Eddie MacDonald took the green flag in his 145th start in the K & N East Series second race of the season at the historic Greenville Pickens Speedway posting a fifth place finish. After rain washed out the qualifying, the grid
was set by NASCAR points with the Grimm Construction Chevy starting eighth in the Kevin Whitaker 150 on the flat, half mile oval with the nickname “The old house of racing.”
The Rowley, Mass. veteran maintained positioning in the top ten throughout the event and was pleased with the run saying, “We really needed this after the troubles at Bristol. You always hope you can do better but this fifth
place finish really feels good. Rollie (LaChance) did a great job with the set up and I was able to keep it low in the corners. This first turn is the key to a good lap around this place. You have to be able to run your line to
set up for the exit off of turn two, and the car was perfect.”
On lap 50, the #71 was cruising along in the ninth position and was not challenged by anyone with MacDonald saying, “I knew that I just had to run easy for the first part of the race and let guys burn up their tires if they
wanted to race with the leaders. This place is pretty rough on tires. I think the last time it was paved was in the mid-eighties, so saving them for the end is important. With the set up we had, I knew we were not giving up
anything with the tires and would be in good shape for the final laps.”
At the halfway flag, MacDonald ran comfortably in the seventh spot and maintained that position until lap 135 when he made the pass to move to sixth. With only two laps remaining, MacDonald passed Chase Elliott for the fifth spot. In tech after the race Eddie Mac said, “I really wanted to get by Chase for the fifth spot and I have to say he ran me clean. He is a good driver for such a young kid. We had a lot of fun tonight. It really means a lot to have this kind of run after the disappointment at Bristol. It is a tribute to Rollie and the crew for all the hard work everyone puts into this operation. Hopefully we have found something that we can build on for our next race at Richmond. We had a terrible run there last year so we definitely have something to prove at that place.”
Crew Chief Rollie LaChance was equally pleased saying, “I am very happy with our run tonight. The two things that pleased me most were that the car held up and was sound all night and Eddie drove a great race. This is really
a tough series so to be competitive and run fifth is a great feeling. We had a number of set ups to try in practice but we hit on this one early and decided to go with it and it worked out well. Hopefully we can build on this for Richmond.”
The K & N East Series will take the green flag next in the Blue Ox 100 at Richmond International Raceway on April 26. Speed channel will air the Greenville race on May 3rd, at 3 pm. The MacDonald Motorsports race team will be in action on April 15th at Lee USA Speedway all part of the American Canadian Tour 2012 Season Opener. For more information go to: www.grimmracing.com and www.eddiemacdonald.net.