AVONDALE, Ariz. (Nov. 10, 2010) — With just two races left in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season, Tayler Malsam is looking to put together a couple of strong runs to end the year on a high note.
The first opportunity for the 21-year-old from Sammamish, Wash., to make good on that goal will be this Friday with the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway. The race will be broadcast on SPEED beginning with the NCWTS Set-Up Show at 4:30 p.m. (PT). Earlier Friday, SPEED will televise qualifying for the race at 1:30 p.m. (PT).
“Phoenix is a unique racetrack, lots of fun to drive,” said the Pacific Northwest native. “The ends of the track are different, so setting up the truck we may have to compromise on one part of the other. I ran well there last year but got wrecked at the end. Still, it’s a cool little place.”
A one-mile oval that’s mostly flat, Phoenix International Raceway features a unique kink in the backstretch that creates the different corner entrance and exit lines that Malsam referred to. Kevin Harvick has the most wins at PIR, four including last year’s event, and Malsam’s RMM teammate Mike Skinner won the first two trucks series races held there in 1995 and ‘96.
Malsam will once again be behind the wheel of the No. 25 Exide Batteries Toyota Tundra for Randy Moss Motorsports, the team he raced for during the 2009 NASCAR truck series season. He started this season racing in the series with Kyle Busch Motorsports and spent some time competing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series before returning to RMM with plans to drive in four of the final six series races.
He finished 13th at Las Vegas on Sept. 25 in his return to RMM and was 21st at Texas last weekend. After Phoenix Malsam is slated to drive the No. 25 again in the season finale at Homestead-Miami and he will return with RMM for a full-season run in the Camping World Truck Series next year.
At the Texas race Malsam was reunited with Dan Stillman, his crew chief from early in the year while both were at KBM. Stillman, who has worked in NASCAR’s top-three divisions for 14 years and has been a crew chief for six, guided Malsam to two 13th-place finishes at KBM. Also joining the No. 25 crew at Texas was Clint Cram as truck chief.
Early in the race at Texas the No. 25 truck looked fast with Malsam picking up 10 spots on the first lap. His night came undone by the time the race was a third done, however, after a tire came apart and then Malsam’s truck was damaged by contact on two different occasions.
In some ways the race at Texas mirrored Malsam’s run at Phoenix last year, as he started very strong and moved toward the front after starting 19th. With a truck that got stronger on longer runs, a series of late-race cautions hurt his chances for a top-10 finish and he finished 17th after being collected by another driver on a green-white-checkered finish.
Because the No. 25 has only run a partial schedule this season, Malsam will have to qualify on time to make the starting field. Beyond getting into the show, a strong qualifying effort by Malsam is important because 11 of the 19 truck series race winners at Phoenix have come from the first two starting rows.
On the Web
For more information about Tayler Malsam visit www.taylermalsam.com, or follow @TaylerMalsam on Twitter and “NASCAR Driver Tayler Malsam” on Facebook.
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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