Cook Hoping To Create Special Memories In Vegas Truck Series Event

There aren’t many breaks in the NASCAR schedule, so any time the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads for Las Vegas, driver Terry Cook and his wife, Amy, treat the working weekend like a mini-vacation.

“It’s Las Vegas, we always enjoy going to Las Vegas,” Cook stated. “We got married in Las Vegas, so we have a lot of special memories there. It’s a fun city. You can usually find Amy at a slot machine somewhere. We like the shows and there’s a lot of great places to eat. We always have a good time when we visit Las Vegas.”

Cook is hoping to create some special memories of a different kind when he takes the green flag in the Smith’s Las Vegas 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday. Currently 15th in the 2007 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season standings, a victory at LVMS would be a huge boost for the Sylvania, OH native.

“Our HT Motorsports program has really come alive in recent weeks,” said Cook, who has six NCTS career victories. “We had a great test at Chicagoland Speedway in preparation for the Las Vegas race. The two tracks have some similar characteristics and given the great results we had at that test, we’re pretty excited to get to Las Vegas and see how things play out.”

Cook, who will make his 240th consecutive division start – an all-time record in the Truck Series – indicated one of the biggest challenges will be getting a foothold on the 1.5-mile Vegas oval.

“They reconfigured the track at Las Vegas last year and it was quite a bit different from racing on the old track there,” said Cook. “The new, higher banking made it a lot faster and the new asphalt also gave the track a tremendous amount of grip. We had an extremely hard tire last year, so all of the teams had a tough time getting a hold of the racetrack. Even with that, it still made for some great racing, but I’m hoping we’ll have better grip this time around.”

Cook didn’t have any grip in qualifying for last year’s Las Vegas event spinning out during his time trial run. That put him 35th in the starting grid where a solid effort got him to 16th in the final running order.

“We struggled in practice last year and that carried over into qualifying where I spun out,” said Cook. “We pretty much had to start last, but we worked our way up to just outside the Top 10 at one point. Unfortunately, we just never got track position and settled for a 16th-place finish.”

Cook will be looking to do much better when the Smith’s Las Vegas 350 goes green at 6 p.m. (9 p.m. Eastern) Saturday. His HT Motorsports Toyota will feature associate sponsorship from the Stratosphere Casino Hotel and Tower (below left) for the Vegas event – an association that will have him meeting the fans at Las Vegas landmark for an autograph session from 7-8 p.m. local time Friday evening.

“I’m really looking forward to staying at the Stratosphere Casino Hotel and Tower and greeting all the race fans in Las Vegas,” Cook stated. “Over the years, I’ve stayed in a lot of places in Las Vegas, but never one as unique as and with more attractions than those at the Stratosphere. I’m sure we’re going to have a great time, especially if we can get the Harris Trucking/Stratosphere Casino Hotel and Tower Toyota into Victory Lane.”

The Smith’s Las Vegas 350 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will be telecast live on SPEED and broadcast worldwide on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio.

For more information or to book a stay at the Stratosphere Casino Hotel and Tower in Las Vegas, please call 1-800-99-TOWER or log on to www.stratospherehotel.com.

Information about HT Motorsports can be accessed at www.htmotorsports.com.