When the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series makes its debut at Pocono Raceway Saturday, it will feel like being at home for New York native Donny Lia.
The "Tricky Triangle" is just a couple hours from Lia's Long Island home and should provide an interesting venue for the Truck Series.
Lia will pilot the No. 21 for SS Green Light Racing this week. It will be the second time this year he has run the No. 21, with the first coming in the season opener at Daytona.
"We are going to have some support from East Coast Helicopter and Spray Max by Kwasny and we hope to show them a good run," Lia said.
Lia is looking forward to racing at the 2.5-mile track, but it will not be his first visit to the historic Pocono area. Lia has tested at the track for several different series in the past.
"I'm excited to finally get to race at Pocono. I've tested there a few years back in an ARCA car and a truck before they tightened up the practice rules," Lia said. "There is a lot of history at Pocono; back in the day, they used to run the Modifieds on the frontstretch and actually used the pit road as the backstretch. I think they stopped doing that back around 1980 or so.
"Pocono is a real drivers' track. You might not think so because of its size, but you can really drive the truck into Turn 1 after that long front straight. If you get through Turn 1 good, you can turn a fast lap. It really is a fun track to drive. I think that we'll find the draft plays a big part with the trucks with the big hole they punch in the air."
Lia's teammate Jason White was part of a Goodyear tire test at the track earlier this year and Jason Miller, Lia's crew chief, was on hand to learn about the unique three-turn race track.
"The test went very good and Doug (Howe, crew chief) and I worked very closely on the set-ups on the truck. I think we'll be able to use some of what we learned at the tire test and the SS Green Light team will have a solid truck for Donny this weekend."
In addition to the debut at a new venue, the NCWTS will also debut a revised multi-truck qualifying procedure for the inaugural Pocono Mountains 125. The order in which trucks will qualify will be based on their practice speeds from final practice on Friday. The trucks will be inverted with the slowest truck in practice the first out in qualifying on Saturday morning, with the fastest truck going out last. Trucks will be released from pit road in 25-second increments. Two laps of qualifying will be allowed with the fastest lap counting toward starting positions.
This will be Lia's ninth start of the 2010 season for the SS Green Light team and will mark his 33rd career start in the NCWTS.
Lia will pull double-duty on Saturday, as he will also be running the ARCA Weis Markets 125 that follows the NCWTS race.
There are 37 trucks are on the entry list for the Pocono Mountains 125.
