Eddie’s 24th place finish in the Strutmasters.com 150 at the Music City Complex in Nashville ended a night of frustration for the Grimm/Nemo sponsored Chevy that began with mechanical problems with an aircraft. Crew chief Rollie LaChance’s plane developed oil problems prior to take off that left him stranded in Boston unable to make it to Nashville on time for the race.

Without LaChance calling the shots in practice the team struggled to post 17th fastest runs in both practices. Eddie managed to qualify the car in twelfth with a time of 19,772 seconds (108.517 mph). The plan was to just run the car without loosing any positions but more bad luck was on the way.

“We knew the car was not fast so we just wanted to hold our ground and hopefully avoid the wrecks and pick off the cars that we could. Obviously it didn’t happen that way. The crew did a great job getting the car ready, but without Rollie there we knew we were in for a struggle. I was just cruising along when the #03 spun in front of me on lap 21 but I was able to get the car stopped without making contact. The car behind me didn’t stop and plowed me into the #03 causing a lot of damage,” said a very frustrated driver.

After a couple of trips to the pits for repairs, the #71 returned to the track and was able to run in the 19th position until another problem on lap 85 forced the Rowley, Mass. driver to the pits for the final time of the race.

“The fuel pump quit on us and that ended a miserable night. This has to be one of the most frustrating nights we have ever had. Nothing seemed to right from the start. Without Rollie, the car not running well, and getting hit early the whole day was an uphill battle that we lost. Everyone tried their hardest but it didn’t seem like anything was going in the right direction for us. The fuel pump quitting was the final straw but we will regroup for next week’s race at Adirondack next week. We will feel sorry for ourselves tonight but there is no quit in this team. This was a tough night for our team owner Rob Grimm but he’s always there supporting us every race with his positive attitude. We’ve been in situations like this before and bounced back and that’s what we will do this week,” said Eddie after the race.

The team boasts one win this season with three top five finishes so they will be looking to turn things around for next Saturday’s, July 26, Edge Hotel 150 NASCAR Camping World Series East race at Adirondack International Speedway.