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Starr Rock `n Rolls to a Top-Five in Memphis |
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Monday, 30 June 2008 |
Coming off a string of tough luck the past few weeks, David Starr and his No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra team rebounded Saturday night and rock `n rolled to a 5th place finish in the running of the O'Reilly 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Memphis Motorsports Park. Starr steadily worked his way up through the field from his 17th starting position and cracked into the top-ten by lap 61, never dropping out again during the 204-lap event. Starr credits his success to his Jamie Jones led team who worked extremely hard all weekend. This impressive performance was the third top-five finish in the 2008 season for Starr, along with his 40th top-five finish of his career in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
"I'll tell you what, everybody that's involved in this organization, my owners Tom DeLoach and Jeff Hammond, my crew chief Jamie Jones, and all my guys have endured some pretty tough luck these past couple of weeks, and all we know what to do is keep grinding," said Starr. "That's what my team keeps doing. We had a good truck yesterday in practice and made some good changes, and thought we had a really good piece for today. Thought we had it better than a fifth-place truck, but we got a little tight in the center of the corner and couldn't get in like we needed to. The pit stops were incredible and Jamie Jones made great calls. We're looking to gain a little momentum here, and this top-five will definitely help. Hopefully, we can get a couple of wins before the year is up."
Battling with fellow competitors, Rick Crawford and Jack Sprague, Starr experienced some of the hard short-track racing that comes at the 0.75-mile track in "The Birthplace of Rock `n Roll."
"We got underneath Rick Crawford on the second-to-last restart, but I was having hard time getting it into the corner," Starr said. "He was able to get his truck turned and get the spot back. Then, Jack Sprague got on the outside and we battled. It was just good racing. I just wish it was a little bit closer to the front. Compared to the last few races, we'll take it. We'll just take this and start clicking off top-fives at Kentucky in a few weeks."
Being the highest finishing Toyota Tundra at Memphis, Starr stayed in the twelfth position in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championship point standings. Starr is just 35 points behind Chad McCumbee for tenth and 99 points behind Jack Sprague for the eighth position.
Starr and the No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra team will take a well-deserved two week break, but will return to racing action at Kentucky Speedway on July 19, 2008 for the running of the Built Ford Tough 225 presented by the Greater Cincinnati Ford Dealers. The green flag will drop at the 1.5-mile track shortly after 7 P.M. Eastern. SPEED will have live coverage of the 150-lap race with extended pre-race coverage, beginning at 6 P.M. Eastern. Select affiliates of MRN Radio and Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 128 will also have the live radio broadcast.
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