DOVER, Del. (May 14, 2010) — After bouncing back from another early-race problem, Pacific Northwest native Tayler Malsam had a strong run in the middle of Friday’s Dover 200 before a late brush with the wall resulted in a 20th-place finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event.
Aric Almirola came from two laps down and survived a wild green-white-checkered finish to become the 11th different winner in the series at the Monster Mile and the fifth to earn his first career NASCAR truck win there. James Buescher in second, Justin Lofton in third and Ricky Carmichael in fourth all recorded career-best finishes, with Todd Bodine rounding out the top five.
For the third time this season, Malsam was moving forward in the early going before an incident put his day in jeopardy. After starting 20th the Sammamish, Wash., native had moved into the top 15 and was battling Buescher for position in slower traffic when the two tangled on lap 20, bringing out the second of 10 cautions.
“I was passing Buescher and there was a slower truck on the inside,” Malsam said. “(Buescher) tried to pinch me down and we got together. It was a racing deal, but the damage affected the aero on my truck, put a hole in the right front.”
Malsam, who was also collected in early accidents in in Kansas and Dayonta, was able to stay on the lead lap thanks to the quick work of his pit crew. When the fourth caution flew just short of the halfway point, Malsam used pit strategy — taking just two tires and fuel — to take the lead before the restart. After leading 11 laps Malsam relinquished the front spot to his team owner, defending NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Kyle Busch. Malsam dropped back several positions but held steady just outside the top 10 until brushing the wall with less than 20 laps to go.
“That was my fault, I was just trying too hard,” said Malsam. “We had one less set of tires than everyone else at that point because of the early-race spin and my tires were gone.”
Busch started on pole and dominated most of the race, leading more than 75 percent of the 204 laps run at the high-banked one-mile concrete oval. Busch lost fuel pressure and pitted from the second row as the field was coming to the green flag for overtime, winding up 16th, two laps down.
Two quick cautions in the final laps set the scene for Almirola’s dash to the win. Johnny Sauter hit the wall on lap 192, setting up a restart with three laps left to the scheduled 200. Starting outside of Busch on the front row, Johnny Benson had fuel-pressure problems that bunched the field and creating a wreck that collected Austin Dillon and brought out the final caution. Running on old tires, Busch also had trouble getting started and he fell behind Almirola and Bodine.
Several drivers joined Busch in having fuel problems during the final restart on the high banking of the Monster Mile, including Bodine, Lofton and defending series champion Ron Hornaday.
On the Web
www.taylermalsam.com
www.oneeightyracing.com
www.kylebuschmotorsports.com
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