For over 100 laps Eddie MacDonald ran in the top five in the Army Strong 150 K&N Pro Series East race at Bowman Gray Stadium before a wreck on the last lap produced a 13th place finish. The Grimm Construction Chevy had to battle from a 21st starting position on the tight flat quarter mile oval to run in the fifth spot by lap 38.
“This is so disappointing because we had such a great car and looked like we were going to have another good finish two races in a row (a third place finish in Iowa),” said MacDonald. “We really started out in a bad spot because the car bottomed out in qualifying but I was able to miss the wrecks in front and move up through the pack. The car really handled well and we needed it to be because this is a tough place to get
around. After driving a bunch of short tracks at home, we know you have to be patient because we knew there would be a lot of cautions so we just planned to take advantage when we could. We did that tonight but we didn’t get the finish we wanted.”
MacDonald moved into fourth by lap 85 and into the third position by lap 97. “I knew we had something for the leaders and Corey LaJoie and I had a great battle for second place. It is really tough to pass here so you had to be really careful where and when you made your move. When DiBennedetto and LaJoie started fighting for first with about 15 laps to go, I thought I was in a good position if they took each other out but it didn’t happen. Instead, I was the one taken out.”
On a lap 147 restart of the scheduled 150 laps, MacDonald started on the inside third position and before a single lap was completed, the 15th yellow flag waved (for 87 laps) forcing a green/white checker finish. MacDonald was told to line up fourth and the veteran driver was fuming saying, “I don’t know how we lost the third spot when a single lap wasn’t even completed. The next thing I knew was NASCAR telling me to line up fourth on the outside while they moved Kennedy into the third spot. It wasn’t right what happened. The outside was not the place to be especially on a G/W/C finish.”
When the green flag waved MacDonald’s car sailed into the outside fence coming to the white flag. “I just don’t know if we had some help or if I just drove it in too hard and it wheel hopped but we ended up wrecking a good car that was in pretty good shape for 149 laps. We were able to keep going but I lost a bunch of positions. I really feel bad for everyone involved. I will have to look at the film to see if I can figure out what happened at the end. I know we definitely had a third place car tonight but it was not to be and it is frustrating for Rollie, the crew, Rob Grimm and all our fans. We had a great run in Iowa and we were looking to back it up with another good run tonight. We didn’t need or deserve this. We will be back next week at Gresham.”
The Bowman Gray race will air on Speed on Thursday, June 9 at 6 pm. The next race for the K&N Pro Series East will be held at Gresham Motorsports Park on June 11 in Jefferson, Georgia. For further information go to eddiemacdonald.net and grimmracing.com.