CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 00 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota driver Ryan Truex makes his second NASCAR Nationwide Series start Saturday at Michigan International Speedway— the biggest and fastest track ever faced by the 18-year-old Mayetta, N.J. native.
In his Nationwide Series debut in St. Louis he started 19th and raced his way into the top 10 by lap 100 before a late-race accident left him with a 28th-place finish. The Michael Waltrip Racing driver competes fulltime in the K&N Pro Series East where he is the defending champion and 2010 points leader.
Truex is the son of race car driver Martin Truex Sr. and the younger brother of Martin Truex Jr. who drives the No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. With the new car racing at MIS this weekend, the Nationwide series plans a day-long test session Thursday with practice Friday followed by qualifying and the race on Saturday.
QUOTES
Truex on racing at Michigan International Speedway: "Michigan is a wide, fast racetrack and will be the biggest track I’ve ever raced on. I want to go there and gain experience on a bigger track. I’ve been leaning on my brother a lot for advice and he said that it’s wide, very fast and with the higher speeds aerodynamics start to really come into play. I have a lot to learn on that side of things and I feel like having the extra day of testing on Thursday will be a huge benefit to us. This way I can get plenty of experience with the new car and how being around different cars affects my own car. I can learn what the cars do when you pull up on another car and all of those new experiences that come with running at a bigger track."
Truex on his first race with the new car: "I think they look awesome and it’s cool how they represent the street cars better. I have heard they are a lot of fun to drive and hopefully we can have a good run with it this weekend."
Truex on expectations for his second Nationwide Series race: “I feel like as a team we can go out and run good. (Diamond-Waltrip driver) Trevor (Bayne) has been running great and that just gives me more confidence in the racecars and how good of a job everyone at MWR is doing. I think with this race being the first race at an intermediate track with the new car we have more of a level playing field with the other teams. It’s just a matter of going into the weekend with confidence and learning as much as I can. Hopefully we have a great weekend with our NAPA Toyota.”
Martin Truex Jr. on Ryan’s Debut: “He did a great job and I was really proud of him. He’s good at staying pretty calm on and off the track. He did good with it. It all worked out good in the end. He ran a really good race—all but the last 20 laps—and I think he learned a lot. He earned a lot of respect from the drivers and had a good first outing.”
NOTES
Veteran Mike Greci, who once served as Martin Truex’s crew chief, will serve as Ryan Truex’s crew chief this weekend in Michigan.
Martin Truex Sr. competed in 15 Nationwide Series races 1989-1998. His best career finish of 12th came at Nazareth Speedway in 1994. He won an East Series race at New Hampshire in 1994. Martin Jr. is a two-time
Ryan is the first driver to earn a championship for Michael Waltrip Racing when he won the K&N Pro Series East Championship in 2009. He leads the 2010 standings by 33 points over Darrell Wallace Jr.
Truex is leading the East Series championship by 33 points over Darrell Wallace Jr. with three races left in the 2010 season.
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