Terry Cook Earns Fourth Consecutive Top 10 at Michigan with International Truck and Engines Ford

(BROOKLYN, Mich.) - Terry Cook finished seventh in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at Michigan International Speedway, scoring his fourth consecutive top-10 finish in the No. 10 International Truck and Engines Ford.  The Sylvania, Ohio native, who considers the two-mile speedway his home track, stayed in the top 10 most of the event started 16th after qualifying was canceled on Friday.  Cook's fifth top-10 finish this season was exactly what he and the ppc Racing team were looking for heading into next week's event, the Power Stroke Diesel 200.

"We needed a good, solid finish," said Cook, who will go for three consecutive pole positions this Friday at Indianapolis Raceway Park.  "We've been running really good recently but just haven't been getting the finishing results.  Today we backed up a good, solid finish with a good, solid run.  There were a lot of fans up there in the grandstands today from the Sylvania (Ohio) and Toledo area and they got to see a great race."

Cook started 16th but quickly more into the top 10 just three laps in and was fifth on lap 22 when the first caution flag flew for debris.  Crew chief Jamie Jones called Cook down to pit road the following lap for four tires and fuel as the ppc Racing crew completed a 16.4-sec. pit stop.  The fast pit stop moved Cook from fifth to second place for the lap-26 restart.

The five-time series winner battled for the lead several times until lap 50 when a piece of debris landed on the nose of the No. 10 International Truck and Engines Ford.  The debris covered a portion of the grill causing concern in the ppc Racing pits.

"We picked up some debris on the nose in the middle run," said Cook.  "I'm not sure what it was but it plugged all the air flow to the radiator and the engine got extremely hot.  When it does that it does two things; it adds a ton of downforce to the front of the truck and two, it makes the truck handle really bad.  We got the debris off under our second pit stop and made the right adjustments on the International Truck and Engines Ford.  I thought we had something for the race win but again, another solid finish for the International Truck and Engines Ford team."

Cook caught a lucky break when the fourth caution flew on lap 68.  The crew planned on pitting that lap but held off until pit road was open under the caution-flag period.  Again, another fast pit stop by the ppc Racing crew picked up three spots after four fresh tires, fuel and a quick swipe of the grill was completed to put Cook in ninth place.  From there, Cook sliced and diced with the lead-lap trucks and was as high as fifth with ten laps to go.  At the checkered flag, Cook finished seventh, his fifth top-10 finish of the season and fourth consecutive at Michigan International Speedway.

"This race was a Daytona-like race more so than I've ever seen it at Michigan," said Cook.  "The whole left side of the truck is bashed in and that didn't happen to the very last lap.  I got body checked coming off of turn two on the last lap.  We were bump drafting out there and pushing people around.  It was a situation where the race leader was running up top and that's where the momentum seemed to be.  The leader forced you to go underneath to pass and we just got the truck tight every time we went down there.

"The race fans have watched me race at Toledo and Flat Rock Speedways when I first started out and now they get to come up to Michigan and see what a good show we put on for the fans.  We'll head to IRP next week and hopefully get 'em at our sponsor's biggest event of the year, the Power Stroke Diesel 200."

Based in Mooresville, N.C., ppc Racing enters its first season of competition in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with driver Terry Cook and the No. 10 Ford Power Stroke Diesel by International race team.  ppc Racing continues its competition in the NASCAR Busch Series, its fifth season, with driver Jason Keller in the No. 22 Miller High Life Ford Taurus.  With co-owners Greg Pollex and Keith Barnwell, ppc Racing earned the 2000 NASCAR Busch Series championship and has scored 27 wins and more than 150 top-five finishes as it enters the 2004 season.