Bryan Silas Nets 23rd In Daytona

Rookie Overcomes Cut Tire; Finishes ARCA Opener

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla (Tuesday, February 13, 2007) - - 2007 ARCA RE/MAX Series Rookie-of-the-Year candidate Bryan Silas's 23rd place finish in last Saturday's ARCA 200 at Daytona doesn't reflect the young gun's performance after a flat tire took the Florida native from being a serious contender in the event.

After posting an uncharacteristic position (41st) in practice, Silas and the Fast Track Racing team went to work on their qualifying setup hoping to lock Fast Track Racing's newest member into his Daytona International Speedway debut. It paid off.

Silas started the event from the 22nd position and quickly became an early-race contender drafting his No. 11 Centerline Homes-PBG Chevrolet towards the front.

Despite some early race carnage, Silas with guidance from car owner and two-time ARCA Daytona winner Andy Hillenburg stayed focus, saving his equipment for the later stages of the event. Unfortunately, Silas cut down a tire during a caution.

The force of the tire cut saw the rubber completely disintegrate destroying the right front sheet metal of Silasā€™s machine. He brought his machine down to the attention of his Fast Track Racing crew as they tried to repair the 3400-pound stock car with 200 MPH duct tape. Silasā€™s car remained competitive but not in the same fashion as the earlier stages.

For the remainder of the event, Silas tucked in with some of his fellow competitors using the remainder of the race as a learning experience. He finished the race, completing 79 of 80 laps.

"We finished the race, that was one of our goals," said the Stuart, Florida native. "We had a really good car. The entire Fast Track Racing team worked their tails off this weekend and I'm proud of them."

Silas mentioned, "I had no warning that the tire was going down. I was riding around under caution and it went. It's a shame. We had a car capable of finishing in the top-10. I guess that's the way it goes at Daytona. We'll repair the car and bring it to Talladega and hope for better luck there."

Unofficially, Silas sits 23rd in the ARCA RE/MAX Series point standings and third overall in the Rookie-of-the-Year standings. Silas hopes to make a major leap in the standings when the series returns to Florida next month at USA International Speedway.

"We could be sitting farther back in points, but we could be a little higher too," Silas added. "We've tested at Lakeland during the off season and we'll test there again before we go back for the race. I really think it's a track I can make a dent in the standings and give us our first top-10 finish of the season."

When not competing or testing for FTR, Bryan competes in both the Sportsman and Limited Late Model divisions at Orlando Speedworld and New Smyrna Speedway.