Alex Tagliani, a former Indianapolis 500 pole winner who has raced selected NASCAR road course events, told motorsport.com that he’d like to run some oval races in any of NASCAR’s national series.
Tagliani scored a pair of top-five finishes for Team Penske in the Xfinity road course events he drove last year. He rallied to place second at Road America and was fifth at Mid-Ohio. Tagliani has made six career series starts with five on road courses and one at Phoenix in 2009 that lasted only 14 laps before mechanical issues. He won the pole for the Camping World Truck Series event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for Brad Keselowski Racing before finishing 16th last year.
Tagliani, who owns a Canadian Tire Series team and has competed in one of the first two races this season, told motorsport.com how he’d like to run ovals in NASCAR even if it was the Camping World Truck Series.
“If I can get that chance and make the same statement I do when I run road courses, maybe they’re going to say ‘well this freaking guy can drive freaking ovals,’ said Tagliani, who is 41 years old.
Tagliani also said that he plans to run a few more Xfinity races for Team Penske but would like to do a full season in that series.
“You may think, Xfinity is a step below Sprint Cup, but I would race it full-time for the next 10 years if I had that chance with Penske,’’ Tagliani told motorsport.com I really enjoyed the car, the challenge and the team. It’s a highlight of my career to be able to work with them and jump in that car and contribute to a championship for Roger (Penske).’’