Talladega: David Starr race report

Starr Eleventh at Talladega

Talladega, AL -- October 30, 2010. David Starr had a sinking feeling when the engine in his Toyota Tundra sputtered on lap twenty-six of the NASCAR Camping World Series Mountain Dew 250, but he received a push from a teammate and eventually fought his way back to the lead lap to finish in the lead draft of a very exciting race at the Talladega Superspeedway.

David qualified the Zachry No. 81 Toyota Tundra thirteenth in the thirty-six-truck field on Friday afternoon with a lap of 53.54 seconds at nearly 179 mph. It was David's fourteenth top-fifteen qualifying effort of the 2010 season.

"That was a little better than we thought we might qualify," David said following Friday's qualifying session. "Our Zachry Toyota is balanced, steady and feels really stable in the draft. It sucks-up great and I think it will run great in the race."

The trucks races side by side following the green flag and, David showed his experience and patience early in the race holding position on the inside line while numerous trucks worked the outside line around him. Starr would jump into the outside line and work his way up to sixth on the twentieth lap.

The caution would fly for several trucks that got together on lap twenty-four, but the pits would not open immediately as track crews worked to lead up a large amount of fluid on the track. Before David could bring the Zachry Toyota to the attention of the SS Green Light crew, the engine sputtered and ran out of fuel leaving Starr is a very tenuous situation. Luckily teammate Tony Jackson Jr. was running behind Starr and pushed his No. 81 to the pit area, keeping Starr on the lead lap.

NASCAR officials held the Zachry Toyota in the pit to repair a damaged spoiler brace before allowing Starr to return to the track. The SS Green Light team made repairs, but Starr lost a lap in the process, dropping back to twenty-fifth place.

David raced hard running up near the front of the draft with the leaders trying to position the Zachry Toyota for the lucky-dog if the caution would come out to get back on the lead lap. He had a close call in the draft on lap thirty-five, nearly rear-ending Mike Skinner, but a quick evasive move prevented what could have been a disaster for the field.

The hard work in the draft paid off on lap seventy-five when the caution flew and David was awarded the lucky-dog and restarted back on the lead-lap eighteenth with eighteen laps remaining in the ninety-four lap race.

The action on the track heated up even more as the trucks battled two and three wide around the 2.66-mile track with David reaching as high as eighth with six laps to go. "The big one" occurred with just three laps remaining, involving six trucks and causing a ten-minute red flag. Following the restart, the trucks were bunched tight with lots of side-by side action for the green-white-checkered finish. Mired in traffic, David was unable to position the Zachry Toyota for a shot at the victory bringing home the No. 81 eleventh at the checkers behind Kyle Busch who won in an exciting three-wide finish.

With only three races remaining on the 2010 schedule, Starr holds ninth in the NCWTS point standings behind leader Todd Bodine. David is only 42 points behind Mike Skinner for eighth and 102 points ahead of teammate Jason White who is tenth.

Starr and the SS Green Light team will head to David's home state of Texas for Friday nights' Winstar World Casino 350k.

-source: ssglr