ARCA

Illinois: Bryan Silas race report

Bryan Silas Dusting Off The Dirt Heading To Chicagoland JOLIET, Illinois (August 24th 2009) - - After competing in his fifth career dirt track event in the ARCA RE/MAX Series this past weekend at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, Stuart, Florida ...

Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:19 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Bryan Silas Dusting Off The Dirt Heading To Chicagoland

JOLIET, Illinois (August 24th 2009) - - After competing in his fifth career dirt track event in the ARCA RE/MAX Series this past weekend at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, Stuart, Florida native Bryan Silas is shaking off the dirt and heading towards Chicagoland Speedway for Friday's running of the Ansell Cut Protection 150.

Rewinding back to Springfield for a second, Silas, a third year veteran on the ARCA tour finished 20th. Silas appeared to be on his way to a solid top-15 effort but a late race spin knocked the driver down a few notches to record his third straight top-20 effort at the Springfield Mile.

With the dirt racing done for at least two more races, Silas and his Fast Track Racing team head to the "Windy City" looking for a stellar run that will help Silas capitalize on his goal of motoring back into the top-five in the ARCA RE/MAX Series championship chase.

It was the 1.5-mile speed plant of the Chicagoland Speedway last year where Silas really showed maturity and strength. Using a little bit of pit strategy, the Fast Track Racing team owned by 1995 ARCA RE/MAX Series Champion Andy Hillenburg pitted early while a slew of the front-runners were forced to pit under green flag conditions. As the pit stops were cycling through the yellow flag waived with Silas being one of the five beneficiaries on the track who elected not to stop and were rewarded by remaining on the lead lap.

Despite battling a tight No. 11 Ford Fusion, Silas was able to manhandle his machine and remain in the top-five before eventual leader Scott Lagasse overtook the 22-year old which backslid the team to the sixth position where they took the checkered flag.

Thanks to the assistance and guidance of Crew Chief Cal Boprey, Silas returns to the Joliet-based facility on the heels of a successful test last week feeling motivated about potentially grabbing his first ever ARCA RE/MAX Series victory.

"The test was a great success for our team," said Silas, who spent his recent downtime with his race team in Concord, North Carolina. "Our car is capable of qualifying and running up front and with a little luck, we can win the race. I've never felt confident leaving a test as I did last week. I'm looking forward to the race."

Set to make his fourth career start at Chicagoland Speedway, Silas knows that the track sports similar characteristics of its sister track Kentucky Speedway. Last month, Silas produced his best intermediate track performance to date. Unfortunately, a miscue on fuel mileage saw the No. 11 drop from the third position to the 22nd spot in the event's final four laps.

"Kentucky and Chicagoland are very similar," offered Silas. "We were catching the leaders when we ran out of gas at Kentucky. It was frustrating but at the same time it showed everyone that we can run up front on the bigger tracks. Our goal on Friday is to back up our performance from Kentucky."

-credit: bsr

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Illinois: Patrick Sheltra race report

Next article Illinois State Fair event summary

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP 43 min

KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”

Hockenheim in talks with F1 despite “virtually zero” public funding

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1 1 h

Hockenheim in talks with F1 despite “virtually zero” public funding

Philipp Eng and BMW to part ways after 11 years

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 2 h

Philipp Eng and BMW to part ways after 11 years

Frankie Muniz offers new details on 2027 NASCAR plans

NASCAR Truck

NSTR NASCAR Truck

Talladega

3 h

Frankie Muniz offers new details on 2027 NASCAR plans

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts