Cook Trimmed Out And Ready For 'Wide Open' Talladega Truck Series Race

At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be many similarities between a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series racer and an Indy Car. According to Truck Series veteran Terry Cook, that won’t be the case when the division takes to Talladega Superspeedway this weekend in the Mountain Dew 250.

“Going to Talladega is kind of like trying to sit on the pole for the Indianapolis 500,” said Cook, who will wheel the No. 59 HT Motorsports Toyota Tundra in Saturday’s NCTS clash. “At Indy, you max out every wing and wicker bill you have to get as much raw speed as you can. You are going to put four fresh tires on it and try to get a pure speed run for four laps.

“We try to do the same thing with our trucks at Talladega,” Cook continued. “The difference is we do it for 100 laps, not four. It’s all about trimming out your truck the best you can. It’s all about aero there. Mechanical grip is pretty much a non factor. At Talladega, all you have is engine and aero factors.”

Cook got a first-hand look at the massive 2.66-mile Talladega oval last year when the Truck Series made its debut at the track. Expecting the race to be somewhat like the division’s previous superspeedway events at Daytona International Speedway, Cook quickly found out that Talladega was a breed apart.

“Last year’s first-ever Talladega Truck Series race was unlike any Daytona race we had in the past,” said Cook, who started 11th and finished 14th in the 2006 Talladega event. “At Daytona, you have a faster pack of maybe 10 or 15 trucks. Then you have a second pack of 10 in the middle and maybe a third pack of five or so in the back. At Talladega, we didn’t have that. Because mechanical grip isn’t an issue at Talladega like it is at Daytona, you didn’t have some trucks starting to fall off after 10 laps or so. You didn’t have to start breathing the throttle. Because of that, the field stayed pretty much together, three- and four-wide lap after lap. It was pretty exciting and a lot harder to pass at Talladega than it was in any of the previous speedway races I had run at Daytona.”

Cook, who will be making his 260th career Truck Series start (third all-time) when the Mountain Dew 250 takes the green flag Saturday, has a much better grip on his expectations at Talladega this time around. Coming off of a season-best, fourth-place performance at Las Vegas two weeks ago, the Sylvania, OH driver likes his chances this weekend, thanks in large part to a newly refurbished Toyota Racing Development (TRD) racer.

“I’m looking forward to going to Talladega for the first time with a TRD engine and aero package,” said Cook. “We’re taking the same truck that we had at Daytona with quite a few upgrades and modifications – a new body and a new front clip - to make it fast at Talladega. We’re going to do everything it takes so that we unload at Talladega, we’ll have the best truck we can possibly have. We’ll be trimmed out and ready to hold it wide open lap after lap.”

Cook and his HT Motorsports Toyota Tundra will take to the high-banks of Talladega Superspeedway in the Mountain Dew 250 Saturday, October 6. The 20th of 25 NCTS events this season will take the green flag at 4 p.m. Eastern Time and will be telecast live on SPEED and broadcast worldwide on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius Satellite Radio.

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