DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 15, 2009) – Rookie Tayler Malsam had a week of firsts at Daytona International Speedway – his first race with Randy Moss Motorsports, his first NASCAR restrictor plate race, and his first top-10 finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS). After overcoming a pit road miscue, patiently working his way through the field, and running up front with Truck Series veterans, Malsam and the No. 81 One Eighty Toyota Tundra team claimed a 10th-place finish during the NextEra Energy Resources 250 at the famous 2.5-mile tri-oval on Friday night.
After qualifying in the 11th position, Malsam quickly moved into the top-10 by the end of the first lap. Crew Chief Doug Wolcott called Malsam to the attention of his Randy Moss Motorsports (RMM) pit crew for the first time on lap 33, but as the Seattle, Wash. native came down pit road, he missed his pit and went back on the track without any services completed to the truck. As the whole One Eighty team stayed calm, Malsam made three more pit stops for fuel and tires and restarted from the 25th position on lap 38.
Drafting with fellow Toyota teammates, Malsam steadily worked his way back into the top-10 by lap 48, never dropping out for the remainder of the 100-lap race. As the competition on the track picked up, the 20-year-old moved like a veteran to stay in contention for a solid finish, barely missing a multi-truck incident that happened right in front of the No. 81 Toyota. Malsam brought his truck back to pit road on lap 52 for tires and on the following lap, he came in for fuel. The One Eighty Tundra stayed in the top-five for the next green flag run, proving that Malsam could run with the tough NCWTS veterans. On lap 69, Malsam brought the RMM truck to pit road for the final stop of the night, taking four tires. The next lap the team put fuel in the truck, allowing Malsam to make it to the end of the race without stopping again.
The Raybestos Rookie of the Year contender went on to finish in the 10th position and record his highest Truck Series finish of his career in only his third NASCAR start.
“I’m very proud of all of my guys on this Randy Moss Motorsports team,” said Malsam. “The No. 81 One Eighty Toyota Tundra was awesome tonight. The truck drafted really well and it felt good to run up front with the Truck Series veterans. I made a mistake on that first pit stop but no one on this team gave up; Doug (Wolcott, crew chief) and Slugger (Labbe, spotter) helped me get back through the field and we made the best of situation. I want to say thank you to Dan and all of the people at One Eighty for coming on board this week and I’m glad that we could give them a solid top-10 run.”
Malsam currently sits second in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year point standings, seven points behind J.R. Fitzpatrick. Also, Malsam is 10th in the NCWTS championship point standings, 61 points behind leader Todd Bodine.
Tayler Malsam and the No. 81 One Eighty Toyota Tundra team will be back in action this Saturday afternoon, February 21st at Auto Club Speedway in California. The San Bernardino 200 will begin shortly after 3:00 p.m. Eastern. FOX will have live television coverage of the 100-lap event, while select affiliates of MRN Radio and XM-Sirius NASCAR Radio will have the live radio broadcast.
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