Donny Lia had a very strong truck Sunday in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Lucas Oil 200 at the Iowa Speedway. While running in the top-five, Donny's day ended early when he was sandwiched into the outside wall following contact with several trucks.
Lia qualified the SS Green Light Racing No. 07 Chevy and impressive 12th with a lap of 23.78 seconds at just over 132 mph on the 7/8-mile speedway.
A morning rain shower washed the rubber from the track and at the drop of the green flag, Donny's Chevy was a little on the loose side and he settled back into fifteenth place. On lap ten, Donny and teammate Jason White had a spirited side-by-side battle with Donny holding the position.
Ten laps later the two again raced for the position with White coming out on top. The No. 07 was on the free side and Donny bought time for the first caution to tighten-up the truck.
The handle improved on his ride, Donny moved up towards the top-ten as the race approached the halfway mark. Several cautions bunched the field mid-race and different teams used some pit strategy to gain track position. Crew Chief Jason Miller tried such strategy following a caution on lap 105 and Donny moved up into the second position behind Mike Skinner for the restart on lap 112.
Donny and Skinner raced hard following the restart for the top-spot with Donny running the high side of the speedway. On lap 115 Brian Ickler and Todd Bodine forced their way between the two leaders making three-wide down the front straight with the field bunched behind them.
Bodine got into the back of Ickler and turned the No. 18 sideways hard into the side of the SS Green Light Racing No. 07 sandwiching Donny into the frontstretch wall as several other trucks were collected behind.
The damage was too severe for Lia to continue and he was credited with 26th in the final rundown behind Austin Dillon who won his first NCWTS race from the pole.
"We were not real good at the start of practice, but Jason and the guys worked hard on the truck and we had something to race with," said Lia after the race. "We didn't have a truck that could win, but we were defiantly a top-ten and maybe better."
"I really hate it for the guys in the shop, they built this truck in-house and it's going to need a lot of work now. There was not much patience being shown at that point of the race. There is almost a hundred laps to go, trying to go three wide on a short-track was a bit too aggressive."
"I knew there was a truck coming up inside of me, but I didn't know who it was, I was holding my line in the outside," he added. "I didn't know who hit me or how it happened."
"It was Bobby's (SS Green Light Racing General Manager, Bobby Dotter) 50th birthday and I really wanted to get a good finish for him today."
"The No. 07 team has not had much racing luck this year, We have shown a lot of potential and that is what keeps us excited for the next race, we just need a break or two and we can make some good things happen."
Donny will return to the No. 07 at O'Reilly Raceway Park for the AAA Insurance 200 on July 16th.
