NASCAR Trucks/BGN: David Starr a Y2K Journeyman
19 January 2000
Ft. Worth, Texas: After completing his first full-season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, David Starr was hoping that his on-track performance would lead to being hired by a top team for the upcoming season. Unfortunately, life doesn't always work out as planned. "I had a lot of teams make promises about testing and running in 2000. I had thought that things looked good and there would be a several opportunities to choose from, but the offseason came and went and nothing panned out," Starr dejectedly stated. At this point, Starr is looking at implementing "Plan B." This consists of making several starts in the Craftsman Trucks, Busch Grand National Series, and Winston West, but not a full-season in any of the three series. "The Truck Series is my first priority and if something comes up (such as a sponsor or a ride offer), that's where all my time will go. At this point, though, I plan to run six Truck races for Team Texas Racing, up to 10 races in the Busch Series, and three or four Winston West events," Starr said. Like last season, Starr is working with a start-up team in the Craftsman Truck Series. Though this is their first effort to field a truck, Team Texas Racing has previously prepared cars for Starr in the Winston West Series. The team is owned by Mike Starr and will run a Chevrolet Silverado. NASCAR has not yet assigned the team a number, nor do they have a primary sponsor. "We just got back from testing at Daytona. We learned a lot about the body of our Chevrolet and how the air flows over it. That was a good base to start from, but we have a lot of work to do between now and February 18 (when the first NCTS race of the season takes place). This deal just got put together in the last couple of weeks so we are already way behind in preparations for the season," Starr explained. He added that the team intends to take their Silverado back to North Carolina for some assistance in reworking the body. "We have a few good leads for sponsorship, though nobody has signed a contract yet. If they do we'll run the full season, otherwise we'll just focus on the superspeedway events. Regardless, we'll be at Daytona next month." Starr also plans to make some Busch Grand National starts for Wayne Day, owner of the No. 16 Pontiac Grand Prix sponsored by 31W Installations. The team has already tested at Talladega, though Day was not satisfied with the performance. "We need to be a little faster," Day stated. "We're still working on (the car)." He added that the Goodlettsville, Tenn., based team will participate in the GM test session at Daytona and will then try to qualify for the NAPA Auto Parts 300 at Daytona International Speedway. "I'm excited about running a few events in the Busch Series. I've never raced in that Series before and there are a lot of teams trying to qualify for each event. We have no provisionals so we've got to be fast out of the hauler and make the race on our qualifying time," Starr said. Though he has not made an official start, the 32-year old driver has Busch experience as a crewmember and test-driver back in 1994 under the guidance of Donnie Allison with the Premier Sports Marketing-Roy Payne Race Team. "Wayne and I have talked and we agree that the best thing to do is run this program one race at a time," Starr said. "We will try to qualify for Daytona, and then evaluate the team and take the next step at that time. If all goes well, we have talked about doing eight to ten events." Finally, Starr will make some limited Winston West Series appearances in the Team Texas Racing Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Though he has run just four Winston West events in his career, Starr has already made an impact by posting one top-5 start, two top-10 starts, and a top-10 finish. "I have mixed emotions right now about the 2000 season," Starr mused. "On one hand, I'm really disappointed that something didn't work out in the Truck Series, but on the other hand, this will be a fun season because of the variety of tracks, cars, and series that I will have a chance to participate in."