In what can only be described as a continued string of poor luck, the Hefty Racing® team saw their night end early at Daytona Int’l Speedway with a wrecked racecar and a 37th-place finish. Running in a tandem draft with teammate Mike Bliss, the duo had climbed into the top-15 early and was in position for a great result but, unfortunately, the No. 19 made contact with the right rear of McClure’s car just before the entrance into turn one, which sent McClure hard into the outside wall. For precautionary reasons McClure was transported to a local hospital where he was diagnosed with a concussion and released early Saturday morning.
“It’s just a product of the two-car tandem draft and the manner we have to race now. Mike (Bliss) and I were working well together and we were getting comfortable with the two-car pushing and made quite a bit of progress. Stevie (Reeves, spotter) was awesome and everything was going well and we were a lap or two away from switching spots and me being the ‘pusher’ again. We just got separated briefly when passing two cars and I think we misjudged the reconnect; everything just happens so fast out there. I’m proud of our team and how we were running up until that point.”
Starting Friday night’s Subway Jalapeno 250 from the 39th position, it didn’t take long for McClure, who had to start at the rear of the field due to adjustments following his qualifying session, to find his teammate. They began working together and keeping pace with the middle part of the field. When the first caution was displayed on lap 26, crew chiefs Gary Cogswell and Paul Clapprood (No. 19), strategizing together, made the call to bring their respective cars to pit road for four tires and fuel. The No. 14 Hefty® BlackOut™/Reynolds™ Chevrolet was scored in the 29th position.
When the race restarted on lap 30, Bliss and McClure found each other once again and the pair began making their way through the field. The duo had advanced to the 19th and 20th positions when the second caution flag was displayed for an accident on lap 33. The call was made for both cars to stay on the track when the pit road opened, which allowed McClure to restart the event in the 15th position on lap 38.
Over the next seven laps McClure and Bliss continued to work together until Bliss, who was behind the No. 14 Chevrolet at the time, accidentally clipped the right side of McClure’s car in the straightway between the start/finish line to turn one on lap 44. With heavy damage, the 32-year-old driver was credited with a 37th-place finish.
TriStar Motorsports PR
