Donny Lia entered Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Friday night carrying the colors of NationRides.com, a new website that will be launched within the next few weeks that will revolutionize the way consumers buy their next new car, truck, boat, or motorcycle. But even though Lia was excited to debut a new sponsor at the 1.5-mile oval, his excitement was extinguished on lap nine in a crash that took the Raybestos Rookie of the Year contender out of the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 way too soon.
Lia went out first in qualifying which was a huge disadvantage as track conditions changed drastically from the start to the end of the qualifying session. Even though Lia was well within the top-20 in the first and only practice session of the day, his qualifying lap was slower than expected at 31.805 seconds at a speed of 169.785 miles per hour. Even though the lap was only good for a 34th place starting spot, Lia kept a positive attitude as he keyed the radio to tell the crew, “I’m proud of everybody. I’ll do my best here” as he strapped in for the 134-lap race.
(top) Lia at Speed with the NationRides.com colors. (bottom) Donny working the turns at Lowe's Motor Speedway. (Lia Photo)
At the drop of the green flag, Lia wasted no time working his way by three trucks and into 31st position. But as he was working the high side on the front straightaway, the 21 truck appeared to have a problem, and began sliding back through the field. For a fraction of a second, Lia was forced three-wide just before the two trucks on the bottom tangled and came up the track collecting the 2007 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Champion and sending him into a spin across the infield grass.
“I got hit there in the left rear and got turned around,” explained Lia following the disappointing wreck. “I don’t know where the 21 was going. I was up by the fence there and gave him every lane on the racetrack. I guess it wasn’t enough.”
Lia took his No. 71 NationRides.com Chevrolet behind the wall for repairs, but with significant front end damage, a broken radiator, and severe damage to his splitter, Crew Chief Jason Miller made the call to pack up for the night, resulting in a 34th-place finish for the first-year team; the first “DNF” for the team since Lia took over the wheel at California Speedway on February 23rd.
The accident caused Lia to fall four spots in the 2008 Championship Point Standings to 27th. Lia is currently 56 points out of the top-20 and 246 points out of the top-ten.
Lia and his TRG Motorsports team hope to rebound on Saturday as the team takes on the 0.5-mile short track of Mansfield Motorsports Park for the Ohio 250. Live television coverage will begin at 12:30 p.m. on the SPEED Channel with radio coverage coming to you live courtesy of MRN Radio.
