GRIMM RACING - NASCAR K&N Pro Series East

Friday, September 18th, 2009
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Loudon, NH - 1.058 mile

EDDIE WINS the Heluva Good 125!

EDDIE WINS TWO RACES AT NHMS

Weeks before the big NASCAR Cup weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the Grimm Racing Team set three goals. Taking the pole in the Camping World Series East Heluva Good! Fall 125 was the first. Defending the title earned last September in the race was another, and winning the first-ever ACT Invitational was the third. By Saturday night, each goal was realized.

On the biggest stage, Eddie captured the pole position on Thursday afternoon with a fast lap of 29.972 sec. (127.079mph) with the Rowley, Mass driver saying, “We have wanted this for a long time. Rollie (LaChance) really has this place figured out. We were second fasted in practice but I was in the Modified when the crew was working on the car so I really didn’t know what they did but it sure was fast. I was able to drive it in really deep and get on the gas early. It was amazing.”

After a forty-minute rain delay on Friday NASCAR officials shortened the race from 125 laps to 100 laps due to time constraints. MacDonald took the green flag and quickly opened up a five-car lead on the field. The NEMO sponsored Chevy did not pit on the lap 13 caution with most of the leaders, choosing to pit on the next caution. Eddie battled West Series driver David Mayhew for several laps before giving up the lead on lap 18, then pitting for gas, then tires on lap 30. The #71 restarted in the 27th position but began marching back to the front.

Eddie charged from 19th on a lap 46 restart with a three-wide pass and into eighth and into fifth at the halfway mark but couldn’t find a groove saying, “I was searching but I couldn’t find a great line. I moved up a little on the track and that got me a little free and the car felt super.”

Running in fifth on a lap 81 restart with darkness beginning to be an issue, Eddie made the move of the race with an incredible three-wide pass through turns three and four to move into the second spot to set up a pass for the lead on lap 92. Another caution on lap 92 forced officials to try one green white checker finish on a lap 97 restart due to darkness and ending on the 99th circuit. Eddie jumped out to the front and held off Brent Moffitt and Ryan Truex for the win. When the day started Truex held a fifty point lead in the championship battle but with the win and bonus points the lead now stands at thirty with the final race of the season this Friday at Dover.

Eddie was thrilled with the win saying, “ I can’t thank Rollie and the crew for the work they have done throughout the season. As I said, Rollie has this place figured out and winning the pole and the race shows how good he is. The car was perfect. I knew I could drive the car three-wide and it would grip the track. It’s awesome to know you can do that. We moved up in the points and now we need to go to Dover and do the same thing and see what happens. All I can say is this was a lot of fun for everyone. NEMO has been a great sponsor and I know the Daymark people really enjoyed the race. Thanks to all the fans that have been so supportive.”

The win guarantees a spot in the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway in California in January pitting the top competitors from the East and West series.

With two of the teams goals achieved, the team set its sights on the first-ever ACT Invitational run at NHMS. Thirty-six teams were invited to compete in the 50-lap shootout that ran Saturday after the NASCAR Truck race. Eddie and Rollie’s #17 Late Model received the invitation after winning the prestigious Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway earlier this season.

With NEMO, New England Mechanical Overlay from Pembroke, N.H. as the main sponsor, Eddie started from the 19th position and charged into the third spot by the first caution of the race on lap 31 using his patented tree-wide move. After taking the lead on lap 35, Eddie battled youngster Brandon Watson, swapping the lead a couple of times before taking it for good on lap 45 to take the checkers.

Eddie said of the victory, “This is really special to win the first one here. These guys raced hard and clean and it was a lot of fun. I knew there would be some serious competition but I didn’t expect it to be Watson and Sweet. They put on a great show. That is why this series is so much fun, you never know who is going to run good. My thanks go to Tom Curley and NHMS for giving us this opportunity to race here. There was a big crowd still in the stands after the Truck race and I hope they really enjoyed the show. This hopefully will be the first of many ACT races here and it feels great to win the first one.”

After three days of winning, emotions ran high in the pits for the team. NEMO sponsor Ron Bennett said of the two wins, “I really don’t know what to make of it, it is absolutely unbelievable. I am so happy for Eddie, his family, and the crew, they all work hard and deserve the win. I am just happy to be part of it. When I first got involved with the team it was simply to help out a friend but it turned into something much more than that.”

When asked which win Bennett thought was more impressive he quickly stated,
“Next week at Dover!”

Team owner Rob Grimm said of the wins, “It is just amazing what these guys can do. Winning like this never gets old.”

Crew chief Rollie LaChance said, ”Any win at Loudon is absolutely huge. I don’t care what it’s in. In the Northeast, this is the place. So to win any show here is huge. To win two of these shows like this is, I don’t know. I don’t know what to think of it. To accomplish our goals in what we set up to do in the Camping World car, that was big. The gain on Truex, we would have liked to gain more, but it gives us a shot at Dover. That’s what I wanted out of the weekend. I wanted a shot at Dover. We’ll do our best. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. So be it.”

The onetime little team from the Northeast isn’t so little anymore. With three Camping World Series East wins at The Magic Mile in the last four races and the ACT Invitational victory, the team is turning even the NASCAR Cup heads in the NHMS garage. The team has a brand new car ready to go for the final race of the season at Dover. It will carry a distinctive new look so look for the familiar #71 up front and racing for the lead.



