Catchfence

CORNELIUS, N.C. — No. 99 Pastrana-Waltrip Toyota driver Ryan Truex heads to Phoenix International Raceway this weekend where he’ll make his 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series debut. The two-time K&N Pro Series East champion finished 23rd in the Nov. 13 Nationwide race at Phoenix and hopes to better that result Saturday as he contends for rookie of the year honors in 2011. The race marks Truex’s eighth career start in the Nationwide Series. Truex will race for at least 10 races in 2011 while action sport star Travis Pastrana will drive the No. 99 in seven races beginning at Indianapolis in July.

QUOTES

TRUEX ON HIS 2011 NATIONWIDE DEBUT: “I’ll be starting this weekend at Phoenix in the No. 99 and going for 10 races from there. I have the luxury of going over to the Cup garage and listening to my brother (Martin Truex Jr.) and talking to him about things. Being with the Cup team, I can learn a lot from that, and I just go back and forth and learn as much as I can. These next ten races I’m just here to learn as much as I can, get going as fast as I can and hopefully I have some strong runs. We are working to find some more funding to keep going, but ten races in a row is a good deal.”

TRUEX ON TEAMMATE TRAVIS PASTRANA: “We went testing with Travis at New Smyrna and Gresham Motorsports Park. He was just focused on getting laps and we helped him learn the terminology and how to explain what a racecar is doing. He’s obviously already got a lot of talent and he has good car control. He wants to succeed in this business and do everything right. He just needs to go out there and learn, and the best way to do that is to run races. He went out to the Showdown and had the basic goal of just finishing, keeping the car in one piece, and being patient. He did all that and came out of the race with a good finish. If he keeps that up he’ll be doing really good this year.”

TRUEX ON THE NEW NATIONWIDE CAR: “I was able to test the new car a few times over the winter. Me and (Crew Chief) Jerry (Baxter) have been doing a lot of testing and I really like the new car. I think that it’s really fun to drive and you can really man-handle it a lot more and drive it a lot harder than the old car. More than anything it levels the playing field between these teams when you’ve got guys like Gibbs who have dominated with the older cars and we move to the new car and everyone is on the same page basically. Even with the drivers we are all pretty much new to it.”

NOTES OF INTEREST

· Michael Waltrip Racing, Gary and Blake Bechtel and Pastrana own Pastrana-Waltrip Racing that fields Toyota Camrys out of the MWR shop in Cornelius, N.C. The Bechtels have owned cars in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series since 1990. The Morgan Hill, Calif. residents’ teams have visited victory lane 10 times in the Nationwide Series.

· Ryan Truex is the only teenager to win back-to-back K&N Pro Series East, titles and he is the first driver to bring a title to Michael Waltrip Racing.

· In 2010, the No. 99 team finished 10th in the NASCAR owners points standings. The team tallied six top-five and 11 top-10 finishes with drivers Bayne, Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Truex. They also captured three consecutive pole awards with driver Trevor Bayne, tying the record set by Sam Ard, Mark Martin, Waltrip and Jeff Gordon. `

· Truex has made 22 starts in NASCAR’s K&N Pro Series East. He won five races, and has been in the top-10 in 77% of the races he has competed in, earning two consecutive championship titles.

- Pastrana-Waltrip Racing Press Release