LEBANON, Tenn. (August 1, 2009) – Tayler Malsam and the No. 81 One Eighty team rebounded from a rough start to the weekend to earn a top-10 finish in Saturday evening’s running of the Toyota Tundra 200 at Nashville Superspeedway. Malsam finished ninth in the event and kept a firm hold on his seventh-place position in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver point standings.
Malsam took to the track Friday afternoon for the first of two scheduled practice sessions and immediately ran into trouble. Prior to the completion of the first lap of practice, the No. 81 Tundra blew a right front tire and made heavy contact with the turn three wall. Though Malsam was able to drive his Toyota Tundra back to the garage area, the team determined the damage was too extensive to repair. The Doug Wolcott-led team then went to work to prepare the backup machine prior to the start of the final practice session later that evening.
The No. 81 One Eighty Toyota Tundra was the 15th of 34 trucks to take to the track for qualifying Saturday afternoon. Malsam posted a speed of 156.880 miles per hour around the 1.33-mile track, which was quick enough to earn the team the 13th spot on the starting grid for the 150-lap event.
Malsam took the green flag for the start of the race and informed the crew early on that his Toyota Tundra was handling loose heading into the corners and tight off. Wolcott made plans to make adjustments to the truck during the first caution period of the evening, which came at lap 36. Malsam drove down pit lane to the attention of his awaiting crew and took on two new right side tires before returning to the track for the lap–42 restart in the 11th spot.
Malsam communicated to the crew that the truck still needed help getting into the corners and Wolcott made additional adjustments, including air pressure changes and a track bar adjustment, during a lap-46 pit stop under yellow. Malsam lined up in the 16th position for the ensuing restart.
Wolcott continued to make adjustments to the truck during the next several pit stops and the One Eighty Toyota Tundra began to respond in the mid-stages of the race. Malsam ran his quickest lap of the event on lap 90 just after breaking back into the top 15. Rain showers forced NASCAR officials to throw a quick caution flag on lap 102 of the 150-lap contest, and the No. 81 truck lined up 13th when the green waved once again. Malsam was able to get by several of his competitors in the final 20 laps and held down the 11th position when a late caution flag flew setting things up for a green/white/checkered finish. The young rookie battled fiercely in the closing laps and finished the race in the ninth position.
“The weekend started off pretty rough with that incident in the first practice, but I’m really proud of how hard this One Eighty team worked,” commented Malsam after the race. “We didn’t run as well as we were hoping during the race, but Doug and the guys made a lot of adjustments to our Toyota Tundra and it got better as the night wore on. We’re working on getting that first top-five finish of the season and were hoping tonight would be the night, but all things considered, we feel ok about that finish. We’ll take that top-10 and see if we can break into the top five in Bristol.”
Saturday night’s ninth-place result marked the seventh top-10 of the season for the No. 81 Randy Moss Motorsports team and enabled Malsam to maintain his seventh-place position in the NCWTS driver point standings.
Tayler Malsam and the No. 81 Randy Moss Motorsports Toyota Tundra team will return to action at the famed .533-mile Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on Wednesday, August 19. The O’Reilly 200 will be broadcast at 7:30 p.m. (ET) on SPEED TV and on select affiliates of MRN Radio and Sirius-XM NASCAR Radio.
ABOUT ONE EIGHTY: One Eighty, founded in 1976, encompasses hospitality, senior housing, and international brands, all of which require their customers to “Twist Your Thinking.” One Eighty’s hospitality brand has three divisions – Edibility, PrimeFit, and Twist Travel, which offer a bold take on their individual specialties. Edibility includes retirement community food services, corporate and social event catering, restaurant development and management, culinary classes, and signature food items. Also, PrimeFit and Twist Travel take a similar cover-the-all bases approach. For more information about One Eighty, please visit www.oneeightytwist.com.
ABOUT RANDY MOSS MOTORSPORTS: Randy Moss Motorsports ownership consists of Randy Moss, New England Patriots All-Pro Wide Receiver; and David Dollar, a long-time participant in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team fields the No. 81 Toyota Tundra and the No. 5 Toyota Tundra full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. For more information about Randy Moss Motorsports, please visit www.randymossmotorsports.com.
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