photo by RPM 360
By: Dick Casey
Eddie MacDonald scored a 12th place finish in the K&N Pro Series East’s United Site Services 70 at NHMS on Saturday, July 15. The K&N series returned to the Loudon track for the annual NASCAR Cup weekend.
Eddie Mac posted a 15th place start in qualifying but was moved to the 20th position after sustaining an infraction in tech. The Grimm Construction Chevy moved into the 12thposition despite fighting a loose condition. Eddie Mac never got the caution he needed to bunch up the field that quickly spread out after the only caution on lap four. The 70 lap feature took only 39 minutes and forty-five seconds to run leaving no opportunity to make any significant progress.
“The car was just a little loose but we could not pit to make any adjustments because we would lose a couple of laps,” said Eddie Mac. “The leaders were just so fast, everyone except the top six cars remained on the lead lap. You have to have a lot of speed in the straights and you really have to turn well in the corners. I was loose off so I had to wait to mash the throttle when the car straightened out and that kills your speed. It was pretty frustrating to ride like that and the caution we were hoping for never came.”
By lap 30 Eddie Mac rode in the 12th position but by then the field was strung out single file around the one mile oval with the leader lapping most of the cars. Eventual winner Todd Gilliland passed Eddie Mac on lap 41. The Rowley, Mass. veteran drove the remaining 29 laps all alone to post the 12th place finish.
“We definitely thought we would run much better that we did,” said Eddie Mac. “We have run well here in the past but with the incredible level of competition in this series now our car had to be perfect and it just did not handle well enough. You don’t need to be off by much and that is what happened. It would have been interesting to find out if we had a chance to make an adjustment if we could have moved up a number of spots but we didn’t have anything for the top cars.”
“I really have to thank our team owner Rob Grimm for all he has done,” said Eddie Mac after the race. “Also, our crew does an amazing job and Rollie (LaChance) and I are thankful for all the hard work and commitment. Everyone has full time jobs and rearrange their schedules to be here for us. It is great fun to run here in front of family and friends and we look forward to this race each year.”
Eddie Mac will next drive the Grimm Construction/Multiple Sclerosis Chevy at Dover International Speedway on September 29.
NBCSN will televise the United Site Services 70 on July 20 at 6 p.m.