Cook Chicago race report

CHICAGO, IL (August 27, 2000) - Terry Cook's 2000 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season has been a simple one - race well all day and finish in the Top-10 - or be plagued by on-track trouble or mechanical gremlins and finish poorly. In Sunday's Sears Craftsman 175 at Chicago Motor Speedway, Cook managed to run strong and overcome the pitfalls in posting a strong eighth-place finish. "It was a good day for the PickupTruck.com Chevy Silverado," said Cook. "We didn't qualify that well, but in happy hour we knew we had a pretty good race package. We kept adjusting on the truck during the race and at the end we were good. We were actually running lap times equal to the leaders. " Cook and his PickupTruck.com mates got into the field by posting an average speed of 114.599 in qualifying on the flat one-mile Chicago oval, good enough for the 22nd starting position. The Sylvania, OH driver quickly went to work at the drop of the green flag Sunday blasting his way toward the front in the early going. "Right from the start we ran well, moving up seven or eight spots in the opening laps," Cook stated. "We put ourselves in a position to capitalize on track position by pitting early. When we did that, we were able to get to the front and stay there." By Lap 60 of the 175-lap event, Cook was third in the running order. A problem on a pit stop and late-race brake problems nearly short-circuited the solid effort. This time, however, Cook and his bright orange PickupTruck.com mount were not to be denied a top finish. "On our first right side tire stop, we had a problem with the lug nuts on the right rear and had to come back in for a second stop to get them all on," said Cook. "That put us in the back of the trucks on the lead lap. I had to run the truck a lot harder than I wanted to racing back to the front. I used up the brakes and just didn't have anything left at the end. Over the last 20 or 30 laps, I had to ease into the corners, roll out of the throttle and glide off into the corners. We were slap out of brakes. If we'd had anything left at all at the end for brakes, we'd have been a Top-5 truck for sure." Cook earned $11,220 for the effort and remained 14th in the season standings, 287 points ahead of the 15th-place truck and 259 markers out of 10th place with four events remaining. Cook and his PickupTruck.com Chevy will next head for Richmond (VA) International Raceway on Thursday, September 7, for one of the most exciting events on the NCTS Tour - the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series 200. The 8 p.m. Eastern Time race under the lights on the famed .750-mile Richmond oval will be telecast live by ESPN2 and will be broadcast by MRN Radio.