Donny Lia Ready for Double Features at a Familiar Track

While the teams of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour have been on their spring break, with a gap in their schedule of over a month, Donny Lia has continued to be a busy racer. He made his USAR Pro Cup debut earlier this month at Lonesome Pine Speedway (VA) by qualifying third and finishing a very respectable 13th and he has been competing at Stafford Motor Speedway (CT) on a weekly basis in the #47 Wisk/Clorox SK Modified.

So as the Modified Tour gets ready to return to action this Friday night at Stafford, Lia is all set up to do a little bit of double duty. He’ll run the 150-lap Tour race in his #18 Lia Motorsports, Inc. car while also driving the SK Modified in a 40-lap feature.

And logging laps at Stafford is a very good thing for a driver.

“There’s no way that having more experience at a track can’t help,” said Lia. “One of the reasons for running the SK was to get more seat time at Stafford. We run there four times a year [with the Whelen Modified Tour], so it can only help.”

“Stafford is one of the toughest and most technical tracks where we race. The corners on each end of the racetrack are so different. You have to negotiate them almost completely opposite of each other. The track has its own little quirks and they are different quirks. It’s tricky. That place and Thompson are the two hardest tracks that I’ve ever raced at. Since we have eight Tour races at those two tracks, you have to figure those out. To win a race either place would be a big accomplishment. You have to have the whole package together. The team, driver and car all have to be perfect.”

Lia’s team has not been sitting around either during their time off.

“The guys in the shop have been getting some cars ready. We redid a car from last year to get that ready to run. They’ve been getting a little antsy to get going again after a big break. They want to go racing again.”

Any downtime from now through September will be a valuable community for teams. In the next 17 weeks, the Whelen Modified Tour hits the racetrack a total of 15 times and that can take its toll on competitors.

“We’ll have our work cut out for us. There is a pretty good stretch of racing here. Everyone wants to go racing right now; but five or six races into this stretch, they might be wanting some time off again. Hopefully, everyone has gotten the most of their break.”

Since the Modified Tour last took to the track in early April, Lia has run a string of SK Modified events in the #47 car. He has been fast enough to win on several occasions, but bad luck has bit the team time and time again. Still, the team won’t be giving up anytime soon.towel in.

“The whole operation that they have to go SK racing is an awesome one. Those are great guys who work very hard and we have a great sponsor in Wisk. They really remind me a lot of my own Tour team that we’ve built up over the past few years. They just don’t give up. We’ve had a lot of bad luck so far this year and eventually that will turn around. Those guys know that and they just won’t throw the towel in.

They could have a few times this year and they just won’t do that. I like being around them. Their goals are to win no matter how hard they have to work to do that. I love working with those guys.”

Lia has shown the speed needed to excel in a SK Modified several times this year, but hasn’t sealed the deal quite yet.

“There have been a couple of races that we should have won already. But at the end of the day you are either winning or not. Should have, would have or could have doesn’t matter. Once our luck turns and we get it all together, we’ll be fine. Everything is in place for some success as long as things line up a little bit better.”

Friday night at Stafford presents an opportunity for Lia to turn both of his seasons around.

“We hope to come out of Stafford with the wheels on both cars and a couple of good finishes. Even if we don’t win, if we can get a few good finishes to build some momentum on, we’ll be happy. That’s what we need.”

For more information on Donny and his team, please contact Matthew Dillner at (704) 231-7613 and be sure to visit DonnyLia.com.