CONCORD, N.C. (September 8, 2011) — David Starr was a man craving for the warmth of the sun on a cool, rainy day at the Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway.
Starr and the Leaving Family Racing (LFR) team waited two extra days for the AdvoCare 500, but Starr didn’t mind as he picked up a 29th-place NASCAR Sprint Cup Series finish in the rain-delayed race.
It didn’t matter what day of the week it was. Starr wasn’t going anywhere until he had a chance to compete in his fourth career Sprint Cup Series start in the No. 95 AdvoCare Ford Fusion.
“We finished 29th – not a bad finish for a new organization,” Starr said. “We are getting better and better every time we go racing. Even though 29th is not what we expect, we are getting better as a team, and I am glad we brought it home in one piece.
“We finished the AdvoCare 500 in our AdvoCare Ford Fusion. The Synergy of this was a win-win for everyone involved with the Leavine Family Racing team.”
Like everyone else at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the Texas native was forced to sit through the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee that moved through the Southeast late Saturday. Cars never left the garage area on Sunday as the speedway was threatened by heavy rain, and again on Monday, tornado warnings kept the garage doors closed. However, nearly 40 hours after the original start time on Sunday, the race went green on Tuesday.
Starr rolled off the grid in the 43rd spot for the 500-mile event, but even when they finally got underway the 43-car field only made it to Lap 13 before the first yellow flag of the day flew with Starr in 37th position. Since the car was set up for the coolness of night, crew chief Wally Rogers had the challenge of freeing the car up for the heat of daytime racing.
Mother Nature continued to dominate the AdvoCare 500 on Tuesday. Aided by three yellow flags and one red flag condition for rain, LFR was in a conundrum to create an innovative pit strategy as everyone tried to second-guess the weather.
During the first caution period of the day, Rogers opted not to pit the No.95 AdvoCare machine. With a number of cars opting to pit, Starr restarted the event in the 15th position.
Rogers called Starr to pit road during a "competition yellow" 32 laps into the event and made changes in an effort to ease the handling of the No. 95 red, white, and blue machine. His Leavine Family-owned team got him out of the pits with a four-tire stop along with minor adjustments and fuel.
Starr then ran as high as 21st before making a green-flag pit stop on Lap 77 for a fresh set of tires and fuel.
When the third caution flew a few laps later, Starr was 35th on the leaderboard. Once again, he came to pit road for handling adjustments. Despite a series of wedge, track-bar and tire adjustments, the team struggled to find a combination that worked with the changing weather.
With the precipitation intensifying NASCAR officials threw the red flag on Lap 202 as the heavens opened. Starr waited patiently for almost 25 minutes for the race to resume while in 31st position.
Once the race restarted he was as consistent as he was all day in the top-30, with a car that was excellent in the highest of Atlanta's racing grooves.
The driver of the AdvoCare Ford battled with Casey Mears for position in the final laps. Still, Starr ran well enough to post a 29th-place finish, mainly because his No. 95 AdvoCare Ford eventually came around to the 1.54-mile Atlanta quad-oval.
“I learned a lot,” Starr said. “We kept going from tight to loose on the adjustments. It was a learning experience, because I was just “swatting flies” out there. Whether I was tight or I was loose, I was working every corner of every lap – I was working.”