Bryan Silas Feeling The ARCA Love Heading To Salem

Topics:  Bryan Silas, Eddie Gilstrap Motors 200

Chris Knight
Fast Track Racing
September 11, 2008

SALEM, Indiana (September 11, 2008) - - On an extreme wave of momentum and still riding high on his career-best sixth place run last Saturday afternoon at Chicagoland Speedway, ARCA RE/MAX Series driver Bryan Silas returns this weekend to one of his favorite tracks on the circuit, Salem Speedway.

The recent amount of success in the ARCA RE/MAX Series has rejuvenated the Stuart, Florida native’s confidence with an eye on notching his second straight top-10 run at Salem Speedway Saturday night.

In the second race of the season, Silas battled adversity and bounced back from a late race tangle to record a second consecutive eighth place finish at the .555 speedway.

“It’s Salem baby,” said the 21-year old rising star. “We haven’t really qualified well at Salem Speedway in the past, but we have minded our “p’s” and “q’s” and that has awarded our Fast Track Racing team with two top-10 finishes in the last four races.

"We're going to try and make it three for three. This time we're looking for a little more. We racked up a sixth place finish in the last race and my goal is to finish even better at Salem this weekend."

Pointed out as one of the hottest drivers currently on the ARCA tour, Silas knows that his momentum could easily be crumbled Saturday night, but the avid racecar driver isn’t looking at Salem that way. Instead he’s looking at the event as a challenge. A challenge that can be conquered.

“Some drivers are petrified of Salem ,” sounded Silas. “I’ll admit, it’s a fast place for being so small but you have to live on the edge there. If you aren’t hugging yourself up to the wall in turns three and four, you aren’t pushing it enough. As a team we’re heading into the event with the same mentality we have each time we come to Salem , do the best you can.

“You can’t control the awful things that sometimes happen at Salem , that’s just the nature of the beast,” explained Silas. “Fortunately, for the most part we’ve been able to overcome the odds and put ourselves near the front. We’ll try and continue that Saturday night.”

With his impressive performances lately, Silas has also climbed the ARCA RE/MAX Series point’s ladder with the Fast Track Racing development driver holding 11th in the standings just 15 markers ahead of 12th place competitor Dexter Bean.

“We’ve worked extremely hard to move up in the standings and we’re a little closer to 10th. We still have some work to do and there’s pressure ahead and pressure behind, so it’s not going to be an easy task, but we are not going down without a fight. The goal is to keep our points position intact leaving Salem Saturday night.

Nortrax, Shell Rotella T, Holland Pump, Oasis, Palm Beach Grading (PBG) and Rockingham Speedway will all sponsor the No. 11 Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the 18th event on the 2008 ARCA calendar.

“I think that Salem is one of the best races of the year, yet it doesn’t receive any live television coverage. It doesn’t make any sense to me. I can tell you this though; it will be a great show for the fans. The stands are always filled and I expect to see the same on Saturday night.”

Entering Salem, Silas has 46 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 eighth at Kentucky Speedway (May 2008), Iowa Speedway (April 2008), Salem Speedway (April 2007 and April 2008) and Kentucky Speedway (July 2007) 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.

The Eddie Gilstrap Motors 200 by Advance Auto Parts (110 miles/200 laps) is the 18th of 21 events on the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series schedule. The second ARCA race of the season at Salem Speedway is a one-day show. Practice begins Saturday September 13 with an hour and a half practice session planned from 1:05 p.m.- 2:35 p.m. ARCA SIM Factory pole qualifying is slated to begin at 4:00 p.m. The field will take the green flag shortly after 7:15 p.m. The event will be tape-delayed on MavTV (Friday, September 19 at 8:00 p.m.) but additional race coverage including live timing and scoring and radio courtesy of the ARCA Radio Network will be available online at arcaracing.com. All times are local.

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