David Starr
No. 81 Zachry Toyota Tundra
Texas Motor Speedway – WinStar World Casino 400k
June 4, 2010
David Starr and the No. 81 Zachry Toyota Tundra team had a roller-coaster weekend at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday evening. The Texas native had an extremely fast truck during both practice sessions and was sure to be contending for the win on at his hometrack. However, after being caught up in two on-track incidents, Starr was forced to retire his No. 81 Zachry Toyota Tundra just four laps before the scheduled distance in Friday night’s race.
Early in the event, Starr worked on picking up positions and appeared to be one of the strongest competitors in the 36-truck field. The crew made minor air pressure adjustments during the early pit stops to help a tight handling condition through the center and off both corners. Starr was racing solidly in the top-10 and was pleased with how the No. 81 Zachry Toyota Tundra was handling.
On lap 85, the caution flag was displayed to the field for a spin on the backstretch in which Starr was involved. The driver of the No. 81 Zachry Toyota Tundra was racing hard in the middle groove and attempted to pass the No. 7 and No. 01 machines before diving into turn three. The No. 01 of Joe Aramendia started to move up the track and Starr reacted by also moving up; however, the No. 7 of Justin Lofton was moving down the track at the same time and made contact with Starr. Starr kept his truck off the wall, but had four flat spotted tires as a result of the wreck. Additionally, the flat left rear tire caused damage to the battery box cover and bottom of the truck. The No. 81 Zachry Toyota Tundra crew worked quickly to fix the truck while keeping Starr on the lead lap and inside the top-10.
The damage to the truck left Starr struggling with an extremely loose Toyota Tundra, but luckily the driver was able to keep it off the wall. Despite the challenges, Starr was poised to achieve his fourth-consecutive finish inside the top-10.
With just five laps remaining in the scheduled distance of the WinStar World Casino 400k, Starr blew a right front tire entering turn one which shot him into the outside wall. After a quick stop on pit road, the team decided the damage to the right front of Starr’s machine was terminal which ended the team’s night only four laps from the finish.
The incident resulted in a 16th-place finish for Starr and the No. 81 Zachry Toyota Tundra team.
Next weekend, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will race at Michigan International Speedway. The VFW 200 will be broadcast on SPEED Channel, MRN Radio and SIRIUS XM Radio beginning at 2:00 p.m. EST on Saturday, June 12. Qualifying for the 200-mile event will be held at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, but will not be televised.
