MONTREAL (Aug. 25 2010) — Some drivers may be happy that NASCAR’s Nationwide Series is making its final visit of the season to a road course this weekend in Montreal, but don’t count Pacific Northwest native Tayler Malsam among them.
“I’ve never been there before, but I’m looking forward to it,” said the 21-year-old from Sammamish, Wash. “Hopefully I’m going to be able to pick (Braun Racing teammate) Jacques Villeneuve’s brain as much as I can. Montreal is definitely going to be a lot more technical than Watkins Glen.”
Malsam will once again be driving the No. 10 Iron Horse Jeans Toyota for Braun Racing in Sunday’s NAPA Auto Parts 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The race will be broadcast by ESPN2 beginning with the NASCAR Countdown show at 11 a.m. (PT). Saturday’s practice session and qualifying will also be televised by ESPN2, at 8:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively.
NASCAR Sprint Cup star and 2007 Nationwide Series champion Carl Edwards won last year’s event at Montreal, the third time the series has raced at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Current Cup point leader Kevin Harvick won the inaugural event in 2007 and Ron Fellows visited Victory Lane there in 2008.
The track, a 2.71-mile 14-turn course, is named for Jacques Villeneuve’s father, a native of the Canadian province of Quebec and former Formula One driver who died during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix. Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 F1 champion, will be making his third Nationwide Series start for Braun Racing this season, all on road courses. He finished eighth in his first visit to Watkins Glen on Aug. 7 and Villeneuve was 25th after suffering electrical problems late in the June 19 race at Road America.
Malsam had solid runs in both prior road course races this season, finishing 18th at Road America and 12th at Watkins Glen. Despite the close-quarters racing inherent in road-course events and the fact that he was making in inaugural visit to both tracks, Malsam kept his fenders clean and deftly avoided other driver’s mistakes at both venues.
Sunday’s race will be Malsam’s 10th career series start, all with Braun Racing and all but two with Stewart Cooper as his crew chief. Cooper sat out Malsam’s starts at Road America and New Hampshire with a NASCAR suspension after a tire-swapping infraction. Despite their limited time together — Malsam has missed several Nationwide Series races because Braun has had other drivers slated for the No. 10 — Malsam and Cooper have bonded well, an important attribute for a driver who began the season racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
“I really like Stewart,” Malsam said. “He knows the fastest way for me to learn something is to get out and do it, so that’s something that has helped me adapt to the Nationwide cars after the trucks.”
After Montreal, Malsam will miss the next series race on Sept. 4 in Atlanta. He returns to the No. 10 Iron Horse Jeans Toyota for Braun Racing on Sept. 10 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway.
On the Web
www.taylermalsam.com
www.oneeightyracing.com
www.braunracing.com
www.ironhorsejeans.com
About One Eighty
One Eighty is a privately-held company located in downtown Seattle, Washington. Chairman and CEO, Dan Madsen has developed a combination of people, platform and pipeline focused on changing the way business is done. His drive is to make One Eighty not only a great company to work with, but also a great company to work for. Since 1988, his business philosophy has been simple – Always put people first and positively impact the lives of employees, customers and business associates everyday. This philosophy has been applied to One Eighty’s senior housing brands (Leisure Care, Leisure Care Premiere, Dolcetto and Signature 180.) They operate over 40 communities and nearly 7,000 units in the Western United States and Canada. One Eighty also owns hospitality brands Twist Travel™, PrimeFit™ and Edibility™ and is involved in One Eighty Racing, a NASCAR race team. For more information visit www.oneeightytwist.com.
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