Eddie’s race in the NASCAR Camping World 125 at Watkins Glen International came to an end on lap six with a blown engine. The Grimm Construction Chevy qualified 13th and the veteran driver had hopes for another top five finish this season but it came apart very quickly.

Eddie said after the race, “I don’t know what happened to the engine. It didn’t give any indication that something was wrong. I was just trying to pick it up a little after we started but it just let go. We ran okay in practice and a bit better in qualifying so this was a real surprise. It was a brand new engine with only 30 laps on it so we will bring it to the engine builder to see if we can find out what happened, but the engine is junk after the two rods blew out.”

With the DNF, Eddie slipped from fourth in the points to eleventh. The Grimm Chevy finished third at Greenville-Pickens to open the season, then posted a fourth place finish at South Boston Speedway in the last race. The only blemish in the first three events was a 37th place finish at Iowa Speedway after getting into a wreck on lap 67. MacDonald’s only run at the Glen was a third place finish in 2004, so expectations were high for another solid run.

“We really improved quite a bit form our first practice (21st on the charts) to our second practice run (12th on the charts) and we were a second and a half faster qualifying (76.305 seconds-115.589 mph) so we knew we had a car to compete. But those things happen and there is nothing you can do about it. Hopefully we can rebound from this and have a great run at Loudon. I just feel terrible for Rob Grimm and all our sponsors. The team really works so hard, it is really disappointing but we will bounce back. It is a long season,” Eddie speculated.

The Grimm Construction crew is already preparing the car to compete in the NASCAR Camping World East Series 125 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway June 26-27.