Smart Driving Steers Driver Clear Of Trouble

A late race caution set the stage for a last lap, last turn "crash fest" reminiscent of the final lap of last fall's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  With patience, David Starr drove his Red Horse Racing #11 Toyota Tundra cleanly home to a 15th place finish.

After solid practice sessions, Starr qualified his Tundra for 13th position on the John Deere 200 starting grid.  He spent much of the race running among the top fifteen trucks.

Starr and crew chief Jamie Jones worked throughout the race to fine tune the chassis setup under their Toyota Tundra.  They adjusted the truck to fight a slightly loose condition, then, later in the race, went for a setup to see if the truck could run faster in the higher groove of the race track.

"I really didn't have any complaints about the truck tonight," explained Starr to Jones in the final laps of the race.  "It drove great; I just don't know why it wouldn't go faster.  We tried the higher groove, we tightened the truck up, we loosened the truck - it really drove fine but it just wasn't fast."

For all the adjustments the team made to try to get their Tundra faster, Starr's heads-up driving ended up making the biggest difference.  Starr drove safely around the last lap, last turn crash to finish 15th.

Fellow Toyota Tundra driver Todd Bodine took the win while Mark Martin, Johnny Benson, Ted Musgrave and David Reutimann rounded out the top five.

The third straight top-15 finish moved Starr up one spot to 13th in the overall driver's standings - a mere 23 points out of the top-10.

The next race for the Red Horse Racing team is at the tough, tight short track, Martinsville Speedway, on April 1st.