Donny Lia Ready for Double Duty at NHIS

Donny Lia went to New Hampshire International Speedway this past weekend ready to do battle in a Friday doubleheader at the track. In addition to his normal gig of running on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, the young driver was also ready to make his NASCAR Busch North Series debut.

Thursday’s opening practice sessions showed a lot of promise for the weekend. Lia topped the speed chart in his Modified and was a respectable 14th of 37 Busch North cars at the track. However, when rain washed out qualifying and the two starting fields were set by points, Lia was left with a sixth-place start on the Modified grid and a start of 33rd in the Busch North Series.

The Busch North race was the first one of the docket for Friday. Lia lost a lap on the track early, but was able to make it up once he got more used to it and a few adjustments were made. Lia was running in the top 20 as the laps clicked down, but the engine let go in his Ralph

Solhem-owned #00 just 12 laps before the race stopped by rain.

“It just blew up,” said Lia. “Today was a learning experience. I got better through the whole race with the car. Another couple of races and I’ll be in good shape. We’ll get the car right and I’ll be fine. It was a good experience and I need to thank Ralph for giving me a good opportunity.”

Lia then showed that he had one of the fastest cars in the Modified race, but had to make up ground after an air hose got run over on his pit stop, and left him in the back of the pack halfway through the race. Lia recovered to finish eighth.

“We lost a shot to win in the pits,” said Lia. “Sometimes the driver will make mistakes and sometimes the crew will make mistakes. But we’ll learn together and get past this.”

Lia and the #18 LMI team will have the next weekend off before heading to Stafford Motor Speedway (CT) for the October 2nd Fall Final.