Texas II: Bryan Silas race report

Bryan Silas Makes Gallant Effort In Lone Star State

JUSTIN, Texas (November 9, 2009) - - Stuart, Florida native Bryan Silas had high hopes in his return to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) this past weekend at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) but a series of obstacles from practice to the WinStar World Casino 350K race prevented Silas from posting a good finish.

Making his return to NASCAR from earlier in the year at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the 22-year old was leaning on his experienced Fast Track Racing team to guide him in the right direction as he was set to tackle TMS for the first time in his racing career.

Silas was excited about invading the Lone Star state, especially since his full-time effort in the ARCA Racing Series will make a stop in the heart of Texas next year.

In the first practice, Silas in the No. 48 Rockingham Speedway-Polar Bear 150 Chevrolet Silverado maneuvered the 32nd fastest speed by clocking a lap of 31.964 seconds at 168.940 miles per hour.

[IMAGE]"I was just learning the line and getting a good feel for the truck," said Silas, who finished sixth in the ARCA RE/MAX Series championship point standings this season. "We're going to be a little aggressive in the second practice and hope to get a basis as to where we stand for the race on Friday."

Unfortunately, Silas's goals were unable to be met as a mechanical failure during the second session forced the NASCAR rookie to make hard contact with the wall virtually destroying the team's primary Chevrolet for the weekend. A dejected Silas escaped the incident without injury but was obviously disappointed.

"We were just getting ready to get going and something with the sway bar broke and that was the end of it," Silas recalled. "I hate it. We don't have a back-up truck, so we're going to do some talking with the other teams and see what we can come up with."

Showing the true spirit of teamwork in the NASCAR garage, Silas and Co. were able to obtain a back-up machine but were unable to participate in qualifying which set Silas 35th on the starting lineup.

From the start of the event, Silas knew that he did not have a truck of the same caliber from the first practice but he was willing to make the best of the situation and log laps.

Despite dealing with an ill-handling truck, Silas inched his way through the running order and maintained a position inside the top-30 through the event's long-green flag run.

While it was clear that the team would not have a truck capable of a top-10 finish, Silas was making a gallant effort by finessing solid lap times and gaining valuable track time.

Silas's night however would be cut short as a failure in the drive shaft forced a trip to pit road and a hard left turn into the garage area where Silas would be credited with a 30th place finish.

"Obviously, it was not the Texas experience we were hoping for," Silas offered. "I have to thank Rockingham Speedway for jumping on-board this weekend and we'll make this run up to them at Homestead. Kudos to Andy (Hillenburg) and the Fast Track Racing team for keeping their heads up this weekend. It was a tough weekend, but there's always another race."

Silas will take a one-race break before planning to compete in the 2009 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the Ford 200 on Friday, November 20. Silas will make his inaugural start at the 1.5-mile speedway.

-credit: bsr