Bryan Silas Delivers Another Top-10 Effort At Salem Speedway

Topics:  Bryan Silas, Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200

Chris Knight
Fast Track Racing
April 8, 2009

SALEM, Indiana (April 8, 2009) - - Looking at Bryan Silas’s previous spring results at Salem Speedway it would be hard not to bet on an eighth place finish in Sunday’s Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200 by Federated Car Care. And on Sunday, an eighth place finish is exactly what Silas delivered in the second race of the 2009 ARCA RE/MAX Series season.

The rough and tumble Salem Speedway is well-known for being Silas’s favorite track on the schedule and it showed early in the race weekend.

In the single practice session of the weekend, Silas immediately threw his No. 11 Rockingham Speedway-PBG Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS into the top-10 and there it remained with the Stuart, Florida native locking down the ninth position overall.

“This car is bad fast,” said Silas, who drives for 1995 ARCA RE/MAX Series champion Andy Hillenburg. “Cal (Boprey, crew chief) really put a great setup underneath our Chevrolet and I cannot wait for the rest of the weekend.”

Unfortunately, Silas wasn’t able to back up his practice effort in ARCA qualifying, but don’t blame the 21-year old driver for the mishap. As he entered turns three and four on his time trials lap the throttle hung which caused Silas’s machine to break loose on the high side forcing the developmental driver to back out of the gas to gain control.

Silas’s lap of 18.143 seconds at 110.125 miles per hour fitted him 15th on the starting grid. “Well, I wasn’t expecting that but it’s okay, because the car is still in good shape. I’m looking forward to the race and hope we can bring home a good finish.” Silas though would have his work cut out for him as changes made to his machine during post-qualifying impound forced the Stuart, Florida native to relinquish his original starting position and start the first of two Salem Speedway events this season from shotgun on the field Sunday afternoon.

Throughout the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200 by Federated Car Care, Silas’s No. 11 machine remained stout in the top-10 and in contention to move into the top-five.

A hiccup though on lap 77 saw Silas and rookie Tim George, Jr. make contact on the frontstretch with George getting the worst end of the stick while Silas was able to drive away from the scene and bring his machine to pit road for damage control.

With a mangled but still competitive racecar Silas had to use the rest of the race to keep his machine into the top-10 and even a little pit strategy from Boprey paid off by allowing Silas to collect his 11th career top-10 finish.

“This was the best car I’ve ever had at Salem,” sounded Silas. “I’m proud of the entire Fast Track Racing team. Cal made some great calls today and while we didn’t have the car to beat today, I’ll take a top-10 finish any day. It’s a great way to put our season back on track.”

With the finish Silas returns to the top-10 in the ARCA RE/MAX Series point standings and sits ninth in the championship standings at 300 markers sitting 155 points behind leader Justin Lofton.

Next up for the ARCA RE/MAX Series is the first of two trips to Rockingham Speedway for the Carolina 200 set for Sunday, April 19th. Silas is a pre-favorite for the third ARCA race of the season.

Exiting Salem, Silas has 52 ARCA RE/MAX Series starts to his credit with a career best finish of sixth at Chicagoland Speedway (September 2008) with additional top-10 performances of seventh at Toledo Speedway (October 2008), eighth at Kentucky Speedway (July 2007, May 2008), Iowa Speedway (April 2008), Salem Speedway (April 2007, April 2008 and April 2009) a ninth at Salem Speedway (September 2008) and a 10th at USA International Speedway (March 2007) and DuQuoin State Fairgrounds (September 2008). He holds a career best short track time trials effort of seventh at Berlin Raceway (July 2007). A fourth place qualifying effort at Pocono Raceway (June 2007) is Silas's best speedway run to date. He has controlled the ARCA field for 26 laps in three races.

For more on Bryan Silas please visit, BryanSilasRacing.com
Visit Fast Track Racing on the web at, FastTrackRacing.com
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