RICHMOND, VA (September 6, 2002) - Terry Cook started and finished fifth in the Virginia Is For Lovers 200 at Richmond International Raceway Thursday narrowly missing a severe crash on the last lap of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race.
     "We brought home a fifth-place finish with an 11th-place truck," said Cook. "We were up and down all night. We tried a different setup that didn't come around like we wanted it to. I don't know exactly what happened on the last lap when Robert Pressley, Jason Leffler, Travis Kvapil and David Starr crashed, but it threw us into fifth which is about where we were in practice. We were fortunate to finish in the Top-5 and maintain second in the points standings for this Power Stroke Diesel Engines team. All in all, it was a good night because we are leaving with a solid finish and the truck is in one piece only with cosmetic damage."
     Cook dealt with an ill-handling truck and high oil and water temperatures on his gauges throughout the event. Seventh in the running order at Lap 60, Cook headed to pit road for fresh tires all around in an effort to fix his handling woes. Later, the team gave Cook a chassis adjustment and new rights at Lap 96 before taking on lefts on the final stop at Lap 166.
     "We were going to hold and not pit that last time for lefts," said Cook. "The truck seemed to be losing grip and Bob (crew chief Bob Keselowski) opted to come in and put on lefts. We weren't sure how it would play out. Our second practice was cancelled, so we worked with what we had."
     Back up to seventh, Cook had a stroke of good fortune on the final lap when he avoided a wild, five-driver truck-crushing wreck just in front of him in Turns 1-2. That allowed Cook to slip into the fifth spot, his eighth Top-5 finish in 16 NCTS events this season.
     Cook earned $10,550 for his 14th Top-10 finish of the season. Cook is second in the NCTS 2002 championship standings, 44 markers out of first.
     Next up for Cook and his Power Stroke Diesel team is Texas Motor Speedway where he finished 13th in the 167-lap event last spring.
     "We've always ran well at Texas, but we haven't quite capped it off with a top finish," said Cook. "It would be nice to win in the Lone Star State, which is a huge truck market for Power Stroke Diesel. We always have a great crowd and the Texas venue is state-of-the-art."