From the first practice Eddie MacDonald battled his car then thirty-nine other opponents to post a hard-earned second place finish in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series’ Pork Be Inspired 150 at Iowa Speedway. The race was the second of two combination East/West Series events held on the fast 7/8 of a mile speedway. The new Grimm Construction/MS Society Chevy gave the crew fits in the first practice but really came on at the end of the race while the competition faded.
“This is a great finish for us at Iowa. We really needed this for the team,” said Eddie Mac after the race. “It was a crazy day right from the beginning. We were black flagged for a serious tire rub in the first practice. The crew did an outstanding job cutting away the fenders where the tires burned through. We had to replace the composite body affected areas with sheet metal and rivets. It didn’t look pretty but it got the job done. I thank the guys for all their hard work. This new car is super but we keep learning things about it both good and bad.”
The second practice saw some improvement with new tires (22nd) along with a qualifying run of 18th with MacDonald saying, “I probably could have driven it in a lot harder in qualifying but the car was still tight and I didn’t want to push it. Starting 18th was tough so we decided to take what we could in the first segment then make adjustments at the halfway break.
The 40 car field took the green flag with the #71 moving cautiously through the pack with Eddie Mac saying, “The car was tight in traffic so it was difficult to pass. The composite bodies all seemed to be tight in traffic so getting to 12th by the halfway break was okay. We just had to make the right adjustments and we did. Rollie and the crew loosened it up exactly where it needed to be.”
With the green flag waving for the final half of the race on lap 77, Eddie Mac began making his run to the front. By lap 108, the #71 ran in the eighth spot and tracking down the leaders. On lap 130 with 20 laps to go MacDonald ran in the sixth position and knew he had the car to drive to the front saying, “We were about a straightaway behind the fifth place car and I was reeling him in. The car came alive when the other cars were struggling.”
On lap 132 the Speed51.com reporter wrote on the Home Tracks website covering the race, “Eddie Mac Is having an Eddie Mac-like run tonight. He has steadily worked his way to the front and sure enough he is a factor down the stretch.”
In the final 11 laps Eddie Mac went from sixth place to second place when the checkered flag waved. “After I passed Little for fifth the car was really turning. I was able to drive it in the turns harder and lower that anyone out there. At that point in the race, we were the fastest car out there. This new car gave us some problems early on but it responded when it needed to respond. We are learning about it with each race and hopefully we will get a win with it soon. We built it this season and it is only our third race with it and it is a lot of fun to drive.”
With the second place run, both driver and car owner, Rob Grimm, moved in to the fifth position in the point’s race after nine races. The K&N East Series returns to action on the road course of Virginia International Raceway on August 24. It will be the first visit for the East Series on the challenging road course with another road event scheduled for October 18 on Road Atlanta.
The Pork Be Inspired 150 will be televised on August 25 at 1 p.m. on Fox Sports1. It is the first NASCAR touring series to air on the network, which will carry the touring series through the year.