Patrick Carpentier glad to be back in stock car, exploring options for rest of '09
DARLINGTON, S.C. – Patrick Carpentier was back in a NASCAR stock car this weekend, and he hopes he can return for some more races.
Carpentier was a last-minute replacement for David Green in SK Motorsports’ No. 07 Nationwide Series Toyota at Darlington Raceway, making his first start of 2009.
He finished 17th in Friday night’s Diamond Hill Plywood 200 in what is a one-race deal, for now.
“They called me last Friday and said, ‘Well, we’re thinking down the road to make a change and see what happens,’” Carpentier said before the race. “I didn’t hear nothing, and then on Tuesday, they said, ‘Well, do you want to race this weekend?’”
Carpentier’s voice then rises: “Yeah, for sure.”
Carpentier was a rookie in the Sprint Cup Series last year, starting the season with the team now known as Richard Petty Motorsports. But he was let go before the end of the season and has been out of work since.
He’s been frustrated by sitting on the sidelines, knowing that seat time is the only way he can improve in stock cars after spending most of his career in open-wheel.
“It was a little bit because I know it takes a few years,” Carpentier said. “You don’t come here and start setting the world on fire when you come from open-wheel. You’ve got a lot to learn. It’s a tough sport, and there’s so many things to learn with the cars. We don’t have computers and data. You’ve got to go with the seat of your pants, and that’s what takes the longest, truly to know what you want in the race car.”
He wishes he would have gotten at least another year in Cup, and he cites Penske Racing’s Sam Hornish Jr. as an example of a driving who is improving from his rookie season.
“You look at Sam Hornish,” Carpentier said. “He was struggling last [year] and is starting to run pretty good now. It’s just time, and I wish I would’ve had more time.”
Could he get more in the Nationwide Series this year? He does have at least one more race scheduled, at Montreal for Michael Waltrip Racing. Carpentier said he’s talking to some other Nationwide teams, including the first-year SK Motorsports team.
“We’re talking, we’re pushing. And we’re talking to a couple more teams also," he said. "We’ll see, but just being here and being in a car – finally – always helps.”
