Following a disappointing finish at Darlington Raceway that left Eric McClure and his Hefty® Racing® team outside of the top 30 in NASCAR Owner Standings, TriStar Motorsports owner Mark Smith made the decision late Wednesday afternoon that McClure would pilot the No. 19 Hefty® BlackOut™/Reynolds™ Impala at the Dover Int’l Speedway. Nevertheless, starting the race from the 23rd position, McClure looked to be on track to recording a career-best finish at the one-mile speedway until his Hefty® BlackOut™/Reynolds™ Impala ran out of fuel during the first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish. Despite the occurrence, McClure was able to get back on track to post the team’s best finish since the fifth race of the season (25th).
“This is not the finish we should’ve gotten but after the past five weeks I will take it. We struggled a little bit during the race compared to the practice session on Friday, but I believe we have figured out why and we will work on it before we come back here in the fall. We will take the positives from the weekend and go forward. We just need to keep working together and continuing to improve each week. Our speed is better than in years past, and we are practicing and qualifying so much better; we’ve just been having some bad luck.”
Eric McClure started Saturday’s 5-Hour Energy 200 from the 23rd position, which was set per the NASCAR Rule Book as inclement weather forced the cancellation of qualifying for the second consecutive week. By the time the event’s second caution flag waved on lap 20, the Hefty® BlackOut™/Reynolds™ Impala had become extremely tight in the center of the turns. Rather than bringing the car to pit road for adjustments, the call was made to stay out and wait for the competition yellow that would be displayed on lap 40. It was then that McClure, who was running in the 31st position, brought his car to pit road for four fresh tires with a large air-pressure adjustment, fuel, and to add a ½ rubber to the right rear spring. Following the service, the TriStar Motorsports team was scored in the 27th position on the lap 45 restart.
Over the next 40 laps, the Virginia driver was still battling a tight handling car in the center of the turns, so when the event’s fifth caution flag waved he brought his No. 19 Impala to pit road for four scuffed tires with an air-pressure adjustment, fuel, and a track-bar adjustment. Returning to the track in the 26th position for the lap 100 restart, McClure was able to advance one position before the event’s sixth caution flag was displayed on lap 139 for inclement weather. Rather than visiting pit road for service, crew chief Gary Cogswell made the call to stay out, take the wave around, and hope the weather would force an early conclusion to the event. Unfortunately, after a 31-minute delay, the race resumed on lap 148 with the team scored in the 23rd position.
As the race progressed under green conditions, it quickly became apparent that not pitting under the last caution hurt the team as now the No. 19 Impala was on much older tires compared to most the field. As a result, a lot of time was lost to the race leaders as the car would no longer roll quickly through the center of the corner and the driver had to wait too long before applying the throttle. As the team had not been on pit road since before the lap 100 restart, McClure was forced to give up the 21st position on lap 185 to visit pit road for fuel and a small wedge adjustment. Following the service the team returned to the track and was scored in the 23rd position.
On lap 197, the event’s seventh caution flag was displayed which would force a green-white-checkered finish. Rather than visiting pit road for four fresh tires and fuel, the team decided to stay out with hopes of being in position to pass two cars for position in the final two laps. Unfortunately, when the field was taking the green on lap 202, McClure reported his Hefty® BlackOut™/Reynolds™ had no power and was out of fuel. By not being able to make it back to pit road, the event’s eighth caution flag was displayed which would force the second attempt at a green-white checkered finish. Receiving a push from a tow truck, the No. 19 Impala made it back to pit road where the crew quickly began force-fueling the carburetor that allowed the car to re-fire and sustain constant fuel pressure. Returning to the track in the 25th position for the lap 207 restart, a multi-car crash occurred on the frontstretch just after the leader had taken the white flag. Consequently, the race was forced to end under caution with McClure being scored with a 25th-place finish.
TriStar Motorsports PR
