Starr approaches Las Vegas with new outlook

CONCORD, N.C. -- David Starr probably figured he'd go back to Las Vegas Motor Speedway under different circumstances.

Last year, Starr had a triumphant weekend in Las Vegas, winning the pole and his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. He and his Spears Motorsports team ended the 2002 season on a positive note, and Starr finished fifth in the points standings.

Heading into 2003, Starr was considered one of the leading contenders for the championship. But this season hasn't turned out the way he wanted. A crash in the season-opener at Daytona put Starr in a hole, and the team struggled to get out of it.

	David Starr

But after a third at Dover and a sixth at Texas, Starr was back in the top 10 in the points.

Then came the unthinkable. Starr had a serious crash while testing at The Milwaukee Mile, breaking his collarbone and bones in his left hand and foot. He had to sit out four races and watched his championship hopes go down the drain.

But Starr is an optimist. Instead of focusing on losing the title, Starr now has turned his attention to other goals.

"After being hurt and knowing that we don't have a shot at the championship, our focus was to go to the race track every week and try to get a win," said Starr, who heads to LVMS as defending champion on the Las Vegas 350. "We had a little bad luck after I got hurt, but hopefully we're getting out of that slump and on to some good luck.

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"We just need to keep getting top-five finishes, and if we can do that, we'll get a win before the end of the year. It would be great for Wayne and Connie Spears to be in the top-10 at the end of the year in owners' points because they're such a big part of this series. We're a championship-caliber team, so I think we should be in the top-10."

Since returning to the seat of the No. 75 Chevrolet, Starr has finished 13th or better six times in eight races, including four top-10s. He's moved to 15th in the points standings.

Starr probably won't get to the top 10, as he's 501 points behind 10th-place Chad Chaffin with six races remaining. But Starr will pick up at least one spot, as 12th-place Jason Leffler is no longer in the series.

He's 149 behind 14th-place Robert Pressley and 200 behind 13th-place Bill Lester. But those are the guys he's chasing. He's not really chasing anyone.

"Right now I'm not even really looking at the drivers' points," Starr said. "I just want to win a race and run as good as we can run. Where we end up in the 2003 points results is where we're going to end up. It's great to be back up in the top 15 after missing four races, but I'm not going to worry about that right now, I'm just going to stay focused on keeping that Spears Chevrolet at the front of the field each week and getting the best owners' points finish for Wayne and Connie."

Heading to Vegas, the No. 75 team is 11th in owners' points, only nine points out of the top 10.

And Las Vegas should only help Starr's cause.

"Racing in Las Vegas is always exciting for me because I won my first NASCAR Winston West race there, and then last year I won my first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race there," Starr said. "Las Vegas Motor Speedway is pretty special to me personally, and then it is also where Wayne and Connie Spears had their first win in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series last year, and they've been in the truck series since it started. It's just a special place for our team.

"The race track itself is fast, it's smooth, it's wide and it's got multiple grooves. It's a fun place to race. The excitement around the city on top of getting to race, what else could you ask for? My team's got a lot of momentum coming off of a decent run in California, so I'm really looking forward to it. We're going to go down there and try to do everything we can to get another win there. If we could do that, it would be a wonderful thing, but we'll go down there and just do the best we can do and see what happens."

Starr's recent string of success, combined with what could be a good run in Las Vegas, should bode well for another championship run -- next season.

But that's several months away. For now, Starr is keeping his eyes on one thing: the next race.

"I don't ever look too far ahead, I just try to focus on the next race," Starr said. "When you speak of championship possibilities, obviously we're not going to win it right now. They've got a good battle going on right now, and we're not part of it, but next year, you can bet we'll be focused on that. Right now, I'm just focused on the race in front of us and taking this season one race at a time."