NEWSSTAND

July 19, 2010

Malsam Battles for Fourth NASCAR Top-20 Finish

Tayler Malsam and the No. 10 Iron Horse Jeans team fought hard to bring home their fourth top-20 finish in six starts in the NASCAR Nationwide Series this weekend at Gateway International Raceway. Malsam battled back from a tight race car and radio complications to finish 18th in Saturday night's Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250.

Gateway marked the first in a trio of Midwestern stand-alone events for the NASCAR Nationwide Series teams. Malsam knew this weekend was an opportunity to shine with minimal competition from Sprint Cup Series regulars. The one-day show began early Saturday morning with two practice sessions, and continued with afternoon qualifying following the postponed NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. In the St. Louis afternoon heat Malsam laid down a lap of 34.259 seconds to qualify his No. 10 Iron Horse Jeans Toyota in the 20th position to start the race.

As the drivers got set to go racing under the lights of Gateway International Raceway, Malsam was confident he could start working his way through the field in the No. 10 Camry. When the green flag dropped and Malsam took to the track, he immediately felt his Iron Horse Jeans Camry was too tight. "This thing is really, really tight. It's tight all around especially in the corners," said Malsam of his Toyota.

As he continued to ride around the 1.25-mile oval, Malsam's Camry did not get any better, and on lap 30 he radioed to his crew that the Iron Horse Jeans Toyota was still too tight. "We really need to loosen this thing up. I mean I can't even get it to turn. It doesn't want to turn," reported Malsam.

By lap 42, Malsam had gone a lap down to the leaders, but luckily on lap 44 the caution flag waved. Fortunately, Malsam was in position to capture the "Lucky Dog" award and get his lap back. On lap 47, Malsam was finally able to come to pit road to loosen up his Camry. Crew Chief, Stewart Cooper, called for the Iron Horse Jeans crew to put on four fresh Goodyear tires, pack the No.10 full of fuel and make air pressure, track bar, and wedge adjustments. As the lucky dog, Malsam, returned to the track in the 23rd position at the tail end of the longest line. By lap 68, the No. 10 was listed in the 22nd position and Malsam reported the changes Cooper made to the car had helped the handling.

On lap 93, bad luck struck the No. 10 when the driver reported he could not hear anyone over his radio. Malsam continued to wheel his Toyota around the track with little help over the radio as he tried to adjust the connections in the race car. Fortunately the adjustments slightly helped, and on lap 113 he heard the call to pit road by Cooper. The Iron Horse crew changed four tires and filled the No. 10 with Sunoco fuel, while Malsam was instructed to switch to his back up radio.

Radio problems persisted for Malsam, and when the caution was once again waved on lap 142, Cooper instructed crew member, RJ Beshore, to go over the wall and change the driver's radio. When the Iron Horse Jeans Camry made it into the pit stall the crew changed four tires and filled the car with fuel, while Malsam dropped his window net so that Beshore could change the radio.

The caution flag waved for a third time on lap 151, and a fourth time on lap 178. The No. 10 was called to pit road, and after changing four tires and filling the car with fuel Malsam returned to the track in the 20th position. On lap 196 the No. 12 reported a left rear tire going flat. As he dropped back he made contact with the No. 10 and both cars spun. The Iron Horse Jeans Toyota sustained damage to the left front, and came to pit road under caution so the No. 10 crew could repair damage. After the crew hammered out as much fender damage as possible, Malsam returned to the track under caution still listed in the 20th position.

When the white flag waved signaling one to go, the leaders got together on the frontstretch sending the No. 22 spinning and catching much of the field, including the No. 10, up in its wake. Still, the Iron Horse Jeans Toyota ended the long and hot night in the 18th position for Malsam's fourth top-20 finish in six starts with Braun Racing and Iron Horse Jeans.

"We had a tough night in the No. 10 Iron Horse Jeans Toyota tonight," said Malsam. "With all the radio issues we were having it was hard to give Stewart [Cooper] the feedback he needed to fix the car, but he was able to make changes that helped us anyway. I am really proud of all the guys for battling hard tonight! We'll come back in the Iron Horse Jeans Camry in Iowa, and hopefully post another good finish in the No. 10."

Next Stop: The NASCAR Nationwide Series next heads to O'Reilly Raceway Park for the KROGER 200 benefitting Riley Hospital for Children. The Saturday night race is scheduled to begin at 7:30 pm EST and will be broadcast LIVE on ESPN and on MRN Radio affiliates. The green flag is scheduled to drop at 8 pm.


Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 Official Results
1. Carl Edwards
2. Reed Sorenson (No. 32 Dollar General/Braun Racing)
3. Trevor Bayne
4. Paul Menard
5. Steve Wallace
6. Brian Scott (No. 11 AccuDoc/Braun Racing)
18. Tayler Malsam (No. 10 Iron Horse Jeans/Braun Racing)
23. Jason Leffler (No. 38 Great Clips/Braun Racing)

To learn more about Tayler Malsam got to www.taylermalsam.com

July 7, 2010

Malsam Takes Another Top-20 at Daytona

On a steamy summer night in Daytona Beach, Florida Tayler Malsam fought an extremely loose condition to bring home his third top-20 finish in five NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) starts in the No. 10 Iron Horse Jeans Toyota. The second visit to Daytona International Speedway in 2010 for the NNS teams served as the debut of the series 'new car', and gave a preview of the racing that is to come when the car is implemented full-time in 2011. The Iron Horse Jeans team started the week optimistic, as the No. 10 had speed as soon as it hit the track. After Wednesday's open test session and practice on Thursday the team knew they had a great 'new car' to race under the lights.

In his first ever qualifying effort at Daytona in a Nationwide Series car, Malsam laid down a lap of 50.081 seconds, good for the 25th starting position. As the sun set over the 2.5-mile tri-oval, the green flag waved and Malsam got to work wheeling his No. 10 Camry around the historic superspeedway. On lap three, as the crowd raised three fingers in the air to pay tribute to the late Dale Earnhardt, Malsam was battling to stay inside the top-25 but said little on the radio. When the night's first caution flag waved on lap 6, Malsam reported to veteran crew chief, Stewart Cooper, his Camry was stable. "The car is a little free, but I'm just hanging out. I don't want to push it yet," Malsam said.

Under caution, Cooper called his driver to pit road for four tires and fuel. The No. 10 Iron Horse Jeans Toyota returned to the track in the 28th position. When the second caution flag of the night was displayed on lap 33, Malsam, had fought his way back into the top 25, listed in the 23rd position. When asked about his car Malsam reported the No. 10 was extremely loose, and he felt as though he was about to lose it. Malsam was again called to pit road, and to counteract the loose condition the Iron Horse Jeans crew changed four tires, filled the Camry with fuel, made a slight air pressure adjustment, went two rounds up on the track bar and took wedge out of the right rear. After the pit stop, lengthened by the large amount of changes, the No. 10 restarted the race in the 29th position.

As the race went on Malsam reported the car's handling was getting much worse. "I can't stay on the bottom of the track. I don't know why, but I can't keep the rear end under the car," Malsam reported.

Cooper suggested to his driver that the changes on the previous pit stop had hurt the car's handling, and promised they would reverse them under the next caution. By lap 60 Malsam, listed in the 25th position, was reporting continued deterioration of the car's handling.

"I'm not sure what to do. I can't get close enough to the car in front to draft because I feel like I am going to wreck them. We are so loose," said Malsam.

Cooper encouraged his rookie driver to keep digging. Nine laps later the caution flag once again waved and the No.10 was finally called to pit road to make more adjustments. The lap 70 pit stop gave a chance for the Iron Horse Jeans crew to change four tires, pack the Camry with fuel, go five rounds down of the track bar and remove wedge from the car. On the lap 74 restart, the Iron Horse Jeans Toyota was listed in the 28th position.

The changes helped the handling of the car and by lap 79 Malsam had made his way into the 24th position. The No. 10 stayed inside the top 25 and when the caution flag waved for the last time on lap 95 Malsam praised the changes the Iron Horse crew made on the previous stop. Malsam was called to pit road for the last time on lap 97. The No. 10 crew changed four tires, filled the car with fuel, and made a slight air pressure adjustment. When the race restarted for the green-white-checkered finish Malsam only had one thing to say, "I have a feeling things are about to get crazy."

Malsam took the checkered flag of the Subway Jalapeno 250 in the 18th position claiming his third top-20 finish in five Nationwide Series starts.

"I'm happy we could bring home another top-20 this weekend. We fought a loose condition all night, and that hurt the way I was able to draft. Stewart worked hard to make the changes to help to No. 10's handling, and I'm really proud of how hard the Iron Horse Jeans crew worked," said Malsam. "I'm glad I got the first race in the new car under my belt, and I can't wait to get the new cars back on track again at Michigan!"

Next Stop: The NASCAR Nationwide Series next heads to Chicagoland Speedway for the Dollar General 300 powered by Coca-Cola. The Friday night race is scheduled to begin at 7:30 pm EST and will be broadcast LIVE on ESPN and on MRN Radio affiliates. The green flag is scheduled to drop at 8 pm.


Subway Jalapeno 250 Powered by Coca-Cola Official Results
1. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
2. Joey Logano
3. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
4. Brad Keselowski
5. Kevin Harvick
14. Jason Leffler (No. 38 Great Clips/Braun Racing)
18. Tayler Malsam (No. 10 Iron Horse Jeans/ Braun Racing)
22. Reed Sorenson (No. 32 Dollar General/Braun Racing)
30. Brian Scott (No. 11 Great Clips/ Braun Racing)


To learn more about Tayler Malsam got to www.taylermalsam.com