Donny Lia returned to his short track roots on Wednesday night when the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series descended on “Thunder Valley” for the running of the O’Reilly 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway.  Lia, who won at the short track of Mansfield Motorsports Park earlier this year, was a top contender for much of the 200-lap race but was caught up in a crash with less than 20 laps to go which resulted in a 12th-place finish for last year’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Champion.

“The guys at TRG Motorsports gave me a pretty good truck,” said Lia after climbing from his No. 71 NationRides.com Chevrolet.  “We were fifth on the time sheets after final practice and I was pretty proud of my guys for putting together a good piece.  I thought we had a good shot at a top-10 or better, but our second set of tires wasn’t really any good.  We didn’t want to lose track position to come in and change them so we just kept digging.”

Lia kept digging for much of the race, but his momentum was halted on lap 179 when the caution came out for a multi-truck wreck in turn one which brought out the red flag.  Lia locked his truck down to avoid the wreck and hit the back of the No. 16, sending the duo into a spin.  “There was a wreck over there in one and two - either my spotter didn’t call it, or I wasn’t paying attention or a combination of both - and I got in to the back of the No. 16,” explained Lia.  “That hurt our potential top-10 or better. Even with the truck all banged up when we put the new set of tires on and we were really, really good. We were 18th the second to the last restart from the end and we finished 12th so it was a good night for us.”

Lia ran as high as eighth in the O’Reilly 200 and captured his sixth top-12 in 15 starts for TRG Motorsports.

“We are really proud of both of our drivers here at TRG Motorsports,” said Kevin Buckler, Team Principal.  “Both Donny and T.J. (Bell, teammate) did a fantastic job in their debuts at Bristol Motor Speedway.  Bristol is a tough track and can eat up equipment, but they both did a great job.  For the second time this year, we had both of our trucks in the top-12 which is a great accomplishment.  Both Donny and T.J. were running nose-to-tail for most of the race and that’s a testament to the teamwork and information that is shared between both trucks.  We work hard to be one team with two trucks and that’s becoming clearer with each race that we run.”

Lia will return to the wheel of the No. 71 NationRides.com Chevrolet on September 6th at Gateway International Raceway.  Live television coverage of the Camping World 200 presented by Honda Power Equipment will begin on the SPEED Channel at 2 p.m. ET with radio coverage coming to you live courtesy of MRN Radio.

Donny Lia – No. 71

NationRides.com

Chevrolet

August 20, 2008

Bristol Motor Speedway

O'Reilly 200

Bristol, TN

Donny Lia Racks Up Sixth Top-12 in Thunder Valley

Donny Lia Race Post:  Strong Finish at Bristol