Cook Positive About 16th-Place Finish In Charlotte NCTS Event

While some drivers might have been dejected after finishing 16th in Friday’s Quaker Steak and Lube 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Lowes Motor Speedway, Terry Cook had plenty of good things to say about his No. 59 HT Motorsports Toyota Tundra and his team’s effort.

“I’m all about focusing on the positives,” said Cook, shown right doing a television interview with Adam Alexander. “We practiced in the Top-10 in both sessions Friday. We had a very fast, comfortable truck. Then we had a mechanical problem in qualifying and, because we had to make some repairs and it was an impound race, that forced us to start in the back of the field.

“We passed a lot of trucks and made our truck better as the race went on,” Cook continued. “After finishing second at Charlotte the past two years, am I disappointed we finished 16th? Yes. On the other hand, we’re getting more consistent each week. We’re getting better, before and during the races, and that’s very positive for our team and the future.”

Because of the qualifying incident, Cook started shotgun on the 36-truck field Friday. By the midway point of the event, the veteran driver had expertly moved through traffic to 19th in the running order.

“Track position was everything tonight,” said Cook. “We posted some lap times that were the same pace as the leaders were running, but we never got track position and the opportunity to race with them. It was tough racing back in the pack.”

A couple of late cautions gave Cook the opportunity he needed to pick up some valuable point’s positions, including two spots in an exciting top-groove dash on a final green-, white-, checkered-flag finish.

“Our truck was as good as any out there on cold tires,” said Cook. “It would take off like a rocket ship, but after about 10 laps it would start to fall off and by 30 laps into a run, you were really hanging on. The late cautions proved to be good for us. We were able to reshuffle the finishing order with some good, clean side-by-side racing and put a positive ending on our race weekend.”

Cook’s final lap charge fueled another jump in the Truck Series season championship standings, this time two positions from 15th to 13th. Cook and his Toyota Tundra were 29th in the standings just four races ago and have now closed to only 97 markers (638 total points) out of the Top-10 in the standings.

Next up for Cook and his HT Motorsports team (left) will be the Ohio 250 at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway on Saturday, May 26. The seventh of 25 Truck Series races this season will take the green flag at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The event will be telecast live on network television by FOX and will be broadcast by MRN and Sirius Satellite Radio.

For more information on Terry Cook and HT Motorsports, please log on to www.htmotorsports.com.