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No. 59 HT Motorsports Toyota Tundra driver Terry Cook. (VPS Motorimages Photo) |
Ask Terry Cook which race he'd like to win on this year's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series tour, and he's quick to tell you all of them. Ask the veteran Truck Series pilot which race would be special to win, and he answers just as quickly.
"It would be a big deal to win this year's race at Milwaukee - the Toyota Tundra 200," said Cook, driver of the
"When the manufacturer you are competing for - in this case Toyota - is the title sponsor of the race, there's always a little extra incentive to win. You want to make sure a Toyota wins the race. If not, you can be sure the Toyota teams are going to go home kind of embarrassed."
Cook's record at Milwaukee has been anything but embarrassing since making his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut in the 1996 Sears Auto Center 200. The Sylvania, OH native has competed at 'America's Legendary Oval' 11 times winning once and scoring two poles.
In this year's Toyota Tundra 200, Cook will be looking to score his seventh-straight Top10 Milwaukee Mile Truck Series finish. According to Cook, who celebrated his 250th career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start at Michigan in the most recent division event, capturing the 2002 GNC Live Well 200 is still one of his favorite racing memories.
"Winning at Milwaukee in 2002 was a pretty big deal for me," said Cook, who also owns the Truck Series' 'Iron Man' streak of 232 consecutive races and counting heading into this weekend's event. "We had a pretty dominant truck, sat it on the pole, and checked out on the field when they dropped the green flag. Late in the race, we pitted coming in first and going out fifth. That was pretty tough to swallow knowing we had less than 50 laps to get back to the front.
"We got all the way back to second, but couldn't pass the leader because of the dreaded 'aero push.'" Cook continued. "Fortunately, we got a late caution setting up a green-, white-, checkered-flag finish. It was and still is one of my most memorable moments in racing to date because I was able to pass for the win on the final lap. After we won, one of my team owners, Ron Keselowski, got on the radio and told me to give him a 'Polish Victory Lap' - just like the ones Alan Kulwicki used to do. I drove backwards around the track and Ron jumped in the truck and I gave him a ride to Victory Lane. It was an incredible moment for everyone associated with our race team."
With a career full of memories at Milwaukee already safely stored away, Cook will be looking to add even more fond remembrances of the famed one-mile oval when the green flag falls on the Toyota Tundra 200 this Friday evening.
"I've been very fortunate to have a very good record at Milwaukee throughout my racing career," said Cook. "I made the first start of my Truck Series career there, have a win and two poles there. Now we've got a pretty impressive string of Top-10 finishes going there. Obviously, I'd like to put our HT Motorsports Toyota Tundra in Victory Lane at Milwaukee again. Whenever you've had a lot of success at a track, you always look forward to going back there and racing again. To say the least, I'm definitely looking forward to going to Milwaukee again."
The Toyota Tundra 200 - the 11th of 25 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events this season - will take the green flag at The Milwaukee Mile this Friday at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. The event will be telecast live by The SPEED Channel and broadcast worldwide on MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio.
For more information about Terry Cook and HT Motorsports, log on to www.htmotorsports.com.