MALSAM: Trucks In Big City Good For Series
08-25-2009 4:16 pm

MALSAM AT CHICAGO: Tayler Malsam will be making his 18th start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series when the green flag drops for the EnjoyIllinois.com 225 at Chicagoland Speedway Friday evening. Though this is the first time the NCWTS will race on the 1.5-mile track, Malsam has some experience at the Joliet, Ill. venue. Malsam participated in last season's Chicagoland 200 ARCA Series race at the speedway.

MALSAM'S RIDE: Crew Chief Doug Wolcott and the One Eighty team will unload Randy Moss Motorsports chassis No. 126 for this weekend's race. This is the team's most utilized truck as it has been run six times already this year. First run at California Speedway in February, it has also seen track time at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Lowe's Motor Speedway, Dover (Del.) International Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. The team has earned two top-10 and five top-15 finishes this season with this truck.

TAYLER'S TAKE ON CHICAGOLAND: "I think it's great for the fans in the Chicagoland area to have the opportunity to see the trucks in action and going to these bigger tracks in large metropolitan areas is good for the series. A lot these tracks are new to me, so in that sense this is pretty much just a regular weekend. We've got a lot of practice time on Thursday and I've got a lot of faith in Doug and the guys to bring the best truck possible, so I'm looking forward to a really good weekend."

WOLCOTT'S WORDS: "NASCAR gives us a test day for any new track that we go to, so that obviously helps us prepare for these tracks that are new to the Camping World Truck Series. That said, Chicagoland Speedway used to be a test bed for the Series, so we've actually got a lot of laps around it. In fact, Chicagoland Speedway was where we went for a Toyota and a NASCAR test after the splitters were first introduced to the trucks. We had the chance to spend some time there drafting and seeing how the splitter affected the trucks, so it isn't completely new to a lot of us.

"Pretty much all the tracks we go to are new to Tayler, so this weekend won't be much different from any other for him. He has actually raced at Chicagoland before and the good thing about these mile and a half or longer tracks is that unlike the short tracks, it's not all about the driver. The truck can make up for a lot so that can be an advantage for the crew chief. Tayler has adapted well to everything this year, so this weekend's event is really just another race for the One Eighty team."

BATTLING IT OUT FOR ROTY: Malsam lost a little bit of ground in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year points battle after getting caught up in an accident early in last week's event at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, but his sights are still set on the prize. Malsam remains at the top in the competition, but holds just a one point lead over fellow rookie Johnny Sauter.

TWO CHANCES TO CATCH TAYLER: Fans will have two opportunities this weekend at Chicagoland Speedway to meet Malsam. The Seattle-area native will sign autographs at the Toyota Pitpass display located at Champions Park on race day from 12:35-12:55 p.m. CT and then again from 1-2 p.m. CT at a nearby track display.

WATCH AND LISTEN: Race coverage will be televised on SPEED and heard live on select affiliates of MRN Radio and Sirius-XM NASCAR Radio Channel 128, beginning at 9 p.m. (ET).

POINT AND CLICK: Fans can continue to vote for their favorite driver for the Most Popular Driver Award through the end of October. The results of the online balloting will be announced at the NCWTS awards banquet at the end of the season. Visit www.nascar.com for more details and to cast your vote for Tayler.