Mike Bliss piloting the No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts Toyota Tundra brought home a 12th place finish for Billy Ballew Motorsports Friday night in the running of the Camping World RV Sales 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at the Milwaukee Mile.

Bliss and the No. 51 Miccosukee Toyota Tundra team struggled with tight conditions in practice that continued into qualifying placing the truck in the 19th place position for the 200 lap event.

Just after the start of the 11th race of the 25 race Craftsman Truck Series event, Bliss radioed in to the crew that the truck was still tight and called for shock adjustments on the first pit stop.

The changes couldn’t come soon enough for Bliss who maintained in the top-15 but struggled even reporting possible power steering issues. A long green flag period on the track forced teams to begin green flag pit stops. Bliss came down pit road for four tires and chassis adjustments on lap 75 while in the 12th position. When the cycle of green flags stops started to become complete Bliss was shown in the 22nd position. With the new tires and adjustments the team looked to move back to the front but unfortunately, the caution flag flew on lap 77 trapping all but seven race trucks laps down.

Several cautions in a 20-lap period of time shuffled the field up with the leader restarting in the middle of the pack. Bliss 1 1/2 –laps down to the leaders benefited from the juggling of the running order. He was able to keep ahead of the leaders, not loosing another lap and positioning himself to receive the “Lucky Dog” award to move him to the lead lap.

Bliss was the next truck in line to receive the award but lightening in the area forced NASCAR to red flag the race for 26 minutes. When the weather cleared and the trucks went back to racing for the 50-lap shootout Bliss was able to keep ahead of the lead pack receiving the Lucky Dog on lap 158.

Bliss restarted 16th on lap 160 and despite having handling issues he was able to gain four positions on the racetrack posting a 12th place finish for the Billy Ballew Motorsports team.

“We battled with the handling of the truck all day,” Bliss said. “We really started getting better there at the end, but the field was too spread out to gain more positions. I had really hoped to bring home that top-10 for Billy Ballew. I have to thank the fan for sticking with us when the weather got a little hairy and thank this team for the opportunity to drive their equipment.”

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads next to the Memphis Motorsports Park for the running of the O’Reilly 200 Saturday night, June 28, 2008. Shane Sieg will pilot the No. 51 Tundra for the Billy Ballew Motorsports team.