Tayler Malsam made a solid first NASCAR Nationwide Series start at Fontana, as he drove the #19 G-Oil Toyota from the 22nd starting position to a 16th place finish in Saturday’s Royal Purple 300 at the Auto Club Speedway.
Malsam and the #19 G-Oil Toyota are eighth t in the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series standings and the highest ranked Toyota after the first five races.
Taking advantage of the “Lucky dog” as the top car one lap down, Malsam regained the lead lap on the final caution. At the restart, Malsam took the #19 G-Oil Toyota Camry smartly from 20th to 16th place in the final 13 laps of the 150 lap, 300 mile race.
Tayler Malsam Comments:
We got better each run and picked up some spots late in the race to make a solid points day out of it. The G-Oil crew did a good job. Tire wear was a huge factor. The tires dropped off a lot in just a couple laps and we lost the lead lap at the end of the first stint. The car was tight all weekend and we had to keep working to find a consistent set-up at the end.
We have run on five different size race tracks in the first five Nationwide races. That is good in a way because it brings out both the positives and negatives and tells us the things we have to work on during the break.
TriStar General Manager Rick Carpenter Comments:
For Tayler and the G-Oil car to be eighth in the Nationwide points and the highest ranked Toyota after five races is a compliment to Tayler, our TriStar team and to G-Oil. Eddie Pardue, the crew and Tayler are building their experience base together. Tayler drives hard every lap and you see that with the spots he picks up late in the races. Having two TriStar cars (Mike Bliss-tenth) in the top-ten certainly proves that G-Oil works in NASCAR competition.
