{"id":19463,"date":"2015-07-23T10:48:42","date_gmt":"2015-07-23T14:48:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/?p=19463"},"modified":"2015-07-23T10:48:42","modified_gmt":"2015-07-23T14:48:42","slug":"eddie-macdonald-posts-thirty-seventh-place-finish-in-5-hour-energy-301at-nhms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/eddie-macdonald-posts-thirty-seventh-place-finish-in-5-hour-energy-301at-nhms\/","title":{"rendered":"Eddie MacDonald Posts Thirty Seventh Place Finish in 5 Hour Energy 301at NHMS"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"photo

photo by RPM 360<\/p><\/div>\n

By: Dick Casey<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

For the second year in a row, Eddie MacDonald drove the Go Green Racing Ford in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 19 to take the checkered flag in 37th<\/sup> place. With DraftDemons.com as the main sponsor, Eddie Mac started 41st<\/sup> and completed 295 of the 301 lap event before a huge crowd at the \u201cMagic Mile.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRacing at the Cup level is a life-long dream and to be able to do it two years in a row thanks to owner Archie St. Hilaire and DraftDemons.com owner Mike Alden is fantastic,\u201d said Eddie Mac after the race, \u201cI have so many people to thank for this opportunity. It was a lot of fun to race with the best in the business. Of course I would have liked to finish better but the team was pleased with the run because it helped them out in the point\u2019s race. I guess 42 of the 43 cars finished which is unusual. There are usually more cars than that in the pits during the race. All in all it was a great experience and the crew was great the entire weekend. Archie has a super group of guys on the team. Clinton (Cram-crew chief from Belchertown, Mass.) did everything possible to help me out and I appreciate all his help. He made some great adjustments to make me more comfortable. Spotter Curtis (Aldridge) was in my ear helping me get around the track. He is really calm and when you are out there with 42 other cars it gets hectic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eddie Mac practiced on Friday<\/span> in the #32 Ford Fusion in the 42nd<\/sup> spot just one second off the leaders pace. Qualifying was a nail biter as Eddie Mac had to race his way into the race. It was not until the final minute of first round qualifying that the team knew it had secured a starting position for the 5 Hour Energy 301 with the Rowley, Mass. veteran saying, \u201cWe posted a time that we thought was good enough to get in but then we had to be ready to go back out if the 62 car beat our time. It was crazy sitting in the car waiting to find out if I had to go back out. Fortunately I didn\u2019t and I could breathe again.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the green flag waved, Eddie Mac got comfortable in the car but the car began to bounce getting into turns one and three with Eddie Mac saying,\u201dI had to lift quite a bit so I couldn\u2019t get back the gas as soon as I wanted. The leaders were coming fast and I went a lap down early but a caution flag on lap 22 gave Clinton the opportunity to make some adjustments and they really helped. The car was a lot better and I was able to race with some of the guys. But by the halfway mark the brakes began to fade so I had to lift early going into the corners so I lost momentum and Loudon is all about getting off the turns. But I must say I had a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am extremely appreciative for the opportunity and for all the people who stepped up to help me realize my dream,\u201d said Eddie Mac after the race. \u201cThis was truly an all-New England effort. Mike Alden from Beverly, Mass. sponsored me last year and asked Archie (from Old Orchid Beach, Maine) for me again. Mike is a great guy and I can\u2019t thank him enough. The DraftDemons.com car looked great and the design of my fire suit was awesome. I have to thank \u201cThe Rod Father\u201d Les Sanborn from Sanford, Maine for his support. Derek Beatrice from Exit Realty in Middleton, Mass. sponsored our K&N car on Friday<\/span> and helped us out on the Cup car. The famous Bentley Warren had us up at Bentley\u2019s Saloon in Arundel, Maine and helped us out. The 99 Restaurant in Salem, Mass., Salem N.H., and Tilton N.H. also were also on board A&B Vending always helps us in the K&N and ACT series and did so again. Of course all our fans were there giving support and I really appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYears ago when I was just a kid, I got to spend the day with Jeff Gordon when he drove my father\u2019s Supermodified at Lee USA Speedway, my family\u2019s track,\u201d recalled Eddie Mac. \u201cHe was always my favorite driver so it was really special when he came over to speak with me before introductions to wish me well. It was awesome that I could get to race with him in his next to last race at Loudon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you to everyone who came out to watch and support me on this fantastic day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Dick Casey For the second year in a row, Eddie MacDonald drove the Go Green Racing Ford in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 19 to take the checkered flag in 37th place. With DraftDemons.com as the main sponsor, Eddie Mac started 41st and completed 295 of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[45,112,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nascar","category-new-hampshire","category-nhms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19463"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19464,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19463\/revisions\/19464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}