David Starr (racing driver)


David Starr is an American professional stock car racing driver. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 53 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for Rick Ware Racing, and part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving through No. 07 Camaro for SS-Green Light Racing. He has also raced in the Camping World Truck Series, where he is a four-time race winner.

Early career

Starr began by being on a neighbor's pit crew at the age of 14. At the age of 16, he started driving in street stock racing, winning the championship at Big H Motor Speedway in his first year racing. Over the next seven years, Starr won a total of 20 late model races. In 1993, he began driving at the Team Texas driving school and eventually becoming a race instructor. During this time, he worked for Donnie Allison as a crew member on his Busch Series team. He joined the Texas International Driving Association in 1996 and became the first rookie to win a race.

NASCAR career

In 1998, Starr made his Truck Series debut driving the No. 9 Chevrolet Silverado for Buddy Morrison in five races. His best finish was an eighteenth at his home track at Texas Motor Speedway. The following season, he competed in the Truck Series full-time. Driving primarily for Tagsby Racing, he also competed for Team 23 Racing, Conely Racing, Morgan-Dollar Motorsports, and McGlynn Racing, and was able to finish 22nd in the standings. Sagby closed its doors at the end of the season, leaving Starr without a full-time ride. He drove most of his races for Conely part-time, as well as for Ware Racing Enterprises and TKO Motorsports, his best finish twelfth at Texas, where he also qualified on the outside pole. That season, he made his Busch Series debut at Talladega for Day Enterprises, finishing 42nd. After running one race for TKO at Daytona International Speedway, he ran four races for Team Menard, finishing no lower than seventh.
Starr earned his second full-time ride in 2002, when he joined the No. 75 Spears Motorsports team. He won his first race at Las Vegas and was named the Series' Most Popular Driver after a fifth-place finish. He was tenth in the standings in 2003 when he suffered injuries and was forced to miss four races. He was still able to post thirteen top-tens that season. Starr also attempted to make his Winston Cup Series debut at Texas Motor Speedway, but failed to qualify.
He won two races in 2004 and moved up to sixth in points. After a winless 2005, Starr left Spears and was rumored to drive the new Hall of Fame Racing NEXTEL Cup ride, but instead signed with the No. 11 team fielded by Red Horse Racing. He won his most recent race at Martinsville Speedway and had a career-best fourth-place points finish. It was reported that he was replaced at Red Horse by Aaron Fike, but team owner Jeff Hammond has stated that Starr was still under contract with the team and would continue to drive for them if they find sponsorship. He joined Circle Bar Racing for 2007, and drove the No. 10 MaxxForce Diesel Ford with equipment purchased from ppc Racing to a 10th-place points finish with five top-tens.
He rejoined Red Horse in 2008 and had eight top-tens. In 2009 Starr joined HT Motorsports in the number 24 Zachry Toyota Camry Starr attempted to make his Sprint Cup debut for BlackJack Racing at Fontana in 2009, but did not qualify., and had fourteen top-ten finishes, his highest total since 2004.
For 2010 Starr moved to Randy Moss Motorsports as HT Motorsports closed its doors. Starr had 7 top tens and was in the top 10 in points entering the EnjoyIllinois.com 225 at Chicagoland when the team suspended operations due to financial difficulties. Starr picked up a last-minute ride with SS-Green Light Racing in their No. 21 Chevrolet, which was intended to start and park at Chicagoland. However, Starr ran the full race and scored a top-10 finish. Starr eventually took the No. 81 as well as the Zachry sponsorship with him to SS-Green Light and drove for the team the remainder of the season, scoring a 9th-place points finish. Starr returned to the team for the 2011 season, finishing 13th in points. He also competed in a limited number of races in the Sprint Cup Series for Leavine Family Racing in the No. 95. In his 4 starts out of 8 attempts, his best finish of 27th was at Bristol Motor Speedway.
For 2012, Starr moved to newly formed Arrington Racing, bringing his sponsor and truck number, the No. 81, with him for the full season. However he was forced to miss races after the midpoint of the season due to a lack of sponsorship.
In 2013 Starr returned to SS-Green Light Racing to attempt the full season, but again had his season truncated due to a lack of sponsorship.
For the 2014 season, Starr joined TriStar Motorsports, driving in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in a partial schedule, before switching to a full-time schedule with the team in 2015.
In 2015, Starr took over the No. 44 Zachry Toyota full-time. Starr finished a career best finish 6th in the season opener at Daytona. Before the Richmond race, Starr was sick and couldn't race, being replaced by J. J. Yeley. With Yeley finishing 13th at Richmond, he eventually replaced Starr full-time in the No. 44.
On June 24, 2016, after his release from the No. 44 it was announced that Starr joined RSS Racing to drive the No. 93 Massimo Motors Chevrolet Camaro for the remainder of the 2016 season. Starr finished 27th in his debut with RSS Racing at Daytona, after being involved in a late crash.
In 2017, Starr left RSS to return once again to SS-Green Light Racing to run the No. 99 Striping Technology Chevrolet, with points from B. J. McLeod. Starr ended up getting his first career Xfinity Series top-5 in the July race at Daytona, a race he wasn't even supposed to run. SS-Green Light had planned on having Korbin Forrister drive, but when he became ill, Starr returned to the ride, and went on to finish off the full season in the No. 99. In November, Starr made his return to the Cup Series at the 2017 AAA Texas 500, in which he drove the No. 66 Chevrolet for MBM Motorsports.
In 2018, Starr joined Jimmy Means Racing for a full season replacing Joey Gase. In the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, he drove the Rick Ware Racing No. 51 car at the 2018 Brickyard 400, finishing 39th in the race. Starr drove the No. 97 Toyota Camry in Obaika Racing's Cup debut at the 2018 1000Bulbs.com 500 at Talladega.
In 2020, Starr moved to JD Motorsports No. 6 car. He lost his ride with the team on May 18 due to sponsorship problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. On June 9, he made his return to the Cup Series with Ware at the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500. Starr returned to SS-Green Light and the Xfinity Series in July at Texas, driving the No. 07; he was one of multiple Rick Ware Racing drivers to pilot the car as the two teams maintained an alliance.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

Cup Series

Xfinity Series

Camping World Truck Series

Winston West Series

Season still in progress
Ineligible for series points

ARCA SuperCar Series