DONNY LIA TAKES A WILD RIDE IN CHEVY SILVERADO 350K

Donny Lia Race Post

Donny Lia and the No. 81 Randy Moss Motorsports (RMM)/NationRides.com team went to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend with hopes of improving on their run one week ago in Atlanta.  Lia raced around the top 15 for the majority of night before finishing 14th. 

"It was a really good effort for us at Texas," commented Lia.  "Everyone on the Randy Moss Motorsports team worked their tails off to give me a great truck.  We were just settling in there early in the race when everyone got jammed up on the backstretch with the No. 07 getting in the wall.  I ended up getting in the back of another truck and we got some damage to the right front fender.  After that we battled tight in the center of the corner all night.  I have to really thank my guys.  They never gave up all night and were awesome as usual in the pits.  Thanks to them we able to fight our way back to a decent 14th-place finish."

The Long Island, New York native qualified the Randy Moss Motorsports/NationRides.com Chevrolet in the 15th position for Friday's running of the Chevy Silverado 350K.  "That's about what we ran in our mock run, a little bit better," said Lia.  "I mean, yeah, I'd like a little bit better than that but I don't know what we could have done any better or any different."

Lia took the green flag for the start of the 147-lap race and settled in as he set his sights for the front of the field.  The RMM driver broke into the top 10 by the 10th circuit but fought handling problems after receiving a little bit of damage to the front nose of the No. 81 Chevy.

On lap 94 the Rookie of the Year contender broke loose in turn four and took a wild ride across the front stretch grass and on to pit road.  Remarkably he was able to keep his RMM Chevrolet off the pit wall and continue without any damage.  With some fresh tires and fuel, Lia was set to take the green flag for the restart in the top 15. 

"We had been tight in the center of the corner, tight in the center and loose off, which loose off is just a product of being tight in the center," Lia commented about what led up to the spin. "You get tight in the center and then you get loose off and when you have a truck tucked up behind you there it just magnifies the loose off.  I was already kind of halfway spun out and then somebody got tucked up behind me there and took the air off the back of the truck and just finished it.  It was just one of those long, lazy deals.  Never could figure out which way I wanted to spin it out, just kind of guessed wrong but then ended up getting lucky by not hitting.  I don't know how I didn't hit anything.  I'll have to see that [smiles]."

Lia remained in the top 15 in the closing laps of the race and before taking the checkered flag while running 14th.

Lia remains second in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings with two races remaining in the season.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series heads back to the Phoenix International Raceway next for round 24 of 25 with the running of the Lucas Oil 150 on Friday, November 7, 2008.  Green flag coverage will begin at 7:30 p.m. (EDT) on SPEED with coverage from MRN (Motor Racing Network) and Sirius Satellite Radio beginning at 8:00 p.m.

Donny straps in.

Donny on the starting grid at Texas.