MALSAM LOOKING FOR BIG BREAK AS NASCAR TRUCKS HEAD TO MUSIC CITY

For immediate release, One Eighty Racing (12-10)

LEBANON, Tenn. — (March 31, 2010) This weekend the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series heads to Music City U.S.A., a place where one big break can catapult someone to superstardom. Appropriately, the winner of Friday’s Nashville 200 will earn one of the most coveted trophies in sports today.

Sophomore racer and Northwest native Tayler Malsam is ready for that big break, and the one-of-a-kind Sam Bass-designed Gibson guitar that would go along with it.

“I would love to win that — it’s one of my favorite trophies,” Malsam said. “It’s a must-have and I’ll be doing my best to get it.”

The Sammamish, Wash., native will be in the No. 56 Toyota Tundra for Kyle Busch Motorsports in Friday’s race at Nashville Superspeedway, which will be televised on SPEED beginning with the Setup Show at 4:30 p.m. (PT).

The first in Bass’ ongoing series of Gibson Trophy Guitars was presented to Jack Sprague for winning a NASCAR Nationwide Series event in 2002. In the years since, dozens of trophy guitars have been presented to NASCAR’s winning drivers at Nashville Superspeedway. The trophy guitar awarded to each driver features all original artwork — making each one a unique creation.

Adding to the allure of the Sam Bass trophy is the fact that the only thing tougher than winning one — 35 other drivers will be vying for the same special prize on Friday — is winning another. In nine previous series races just 2008 champion Johnny Benson has repeated at the 1.33-mile concrete oval, winning in 2006 and 2008. Seven of the nine races were won by drivers starting in the top-15, and only 1995 champion Mike Skinner has been able to win the pole at Nashville more than once, starting first in 2005 and 2007.

“Nashville is pretty fun, but you have to run the bottom and have a truck that can stay there — otherwise you’re going backwards,” said Malsam, who started 13th and finished ninth there last season. “Qualifying well is a must at every track, if you start up front you’ll stay up front.”

Despite experiencing frustration in the first three races of the season, Malsam is No. 8 in the series standings, just 144 points behind leader Timothy Peters. Last weekend at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Malsam crossed the line 14th after blowing a tire with two laps to go, losing a certain top-10 finish. He battled an ill-handling truck to a 13th-place finish in Atlanta and was 17th at the opener in Daytona after being collected in a multi-truck accident.

Last year at Nashville, four-time and defending series champion Ron Hornaday became the third driver to win five straight races in one of NASCAR’s national series and the first in 38 years. He joined Richard Petty and Bobby Allison, who both did it in 1971 in the Cup series. Petty holds the all-time record with 10 in a row in 1967.

Nashville Superspeedway will host two truck series races this season, picking up a second event in early August after NASCAR dropped The Milwaukee Mile from the schedule. Although he recorded top-10 finishes at both Nashville and Milwaukee last season, Malsam would have preferred the series return to a different venue when the August date came open.

“I wish we ran a different — bigger — track twice,” said Malsam, before adding with a laugh: “But it’s better than going to Martinsville three times or something like that.”