Frontstretch.com: The best seat at the track... the best view on the net! Saturday, May 10th 2008

May 5th - May 9th, 2008

Monday: Tom Bowles considers the long-term impact of the Earnhardt - Busch brouhaha in his latest edition of Bowles-Eye View.

Tuesday: Vito Pugliese looks at the diverging paths of Kyle Busch's and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s fan appreciation, and how their latest tangle simply proved that Busch may never get the acceptance he's looking for.

Monday Morning Through Tuesday Night: Frontstretch is at the Lowe's Motor Speedway for NASCAR Sprint Cup testing. Get your latest news and information on what's happening at the 1.5-mile oval through our Daily Newsletter, as teams prepare for the 600-mile marathon Memorial Day Weekend. Still don't get the Frontstretch Newsletter? Click here to start receiving a copy FREE to your email inbox!

Thursday: Matt McLaughlin is having problems filling up his own gas tank lately -- and he tells us why the money crunch involved in filling up yours may prevent several races from being sold out this year.

Friday: Kurt Smith takes a look at the struggling Michael Waltrip program, and whether its fearless leader is on the verge of a freefall out of the elusive club of NASCAR team ownership.

Click here for all the David Starr Diaries. Only on the Frontstretch

Click here for all the Rick Crawford Diaries. Only on the Frontstretch

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Driver Diary Schedule
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David Starr Driver Diary : Sponsor Hunting And Keeping Spirits High After Kansas

David Starr · Friday May 2, 2008

The Craftsman Truck Series has had a lot of off time lately, but I’ve been staying busy since our last diary; I don’t ever stop working. I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, but I’m either back in Charlotte working with my guys at the race shop, on the racing team, or testing somewhere. We’re not testing this week, so I got my company called David Starr Racing — it’s a show car, racing simulator company — so I spend a lot of time working at my shop, working on my simulators, and working on my truck and trailers.

We had a really good truck at Kansas. I had an idea that we couldn’t win the race because [Ron] Hornaday was so good, but we were anywhere from a third to a sixth place truck. Somebody just lost it with 50 laps to go [and collected us]. It was one of those racin’ deals — I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. You try and keep those things to a minimum; we’ve been fortunate over the years to have a really consistent record of finishing races, and never really having DNF’s.

David Starr Driver Diary: Martinsville and "Honey Do" Lists

David Starr · Friday March 28, 2008

It's been three weeks since we raced at Atlanta, and I can't wait to get back into the truck this weekend at Martinsville. As many of you may remember, two years ago I was able to drive my Red Horse Racing Toyota to victory there. But that was then. Even though we won at Martinsville in 2006, I don't look at this race any differently than I do any other race. I go into this weekend's race at Martinsville just like I went into Atlanta and California - knowing we can win.

David Starr Driver Diary: Back in the Saddle at Red Horse Racing

David Starr · Thursday February 21, 2008

It was a very busy off-season for me. Along with reacquainting myself with my old team and all the testing we did for the 2008 season, I got married to my beautiful bride, Kim, and went on an amazing honeymoon. It was absolutely gorgeous! Considering that I don't ever get a chance to slow down, it was good to finally do that. As much as we would have loved to stay, we had to come back home and head to Daytona.

Before I talk about Daytona, you may notice a sticker on the b-post of our No. 11 Toyota Tundra this season. We will be honoring our teammate, co-hauler driver, Cornell Speas, who passed away this month of a heart attack at age 46. I didn't know him real well, but I talked to him some last year a couple of times and I visited with him for about an hour at New Hampshire, and he was an extremely pleasant guy. When I moved back over to Red Horse Racing, his best friend, who is the other truck driver Willie Divel, told me how it was Cornell's dream to be able to drive a hauler for a NASCAR team. It gives me a little peace to know that he got to live his dream before he passed.

David Starr Driver Diary: Goodbye to 2007... Excited About 2008!

David Starr · Thursday December 20, 2007

Well, it was another very competitive, down-to-the-wire season in the Craftsman Truck Series. For the fans, and for us competitors, it was exciting because you didn't know who the champion was going to be until the final lap at Homestead. That's the way it should be, and the way it has been in the Craftsman Truck Series. The series continues to grow in popularity year after year, because people are seeing more and more how fierce the competition is.

