Eric McClure

Milwaukee, WI (June 22, 2008)—Eric McClure and his Hefty® Racing™ team traveled to the Milwaukee Mile, the oldest racetrack on the NASCAR Nationwide Series circuit, for the series’ third consecutive stand-alone event. McClure, who was running top-15 lap times during the early stages of the event, suffered from left front brake issues that began before the half-way point and continued throughout the event. As a result, McClure came home with a 29th –place position at the conclusion of the Camping World RV Rental 250.

Once the 250-mile race commenced, Eric McClure, who had to start the event in the 43rd position after visiting pit road under the pace laps to remove the gas overflow plug, immediately began charging through the field. By the conclusion of lap one, McClure was posted in the 38th position with a car that seemed to perform consistently around the one-mile racing surface. By lap 18, when the first caution occurred, McClure was reporting a “loose in, no grip in the center” condition. Tim Weiss, filling in for regular crew chief Carl Long, who had a prior commitment, brought the No. 24 Chevrolet pit road to receive tires, fuel, and a strip of tape on the grille. McClure restarted the event in the 32nd position.

Over the next several laps, McClure continued to fight the handling on his racing machine as the adjustments had caused a “tight” condition, but still managed to maintain consistent lap times. However, trouble soon found the Hefty® Racing™ team on lap 54 when the left front brake on the car wasn’t responding to the pedal, thus forcing the car up the track towards the wall in each corner. As a result, the young driver had to adjust his driving line to compensate for the issue, resulting in a loss of time.

Although the brake problem couldn’t be fixed, the crew continued to work hard to improve the handling on the No. 24 Hefty® brand Chevrolet as they took advantage of four of the final seven cautions to make minor adjustments to the car. However, nearing the end of the 250-mile event, McClure, who was running lap times consistent with those in the top-20, stated, “this is the best the chassis has been all night; I wish we could’ve had better brakes.” By finishing the event, the team was able to gain a few more positions on the track and finish in the 29th position.

With this finish, the Emory and Henry College graduate advances two positions (21st) in the NASCAR driver standings, while FRM jumps to the 28th position in NASCAR owner standings.

Eric McClure quotes:
“The Hefty® brand Chevrolet was certainly the best it’s been in the last five races. We ran some good times at points during the race, but couldn’t be as aggressive as we would have liked with the lack of stopping ability we had, which hurt our qualifying lap as well. We tried to strategize and go with no tires to try and get the ‘Lucky Dog’ once, but with our other problems we couldn’t carry enough speed on the bottom of the track and the long green flag run cost us another lap or two. Nevertheless, Carl and the boys brought us a solid car and Tim Weiss did a phenomenal job filling in for him and making good adjustments, so it’s a good start. It’s all about taking baby steps and hopefully we can build on it.”