Catchfence

Denver, NC (June 13, 2011)– Mother Nature presented a foggy challenge on Saturday afternoon for all of the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards teams at Pocono Raceway, ultimately abbreviating the scheduled 80 lap event. Along with the weather, Bryan Silas and the No. 6 Eddie Sharp Racing crew were thrown another curve ball in the form of left front tire issues, relegating the 24-year-old driver to a 17th place finish.

The ESR crew prepped a fast Toyota Camry for prior to entering Saturday’s event, which showed immediately during practice for the 200 mile event. Silas wheeled the No. 6 Rockingham Speedway / Bruiser Bait machine around the 2.5-mile triangle among the top-ten fastest cars during Friday’s session, laying down laps over a second faster than he had ever run at Pocono Raceway in the past. Prior to qualifying, the track had turned slick and manufactured a loose condition for Bryan, leading to a 13th place qualifying effort.

From the drop of the green flag, Silas slowly began making his move up into the top ten, before reporting to crew chief Dave Leiner that his Camry was loose all the way around the racetrack. The crew was hoping to get a chance to work on the handling under the first pit stop, which would come during the first caution period of the day on Lap 19. However, a cut left front tire on Silas’ machine would change the tune from chassis adjustments to mechanical repair, as the team had to mend the damage before they could send their driver back into competition.

The extended pit stop put Silas two laps off the pace of the leaders just outside the top-20. He maintained his position for the next 19 laps as the field rolled under an extended caution period and eventual red flag due to a light rain and dense fog surrounding the track. Once the green flag fell on Lap 38, Bryan went to work and picked off several cars for position. A heavy fog would shortly return to douse the track as it had for much of the day, and ultimately led to ARCA Racing officials calling the race 21 laps shy of the scheduled 80.

“We’re disappointed that we couldn’t get a better finish for Bruiser Bait, Rockingham Speedway and Eddie Sharp Racing. We had a pretty good Toyota Camry, you just can’t control tire problems,” Silas explained following his 17th place finish.

“I appreciate the hard work of the team and their diligence to make the best of a bad situation. I’m very comfortable working with them and I think we’re all looking forward to getting our No. 6 Toyota Camry up front at Michigan.”

Next Event: Michigan International Speedway will host the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards this weekend for the running of the RainEater Wiper Blades 200. Eddie Sharp Racing and Bryan Silas will practice on Thursday, June 16th, with qualifying and the 100-lap race set for Friday, June 17th. Live timing and scoring will be provided on ARCARacing.com all weekend, and will begin at 5:15 pm EST on Friday for the main event. SPEED Channel coverage for the RainEater Wiper Blades 200 will air live at 5:00 pm EST.

For more information on Eddie Sharp Racing, Bryan Silas and the No. 6 Toyota Camry, visit TeamESR.com and BryanSilasRacing.com. You can also follow us on Twitter (@TeamESR) and find Eddie Sharp Racing on Facebook.