On The Track Again, Donny Lia Brings Home a Top-Five

Up until this past weekend’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at Jennerstown Speedway (PA), rainouts and gaps in the schedule had conspired to keep Donny Lia out of his #18 LMI groundpounder for nearly two months.

So when his #18 LMI team unloaded a strong racecar, Lia was more than happy to put it near the front and take it to a fifth-place finish in the 100-lap event. Lia was fast throughout the race, sometimes maybe even a little bit too fast.

“It was a good run,” said Lia. “We qualified fourth, and redrew fifth and that was where we wound up finishing but we had a really good race car. We worked our way up to second early in the race and we were working on the leader. We were fast but we were actually a little bit too good too early and we wound up blistering the right rear and after that we were just trying to hang on to the finish.

“It could have been better if we hadn’t of had that tire problem

but we will take fifth any day. We came out of there with all four

tires on it and didn’t tear anything up so it was definitely a good weekend for us.”

For Lia, Jennerstown has been an acquired taste. The last time that Lia had visited the track he wasn’t too fond of it. His finishes never showed just how good his car was at times, but this time as he leaves Jennerstown Speedway with a top-five finish he has some different thoughts on the track.

“My feelings about the racetrack have changed,” said Lia. “I used to hate it and now I think it is a really good racetrack for our racecars. It’s wide and it is smooth, it has multiple grooves and it is really fast. I couldn’t ask for anything more to race a Whelen Modified on.

“It was a lot of fun, we just struggled there when we went there last year and we ended up a couple of laps down and it just wasn’t any fun or a good run for us and I didn’t like the track because I didn’t run good there. This time was different and I am definitely glad that we went there. I was actually able to enjoy the track and see how nice it was instead of struggling.”

Now that he is back behind the wheel and New England is slowly starting to dry up from the incessant rains, Lia has a full schedule of Northern Modified races still yet to be run this year.

“Next up for us we will be testing Monday at Loudon (NH). After that, next Thursday on the (June) 29th I am going to be racing at Thompson Speedway. I am really excited about that. In April, we were strong there, but it didn’t show. We had a good car at the Icebreaker but then we ran out of fuel. Hopefully we don’t have that problem again and we will be able to bring home a good finish.”

With his top-five finish, Lia has moved into fourth in the

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour point standings. After three starts, he has emerged as an early championship contender, but more importantly, he and his team are enjoying their time at the track.

“This year we are just having a lot of fun,” added Lia. “The guys work really hard and I am really proud of them, I am working with the best team that I have ever worked with. We put together a real good bunch of guys this year and it is really showing. Even when we struggle we are still in the hunt, and hopefully it stays that way and I think we are only going to get better. Right off the bat, everything gelled real well and everybody gets along really well and we are just having a good time. I think we can run consistently in the top five like we have all year and be there at the end of the year, I really that that could happen.”

Lia will be back behind the wheel of his #18 Whelen Modified entry on June 29th at Thompson Speedway (CT).