Rookie Donny Lia drove with the savvy of a veteran and the tenacity of a bulldog as he knocked David Starr out of the way on the 250th and final lap to win the Ohio 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Mansfield Motorsports Park Saturday afternoon.
On the final lap, Lia went into Turn 1 with his NationRides.com/ AutismSpeaks.org Chevrolet Silverado underneath leader David Starr's Pit-Now.com Toyota Tundra from the Red Horse Racing stable. As the two continued into Turn 2, Lia gave Starr's truck a hard shove, knocking it out of the way as the New England native grabbed the lead for the first time.
They headed into Turn 3 three-wide, as Todd Bodine joined the fray on the bottom, trying to nose his Lumber Liquidators Tundra under Lia on the bottom, but as the trio exited Turn 4, Lia held off Starr, with Bodine losing traction and finishing third. Completing the top-five finishers were Terry Cook's Wyler.com Tundra and Mike Skinner's Toyota Tundra Toyota.
Lia, who had never even scored a top-five finish in his prior seven NCTS starts, claimed victory for the first time in a Truck, also giving TRG Motorsports its first victory as a team. It was the 22nd time in series history that the race-winning pass was made on the final lap.
"With 25 laps to go, I got on the radio because I could see what was going to happen," said Lia, 27, the reigning NASCAR Whelan Modified Series champion from Jericho, N.Y. "I knew we could do it. I wouldn't be driving this truck if I didn't think I could do it. But so soon? No. I can't believe it."
With seven of 25 NCTS points races now in the books, Bodine leads Rick Crawford by 8 points, with last week's winner, Matt Crafton third, 45 points of Bodine. Johnny Benson is 58 points back of Bodine, while Hornaday fell all the way to fifth, 64 points out of the lead. The top nine drivers are separated by just 100 points.
(Ronda Greer Photo)