Cook looks to improve on career struggles at Texas

Texas Motor Speedway is a special track for the Craftsman Truck Series. It's one of just three tracks -- along with Martinsville and Atlanta -- the series visits two times during the season. Plus, the 1.5-mile track has hosted the most races in the Truck Series' 13-year existence with Friday's Sam's Town 400 (8:30 p.m. ET, SPEED) marking the 19th race at the speedway.

For Terry Cook, who along with Rick Crawford has started all 18 previous races at Texas, the track is one of the best on the schedule and he credits the ownership with the track's success.

Terry Cook

"I've raced in every one of the 18 Craftsman Truck Series races held at Texas Motor Speedway," Cook said. "It's a great facility and I have to commend track owner Bruton Smith and general manager Eddie Gossage for that. Every time the track has needed something, they have stepped up and fixed it."

The track may be in top condition, but Cook's record at Texas isn't. The Craftsman Truck Series veteran, who will race in his record 230th consecutive NCTS event and 249th out of the 301 overall Truck Series races, has never won in the Lone Star State.

In those 18 races, Cook has only held the lead in four of them; he has five DNFs and only six top-10s with his best finish being a sixth back in 1999. Despite the difficulties, Cook still beams when talking about the track.

"It's a track that's on the cutting edge of technology," Cook said. "It's the only one we race at where they have caution lights built into the racing surface. It's an amazing place."

The 2007 season started off slow for Cook with his only DNF of the season coming in the season opener at Daytona when a fiery crash relegated him to a 27th-place finish. He followed that up with a 30th at California and things weren't looking very good for the No. 59 team in its first year together.

"Fortunately, we don't always measure our results by our finish," Cook said. "We also measure our success by how the whole weekend went and how the team performed. We were fast in practice and fast at times during the race.

"We [were] a pretty new team -- just two races together -- and I [thought] it was just a matter of time before we put a full weekend together and got this Toyota Tundra running up front."

Cook may not have a side job as a psychic, but he was right on. In the last five races he's finished in the top 15 in each of them, including a ninth at Kansas and an eighth last week at Dover, his best finish of the season. He has made a steady climb up the points standings and currently sits 13th, just 461 points behind Mike Skinner.

With the team riding a high, Cook says the time is now to make a charge toward the top.

By the Numbers

Brendan Gaughan made history when he won four consecutive races at Texas Motor Speedway from 2002-2003. He's back in the No. 77 Dodge looking to end a skid that started after his fourth Texas win -- a 59-race winless streak.

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"We'll be focusing on keeping the big train moving at Texas," Cook said. "We had a great team effort at Dover and another top-10 at Texas would go a long way in keeping that momentum rolling."

Cook has a lot of work to do if he hopes to post a second consecutive top-10 at the track. He posted the 19th-fastest speed in the first practice at 176.667 mph, almost 4 mph slower than leader Todd Bodine. His second practice wasn't much better, 17th at 175.913.

The 39-year-old found some speed in qualifying, crusing at 178.077, but so did everyone else and Cook will roll off in the 22nd starting position.

There's something to be said about knowledge though, and that's exactly where Cook has an advantage on the rest of the field. Cook knows better than anyone where to accelerate and where to hit the brakes and there's one spot on the track he hopes his knowledge gives him the inside edge.

"The real scary part of Texas Motor Speedway is Turn 3," Cook said. "It's been that way since they opened the place. It's an intimidating corner.

"You wind up turning into it while you are still on the backstretch banking. It's a very insecure feeling hammering into the corner, especially at more than 180 mph. It's easily the most treacherous part of the racetrack."