Catchfence

Nashville, Tenn. (Tuesday, August 04, 2009) – Stacy Compton was one of only four drivers with an average running position of 10th or better in the last four races prior to the Toyota Tundra 200 is Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway, and the Wyler Racing team was going to keep that streak alive until a crash two minutes from the end of final practice cost the team their primary truck and forced them to pull out the backup truck at the 1.333-mile concrete oval.

Compton’s average running position before Nashville stood strong at a 4.860, second only to former NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion, Mike Skinner. Compton backed that up by posting the fourth fastest time in first practice at Nashville after he drove the No. 60 SafeAuto Insurance Toyota Tundra to a fast lap of 30.720 seconds at a speed of 156.211 miles per hour.

In the final practice session leading up to the Toyota Tundra 200, Compton was on a mock qualifying lap when his No. 60 Tundra broke loose on the straightaway and slapped the wall. With significant damage, Crew Chief Marcus Richmond opted to pull out the backup truck.

“We had a great truck when we unloaded,” said Compton. “We felt like we had a truck that could run in the top three all day. We were good in first practice, our overall averages were good, and when we would make changes to the truck – it reacted. We were good and we were fast. A lot of people knew it. With two minutes until the end of practice, we hit the wall and that really ended our chance at a solid finish.”

Compton’s backup truck saw its first laps in qualifying, and it struggled to find speed. Even though the truck was a bit slower than Compton’s primary piece, he secured a top-20 starting spot with a lap of 31.142 seconds at a speed of 154.094. “Our backup truck had no laps on it and it was a different configuration. We didn’t run really well during the race, which is really disappointing because we knew that we could have finished in the top-five in our primary truck.”

Even though the backup truck did not produce the results they were looking for, Compton felt that it was a good learning experience for he and the team. “All things considered, it wasn’t a bad weekend; it was just a frustrating one. We know what we need now and it’s just going to take awhile to get all of the trucks converted over. It was a great test; I just hate the way that we had to do it.”

Compton finished 15th. “Marcus made some good calls and we survived, that was pretty much it,” Compton explained. “The back up just wasn’t as good.”

Compton remains 12th in the 2009 Championship Title Chase, just 39 points out of the top-10. He will have his next chance to close that margin when the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series hits Bristol Motor Speedway on Wednesday, August 19th for the O’Reilly 200.

- Wyler Racing Press Release