David Starr
No. 24 Zachry Toyota Tundra
Lucas Oil 150
Phoenix International Raceway

AVONDALE, AZ., (Nov.13, 2009) – David Starr and his HT Motorsports Racing Team prove time and time again their never give up attitudes pay off with strong finishes.  Starr used his many driving talents to work his way steadily through the field in the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix International Raceway to finish in the ninth spot.  Ironically it was his 13th top-10 finish this year which came on Friday the 13th.  As a result Starr moved up one spot in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship Driver’s standings to eighth. 

The No. 24 Zachry Toyota Tundra Race Recap

  • Starr qualified his Zachry Toyota Tundra in the 18th position with a lap time of 28.285 seconds at a speed of 127.276 mph.
  • By lap one he had already passed five trucks to cross in the 13th position.  Then he gained yet another spot and raced comfortably in the 12th position by the second caution on lap 34.
  • Starr said to his Crew Chief Jason Miller, “I’m a little tight in turns one and two and I have a see-saw effect in turns three and four.”  The team chose to pit for four fresh Goodyear tires and Sunoco fuel.  While in the pits, they used the time to make a track bar adjustment to the Zachry Toyota Tundra to help Starr’s condition.
  • Starr restarted in the 15th spot on lap 38 as some of the teams in front of him used a different pitting strategy.
  • By lap 50 Starr’s spotter, Joey Meier, said, “Nice save David in (turns) three and four.”  Starr regrouped and only lost two spots to seventeenth. 
  • By the third caution on lap 90 Starr said, “I am tight.  I’m working with it trying to arc in it but I am still tight.”  Miller called him into the pits for right side tires only, filled him up with Sunoco fuel and took one round out of the left rear.  Starr restarted in the sixth spot on lap 95 as teams behind him used a different strategy and had to take four tires.
  •  By the time the fourth caution came out Starr was running ninth, holding his own in the top 10.  He told Miller, “It has no grip.”  Miller replied with some suggestions on driving to help the grip problem.  He said, “If you back the corner up a little more you will make faster lap times. You can do it David; you are running fourth place lap times.”
  • Starr held on to the ninth spot through the next two cautions.  Then on lap 145 with only a few laps remaining in the race, Starr said, “It is tight; I am having a hard time but working with it.”
  • The team watched anxiously as Starr held off, during a green-white-checkered-flag finish, 10th place competitor Stacy Compton to finish the event in the ninth spot.

 Kevin Harvick won the Lucas Oil 150.  Kyle Busch, Aric Almirola, Ron Hornaday and Johnny Sauter followed in the top five.   The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will race its last race for the 2009 season next Friday Nov. 20th in Homestead, Florida.