BROOKLYN, Mich. – Fans of Ryan Truex will be seeing him a lot more than they have in the past eight weeks.
It’s been June 25 at Gateway (Ill.) Motorsports Park since Truex and his Hattori Racing Enterprises team have competed together in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. What hoped to be a full-season schedule after a superb second place finish in the season-opening race at Daytona was derailed after sponsorship didn’t materialize.
With the championship out the window and new backing in hand, Truex is focused on making his return at Michigan International Speedway not only influential, but memorable too.
Memorable as in his first career victory in Saturday’s Careers for Veterans 200.
“I’m happy to be back,” said Truex. “It’s cool to have a new sponsor Hino Trucks and also American Fine Sinter. It’s cool to bring two new sponsors in and like I said be back on the track.
This past month, month and a half feels like I’ve been going crazy just watching from the sidelines when I know I should be out here competing.”
The two-time NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champion won’t have to worry for the next two weekends where he’ll be. Strong strategical partnerships from team owner Shigeaki Hattori have Truex in the seat not only this weekend but next Sunday in the series’ lone road course in Bowmanville, Ontario.
“It feels good to be back and it feels good to have some races confirmed for the rest of the schedule,” he said. “I’m looking forward to next weekend a lot. I really like road course racing. I’ve never been to Mosport, but I’ve been there on iRacing, so I kinda know the layout. I’ve always had good success at road courses, so I think that’s one we will have a good shot to win it.”
For Mosport, Truex will carry backing from a local dealership, Don Valley Toyota – while debuting a new truck to their fleet – a truck acquired from the now defunct NTS Motorsports and converted from a Chevrolet to a Toyota.
But before Truex can set his sights north of the border, he’ll tackle 100 laps at Michigan, where drafting is critical, but handling is crucial towards a good finish. To help prepare for battle, the team brought Motorsports veteran Rich Lushes to the track away from their K&N program hoping his expertise can pay dividends for Truex, as sponsor Hino is expected to bring 200 guests.
“It’s going good,” said Truex of the relationship so far with Lushes. “I think he’s doing a good job. He’s keeping everything organized. We had a hectic first practice we could have. We cut two right rear tires and me and (Tyler) Reddick got together on the track and I about spun out into (Turn) 3.
“In the first forty minutes of practice we made eight laps and three of those laps, I was outta control. It was hectic. We got it better. We go out there in the pack at the end and made a decent long run just to get the balance and see how the truck feels in the draft. That’s really what we need to focus on is just traffic – and being able to pull up on guys and pass them and have a good balance.”
Seeming content with his truck overall – Truex is vowing to prove that despite being out of the seat for over eight weeks hasn’t shifted his focus or attention and he has the abilities of- carrying the Hattori Racing torch to Victory Lane.
“I want a top-five,” added Truex. “I know I can do it and I think this truck is capable and I know this team is capable. Everything just has to work out your way here. Track position is going to be huge. It’s so hard to pass. And staying out of trouble. I think this race has shown over the past that it can get pretty wild – and with this new pavement, it’s just so unforgiving.
“Even though it’s four or five years old now it’s still so smooth that it’s really unforgiving. First, you gotta be there at the end and then hopefully Rich will make the right calls to get us the track position to where we can capitalize on it.”
Capitalizing is a term that Truex is familiar with. However, the Mayetta, New Jersey native will need to put an exclamation point on his performances the next two weeks with the hope it sparks enough interest from Hattori’s circle of partners that Chicagoland, Las Vegas and Phoenix are picked up and added to the team’s docket.
Otherwise, Truex fans will have to suffer for three of the next 10 races without their main man on the grid.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
