COOK: Second Groove at NHIS Important for Toyotas
09-10-2008 6:37 pm
Terry Cook returns to the site of his fourth-career NASCAR Craftsman Truck
Series victory, New Hampshire Motor Speedway for this weekend's Camping World RV
Rental 200. Cook's win in 2002 was one of four that season, all of which came on
flat tracks.
Cook reminisces about his win at NHMS: "It was the same year I won at
Gateway, Milwaukee, and Indianapolis. We had our flat track program on kill that
season. We had done a lot of testing and we came up with a great setup that
worked every time we rolled it off the trailer. All we needed to do was fine
tune it at the track. I remember we weren't as dominant at New Hampshire as we
were at Gateway or Indianapolis but we worked our way to the lead late and held
off Dennis Setzer in a green-white-checkered finish to win."
How will the new smaller spacer plate affect the Toyota engine at NHMS?
"Thankfully they reconfigured the track there a couple of years ago and
opened up the second groove there because we're going to need it. There are
multiple grooves there now and it's really made the racing there a lot better.
We'll need to be up as high as we can to try to keep up the momentum. We'll need
to make it work down on the bottom because that's where we'll need to go to make
passes but I would look for all the Toyota teams to use the second groove all
day long. New Hampshire is a track with a high RPM sweep. You go from about 8600
at the end of the straightaways to 5500 or so through the center of the corner.
The new spacer plate has just killed the torque on the Toyota engine. It feels
really lazy when you get back to the throttle. We need to work on it as hard as
we can to make it as fast as possible through the corner."
What has the new spacer plate meant for your setup? "It has forced us to
make the truck as free as possible. We are now always on the edge. You want to
be in a position to run the thing as wide open as you can for as long as you
can, and you know that it isn't possible to run wide open all the way around New
Hampshire. It has forced us to look at things differently than we were just a
couple of weeks ago. We're working hard on the chassis and aero package to make
our truck as good as possible to make up for the deficiency of horsepower."
The Toyotas in the Nationwide Series have seemingly overcome the spacer
change; will the Truck teams eventually get there too? "I know TRD is hard
at work to make up for what we lost. The problem we have now is the rule was
implemented the Monday before the Gateway race. The rule now is just about a
week old and the engines for the races at New Hampshire and Las Vegas have
already been built. Once we get passed this three-race run we'll get to where we
can run some engines that have been built with the new spacer plate in mind."
Who is your pick to win the Sprint Cup Chase for the Championship? "I
know Kyle Busch and that Joe Gibbs team have been strong all season, and I would
really like to see a fellow Toyota team win the championship. But I think
Carl Edwards is going to win it. That team is so good at every kind of racetrack
they run on. They don't struggle anywhere. But Kyle is on top of his game right
now too. I really think it's going to come down to those two."
Team manager Tom Buzze on the spacer plate change: "Last year the Toyota
teams had a 25 horsepower advantage. This year it was a ten horsepower
advantage. I know that Triad is working hard to regain what was taken away, and
I am confident that we'll get it back. Joe Gibbs Racing has done a great job in
the Nationwide Series; they've gotten back everything they lost and probably
gained back even more."
Terry's New Hampshire Truck: Terry will drive chassis No. 107 at NHMS; it
is a new chassis that has been tested recently at Richmond. "There aren't a lot
of similarities between Richmond and New Hampshire except for the banking,"
said Wyler Racing team manager Tom Buzze. "The straightaways are longer and you
brake totally different at New Hampshire versus Richmond. Terry really liked
this truck when he tested it at Richmond. All the data on it looks good and we
think it should race very well."
Terry's New Hampshire Stats: In eleven career NASCAR Craftsman Truck
Series starts at NHMS, Terry has one win (2002), one top-five finish and two
top-ten finishes. His average start is 14.4 and his average finish is 16.3.
He has completed 2046 of 2213 possible competition laps (92.5%) and has led
39 laps (all in his 2002 victory).
Introducing the 2008 Wyler Racing Over-the-Wall Crew:
John Quinn - Crew Chief
Matt Wallace - Jackman
Darren McMeans - Front Tire Changer
Austin Jones - Rear Tire Changer
Daniel Koozer - Tire Carrier
Lee Powell - Tire Carrier
Chuck Herman - Gasman
Terry Lynch - Catch Can Man