The Home Tracks 150 at legendary Greenville-Pickens Speedway opened the
season for the NASCAR Camping World East Series with a very satisfying third
place finish for Eddie and the #71 Grimm Racing team.
" It was a great start to the season and I am very happy that we ran so
well at this track," said Eddie after the race. "It was a little
disappointing not to finish second after running most of the race in that
spot. But overall, everyone is pleased with the run."
Eddie started third after a solid qualifying run. "We improved nearly
a second from our best practice run and the car was fast. It was almost the
same set-up we had last year so it felt great to run that well (20.937
sec.-85.972 mph). We had a brake problem in practice but we were able to fix
it in time for qualifying."
A huge wreck at the start of the race forced a restart and when the
green flag flew the rookie Moffitt missed a shift and the Grimm Chevy slid
under the rear of the #44 causing considerable damage to the nose of Eddie's
car. "The car started overheating right away and it was a problem for the
rest of the race but fortunately everything worked out."
When the race finally got underway, Eddie quickly grabbed second and
was able to maintain a good lead over the third place car with the Rowley,
Mass. driver saying, " It was great to start up front because I was able to
run the car hard for five to ten laps then save the tires for the end. I
could get the car to run a little cooler since I didn't have to run hard all
the time. My strategy was to run hard, then get a few lapped cars between me
and the third place car."
Eddie led the race three times but it was readily evident Ickler was
the dominant car. "Ickler's car was awesome. I knew we did not have the car
to beat him. We had a great car today but he was better."
A late race caution for debris forced Eddie to restart on the outside
giving the #88 the inside lane. The two raced for position with the #71
making a move under the #88 when the fourth place car hit Eddie's rear
bumper driving the car sideways. "I was able to save it but with only eight
laps to go I couldn't get around Jody. We were just washing up the track in
turns one and two after that. We had a second place car today but finishing
third is pretty good. Rollie and the team did an excellent job preparing the
car and now we have to get ready for Tri-County. It feels great knowing we
have a car that will compete for the win every time we race."
The NASCAR Camping World East Series will take the green flag again at
Tri-County Motor Speedway in Hudson, N.C. on Saturday, April 25th.
Eddie will head home next week to compete in the Governor's Cup for the
ACT Late Model cars at the family owned Lee USA Speedway on Sunday, April
19th. The action begins on Saturday with practice and qualifying for the
Late Models, as well as Lee's regular season divisions.