Mission Accomplished Again For Silas At Kentucky

Topics:  Bryan Silas, WLWT Channel 5-150

Chris Knight
Fast Track Racing
July 18, 2007

“ Florida Native Grabs NCTS Career Best”

SPARTA, Kentucky (July 18, 2007) - - Tackling a top-10 finish on Friday night driving his familiar No. 11 Nortrax-Palm Beach Grading Ford Fusion in the ARCA RE/MAX Series, Bryan Silas turned all concentration towards the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series as the newbie looked to attract a smooth and solid finish in his third NCTS start.

Before becoming full focused on the trucks, Silas would have to juggle practice in both ARCA and NASCAR on Friday. Silas was utilizing the Built Ford Tough 225 to gain experience and knowledge about the truck while planning to complete all 150 laps.

In the first practice session of the day, Silas clicked off the 35th fastest lap with a time of 34.446 seconds at 156.767 MPH. “The truck is not really good right now. We had a similar setup from Kansas Speedway (our truck debut), but we’re struggling a lit bit with it. The guys will make some changes and we’ll see if we can pick up the pace during the rest of the day.”

During the rookie practice session, Silas found some additional speed after turning the 10th quickest lap overall during the half-hour session after mounting a lap of 33.503 seconds at 161.180 MPH. “See, the changes are working. Each time we can gather laps in a truck, the more we are learning. I know we’re not setting the world on fire, but we’re doing everything that we can to make our Kentucky trip a memorable one.”

The final practice session leading up to Bud pole qualifying allowed a final chance for the Fast Track Racing team to tweak the No. 71 Chevrolet Silverado hoping to find some more speed that would enable Silas to find his groove in time trials.

Once again, the consistency paid off for the Fast Track Racing team as Silas stepped up to the plate and produced his strongest practice time heading into qualifying. During Happy Hour, Silas roared around Kentucky Speedway in a time of 32.751 seconds amounting to a speed of 164.880 MPH, putting him 32nd on the rundown.

“Our truck was fastest as nightfall was approaching and that’s positive for us,” said Silas after practice. We’re setting up the truck to run strong tomorrow night, hopefully we can have a solid qualifying lap and have a good clean race.”

Bud pole qualifying commenced on Saturday. Silas was excited to be racing again at Kentucky Speedway knowing that less than 24 hours prior, he tackled the ARCA field to net a career best eighth in one of the most competitive fields ever recorded at the 1.5-mile track.

During his two lap hustle around Kentucky Speedway Saturday afternoon, Silas turned a lap of 32.851 seconds equaling a speed of 164.379, just a bit slower than his final practice run the night before. His lap would garnish him the 32nd starting spot, the third NCTS start of his career.

At the start of the race, Silas quickly jumped into the top-30 where he remained for much of the race. Knowing he didn’t have a truck capable of winning on Saturday night, Silas had bigger goals. Learning the track, watching his competitors and logging laps.

Despite battling a handling problem most noticeable coming off turn two, Silas continued to dig and fought for every position.

Silas steadily worked his way through the running order and when the checkered flag flew, Silas was credited with 25th, his career best finish.

“It was a quiet night, but we did everything we planned to do. The main goal competing in the truck races is to finish. We’ve been able to do that except for at Lowes’ when we fell victim to motor failure. Tonight was a good night. I learned an awful lot. I watched Todd Bodine come from the back to the front a couple of times and I know in time, we will be able to do that. We are just taking baby steps right now. We have to crawl before we can walk. I really think the next race we attempt to run we’ll be able to run solidly in the top-20.”

Silas added, “I want to thank everyone who made this race possible. The guys in the shop worked their tails off. Thanks to Nortrax, Fast Track High Performance Driving School and Palm Beach Grading for believing in me, good things are coming to this truck team, I feel it.”

Silas next scheduled NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event will be announced at a later date.

For more on Bryan Silas please visit, BryanSilasRacing.com

Visit Fast Track Racing on the web at, FastTrackRacing.com

MEDIA CONTACT:

NAME: Chris Knight, Fast Track Racing
PHONE: 239.834.9797
EMAIL: knight849@aol.com