Nationwide: Alex Tagliani happy with progress

IndyCar driver/owner Alex Tagliani was pretty happy with the team’s work after the first day of practice for the Nationwide event in Phoenix where he finished a lonely 42nd in the first session but an unexpected 23rd in the afternoon.

For Tagliani it was a first experience on such and oval and also a first behind the wheel of a stock car but the McDonald Motorsports crew followed every indications the Canadian was able to feed them to make the No.81 Dodge more and more competitive all thru the day.

Tagliani remains optimistic for this Saturday’s qualifications round and he targets a Top 15 spot if everything goes according to plan. More than a dozen regular Sprint Cup drivers are also on the Nationwide starting grid in Phoenix.

But things could get more difficult during the race since Tagliani doesn’t have any experience in driving in racing conditions but the Las Vegas resident has a reputation of learning quickly his way around.