Catchfence

“Idaho Native Moves Up To Fourth In NCWTS Point Standings”

NEWTON, IA (Sept. 5, 2009) – Brian Scott and his No. 16 Albertsons Toyota Tundra team used a “never surrender” attitude to charge from his 18th place starting position to a solid 9th place finish in Saturday night’s Lucas 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series inaugural race at Iowa Speedway. The finish was Scott’s 10th top-10 finish of the 2009 campaign and it helped him move up one spot to the fourth position in the NCWTS points chase.

“It is good to move up in the points race,” Scott said after the event. “We just had a really tough time at the start of a run. It seemed to take forever to get going. We were really good about halfway through a run but we had to make up ground. These guys on this Xpress Motorsports team did a great job in the pits all night long and they hung tough. There is no quit in any of these guys. I don’t think any of us are satisfied with this run, we know we are capable of more. We just have to get better and I think we will next week at St. Louis. We will take the top 10 and look forward to next week.”

When the green flag fell Scott steadily moved up through the running o rder. After dealing with a couple of quick cautions the race settled in for a long run. When the caution flag came out on lap 57 Scott came down pit road for two quick pit stops – four Goodyear tires on lap 59 and one can of Sunoco fuel on lap 60. The Xpress team also made a couple of chassis adjustments, raising the track bar and taking wedge out. Despite the changes Scott restarted in the 10th position, picking up four spots on the pit exchange. Scott maintained his position on the track over the next 55 laps before making his final two stops, tires on lap 113 and fuel on lap 114. Once again Scott improved his position, this time by two spots. Over the last 80 laps Scott would lose spots at the beginning of a green flag run only to run down his competitors near the end of the run. In the end he was able to hold off Tayler Malsam for 9th place.

“I am proud of Brian Scott and all the guys on this Xpress team,” Crew Chief Jeff Hensley said after the race. “We were able to gain a bunch of spots on pit road and Brian drove it as hard as he could there at the end to help us get a top 10. Anytime you get a top 10 finish in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series you cannot take it for granted. We moved up in the points chase and now we can focus on St. Louis and do what is needed to be as competitive as possible next week.”

Mike Skinner won the Lucas Oil 200 at Iowa Speedway. He was joined in the top-five by Aric Almirola, Colin Braun, Ron Hornaday Jr. and Johnny Sauter. The next race for the NCWTS is the Copart 200 at Gateway International Raceway. The event is slated for Saturday September 12th and will be telecast live on SPEED at 2:30pm ET. It will also be broadcast live via radio worldwide on the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and on SIRIUS Satellite Radio NASCAR channel 128.

- Xpress Motorsports Press Release