David Starr
No. 81 Cash America Toyota Tundra
Nashville Superspeedway – Nashville 200
August 7, 2010
The No. 81 Cash America Toyota Tundra team had a long, tough day at Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday but still managed to salvage a top-15 finish. After wrecking their primary Toyota Tundra in first practice, the Cash America team sprung to action to finalize their backup truck demonstrating their true dedication to their team and driver David Starr.
Starr was traveling through turns one and two at the 1.333-mile speedway in Lebanon, Tenn., when the right front tire gave out sending him into the outside retaining wall. Starr made heavy contact ending the day for the RMM-40 chassis. Starr drove back to the garage unhurt and the Cash America crew immediately began unloading their backup Toyota Tundra.
The No. 81 Cash America crew had a bit of work to do before they could practice at Nashville Superspeedway, including switching few parts and having their truck approved for competition via the technical inspection process. The procedures overlapped with a portion of the final practice session and left the team with only about 30 minutes to practice their truck.
Later that evening with just five laps completed in the Nashville 200, the caution flag was displayed allowing Starr to discuss the performance of the No. 81 Cash America Toyota Tundra with his crew. Despite a few handling issues, the Cash America crew opted to keep Starr on track. When the second caution flag was displayed to the field on lap 19, Starr prepared to bring his Cash America Toyota Tundra down the pit lane. Crew chief Doug Wolcott called for air pressure and track bar adjustments during a four-tire stop. The caution allowed a few drivers like Starr to pit while the leaders stayed on track executing a different race strategy.
Green flag pit stops for the leaders began on lap 60, but six laps later the caution flag was displayed to the 36-truck field for an incident on the front stretch. At that point, only four trucks were scored on the lead lap which included the No. 81 machine. Starr entered pit road in the third position, picked up a spot, and restarted the race from the runner up spot.
Throughout the next run, Starr struggled with both entry and exit of the corners and lost ground on his competitors. The team made their final pit stop of the evening on lap 108. The team bolted on four fresh Goodyear tires as well as making an air pressure and track bar adjustment hoping to dial the truck in for the final 40 lap shootout.
Starr battled to the finish and crossed the finish line in the 14th spot.
“First of all, a big ‘thank you’ to Cash America for coming on board and supporting our program,” said Starr. “You hate to start off the day like we did with a blown tire and tearing up your primary truck like that. At the same time, if you are going to have something like that happen, it’s better to have it in practice than in the race. It made for a long day for my team because they had to work their tails off to get the backup truck ready. We knew the backup wasn’t as good as the primary was and we’d have our work cut out for is, but this team doesn’t give up and we fought all night long.”
Next weekend the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will make their return to Darlington Raceway for the Too Tough to Tame 200. The race will be broadcast live on SPEED Channel beginning at 7:00 p.m. EST on Saturday, August 14. MRN and Sirius XM Radio will begin their coverage at 7:15 p.m. EST.
