David Starr and the No. 81 Randy Moss Motorsports team welcomed PC*MILER Navigator back to the hood of their Toyota Tundra for the first time in the 2010 season. After a great partnership throughout the 2009 season, the two entities decided to join forces again for the current season. The O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway marked the first of three races where PC*MILER Navigator will appear on the hood of a Randy Moss Motorsports prepared Toyota Tundra.
Trucks hit the track at Kansas Speedway for the first time on Saturday morning when they had two back-to-back practice sessions before qualifying Saturday afternoon. Starr recorded his fastest lap of 32.615 seconds at a top of 165.568 miles per hour during the final practice session. Before hitting the track for qualifying, the PC*MILER Navigator Toyota team made a series of changes to help adjust Starr’s Tundra to his preferences. During his qualifying lap, Starr struggled in turn three where the back end of his Tundra snapped loose and it felt as if he was going to spin out. Starr was able to hold on and qualified in the 25th position. The team felt that they would need to make a series of changes to the No. 81 PC*MILER Navigator Toyota Tundra during the first pit stop to make it a truck capable of contending for the win.
By the time the green flag fell on Sunday afternoon, track conditions were drastically different than they were on Saturday. The sun replaced overcast skies around the 1.5-mile oval and the temperatures rose from Saturday afternoon as well. Starr took the green-flag from the 25th position and immediately began moving to the front. Starr called into his crew during the first caution period on lap 7 and told them the PC*MILER Navigator Tundra was handling perfect and advised the crew not to touch a thing whenever they did finally come to pit road. On lap 27, Starr finally came down pit road where he took just right side tires and fuel. Starr beat the rest of the field off pit road to restart the race as the leader. A few laps after the restart, Starr called into the crew to tell them that his truck was tight from the center off, but not so tight that he would make any changes to it yet. He stayed out again during the third caution on lap 30, and returned to pit road under green-flag conditions on Lap 90. The crew made a slight air pressure adjustment to help the PC*MILER Navigator Toyota Tundra travel through the corner.
The lap 113 caution quickly turned to a red flag period for rain around Kansas Speedway. Teams hurried to the garage as heavy rain turned to hail before the sun began to shine around the Midwest track. Starr spent the red flag talking about the behavior of the PC*MILER Navigator Toyota Tundra with crew chief Doug Wolcott. At the time, Starr’s No. 81 Tundra was worse in turn one and two than it was in three and four and the driver was sitting in the 11th position with hopes of finishing inside the top 10. The rain washed the rubber of the track and left the competitors to deal with a green track for going into the final 50 laps of the day.
Starr visited pit road for the final time on lap 118 for four fresh tires and fuel. He continued to hold on his Tundra and worked to find his ideal line around the corners at Kansas Speedway. Starr worked diligently to pick up positions during the closing laps and successfully worked his way into the 10th position before crossing the finish line. The finish moved Starr up to the 14th place in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series owners’ points.
