Battling his way lap after lap throughout the entire Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway earned David Starr and Spears Motorsports a top 10 finish at Round 3 of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

"It wasn't as good as we wanted," said Starr, who finished in the Number 9 spot, "but it was better than last year.  "Our No. 75 Spears Manufacturing Chevy was definitely strong this weekend and had we had more laps, I think we would have been able to move up even further."

Qualifying in 11th with a time of 20.791 and a speed of 91.078 mph, Starr moved up to 8th in "Happy Hour".  "The more we worked on our Spears Chevy, the better it got," he explained. "Being a factory Chevrolet team this season is a definite plus.  Just like today, all the Chevrolet guys got together and after the meeting we made some changes which helped us pick it up a little bit more."

When the Green Flag fell, Starr was ready.  "Martinsville is good old fashioned short track racing at its finest," he explains, "and fans got to see a lot of banging and bumping during this race.  Pulling off the line in 11th, he immediately began to start his charge up through the field. 

"Things were going fine," says Starr. "Our Spears Chevy was definitely good early in the race," he said.  "Just like everyone else, we got tight in the center and that gets you loose off the corners.  We were adjusting on it and it was getting better and then all of a sudden I was fixing to pass and got knocked in the rear."

Almost spinning, Starr ended up being sandwiched between two trucks.  "We lost the right rear quarter panel," explains Starr, "and the left rear quarter panel was hitting the tire."

Pulling into the pits, Dave McCarty and the entire Spears crew worked double time to get things fixed. "My crew is really great," continues Starr.  "They certainly don't give up. They really keep on digging. They got me back out there in good time and we managed to stay on the lead lap."

Beginning his charge through the field for the second time, Starr once again started moving up.  Picking off competitors one by one, he made it back up to 9th.  And, then we just ran out of laps," he says.  "There simply was no more time.  We gained four places in the point's battle and with a couple more strong finishes, we should easily make it into the top ten.  The next round is Mansfield, Ohio, May 16 and we will definitely be ready to go for it there."