Eddie MacDonald Runs Fourth at Dover in the K & N East
With the decision made to race a part-time schedule after winning at Bristol, Eddie MacDonald and the Grimm Racing team focused their effort on preparing the best possible car for the best possible finish. On Friday night, the Grimm Construction Chevy drove from 16th in the 30 car-field to fourth place in the final race of the NASCAR Pro Series East season in the Drive Sober 150 on the “Monster Mile” at Dover International Speedway.
Eddie Mac’s impressive record over the final four races of the season began with an eighth place run at Langley, followed by a second at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a sixth place in the East West combination race at Iowa Speedway, and finally the fourth place run on the fast, high banked mile oval at Dover. The team ran ten of the 16 race schedule posting one win, three top fives, and six top tens.
“We are really pleased with our performance over the second half of the season,” said Eddie Mac. “ After the win at Bristol we knew we could be competitive in the races we entered. We have to thank Rob Grimm for providing two new cars for us to race. Unfortunately after we built them, we had to rebuild them after some serious wrecks early on. That is where the crew came in and did a tremendous amount of work to get them race ready in such a short time. Rollie (LaChance crew chief)and I could not have done it without them. We raced the car that finished second at New Hampshire, so we knew we would have a competitive car for Dover.”
The #71 qualified 16th (150.823 mph) and when the green flag waved to start the 150 lap event, Eddie Mac made steady progress to the front saying, “The car was a little tight but I could drive it okay and I was able to pass some cars. We were just trying to get as many spots as possible before the break at halfway and we were very happy when we ended up in fourth place when the yellow flag waved. We picked up a few spots when cars in front of me were running out of gas before the caution. We came in for tires and made an adjustment to free us up. Unfortunately we went a bit too far.”
Eddie Mac retained the fourth place position on the restart before making it into third place on lap 76. The free condition in the turns cost Eddie Mac as he slid back to sixth on lap 94 then staged one of his patented three-wide moves to regain third on lap 102. The Rowley, Mass. veteran held that position until Scott Heckert was able to make the pass with five laps to go with Eddie Mac saying, “I was trying hard to keep him behind me but I over-drove the corner and the rear end slid up the track allowing him to drive under me for the spot. We are very happy with fourth and very proud we finished the season the way we did. No one was going to catch Hill or Grala. I don’t know how those two were so fast. We had a lot of fun out there and had a very good run to end the season. Congratulations to Ben Rhodes for winning the championship with his outstanding season.”
“It goes without saying that none of this would be possible without Karla and Rob Grimm and the entire Grimm family. We are proud to carry the MS logo on our racecars and hope people will continue their support to find a cure for Multiple Sclerosis. Megan Spaulding and the Grimm family are always in our thoughts and prayers. Special thanks to the crew throughout the year at the track and in the shop in Newburyport, Ma. Those guys put in countless hours and Rollie and I thank them for all the effort and dedication. Special thanks go to all our fans; you are all a part of “Grimm Nation.” Even though we ran ten of the sixteen races, we accomplished a lot and it was a lot of fun. I hope to see you all in the spring.”
Fox Sports 1 will air the Drive Sober 150 on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 10 am.
Sources: Eddie MacDonald PR