Cook, HT Motorsports Toyota Turn In
Solid 12th-Place NCTS Finish At Texas


Martinsville, VA (June 9, 2007) – Terry Cook knew he didn’t have the best truck in the Sam’s Town 400 at Texas Motor Speedway, but that didn’t prevent the veteran driver and his HT Motorsports team from scoring a top finish in Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event.

“The sign of a good team is when you can take a truck that you are frustrated with – a truck that you struggled with in practice and qualifying – and get a good, solid finish with it,” said Cook, who came home 12th in the event. You know you are starting to get good as a team when you take a truck that might not be capable of running in the Top-10, but you somehow figure out a way to do it. Our team managed to do that tonight.”

Cook initially had trouble getting his S-Line/Harris Trucking Toyota Tundra up to speed Thursday struggling in practice on the 1.5-mile Texas oval. A lap of 178.077 miles per hour followed in qualifying placing Cook 22nd in the field as it took the green flag Friday night.

A rash of caution periods early in the race turned the event in Cook’s favor as crew chief Danny Rollins rolled the dice bringing Cook to pit road ahead of schedule for adjustments. The move not only made Cook’s Toyota better on the racetrack, but also vaulted it up to the top of the leader board for the first time this season on Lap 29 of the 167-circuit event.

“We would have liked to led some races well before this point of the season, but you have to start getting those bonus points somewhere and tonight we got some,” said Cook. “They all add up the same way and to get some here tonight was a start for us. It was good to have this HT Motorsports Toyota out front.”

Cook held the top spot for a handful of laps before settling into the Top-10 for the rest of the event, again thanks in part to solid work on pit road.

“We had great pit strategy all night long and the team had the best pit stops we’ve had all season,” said Cook, who averaged an eighth-place running position throughout the event according to race loop scoring. “Great pit strategy and great racing sense throughout the event had us in position for another Top-10 finish. Unfortunately, we fell just a little short of that getting shuffled around on the final couple of restarts, but it was still another great finish for us.”

The solid team effort continued Cook’s rise in the 2007 Truck Series point standings as he jumped to 12th in the standings after nine races. Cook, who was 29th in the championship chase after the first two races of the year, is now just 81 markers out of the Top-10.

“A lot of our fellow competitors are coming up to us and telling us how great it is to see the No. 59 truck run good week in and week out,” said Cook, who earned $14,625 in prize money for Friday’s Texas finish. “People are noticing. That’s something to be proud of. We’ve got this HT Motorsports ship heading up stream and in the right direction. Tonight was just another example of how this team is improving. We’ll be looking to sustain that momentum when we head to Michigan next week.”

The Michigan event - which will mark Cook’s 250th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career start - will begin at 3 p.m. Eastern Time this Saturday, June 16.

The 10th race of the 2007 NCTS season will be telecast live on The SPEED Channel and will be broadcast worldwide by Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio at it happens.

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