The 2007 season was just an okay season for our Circle Bar Racing MaxxForce Diesel team. In our defense, most of my team was put together very late in the offseason, so we kind of had our backs up against the wall the whole time. With that said, being able to get into the top 10 in the final race of the season was a neat thing. Obviously, our expectations were much higher than that, but I feel we did everything we could to be successful. I just can't thank my MaxxForce team enough for all the effort they put into our trucks and pit stops all season. They were amazing considering everything they were up against.

David Starr Diary: 22 Down, 3 to Go!

David Starr · Thursday November 1, 2007

It's hard to believe there are only three more races until the end of the season. We haven't won a race yet, but we have made it into the top 10 in points which is a big accomplishment for our team. We are now 9th in points, and I have to say I am surprised. We haven’t had the season I had hoped we’d have, because it's been a very competitive series once again. I’m definitely disappointed in our results because I know we are better than that, we just haven’t had the finishes that we are capable of. We aren’t satisfied just making it into the top 10. As always, we are going to keep fighting for the last three races and try to move up in points and get that win. The whole International MaxxForce Diesel team is excited about it, and if we can keep that enthusiasm and run up front, the points will take care of themselves.

David Starr Driver Diary: David Starr Racing

David Starr · Thursday September 27, 2007

It's another off-weekend for the Craftsman Truck Series, but that doesn't mean I'm lounging around the house. Aside from the business of NASCAR racing, I keep myself extremely busy with David Starr Racing - my show car/simulator promotional company. We work with companies like Coca-Cola and Dr. Pepper, and they use our real NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race cars for displays in front of Wal-Mart stores to promote their products and we also supply them with race car simulators. We take simulators to different Wal-Marts every weekend, the kind where you get in, the seat moves left to right, and you have a big computer screen in front of you where your racing other cars. It's a neat experience.

David Starr Driver Diary: Safe Racing and SafeLight

David Starr · Thursday August 30, 2007

A couple of weeks ago we made some changes on our International MaxxForce Diesel team, including a new truck chief, Troy "TK" Kelly. We had a meeting at the shop about what we could do to work a little better as a team and man, what a difference. We unloaded with a great Ford F150 and for the first time, my truck and Rick Crawford's No. 14 Ford Power Stroke Diesel by International truck were identical and it really worked out good. Our No. 10 International MaxxForce Diesel Ford F150 was pretty competitive the whole race and I actually thought we might have a shot at winning. In the end, it was a great call for my crew chief Dennis Connor to go with only right side tires. The chassis adjustment at the end helped me run the fastest laps of the weekend in the last 20 laps of the race. It was just good to be competitive and running back into the Top 5 where we should be. I know I finished fourth, but it felt like a win for us. I think we've got a lot of momentum going now at Circle Bar Racing and we're pretty excited about it. NASCAR racing is all about the chemistry and getting the right people. With our new truck chief Troy, it seems to be working in the shop and reflecting on the race track.

David Starr Diary: Off Weekend? What Off Weekend?

David Starr · Thursday August 2, 2007

We are more than half way through the 2007 season, and in a little over two weeks we go to Bristol Motor Speedway! Recently we took our International MaxxForce Diesel Ford F-150 to test the "new" Bristol track. It's always cool to go to there because it's just an awesome facility and there is so much excitement and history at the track. Going there last week and testing was exciting because of the new surface. It was a great test, but the track was very "green," meaning there was no rubber on it. All in all, it was good for my team to be able to really work together and try new stuff. We learned a lot and I'm looking forward to going back there for the race.

David Starr Driver Diary: Going to Graceland

David Starr · Thursday June 28, 2007

After struggling through growing pains for the first several races so far this season, I finally feel like we are making huge gains. You want to be competitive right off the bat, but the Craftsman Truck Series is so tough that it makes it hard for a new team like the International MaxxForce Diesel team. So while the season hasn't been going the way we had hoped, I feel like we really started turning it around back in Mansfield.

David Starr Diary: Thank you to the Troops

David Starr · Thursday May 31, 2007

On Monday, the nation celebrated Memorial Day and honored our troops. As always, NASCAR did a great job of showing its support. Memorial Day is a great weekend to honor the men and women of the Armed Forces - those who are fighting for our freedom so we can race today, and the ones who have fought for us in the past and those who lost their lives so we could be where we are today.

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The Frontstretch: dstarr by -- Saturday May 10, 2008