Bryan Silas Qualifies For O’Reilly 200

Topics:  Bryan Silas, O’Reilly 200

Chris Knight
Fast Track Racing
August 22, 2007

BRISTOL, Tennessee (August 22, 2007) - - NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) rookie Bryan Silas qualified his way into Wednesday night’s O’Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway, garnishing the rookie with his first career short track start.

After turning the fastest lap of the “go-or-go-homers” yesterday afternoon in the open practice session at BMS, the Fast Track Racing team arrived at the track Wednesday looking to keep the momentum up.

In the two practice sessions of the day, Silas mounted the 32nd and 35th fastest laps respectively.

Even though, Silas wasn't setting any record pace, the times were still strong enough to put Silas into the first NCTS event since the track had been repaved earlier this year.

During his two laps of Bud pole qualifying, Silas roared his No. 71 Shell Rotella T Chevrolet Silverado to a fast lap of 16.353 seconds at 117.336 MPH, good enough for the 33rd fastest time, but lining up 36th on the O’Reilly 200 starting grid.

After car owner and spotter Andy Hillenburg radioed to his protégé that he had qualified himself for the race on the first lap, Silas took it easy during his second qualifying lap, saving the truck for tonight’s thriller.

“I cannot tell you how excited I am about competing in tonight’s race,” said Silas, who will make his fourth career NCTS start tonight. I want to thank all my guys on the Fast Track Racing team for giving me a great truck. We fooled around yesterday with race setup and we were fast. Today, we had to concentrate and make sure we had a truck that was good enough to qualify in. It was.”

Silas added, “Now, it’s down to business. I just need to have a good race tonight. It’s all about learning and staying on the lead lap. I’m sure there is going to be some beating and banging, but I just need to finish this race. It’s not only an important race for me, my team, but also for my sponsor Shell Rotella T. I want to do them a good job and with a little luck, I think we can bring ourselves home in the top-20.”

From Bristol , Silas will hop a plane and head to Wisconsin where he’ll turn his concentration towards his primary job in the ARCA RE/MAX Series. Driving the No. 11 Nortrax-Shell Rotella T-Holland Pump-Palm Beach Grading Chevrolet Monte Carlo for FTR, the development driver will look to continue his surge in Sunday’s Governor’s Cup 200.

“No doubt that a good night in the truck will carry over to our ARCA weekend in Wisconsin ,” sounded Silas. “I am really excited about heading to The Milwaukee Mile this weekend, but I have to remember that I have a job to do here in the trucks first. I’m not going to forget that.”

The O’Reilly 200 (150 laps/225 miles) is the 16th of 25 races on the 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule. The race will be broadcasted live on the SPEED channel beginning with the pre-race show at 7:30pm local time and the main event starting at 8:00pm local time. MRN will handle the airwaves starting at 7:30pm local time. The race will also be available via Sirius satellite radio channel 128 also launching at 7:30pm local time. TruckSeries.com will also provide extensive at track coverage beginning Friday.

For more on Bryan Silas please visit, BryanSilasRacing.com
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