After two weekends off, Eric McClure traveled to the Lone Star State to compete in Friday night’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. After posting respectable practice speeds on Thursday, McClure was optimistic about having a good finish on Friday. Qualifying 27th, McClure slipped to the 32nd spot in the early stages of the race as he was battling a car that was extremely tight on entry and center of the turns and loose late exit.
A caution on lap 17 allowed him to bring the orange Camry to pit road for four tires, fuel, and a round of adjustments to help the handling condition. When the race resumed, McClure worked all lanes around the 1.5-mile tri-oval in hopes of finding the grip he needed on exit of the turns.
The high lane proved best and over the next green flag run, he was able to advance to the 30th position. A caution on lap 64 once again allowed McClure the opportunity to bring the Hefty® Easy Grip® Cups Camry to pit road for service. The call was made for four tires, fuel, and additional chassis adjustments. When the race resumed, McClure was scored in the 29th spot.
Ten laps later, on lap 79, McClure lost control of the car exiting turn four and made contact with the outside retaining wall. Although he was able to continue, the damage was more severe than what was originally thought, thus hindering the performance of the No. 24 Camry in the remainder of the event. In the end, the team was credited with a 29th-place finish.
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