Richmond, VA (September 11, 2009)-After an accident left the RHR team 39th in the spring event at Richmond International Raceway, Eric McClure returned to the ¾-mile track hoping his 100th career Nationwide Series start would render a more positive result. Starting the race from the 42nd position, achieving the goal seemed difficult early in the event. After positive adjustments were made to the Hefty® Odor Block™ Ford during the third caution, and the call to not visit pit-road during three of the five cautions, McClure was able to finish the Virginia 529 College Savings 250 in the 29th position, advancing the Virginia driver to 16th in driver standings.
“We weren’t as good as we were in May. We struggled right off the truck for the first part of practice but made several changes that seemed to help. We felt we were okay at the end when comparing our times to everyone else’s last lap times. I had a horrible qualifying lap and I received a little left front damage on lap one when avoiding a wreck. We took a couple of gambles by not coming to pit-road under caution so we could gain a lap back but the long green flag runs, not being able to put on tires, and the untimely cautions didn’t play in our favor. We ended up with a pretty decent car on old tires and we should’ve been able to finish around 25th had the last caution not come out. On the bright side we were able to finish.”
Starting the race from the 42nd position, the 30-year-old driver quickly began to advance through the field on lap one when, coming off of turn four, he had to make a sudden move to the inside to avoid a multi-car accident. Suffering only minor left front fender damage after a trip through the grass, the Hefty® Racing™ team took the opportunity to visit pit-road under caution to make the necessary repairs and receive fuel. Restarting the 250-lap event in the 37th position, McClure reported his Hefty® Odor Block™ Ford was “extremely loose” on entry. Having to let off the throttle sooner on entry, coupled with being caught up behind a slower car, the driver lost an early lap to the race leader. By lap 40, when the second caution flew, the RHR team was scored in the 32nd position. Rather than visiting pit-road, crew chief Chris Wright made the call for McClure to adjust the brake bias and stay on track which allowed the team to regain the lap lost to the race leader and restart in the 29th position.
As the race progressed, the Virginia driver continued to battle his way through the field, although the long green flag condition plagued the Hefty® Racing™ team. Running on older tires and less fuel, McClure lost two laps to the race leader by lap 96 and was forced to pit-road on lap 123, surrendering the 26th position. As the No. 24 Ford was leaving pit-road after receiving four tires and fuel, the caution flag waved for debris, which resulted in two additional laps lost to the race leader and a 32nd - place placement. As the leaders visited pit-road McClure stayed on track and as a result of the “wave around rule” and was able to regain one lap lost to the leader.
Throughout the remainder of the event, two additional cautions occurred, with McClure visiting pit-road once for fuel only. The handling on the Hefty® Odor Block™ Ford had improved during the middle stages of the event and the team was gaining on several cars for position when the final caution occurred just after the team lost an additional lap. The call was again made to stay on the track to gain the lost lap back. In the end, however, the strategy did not pay off as most cars visited pit-road. McClure was able to finish the Virginia 529 College Savings 250 in the 29th position and advanced to 16th - place in the NASCAR Driver standings.
The Nationwide Series has the weekend off and the Hefty® Racing™ team will return to action on Saturday, September 25, 2009 at “The Monster Mile” in Dover, DE.
