Concord, NC (October 16, 2009)—Eric McClure and his Hefty® Racing™ team came to Lowe’s Motor Speedway hoping to improve on the 19th-place finish earned during the spring event at the speedway. Starting the 200-lap event in the 39th position, McClure had advanced to the 25th spot before a timely caution on lap 147 allowed the team to visit pit-road under caution. The resulting strategy allowed the team to finish the Dollar General 300 in the 18th position. This finish was the driver’s best finish at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and his second-highest result of the 2009 season.
“I couldn’t be happier with our finish. This was the car I wrecked at St. Louis, which has been our best car, so I was glad to have it back. Chris (Wright, crew chief) and the guys worked hard on the car in practice, made great calls during the race and the fuel strategy helped us get the finish we needed. More importantly, though, I feel for the first time since we were here in May I was fairly competitive on a mile-and-a-half track. We were able to race with a lot of cars at different times and were closer to a lot of good cars. I still need to work on some things to help the team, and do some different things on restarts, but it was good. Hopefully this will lead to a good close to the season for us.”
Starting the race from the 39th position, McClure slid back a spot by lap two before working his way back up to the 38th position when the first caution waved on lap 12. Fighting a car that was “tight in the center of the turns and ‘snappy’ loose off,” Wright brought the car to pit-road to receive fuel and a chassis adjustment. McClure then came down pit-road a second time to remove tape from the front grille as the water temperature had climbed considerably. After the pit service, the Hefty® Steel Sak® Ford restarted the event in the 32nd position.
Over the next twenty laps McClure fell to the 37th position and lost a lap to the race leader as the changes made to the car seemed to hurt the car’s drivability. When the second caution occurred on lap 62 the car was brought to the attention of the Team Rensi Motorsports (TRM) crew for four tires, fuel, and wedge and track-bar adjustments. After a great stop by the Hefty® Racing™ team the No. 24 Ford restarted the event in the 28th position. Two laps later, a multi-car crash in turn two spread debris across the track. Despite missing the accident, concern that a piece of debris may have cut down a tire led to the decision to bring the Hefty® Steel Sak® Ford back to pit-road for tires and fuel. The team returned to pit road on lap 83 for fuel only.
As the race progressed the car’s handling greatly improved, allowing McClure to advance his position and run his fastest laps of the race during the final sixty laps. The second round of green flag pit stops began on lap 130 but, because the Hefty® Racing™ team had topped off the fuel during the fourth caution, they were able to stay on track longer than the rest of the competitors. Running in the 19th position, a timely caution occurred on lap 147, one lap before the car’s scheduled visit to pit road. This allowed the team to visit pit-road under caution to receive tires, fuel, and a small track-bar adjustment. Restarting in the 18th position, one lap down to the race leader, McClure was able to maintain the position for the remaining fifty laps to earn his career-best finish at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
The Hefty® Racing™ team returns to action on Saturday, October 24th at Memphis Motorsports Park for the running of the Kroger 250.
