Eric McClure and the No. 24 team posted a 28th-place finish in Saturday’s Hisense 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. With this finish, McClure sits 15th in the NASCAR driver standings.
In the early stages of the race, McClure not only reported that the left front of the car would lift up on entry and exit of the turns, but it was also “extremely loose.” As a result, he slipped to the 33rd position. Green flag pit stops began on lap 44 with McClure bringing the No. 24 Hefty® Camry to pit road on lap 51 for four tires, fuel and a track-bar adjustment to help the loose-handling condition. Once the field cycled through, the Hefty®/Reynolds Wrap® Racing team was scored in the 30th position.
As the race continued, the handling of the car improved slightly, but McClure asked for additional help in the front end of the car. A caution on lap 85 allowed the team to make additional chassis adjustments to the car, as well as change four tires and add fuel. On the lap 89 restart, McClure was scored in the 29th position.
In the final stages of the 130-lap event, a bizarre event occurred; McClure’s ear plugs came out and he could no longer hear the spotter, resulting in additional time and laps lost to the leader. After two laps, the veteran driver was able to get the ear plugs back in and continue on his way. The event’s final caution flag waved on lap 100 and although the car’s overall handling was again showing signs of improvement, it “still lacked rear grip.” The team took this opportunity to bring McClure to pit road one final time for tires, fuel and a round of chassis adjustments. When the race resumed on lap 106, McClure had advanced one position and, in the end, he was credited with a 28th-place finish.
Eric McClure Quotes:
“Well it was certainly a challenging and eventful race for us. This process of getting familiar with everyone and working through some of the things that we’ve had to is what it is…a process. The long green runs didn’t do us any favors and we had some crazy things happen when my earplugs came out, and some other things that really put us further behind. I will take responsibility for that and make sure that doesn’t happen again. The bottom line is this is a good race team, we have good teammates, and I love the fact that all of our expectations are high. I have no doubt that we will get to where we want to be.”
Eric McClure PR
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