FONTANA, Calif. — Tayler Malsam knew there would be days like this during his rookie season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.
The 20-year-old former Mill Creek resident ran into trouble on pit road for the second race in a row, and wound up finishing 24th in the San Bernardino County 200 on Saturday at Auto Club Speedway.
“It was a good day and a bad day,” Malsam said by phone after the race. “(Ours) was one of the fastest trucks out there today, no one was going to catch Kyle Busch, but we could’ve run top five.”
Busch led 95 of 100 laps in capturing his second straight win on the 2-mile oval. It was his 10th series victory.
Todd Bodine finished second and Chad McCumbee was third, followed by David Starr, T.J. Bell, Ron Hornaday Jr., Matt Crafton and former bike racing star Ricky Carmichael, the top finishing rookie.
Malsam started 11th and stayed near the top 10 during the early going. When Bryan Scott spun out after brushing Mike Skinner on lap 26, Malsam pitted during the caution along with the rest of the field.
As he was exiting his pit stall after re-fueling, Malsam’s truck collided with that of fellow rookie Chase Austin, who was entering his pit stall.
“I was doing the gas-and-go, I don’t know who it even was that (hit me),” Malsam said. “My crew chief was watching the gas can, when it was done he said ‘go’ and I went.”
The resulting damage to Malsam’s right front fender caused a tire rub that sent him back onto pit road under green to change right-side tires.
Malsam went two laps down a little past the midway point of the race. Given the fast tempo and lack of cautions — there were just two on the day — the strategy for the Randy Moss Motorsports team shifted.
“Once we went a couple laps down after the tire blew out, we were going on half-throttle the rest of the race to try to save gas,” Malsam said. “We were just hoping for a caution. At Bristol, someplace like that, you should be able to get two laps back, but not there.”
Under new rules this season, enacted to save money by limiting the number of crew members each team must have, trucks can either fuel or change tires — not both — in a single stop.
That rule change has nearly doubled the number of pit stops conducted, especially under cautions, as trucks stop for fuel, go out for a lap and then return for tires — or vice versa.
His pit-road collision with Austin “wouldn’t have happened with the old pit rules,” Malsam said. “No one is liking (the new rules) today.”
Besides the increased potential for accidents on pit road, teams have had to adjust their raceday strategies with the new rules. On Saturday, several trucks — including Malsam’s — gambled on getting a caution but ended up running out of fuel in the closing laps.
A week ago in the season opening race at Daytona, Malsam missed his pit stall on the first round of pit stops — a mistake repeated two days later by Dale Earnhardt Jr. during the Daytona 500. Malsam recovered to record a 10th-place finish at Daytona.
Despite the poor finish on Saturday, Malsam maintained a positive attitude about his first race at Auto Club Speedway.
“It was fun when we were running up front,” he said. “We should have had a better day, but we’ll get it in two weeks at Atlanta.”
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