Terry Cook Ready To Race #59 Toyota At California Speedway

[dascrow]

MARTINSVILLE, VA – Terry Cook hopes the results of a productive pre-season test will translate to a solid finish when he and his No. 59 HT Motorsports/Harris Trucking Toyota Tundra take the green flag in Friday’s San Bernardino 200 at California Speedway. “We tested at Homestead-Miami Speedway a couple of weeks ago and the springs and bars you use in your chassis set up at Homestead are very similar to what set up we will unload with at California this weekend,” Cook stated. “We had a great test at Homestead and we’ll be looking to carry that over to this weekend at California. We’ll be shooting for a good, Top-10 finish. If we can run in the Top-10 and take care of some of the finer details during the race, we’ll definitely have a shot at winning.”
The Sylvania, OH native has plenty of experience at the 2.0-mile Fontana super oval competing in 10 Truck Series events since making his debut at the track in 1997. That event – the No Fear Challenge 200 – was just the 17th career Truck Series start for Cook who now totals 241 division starts including the current iron man streak of 223 in a row.
“Yeah, that was pretty early in my career and I had never been on a track that big before,” said Cook. “I remember thinking that it was a pretty wide race track and how surprised I was when there was only one groove around the bottom. We started and finished 23rd, which considering the team I was with at the time and how little experience I had wasn’t too bad. Obviously, we’ll be looking for more this weekend.”
Cook was poised for a top finish in the season-opening Truck Series race at Daytona last weekend when a crash on Lap 61 eliminated him from the event. The disappointing 27th-place finish served only to strengthen Cook’s resolve for a top effort at California this Friday.
“California is what you might call the first ‘real race’ of the year,” said Cook. “After Daytona, it will be the first race for us in conventional style race trim and chassis set ups. I know the Toyotas ran extremely well there last year and we expect to see that again this time. The only difference is that HT Motorsports is fielding a Toyota this year and we expect to be one of those trucks up front.”
Cook, who owns three Top-10 NCTS finishes at California with the best effort – a sixth – coming in 2001 – knows exactly where he will have to be on the track to compete for a top finish.
“You are going to try to set your truck up to run on the bottom of the racetrack,” said Cook. “The groove will definitely push up the track as the race progresses, but not as much as you might see in Sunday’s Cup race where they will be right up against the outside wall. If you are going to be fast Friday night, it will be on the bottom of the track.”
Cook and his No. 59 HT Motorsports/Harris Trucking Toyota Tundra hope to be ‘in the groove’ when Friday’s San Bernardino 200 takes the green flag at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. The second of 25 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events this season will be telecast live on The SPEED Channel. The race will also be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio.


For more information about HT Motorsports and driver Terry Cook, please log on www.htmotorsports.com.


Additional information about Harris Trucking can be accessed at www.harristrucking.com.


http://www.racingwest.com/news/story...4915/index.htm