Eric McClure finished 36th in Friday night’s ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Int’l Raceway after a fuel pressure issue on the No. 24 Camry sidelined the team with 40 laps remaining. With this finish, the Virginia driver dropped two positions (22nd) in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Driver Standings.
Starting 35th, McClure quickly worked his way up to the 32nd position, but his advancement stalled when the car became free on entry and exit, while showing tight conditions in the center of the turns. The team took advantage of the first caution period on lap 49 to bring the No 24 Hefty® Camry to pit road for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. When the race resumed McClure restarted 32nd, but slipped to 34th when the outside lane stacked up in front of him, forcing the car out of the racing groove in turn three. By lap 68 he had worked his way back up to the 33rd position. Although the previous adjustment helped the car’s handling in the center of the turns, the entry remained free and, as a result, McClure’s advancement again stalled over the long green flag run.
When the event’s second caution flag waved on lap 111, McClure again brought the car to pit road for a routine four tire and fuel stop. The team also made additional chassis adjustments to help the car’s handling condition. When the race resumed, McClure was scored in the 33rd position.
During the ensuing long green flag run, McClure informed the crew that the car was a lot better and as a result, he was able to show more consistent lap times in traffic and was able to advance to the 32nd spot.
With 40 laps remaining, green flag pit stops began, but as the No.24 Camry had enough fuel to make it to the end of the event; no pit stop was planned. Three laps later, however, McClure radioed the crew that the car had shut off and was acting like it was out of fuel. Coasting to pit road, the team added fuel to the Hefty@ Camry, but the car wasn’t able to re-fire. After spending several laps on pit road working on the issue, the team pushed the car behind the wall. It was ultimately determined that the issue was in the fuel pump. With not enough laps to fix the culprit, McClure’s night was over and he was relegated to the 36th finishing position.
Eric McClure Quotes:
“Well, obviously we were disappointed with the finish. It seems we can’t buy a break. However, we had a decent car for much the race. I really enjoyed working with Platt (Steve Plattenberger) and his guys. Richmond has never been one of my strongest tracks, and I made a couple of mistakes in the first part of the event that cost us a couple of laps. I was able to learn some things that I applied the second half of the race, which visibly helped us on the track, and we were able to race quite a few cars that had good finishes. It’s one of those times I wish we could start the race over.”
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