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NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Daytona Int'l Speedway
February 13, 2010
Donny Lia – No. 21
SS Greenlight Racing
Cut Tire Deflates Lia's Chances for a Win at Atlanta
Donny Lia News
Lia at speed. (SS Greenlight Photo)
The cut tire that ended Lia's chance for a win. (SS Greenlight Photo)
Donny Lia had a solid run Saturday afternoon in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series E-Z-GO 200 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway running in the top-fifteen throughout most of the race until a flat right front tire on lap 113 of the 130 lap race put Lia a lap down to the leaders and dropped the New York native to sixteenth in the running order.
Lia qualified the Hilton Garden Inn Downtown Atlanta No. 07 Chevy in the sixteenth spot with a lap of 31.67 seconds during Saturday mornings qualifying run and took the green flag from the outside of the eighth row directly behind teammate Jason White who qualified the GunBroker.com No. 23 in fourteenth.
From the drop of the green Lia looked strong, moving steadily forward in the running order reaching twelfth place on just the races seventh lap and moving into the top-ten by lap thirty where he was able to stay throughout the middle stages of the 200-mile race.
On lap fifty-four a caution for debris on the track mixed-the field as Crew Chief Jason Miller took fuel only to preserve a set of tires for later in the race. The bold call moved Lia up to third on the restart, but he could not hold the position for long as the trucks with fresh Goodyear rubber passed the SS Green Light entry shortly after the green flag few. Miller had a fresh set of rubber left in the pits, hoping to give Lia an advantage later in the race.
Several quick cautions slowed the field through the middle stages of the race and the team kept Lia topped-off with fuel hoping for a long green flag run that would give the No. 07 an advantage to get back to the front of the field. Miller called Lia to the pits during a caution on lap 80 to top-off with gas, The move positioned Lia as one of only a handful of trucks that could make it to the end of the 130 lap race should the event go caution-free for the last 50 laps.
Unfortunately, the caution that the team hoped to avoid occurred on lap 113 when Lia ran over some debris and cut down the right front tire on the backstretch in his SS Green Light Racing Chevy, putting the No. 07 a lap down in nineteenth place.
Lia managed to pass the three trucks one-lap down to the leaders during the final fifteen-lap green flag run giving him sixteenth in the final order.
Despite loosing the out on a probable top-ten, Crew Chief Miller was pleased with the team effort as the SS Green Light Racing No. 07 moved into tenth place in owner’s points. “I’m really proud of the whole team and I am very pleased to be a part of SS Green Light Racing. I think we are going to turn a few more heads before the season is over.”
“Flat tires are just part of racing, Donny did a great job to keep from spinning and minimized the damage to the truck,” Miller added. “There was a lot of debris from some of the earlier wrecks so it was just unfortunate we were the ones who found it on the track. If the race had gone green to the checker, the results would have been a whole lot different today.”
Both SS Green Light trucks are now in the top-ten in the standings. “It’s a long season, but I’m very pleased with they way the efforts of our teams to start the season,” said General Manager Bobby Dotter. “I think this is the first time SS Green Light Racing has had two trucks in the top-ten in our history. I know the guys are going to work hard to stay focused on keeping us up in the points.”
For more on Donny Lia and SS Green Light Racing visit www.SSRacingonline.com or email: pr@ssracingonline.com
