From Catchfence.com:

DONNY LIA IN THE No. 71 AUTISMSPEAKS.ORG CHEVROLET WAS THE RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE RACE AT MARTINSVILLE.

Lia grabbed a ninth-place finish in todays race, his best finish in four Craftsman Truck Series races. His best previous finish was 20th last September at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

LIA:
We made up a lot of spots there at the end but we lost a lot of spots that we shouldnt have. I was pretty mad at myself for that. I guess that was kind of like redemption, you know, to make up those spots at the end. I think we could have had a top-10 and then we lost a slew of positions. I got stuck on the outside. So to come back and get a top-10, even if it was gifted back to us then you know what, hey, well take it any way we can get it.

IS THIS TYPCIAL SHORT TRACK RACING FOR YOU?

Pretty much, yeah. Drive in to the fence, hold it wide open and if it tears the fenders off it doesnt matter. Im not use to fenders anyway. Normally wed just replace a bar. Well take it that way, whatever we can do.

HOW BIG IS THIS FOR THE TEAM?

Its huge. We really needed a shot in the arm. We only had two runs so far and were a Raybestos Rookie team. But to get some momentum like that so early is a real shot in the arm. I couldnt have had it work out any better. I wish we had a truck that was a little bit straighter but I guess thats just racing sometimes. Sometimes youre going to have that. Ive got to thank my guys. They did awesome all weekend. They worked their butts off. We had a great couple of pit stops there and that helped out. Awesome pit strategy. Ive got to give a shout out to my crew chief Jason for calling an awesome race. Im pretty stoked.

HOW PHYSICAL IS THIS TYPE OF RACING?

Theyre beating and banging out there, you know. You kind of have no choice but to and I tried to not get too crazy. Im just getting my feet wet here in these trucks so I dont want to make too many enemies right off the bat. I was just trying to be smart and take what I could get. It worked out great for us, it really did.

DID EVERYONE RACE YOU WITH RESPECT TODAY? Pretty much. There were a couple of guys. There were a couple of shots out there that I really didnt appreciate because one guy wasnt any better than me. He just kind of took the opportunity, I guess. But thats the kind of stuff that you have to remember and keep in the back of your mind because if you let it happen once, shame on them; twice shame on me. Im just going to try and make sure that I dont let it happen too much, you know.

The ending was good for us, anyway. We had kind of an up and down race. We had a few things kind of go our way there at the end. We got a top-10 out of it and I think we had a top-10 truck or pretty close to a top-10 truck and then we lost some spots I think 20 laps from the end and we were able to make em back there the last lap when they were spinning in front of us. Just kind of took a shot there and it kind of paid off. Bent the truck up a little bit and Id rather not do that.

WHAT TRANSFERRED FROM YOUR MODIFIED WIN TO YOUR RUN HERE TODAY?

Really not a whole lot. These two vehicles are so different. A modified might as well be a go kart compared to one of these. Just racing in general, passing and being consistent and hitting your lines. I could apply thing that I learned over the years in the modifieds. Basically I just covert everything over and it seems to work out. Martinsville is Martinsville. Its tight especially with these trucks here you kind of have no choice but to get physical and beating and banging. When it Rome do like the Romans do, I guess.

IS IT MORE LAP TIME HERE THAN TECHNOLOGY?

My experience here paid off a lot. I mean, we struggled at Atlanta and California. We were way off the mark and come here and be halfway competitive and pull a top-10 out of it there at the end, we were able to make a pretty big swing there from a mid-20s truck to a sub top-10 truck there. I grew up short track racing. Its what I know and Im sure well get a little bit better on the speedways but for now when we come to the short tracks its like going home. All the adjustments we make on the truck and just racing out there in general transfers over pretty well.