SPARTA, Kentucky (July 22, 2008) - - Sophomore ARCA RE/MAX Series driver Bryan Silas headed to Kentucky Speedway last weekend looking to capture his third straight top-10 finish at the 1.5-mile speedway. His bid came up short in a caution-filled Kentucky ARCA RE/MAX 150.
Bringing back the same Ford Fusion that saw the Fast Track Racing development driver tie his season-best finish of eighth in May, the team guided by veteran crew chief Jeff McClure had high hopes of attracting their first top-five effort of the season.
In practice Friday morning, Silas recorded the 19th fastest time after logging his fastest lap at 31.789 seconds at 169.870 MPH. "We're not bad," offered Silas, the Stuart, Florida native. "We need to get better but the track is so slick, we can't afford to make too many aggressive changes. We'll give it our all in qualifying."
Entering ARCA SIM Factory pole qualifying, Silas was concentrating on starting near the front. Many teams however faced adversity as a slick; black ice condition track saw several teams making unapproved adjustments including back-up cars for Friday's race. Completely aware of the situation on-hand, Silas played it smart during his two laps of qualifying, posting a lap of 31.781 seconds at 169.913 MPH, picking up just a hair from practice.
"Man, it was super slick out there," offered the 21-year old driver. "I think we have a strong car but it wasn't worth bringing out the back-up, so we played it smart. 20th, I'll take it and hope we can maneuver to the front."
At the start of the Kentucky ARCA RE/MAX 150, Silas was able to guide through his gears perfectly which allowed him to pick off three positions on the initial start before falling into the 17th position when the first caution waived on lap one.
Back to racing, Silas continued to inch his way forward and had claimed the 15th position by lap nine when the yellow flag flew again. Reporting to his team a very neutral racecar, Silas was just setting himself up for the first quarter of the event.
At the end of the first quarter of the event, Silas comfortably found himself in the 16th position.
The yellow flag waived again nearing halfway with McClure electing to use pit strategy and keeping his driver out on the track and restarting in the third position. Unable to match the faster cars on newer tires, Silas held his line and remained in the top-five when the caution flag quickly waived again.
Newer tires was not Silas's only problem. On the restart, Patrick Sheltra made contact with the No. 11 which caused a gaping hole in the right front of Silas's Ford which immediately changed the handling of the Fast Track Racing machine.
McClure elected to bring Silas down pit road during that yellow flag for four new Hoosier rubbers, fuel and survey the damage.
Past the halfway mark in the Kentucky ARCA RE/MAX 150, Silas found himself back again hovering in the top-20. Unfortunately, his No. 11 Nortrax-Shell Rotella T Ford Fusion was unable to find the feeling they had found in the early stages of the race due to the aerodynamic disadvantage from the hole.
Stuck in the rear of the lead lap cars, Silas gave a gallant effort but was unable to make a return to the front and had to settle for a 21st place finish in his fourth trip to Kentucky Speedway.
"Our car was real good before dark but it went the other way after the on-track contact. I hate it for everyone because I thought we would have been able to grab our third top-10 finish of the season. We finished the race though and have the car somewhat intact, so we can't really complain. We'll gather ourselves back up and try again next Saturday night at Berlin."
Next up for the ARCA RE/MAX Series is a trip to Berlin Raceway for the Berlin ARCA 200 on Saturday, July 26. The tight and tricky .4-mile oval will host round number 12 for the 2008 season. Last season, Silas finished 16th after qualifying seventh in his second trip to the Marne, Michigan racetrack.
Exiting Kentucky, Silas has 41 ARCA RE/MAX Series starts to his credit with a career best finish of eighth at Kentucky Speedway (May 2008), Iowa Speedway (April 2008), Salem Speedway (April 2007 and April 2008) and Kentucky Speedway (July 2007) while holding an additional top-10 performance at USA International Speedway (March 2007). He holds a career best short track time trials effort of seventh at Berlin Raceway (July 2007). A fourth place qualifying effort at Pocono Raceway (June 2007) is Silas's best speedway run to date. He has controlled the ARCA field for 26 laps in three races.
For more on Bryan Silas please visit, BryanSilasRacing.com
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