After a year apart from the team that he won his 2007 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship with, Donny Lia returned to the seat of the #4 Mystic Missile and didn't miss a beat.  Lia drove the car to a third-place finish in Sunday's NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour race at Thompson International Speedway (CT).

“It feels like I never left,” said Lia.  “Everyone is doing good and it's good to be back.  We didn't have the car to win, but we had a good racecar.  This is a decent start to the season.  We gave ourselves a little education with the [new] tires today.  We have to figure these things out, but it should be good.”

Lia's race weekend could have had an early end if it wasn't for something that the team noticed when they unloaded their racecar and presented it for inspected on Friday.  But thanks to an eagle eye and some hard work, what could have been a disaster was barely an issue.

“They really worked hard.  We ended up bending a pushrod somehow in tech,” said Lia.  “So they got another pushrod and luckily it didn't bent a valve.  They went back to the shop and worked their tails off.  They made sure that the car was perfect and that probably hurt us, but they got here and did a great job.  I can't thank them enough and I can't thank Bob Garbarino enough to give me another chance to drive this car again.”

Lia and the Mystic Missile team will return to action on April 26th for the Spring Sizzler at Stafford Motor Speedway (CT).

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour

Thompson Int'l Speedway (CT)

April 5, 2009

Donny Lia – No. 4

Mystic Missile Racing

Car Owner: Bob Garbarino

Hutter Racing Engines

Donny Fits Right Back Into The Seat of the Mystic Missile

Finishes Third in Season Opener at Thompson

Donny races with the Mike Stefanik in a battle of former champions.  (Jim Dupont Photos)

Donny does battle with Jimmy Blewett's #12