more each race. More and more, he started giving me advice on the racetrack.
“He started asking me, ‘What are your plans for 2011?’ I said, ‘I’m not quite sure right now.’ He kind of suggested, ‘Hey, I’m going to talk to the Hillmans (Mike Sr. is Germain Racing’s general manager and Mike Jr. is the crew chief of the No. 30 Tundra Bodine drives) and the Germains (team co-owners Steve, Bob and Rick Germain) and see if they have room for you over here.’ It was just kind of a natural transition. I started talking with Mike Hillman Sr. at the races and became friends. They called me up after Homestead and said, ‘Look, let’s do this deal and go racing together.’”
Close relationships between drivers on the same team are not a new phenomenon, but it is fairly unique for one driver to lobby his team to specifically hire another driver to be his teammate. However, it’s obvious that Bodine saw something special in Lofton, who is a native of Westmorland, California.
"I'm really excited about having Justin as a teammate at Germain Racing as we've become friends over the last season,” said Bodine in the team’s news release announcing the addition of Lofton. “He's a real good kid and I think he's got real potential as a race car driver. I'm looking forward to Justin's input and seeing him grow as a driver."
The fact that Bodine is so openly willing to mentor Lofton says a lot about the two-time Truck champion. It also says a lot about the Truck Series as a whole, which features a nice mix of veteran racers who have been “to the mountaintop” in the Sprint Cup Series and are now racing alongside young rising stars like the 24-year-old Lofton.
“That’s what makes for great racing is you have young talent and you have veterans that have been there,” Lofton says. “They’ve been Cup racing and they’ve won championships. The cool thing is, all those guys are open books. You don’t go to them and they push you off. If you ask them a question, they’ll give you an answer.
“Whether you like it or not, they’re going to give it to you and they’re going to give it the way that they’ve been taught and the way that they race. It really makes for great racing. For any young, up-and-coming driver, it’s a great series if you can go there and race all 25 races, because you get to know those guys and they help you out every step of the way.”
Lofton learned a lot last year in his first Truck Series season aboard the No. 7 Tundra for Red Horse Racing after winning the ARCA championship in 2009. He finished 12th in the overall championship standings and finished second to Austin Dillon in the race for Rookie of the Year honors. He had four top-five finishes and a total of eight top 10s in 2010.
“I kind of grade myself at a C average, maybe C-plus average,” says Lofton of his rookie season in the Truck Series. “Especially coming from the 2009 ARCA season and knowing what I can do and what I’ve done. Going in, it was a big learning curve, but I put myself in bad positions and we paid for them, ultimately.”
He’s obviously looking for much bigger things in 2011 with Germain Racing, which brought Bodine his second Truck Series championship last season. Bodine also won the Truck title with Germain in 2006, so Lofton knows the team can get it done.
“I know I’ve got to work for wins,” Lofton says. “I know I’m with a team that knows how to win races and is capable of winning races. Definitely, I need to win some races this year, for myself and for my career and for the Germains. Going out there and being competitive every weekend is probably what I’m most concerned about.
“I want to go out there and I want to be a threat for a top five every weekend and if you slip up, I’m there for a win. Not just a kind of ‘Oh, he’s going to run 10th to seventh’ kind of thing. I think that’s where my expectations are at and I definitely foresee a top five in year-end points.”
Lofton will actually be part of a four-truck Germain Racing team in 2011, alongside Bodine, Max Papis and Brendan Gaughan. He sees that as being a key to his own success, as well as the success of the whole team.
“It’s all of us working together,” Lofton says. “We have four trucks going to every race. At a track that Todd might not be strong at, Brendan might be strong at it, and when he’s not strong, hopefully I’m strong. I think us working together is going to have a lot to do with our individual performance and our team performance.”
Lofton is hoping that the team’s performance remains top of mind for him well into the future. After all, Germain Racing also fields programs in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and the Sprint Cup Series in addition to the mammoth Truck Series effort. He sees Germain Racing as a potential long-term home for him.
“I definitely do,” he says. “That’s just how the relationship is that we have already. All our goals are in line with each other, which really helps out. When we show up to a racetrack every weekend and we approach different situations, if we’re all thinking the same way, it really helps. It keeps me down the right path and really boosts my career.
“It’s really cool, because they have Nationwide cars, they have Cup cars and they really want to boost their Cup involvement. With Todd there and myself there, we should be able to draw some sponsors to come in and really take the Cup program to the next level. It’s a team that, if all works out right, I really don’t have to go anywhere. I can stay with them every step of the way and really grow with them and hopefully win a Cup championship for them someday.”
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