Eddie MacDonald powered the Grimm Construction/Multiple Sclerosis Society Chevrolet to a hard earned sixth place finish in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Pittlite 125 at Bristol Motor Speedway as a companion race with the Sprint Cup Series. The Rowley, Mass. veteran started his 183rd race in the series and took the green flag as the defending champion of last year’s event. A flat tire on lap 49 appeared to quash any hopes of repeating the win but Eddie Mac and the crew never gave up and rallied from the flat and 24th restarting position to make his patented charge to the front.
“With everything that we had to overcome in the race, we are pleased with the sixth place finish,” said Eddie Mac after the race. “Obviously we would have liked to compete for the win but this finish showed how we can overcome adversity. We had a very similar set-up in the car as last year and the car handled pretty good. We didn’t have a great qualifying run (16th) but last year we started 13th and won so we knew the car would be good for the long run.”
Twenty eight cars took the green flag in the 125 lap event around “The World’s Fastest Half-Mile” as Eddie Mac wasted no time moving up four spots from 16th to 12th in just twolaps and into tenth by lap 21. The car was “a little loose but not bad” according to Eddie Mac at the first caution on lap 37. While running ninth the #71 blew a left rear tire to bring out the caution on lap 49, then restarted 24th one lap down. Eddie Mac moved up two positions before the halfway break at lap 62. The crew was allowed to re-fuel but could not change tires during the five minute break.
Racing resumed after the break with Eddie Mac the recipient of the “lucky dog” to restart on the lead lap in the 22nd position. Chief Rollie LaChance made the call to bring the #71 to the pits for a wedge adjustment during a lap 76 caution resulting in a charge from the 20th restarting position on lap 81 to 13th on lap 90. On laps 100 and lap 109, the veteran racer made it three wide around the high banked turns of Bristol to ninth place with sixteen laps to go. Eddie Mac battled Austin Hill for sixth place before taking over the spot with ten to go.
“The car was really good all day,” said Eddie Mac. “I think we had a top three car and then run for the win and see what would happen but the flat changed everything. I wanted to get to fifth at the end but I used up the car coming from the rear so it was pretty loose at the end. Sixth place is still a great finish at Bristol. It is so much fun to drive here and you have to have a good car or you are in for a long day. Rollie and the crew did a great job all day long and I appreciate their efforts. Our owner Rob Grimm and a number of “Grimm Nation” family and fans were here so I am glad we had a good showing after the flat tire. This is a tough racetrack to make up ground when you have a problem so I am proud of what we accomplished today.”
“Many thanks go to our sponsors: Grimm Construction, Stilo, HMS Motorsports, Waymart Building Center, Schroth Racing, Peterson Auto Body, and Kustom Vinyl. The Multiple Sclerosis National Society logo is proudly displayed on the car, as well as, the New Path Adventures logo.”
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East’s next race will be a combination race with the K&N West Series at Iowa Speedway on May 16. NBCSN will televise the Pittlite 125 on April 23 with a time to be determined.
For Rowan Pennink and the #93 Van Wickle NAPA Auto Supply team, the 44th Annual edition of the NAPA Spring Sizzler at Stafford Speedway will see the team chase the checkered flag with altered plans. A practice crash in the season opening race at Thompson Motorsports Park eliminated their primary car and left Pennink and team scrambling to get their backup car together. Without practice, Pennink was still able to qualify 18th out of 35 cars and came home with a respectable 13th place finish. While Pennink is bringing the same car to Stafford for the Sizzler, he is confident that he can have a good run.
“The car we wrecked is pretty much toast and ready for the junkyard,” said Pennink. “We won’t be able to get another new car put together in time for the Sizzler so we’ll be bringing the backup car to Stafford. We put a lot of time and effort into the car that we wrecked and we were really happy with how it was handling. We weren’t able to get any practice time with it so it wasn’t where we needed it to be for the race, but we were able to salvage what we could out of the weekend and we’ll move on to the Sizzler.”
Pennink has put together a strong career record at the NAPA Spring Sizzler. In 7 career starts, Pennink has posted 4 top-5 and 5 top-10 finishes with a career best finish of second coming back in 2011. Pennink has recorded top-5 finishes in four of the last five Sizzlers and although he will be racing his backup car, he is confident that he can once again be among the contenders for the Sizzler checkered flag.
“We’ll be running the same car at Stafford, hopefully with a little practice time we can get the car where we need it to be and have a good run,” said
Pennink. “I think we definitely have the capabilities of winning the race this year. It’s the same car we’ve ran the last couple of years and all of our cars are good. It wasn’t really what we had planned for the Sizzler, but it’s what we have.”
If Pennink needed any extra motivation, he has Van Wickle Auto Supply as his primary sponsor this season, a NAPA store with three locations in New Jersey. Pennink is relishing the opportunity to win the NAPA Spring Sizzler with Van Wickle as his sponsor.
“Van Wickle Auto Supply NAPA has always helped us out in the past and they came on board with us for this season,” said Pennink. “It would be awesome to win the race, the guys at Van Wickle have been a big help to us and it would be really cool to win the NAPA Spring Sizzler for them. The Sizzler is the longest race we run all year so you have stay out of trouble at the beginning of the race while also keeping good track position. You have to have a good pit stop and need to time the pit stop so it plays out right. If we can do all those things right, hopefully we can put ourselves in position to go for the win at the end of the race.”
In addition to his Whelen Modified Tour duties, Pennink will also look to pick up where he left off in 2014 in Stafford’s weekly SK Modified® division behind the wheel of the #99 car owned by Bob Hitchcock and Kelly Iverson. After a rough start to the 2014 season, Pennink won 5 races and accumulated more points than any other driver at Stafford during the second half of the season. Pennink is looking forward to repeating that on track performance.
“I don’t see why we can’t do that again,” said Pennink. “We were really strong at the end of last season and we’re hoping to stay away from the bad luck we had at the beginning. We won 5 races in the second half of 2014 and when we didn’t win we were right up there in the top-2 or top-3. We’re hoping to start this year how we ended last year and if we can do that, I think it will be a very good year for the whole #99 team.”
The 44th Annual NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler gets underway Friday, April 24 with a practice session for Stafford’s weekly divisions. The practice session will be open to the public at no charge. The run for the Coors Light Pole position gets underway on Saturday, April 25 with time trials for the Whelen Modified Tour cars, along with heat and consolation races for Stafford’s weekly divisions. Saturday’s racing action wraps up with feature events for the SK Light, Limited Late Model, and DARE Stock divisions as well as a feature event for the Mr. Rooter Truck Series. The Sizzler concludes on Sunday, April 27 with the NAPA Auto Parts Pit Party followed by Stafford’s SK Modifieds® and Late Models joining the Whelen Modified Tour in feature action.(end)