Somewhat pleased with a 25th place finish in Saturday's Mountain Dew 250 Fueled by Winn-Dixie, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Bryan Silas overcame his fair share of hiccups to tie his career best NCTS finish in the 20th event of the 2008 season.
After enduring a tough outing in the ARCA RE/MAX Series event the day before, the Stuart, Florida native battled from practice woes including losing his primary motor in the No. 48 D.R. Horton America's Builder Chevrolet Silverado to qualify his Fast Track Racing machine 31st Friday.
"We didn't get a whole heck of a lot of practice time but we'll take that starting position," said Silas, who was one of seven ARCA drivers pulling double duty at Talladega. "I think our truck will draft pretty good. We just need to hang on and let the race settle itself out."
At the start of the Mountain Dew 250 Fueled by Winn-Dixie, it was evident that Silas's machine could hang in the lead draft but just like his woes on Friday, Silas's second NCTS start of the season would be plagued early as his machine lost power which forced an unscheduled stop on pit road. Losing two laps initially, Silas was able to get his truck refired and return to the racetrack.
Out of the lead draft and off the lead circuit, Silas would circle around the 2.66-Talladega Superspeedway before catching up with the No. 2 of Jack Sprague who was down a cylinder. Still off pace with the leaders, the two trucks connected and logged laps.
The caution flag would waive a short time later keeping Silas from losing another lap to the competition.
Unable to find himself in contention for the Aaron's Lucky Dog throughout the Mountain Dew 250 Fueled by Winn-Dixie, Silas utilized his second NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start at Talladega as a test session. Silas logged laps, studied the draft when he found himself in the mix and learned from some of the best drivers in NASCAR on how to master one of the oldest tracks on the circuit.
Staying confident played into the hands of Silas as he avoided several incidents on the track to cross the line 25th. The effort tied his previous career best finish at Kentucky Speedway last year.
"It was okay," said Silas. "I learned a heck of a lot out there. We had a problem at the start. We were going and the truck just shut off. I switched ignition boxes and she came back to life. By that time it was too late because we lost some laps. We tried everything we could to get back on the lead lap but it never materialized. I have to thank my sponsor D.R. Horton America's Builder for coming aboard. I was honored to represent them and look forward to more races with them in the future."
Silas added, "What we learned today with this truck we can move forward and enter Daytona next February and look for a much better finish."
The Fast Track Racing will announce the remainder of their 2008 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule in the near future.
Exiting Talladega, Silas has seven NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts to his credit with a career best finish of 25th at Kentucky Speedway (July 2007) and Talladega Superspeedway (October 2008) while also hosting a career best qualifying effort of 31st at Talladega Superspeedway (October 2008). The trucks are fielded by two-time ARCA RE/MAX Series champion Andy Hillenburg.
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