Indianapolis, IN – July 29, 2011. David Starr and the SS Green Light Racing team had their strongest run of the 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series season finishing third Friday night in the ASI Limited/Zachry Toyota in the AAA Insurance 200 at Lucas Oil Raceway.
Starr’s SS Green Light Racing entry was solid right off the truck as David posted competitive times in the practice sessions before qualifying the ASI Limited/Zachry Toyota twelfth in the 36-truck grid at 22.77 seconds on the 5/8 mile track.
David’s truck was strong from the drop of the green flag and by lap 30 he had moved up into the top ten where he would stay for the entire race.
A caution on lap 81 brought the field to the pits for Goodyear tires and Sunoco racing gas. Crew Chief Jason Miller calculated that the No. 81 would be four laps short on fuel but Miller was not concerned as there are usually a fair number of cautions at LOR. “I figured we were good from there, all we needed was one caution and we could race to the end,” said Miller.
Starr moved up to eighth when the race reached the halfway mark and continued to move towards the point over the last 100 laps. On lap 165 David had worked his way up to fifth when Miller had to make the call to conserve gas or the No. 81 Tundra would not make it to the finish. All of the leaders were in a similar position on fuel so the strategy game was on with several trucks pitting while others tried to nurse their trucks to the checkers.
When the race strategy finally played out, several leaders chose to pit, but Starr stayed on the track and found himself in fourth with ten laps to go. He moved to third when Ron Hornaday ran out of fuel on the last lap giving David his best finish of 2011.
“With 35 to go, I figured we might not get that caution so I started telling David to save fuel to try to make it to the end. He slowed about 2 tenths but that wouldn‘t make it to the finish,” Miller continued. “Finally at the last ten laps he slowed almost two seconds a lap and were able to nurse it to the finish.”
The third place finish in the AAA Insurance 200 was David’s first top-five finish since Talladega in October 2009.
“We had a truck that could win, but we knew we couldn’t make it,” concluded Miller. “It wasn’t luck that put us up front, we ran in fifth to eighth most of the race, we had to conserve to make it to the finish and it worked out. A real good night for SS Green Light Racing.”
“It was an awesome race, we were really good in practice and the SS Green Light team kept making it better,” said Starr. “Just a great night and this team keeps building momentum and working towards our goal of winning. We’re not there yet, but we keep getting closer and making our Toyotas better.”
“I can’t thank Ken Smith and Bobby Dotter enough for the commitment they have made to me and everyone on the SS Green Light team has done a great job,” he continued. “We have had great support from Zachry, ASI Limited, Allegro Marinades and all of our partners and that is really starting to show in our performance. Everybody has done a fantastic job.”
“We’re just excited to get our first top-five of the season and look forward to going to Pocono next week, it’s going to be a great race for everybody.”
David moved to twelfth in the NCWTS standings; he is now only fifteen points out of the top-ten.
The NCWTS teams will next travel to Pocono, PA on Saturday August 6th for the Good Sam RV Emergency Road Service 125.
For more information on SS Green Light Racing visit www.SSRacingonline.com or email: pr@ssracingonline.com.
