LEBANON, Tennessee (August 7, 2008) - - Sophomore ARCA RE/MAX Series (ARS) driver Bryan Silas enjoys all types of music. However for this weekend, the Stuart, Florida native will pull out his favorite Country tunes in hopes of a strong run in Saturday's TOYOTA ARCA 150 at Nashville Superspeedway.
"There's a song by the Dixie Chicks that's called, "Ready To Run" and that's what I can't wait to do this weekend," said Silas. "I'm ready to run and I'm ready to run strong at Nashville Superspeedway.
After encountering engine failure in the first of two events at Nashville Superspeedway last year, Silas was ready for a quick rebound in the summer event. After practicing very strong, Silas backed it up with a solid 19th place qualifying effort. During the race, Silas fought off some stiff to net an impressive 16th place finish. Now a year later, Silas is ready to mount his fourth top-10 finish of the season while also recording a personal Nashville best.
"Nashville is a very tough track to negotiate," offered the Fast Track Racing development driver. "I don't dislike the place but it definitely is very challenging. It's the only concrete track that we run on the circuit and that presents some challenges for the race teams. Luckily, I have one of the most knowledgeable crew chiefs in the ARCA RE/MAX Series garage, Jeff McClure on my side and that should help us tremendously this weekend."
Silas continued, "The goal this weekend is to get our Nortrax-Shell Rotella T Ford Fusion gripping good and turning through the center of the corners. You also have to nail the throttle pretty good exiting the corners because even though this is a relatively short racetrack, it's still fast and requires some muscle from the motor. I think what I've learned and with Jeff's prior experience here, we should be working from inside the top-10 all weekend."
With last weekend's 17th place finish at Pocono Raceway still fresh on Silas's mind, the 21-year old driver knows that his team is plenty capable of fighting near the top-10 and will try to step it up a notch further in the final events of the season.
"We had a good car last weekend at Pocono but we were plagued by handling woes which kept us from being contenders," Silas sounded. "Pocono is one of my favorite race tracks and it wound up being a race of survival for us. We'll take that finish and move ahead to this weekend to a place that should be a little easier to entertain."
Continuing to lock 12th in the ARCA RE/MAX Series championship standings, Silas is only 80 markers from entering the top-10. "We lost a little ground in the points last weekend but it's still very tight. We're closer to 11th and that's where we hope to be this weekend if we can't march into the top-10. The points are still really tight and it will come down to the last race of the season to decide who will be in the top-10. I hope to be among that class."
Nortrax, Shell Rotella T, Holland Pump, Oasis, Palm Beach Grading (PBG) and Rockingham Speedway will all sponsor the No. 11 Ford Fusion in the 14th event on the 2008 ARCA calendar.
"It's a good feeling to have an ARCA race back on television. It's been a while. Nashville Superspeedway has provided some great racing for the fans in the past, so it shouldn't be any different Saturday afternoon. We'll be carrying an on-board camera, so the fans at home can ride along with us through all the action!"
Entering Nashville, Silas has 43 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.
The TOYOTA ARCA 150 (150 miles/113 laps) is the 14th of 21 events on the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series schedule. The 15th ARCA event held at Nashville Superspeedway is a two-day show. Practice begins Friday, August 8 with a three hour practice session planned from 1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. ARCA SIM Factory pole qualifying is slated to begin at 10:30 a.m. the following morning. The field will take the green flag on Saturday, August 9 shortly after 3:30 p.m. The event will be televised live on SPEED with additional race coverage including live timing and scoring available online at arcaracing.com. All times are local.
For more on Bryan Silas please visit, BryanSilasRacing.com
Visit Fast Track Racing on the web at, FastTrackRacing.com
