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03-13-2004
Terry Cook Leaves Atlanta With Knowledge, Top-20 Finish
Terry Cook and the No. 10 ppc Racing Power Stroke® Diesel Ford team attained valuable information in Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event. Cook, who started 20th at Atlanta Motor Speedway, battled a loose-handling truck early on before making his first pit stop of the day on lap 42. Cook tried different lines on the 1.54-mile quad-oval, finding the high side best under long, green-flag runs.
“The truck was extremely loose at the beginning of the race,” said Cook, who rebounded to finish 18th. “We just couldn’t go forward and unfortunately I got way behind. We got a lap down but the truck was fast enough to stay right behind (leader) Bobby Hamilton. I actually learned a lot from Hamilton, following his truck and it really seemed to help. We kept ourselves in position for the Lucky Dog award and the leader pitted early. We cycled through on the next lap and I’ll be darned if we didn’t get caught in the pits. I think we had a solid top-10 finish today if we hadn’t been caught a lap down. We didn’t have a truck to win today but we feel like we learned a lot today and a lot of what we learned today will help us in the future.”
The Power Stroke Diesel crew didn’t let the bad break in the pits get them down, knowing Cook found an ideal line to run on the restart. Crew chief Fred Wanke and spotter Keith Barnwell guided Cook around the competitors to retain a top-20 position finding different ways to make the No. 10 Power Stroke Diesel Ford faster. Cook continued to fight for every position on the track getting as high as 17th before making his second and final pit stop on lap 89. The crew made several adjustments under the four-tire pit stop and restarted 21st. Cook avoided the last two late-race cautions to finish 18th after another wild, green-white-checkered finish. Afterward, Wanke knew the top-20 finish was a benefit for the team.
“We learned a lot today about the truck and its handling,” said Wanke. “I have to admit the crew chief made a mistake though on the setup. I sure didn’t know how the new rules played into the pit stops. Terry followed Bobby Hamilton there early and learned how to run the line. It was a learning day for Terry and the crew with the downforce and all on the truck. We’ve got some information to work with when we return to the shop. We’ll take our notes and hopefully apply them to future races.”
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