Solid Sixth Place Run for Eddie MacDonald at Iowa Speedway

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photo by RPM

By Dick Casey

In the same car nearly destroyed in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series race at Iowa Speedway in May, Eddie MacDonald powered the Grimm Construction/Multiple Sclerosis Chevy to a hard earned sixth place finish in the Autolite Iridium XP 150 in the second combination race pitting the East vs. the West on the Newton, Iowa track.

 

“We brought the car home today without a scratch on it,” laughed Eddie Mac after his ninth race this year in the K&N Pro Series. “The first time here with the new car in May ended in disaster when a tire blew out on lap 57 and destroyed the front clip. After fixing the car, we raced it to a second place finish at New Hampshire a few weeks ago and had hopes of running in the top three and compete for the win here but we struggled in practice and qualifying with it being too tight. We weren’t that great in practice (22nd and 27th) or qualifying (19th) but we thought we would be good for the race. Unfortunately, we just had to wait until after the break for that to happen.”

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MacDonald Runs First Sprint Cup race at NHMS

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Eddie MacDonald’s debut in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Camping World RV Sales 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway may not have ended in Victory Lane but for many the veteran driver from Rowley, Mass. exhibited the same effort and determination even to the final two laps in the green/white /checker finish as he has throughout his racing career.

 

After racing to an incredible second place finish in Friday night’s K&N Pro Series East event in the Granite State 100, Eddie Mac focused his attention on getting used to the #32 Go FAS Racing entry owned by fellow New Englanders Archie St. Hilaire and Frankie Stoddard and sponsored by TryAndrozene.com.  Being the competitor that he is MacDonald was not completely satisfied with the 35th place run saying, “I had a blast driving in my first Cup ride and I have so many people to thank for the opportunity, I just wished I could have finished a few spots higher. I have to thank crew chief Ben Leslie, my spotter Curtis and the Go FAS crew for really helping me through my first Cup experience. I learned so much from them and they made it a lot of fun.”

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Eddie MacDonald Finishes Second at NHMS

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Eddie MacDonald almost won his fourth career K&N Pro Series East race in the Granite State 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Friday night securing second place in a spectacular last lap duel that had the fans on their feet. The 100 lap event had three and four wide racing in turn one on the “Magic Mile” that most would agree is nearly impossible to achieve.

 

“That was a crazy race over the second half of the race right to the last lap,” said the Rowley, Mass. veteran. “I think the fans saw an exciting race with the winner not decided until the last turn of the last lap. On the last restart my spotter Logger (Dave Ricker) said I was on the bottom of four wide going into turn one and they were three wide behind us. The incredible thing is, no one wrecked. We are very happy with the second place finish since it looked like we were headed for a fourth place finish.”

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Eddie MacDonald Returns to K & N Series at Langley

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After a two race hiatus, Eddie MacDonald and the Grimm Racing Team took the green flag in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in the Visit Hampton Va. 175 at Langley Speedway to post an eighth place finish. Despite an unscheduled pit stop on caution lap 90, Eddie Mac powered back from the rear of the field to post the solid finish.

 

The .396 of a mile oval proved to be tough to negotiate with the veteran driver saying, “We were running in the ninth position and trying to take it easy but we were getting bounced around a lot. The body took quite a beating and I thought I might have a right front tire going down so we decided to pit. The tire was okay but the toe was definitely knocked out. I probably should have stayed out but I couldn’t take the chance. It cost us a lot of positions but it was something we had to do the. The race was 175 laps so we thought we could get back up there.”
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Eddie MacDonald Loses ACT Win in Tech

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The joy and jubilation for Eddie MacDonald and his team, family and friends in victory lane after winning the American Canadian Tour race at Riverside Speedway in Groveton, NH on Saturday night were soon dashed when the victory was taken away by ACT officials for a spring rubber violation. The Freddie Peterson owned and Hancock Electric Motor Service sponsored Chevy was given an eleventh place finish despite protests from the team.

 

ACT officials stated the new rule this year limits to three the number of spring rubbers in the rear right spring. The #17 had four spring rubbers and was stripped of the win with Eddie Mac saying, “This is our fun car. It is not our priority. Our commitment to the K&N Series takes up most of our time so we don’t spend a lot of time working on the ACT car. We love running with the ACT drivers and have a lot of fun. We only worked on setting up Freddie’s car for two days so we didn’t have time to pour over the rule book to look for an advantage. One of the officials said we probably read the rule book very closely and I can honestly say I have never read the rule book. We were totally unaware there was a rule change for the number of rear spring rubbers you could use. Obviously it was our fault for not knowing the rule but I feel the punishment did not fit the crime. Having an extra spring rubber made absolutely no difference between winning and losing. It is a minor tuning adjustment aide worth $13.00. It did nothing for the car. The car was fast and handled great when we got going after halfway. That is why we won. I just wished they could have fined us or something but to take away a win was way too severe I think.”

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Eddie MacDonald Crashes at Iowa Speedway

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By Dick Casey

Eddie MacDonald and the Grimm Racing Team’s optimism for another strong finish at Iowa Speedway crumbled with a hard hit to the outside wall in NASCAR’s K&N Pro Series combination race Saturday night with the East and West teams meeting for the first of two events on the seven-eighth’s mile oval. After finishing in the runner-up position in the Pork Be Inspired 150 second event at Iowa last season, Eddie Mac returned for the Casey’s General Store 150 with a brand new car with hopes of equaling or bettering last year’s finish.
Unfortunately for Eddie Mac, the right front tire blew on lap 57 as the Rowley, Ma. veteran driver attempted an outside pass for the tenth position sending him hard into the outside wall between turns one and two ending his night with a 35th place finish saying, “That was a tough hit. It really tore up the front of the car and it probably needs a new front clip. We worked hard getting this new car ready for the race and it felt good. We didn’t have time to test so practice was the first time on any track. The crew worked hard to get the car ready and even though we didn’t qualify well, we thought the car would be okay for the race and it was. The car was running great, the handling was good, and only a little loose in practice so we believed we had a good set-up for the race. It was very similar to the set-up we had last year here when we finished second. ”

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