MALSAM RECORDS BACK-TO-BACK TOP-15 FINISHES IN NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES

BROOKLYN, Mich. (Aug. 14 2010) — After his best qualifying effort in nine NASCAR Nationwide Series starts, Pacific Northwest native Tayler Malsam recorded a second straight top-15 finish, crossing the line 14th in Saturday’s Carfax 250 at Michigan International Speedway.



“With the car we had, we should’ve finished higher but on pit stops we were a bit slow,” said the 21-year-old driver of the No. 10 Iron Horse Jeans Toyota for Braun Racing. “With all the cars so closely matched, you’ve got to try to gain spots in the pits and today we were just OK.”



Michigan native and series point leader Brad Keselowski survived a faulty clutch to earn his fourth victory of the season. Keselowski dominated the first half of the 125-lap race, building an 11-second lead at one point, but his fading clutch caused problems on pit stops that gave Carl Edwards and Paul Menard the chance to take turns out front. Keselowski took the lead for good on the second and final restart with nine laps to go.



Edwards edged a surging Kyle Busch at the finish line for second, Justin Allgaier was third and Menard rounded out the top five.



Malsam finished just behind fellow series rookies Ryan Truex and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the trio separated by less than four-tenths of a second as they crossed the line. Malsam and several other drivers pitted for tires during the final caution, and the Sammamish, Wash. native was 15th for the final restart. After the green flag dropped, Brendan Gaughan’s car began to smoke heavily and slow, scattering the cars behind him.



“(Gaughan) blew up right in front of me, I had to go down to the apron to avoid him,” Malsam said. “That killed my momentum and everyone else’s around me. We had been getting faster throughout the race.”



One week after finishing 12th in his first visit to Watkins Glen International, Malsam started Saturday’s race 19th — one spot higher than his previous best qualifying effort at Gateway. He steadily moved forward and remained solidly in the top 15 most of the day, running as high as 11th prior to making his final green-flag pit stop with 20 laps to go.



Saturday’s race marked the second use of the Nationwide Series Car of Tomorrow (CoT), and unlike its debut at Daytona — where NASCAR dictates many setup features including springs and shocks — teams at Michigan were given more leeway to make adjustments. Although 2 miles in length, Michigan has much less banking than Daytona, where many drivers had complained about the handling of the new car, so for both drivers and teams Saturday’s race was almost a second debut of the CoT.



“We were fighting tight or loose all day,” Malsam said. “With these cars you’re not going to get a perfect setup, so you have to pick the condition you want and work with it. We never really found it today; I like it free, and I was free while I was alone but once I got into the draft or around other cars it got tight.”



After two lengthy practice sessions on Thursday, many drivers — including Malsam — said the Nationwide CoT drove at Michigan much like the vehicles in NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series. Both the trucks and CoT punch a large hole in the air, allowing following vehicles the chance to close gaps and make passes by drafting through the unsettled air.



Malsam finished 18th in the No. 10 Toyota at the CoT’s debut at Daytona, and he is slated to drive in the final two appearances of the new car this season, at Richmond on Sept 10 and Charlotte on Oct. 15.



“I like these new cars a lot, they drive more like a truck than the old Nationwide car,” said Malsam. “I’m looking forward to driving the CoT more later this year, and next year it becomes the standard.”



Malsam’s next race in the No. 10 Iron Horse Jeans for Braun Racing will be Aug. 29 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve road course in Montreal. Due to a prior scheduling commitment, Enumclaw, Wash., native Kasey Kahne is slated to drive in the next series race, Aug. 20 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.