the ohio 250 was held on may 24 at mansfield motorsports park. johnny benson won the pole. as with most mansfield races, the action was expected to be tight and dramatic, with fuel mileage playing out in the latter half. with the downsizing in fuel cells to 18 gallons, it was deemed mathematically impossible for any driver in the field to repeat dennis setzer's no stop victory the previous year. with a record 15 cautions, the best of the afternoon was saved for the last part of the race. david starr and his red horse racing team had dominated the day, leading 170 laps in total. however, in the final laps, starr's seemingly inevitable victory would be done in. rookie donny lia, who had started 28th, had worked his way through the field and to the rear tailgate of starr's truck. on the final lap, lia daringly pulled the bump and run on starr exiting turn 2. the two drivers along with todd bodine made it three wide on the backstretch. lia would gain the advantage heading into turn three and the 2007 whelen modified tour champion would hang on to take the first ever win for both him and his upstart team, legendary road racing team trg motorsports, as well as the second consecutive first time winner for the 2008 season.