Cook Lands Fourth-Best Testing Time at Daytona

Daytona Beach, Fla. (January 15, 2008) - Terry Cook and the Wyler Racing team got a late start during Preseason Thunder testing on Friday at Daytona International Speedway after their plane was delayed due to an issue with the landing gear, causing them to miss the morning’s first practice session.  Even though the plane’s mechanical issue grounded them until Friday afternoon, the team made up for lost time once they hit the 2.5-mile tri-oval’s high banks by posting fast lap times for the rest of the three-day test.

Cook, who is a veteran of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, joined Wyler Racing in the off-season in the seat vacated by three-time Truck Series Champion Jack Sprague.  Cook knows he has big shoes to fill, but he’s looking forward to the challenge.  “Jack (Sprague) and the Wyler Racing team did a great job here at Daytona last year.  They sat on the pole and won the race.  It was a phenomenal race effort,” Cook said.  “We want to live up to those expectations and come back and repeat, but there are a lot of good teams that can win.”

The Wyler Racing team has gone through significant changes in the off-season including adding a new Crew Chief (George Church) and completely new crew.  “It’s hard to repeat year after year, especially with virtually a new crew,” explained Cook.  “We’re going to have a new crew chief, a new spotter, a new team manager and a lot of new crew guys.  I think most of the over-the-wall guys will be new.  Even though it is still Wyler Racing, there are a lot of big changes.  It is all positive stuff, though.”

Even though Cook recognizes the changes, he’s not worried.  “There is no reason we can’t come back and defend the race win for this team,” Cook explained.  “The opportunity at Wyler Racing is great.  They have a lot of great employees.  TRD (Toyota Racing Development) has made sure we have all the resources we need to be competitive week-in and week- out at our disposal.  We’re just looking for great things this year.”

Great things were beginning to surface as Preseason Thunder came to a close.  After spending two days testing aerodynamics on one of the Wyler.com Toyota Tundra’s and chassis adjustments on the other, the Wyler Racing team posted the fourth fastest time overall.  “We’re going to cram in a lot of testing to try and shorten up the learning curve between myself and the crew chief and the guys,” said Cook.  “We want to come out of the box strong and run each week in the top-10.  If we can get running consistently in the top-five, we can contend for some wins.  I think we’re capable of that.”

Cook and the Wyler Racing team will have their next chance to test in preparation for the new season on Tuesday, January 22nd with a two-day NASCAR sanctioned test session at the 1.54-mile quad-oval of Atlanta Motor Speedway.