Young driver Lia scores improbable win after wild finish
By Tim Tuttle - Contributing writer
Thursday, May 29, 2008
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Donny Lia didn’t have any regrets or offer any apologies after a forceful drive to victory in the Ohio 250. This was, after all, short-track racing – a contact sport – and Lia used the highly effective bump-and-run tactic to score his first win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Lia muscled his TRG Motorsports Chevrolet past David Starr’s Red Horse Racing Toyota on the 250th and final lap at the half-mile Mansfield Motorsports Park to become the first rookie winner in the series since Carl Edwards in 2003. It was the first lap he’s led in his eight starts in the series, six this season.
The 27-year-old from Jericho, N.Y., the 2007 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion, chased Starr following a restart with seven laps to go. Lia knew he had to make something happen on the last lap and he did in Turn 2, getting underneath Starr and hitting him in the left rear.
Starr went up the track and Lia pulled alongside. Todd Bodine’s Germain Racing Toyota darted down inside and off they went three-wide into Turn 3.
Lia, on the preferred racing line, had the advantage of better grip and he emerged in the lead from Turn 4 and beat Starr to the checkered flag by 0.241 second. Bodine was another truck length behind in third.
“I knew I had to get to Starr’s back bumper to have a shot,” Lia said. “I didn’t like to have done that, but it was the last lap on a short track. I’d expect the same thing from him if I was in the lead and he was second. David was getting real tight and he squared the corner [Turn 2]. I got into him and turned him sideways. I guess we pulled even on the back straight.
“As we were rolling through the center of the [Turn 4] corner, I knew I had to get to the throttle first. I’ve never won a race coming out three-wide to the checkered flag before.”
Starr’s Toyota was wounded in the closing laps.
“With three laps to go, I could feel the right-front tire going down,” Starr said. “I was just hanging on. I left a hole open, and he [Lia] got into me in the left-rear, as you can see. … We just drove into Turn 3 on a prayer. He had the preferred line. We thought we should’ve won the race. That’s just good short-track action.”
Bodine was critical of Lia’s tactics.
“The way he drove in [to Turn 2], it was ridiculous,” Bodine said. “He drove in two lengths deeper than he had all day. He got his first win, that’s great for him, but you don’t run into somebody to win the race. He better not pull that crap in the future, most of the guys aren’t going to take it.
“Donny [Lia] pretty much drove him like he drives. He’s always been a dirty driver. He did what he had to do to win.”
Lia denied he drove deeper than usual in Turn 2 when he hit Starr.
“That’s really pretty much how I drove in there all day,” Lia said. “Maybe I was driving a little over my head. It kind of worked out for us. I just used everything I had there at the end, and I couldn’t have driven it any harder. If we did it all over again, there’s nothing I would have changed.”
Lia also ruffled some feathers when he banged doors with Terry Cook and Mike Skinner as he passed them for third on lap 219.
“I’m not mad at Lia as long as he doesn’t get mad at me when I knock him out of the way the next time,” Skinner said. “That’s what short-track racing is all about.”
Lia started 28th and made his only pit stop, along with about half the field, on lap 38.
Lia was sixth with 62 laps remaining. He picked off Shelby Howard, Skinner and Cook and was third, behind Starr and Bodine, for a restart on lap 227.
Lia dove inside Bodine in Turn 3 and had only Starr between him and an improbable victory.
The victory was also the first for TRG, in its first season in NASCAR.
“We don’t have any information about any of the tracks,” Lia said. “That’s what makes this win that much more amazing to me. I’m surprised to have won a race so soon. I’ve got a feeling I can’t describe. I’m in shock.”
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