			Photos by Chris Roy
			Photos by Jamie Williams

NASCAR CWEast Racing Report

NASCAR Lap by Lap

EDDIE ON THE POLE AT NHMS!

NASCAR RELEASE - LOUDON, N.H. – A two-time winner at New Hampshire Motor Speedway a year ago, Eddie MacDonald earned his second career NASCAR Camping World Series East Coors Light Pole Award in advance of Friday’s Heluva Good! Fall 125.

MacDonald, from nearby Rowley, Mass., laid down a fast lap of 29.972 seconds (127.079 mph) in Thursday’s qualifying session to capture his second pole of the 2009 season. MacDonald won both New Hampshire races in 2008 and enters tomorrow’s race trailing championship points leader Ryan Truex by just 50 points. Truex will start ninth.

Joe Gibbs Racing development driver Max Gresham was second fastest in time trials with a lap of 30.052 seconds (126.740 mph) in his first appearance at the Loudon mile. He was followed in the top five by Brett Moffitt at 30.105 (126.517), Joey Polewarczyk at 30.230 (125.944) and Matt Kobyluck at 30.328 (125.587).

The rest of the top 10 qualifiers included Kevin Swindell, David Mayhew, Ty Dillon, Truex and Jonathan Smith.

MACDONALD CONFIDENT FOR SUCCESS AT NHMS

Eddie MacDonald will try to defend his NASCAR Camping World East Series title at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this Friday while hoping to taste victory in the first-ever Act Invitational race at the track on Saturday. MacDonald piloted the Grimm Construction Chevy to both wins last year at NHMS and qualified for the ACT Invitational after winning the famed Banknorth 250 at Oxford Plains Speedway this season.

The team is currently in second place in the East Series race with two races remaining on the schedule but MacDonald feels solid runs are the only things on his mind saying, “We are not counting spots where we have to finish or Truex has to run. We are going there to try to win. All we can do is run the best we can and see what happens. We know we can contend for the win on Friday. We had a chance to win the June race but it didn’t happen.”

MacDonald started on the outside pole in the June race at Loudon but slipped back to finish sixth saying, “The car was really fast, just like it was last year. We could’ve finished better in the June race there this year but our pit strategy was a little off. We are confident for the upcoming race because we have the same car, same set-up and we can make any adjustments needed and hope for the best. Rollie and the crew have really given me fast cars this year. Our Adirondack finish didn’t really show how fast the car was and that was our worst finish in a while. The last four or five races, the cars have really been fast and I expect the same at Loudon.”

The team has been well-supported by its sponsors with MacDonald saying, “Things have been great for us this year with Rob Grimm as the owner and with sponsors like A&B Vending, HMS Motorsports of Danvers, R.B. Fries, Waymart Building Center, Hanover Place, and NEMO. We have a new sponsor that I am very excited to have with us. Daymark Solutions from Littleton, Mass. has never sponsored a NASCAR team before so we are really pleased to have them aboard and hope to give them something to remember with a win.”

New England Mechanical Overlay, NEMO, in Pembroke, N.H. has been a consistent sponsor for the #71 race team and MacDonald appreciates everything saying, “NEMO has been our tremendous supporter and their logo will be on the hood of the East car and on the hood and rear quarter panel on the Late Model for the ACT race. Becky and Ron Bennett have been there for us for years and continue to do anything we ask of them. It is people like this that allow us to compete at such a high level. Besides being sponsors, they are great friends.”

The team is very excited to compete in the first-ever ACT race at NHMS and MacDonald says of the event, “I am really looking forward to this race. These ACT guys are a lot of fun to race with. It is a totally different driving style around the track. We had a great day of testing a few weeks ago and just as we thought, you can drive in the corners a lot deeper and get on it a lot sooner coming out of the turns. Even though the tires are not as wide at the East tires, they held up pretty good. There is some good competition and any one of a handful of guys could win it.”

Preparing the two cars for Loudon and the Dover car, MacDonald knows the crew has been working overtime and appreciates the effort saying, “ I couldn’t count the numbers of hours Rollie and the guys have put in at the shop but I know it is a huge amount. Here they are, a volunteer crew, and they put in so much time, I can never thank them enough. I know one way to thank them and that would be to win both races, one each day. It would sure make all their hard work pay off.”

DAYMARK SOLUTIONS, INC
to SPONSOR MACDONALD at NHMS

Grimm Racing is pleased to announce the addition of Daymark Solutions, Inc to its team as a sponsor for the Heluva Good! 125 Camping World Series East race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Friday, September 18 as part of the Sprint Cup weekend.

Eddie MacDonald, driver of the #71 Grimm Construction Chevy, is very appreciative Daymark will be on board saying, “I can’t thank Daymark enough for extending themselves to help out our team. As a small independent team we rely on so many people to help and I think it is great a company of this stature has decided to sponsor us for the race. I know a number of people from Daymark will be joining us for the race and I am really looking forward to add them to our cheering section. It means a lot to everyone on the team to know that we have the company and its workers behind us. A win for us will be really sweet.”

The team is currently in second place in the points race for the championship and MacDonald believes a strong showing at Loudon will close the gap before the final race at Dover saying, “At this stage of the season we are down to the wire. We have had our success at Loudon last year and we are hoping to post another win there so we have a shot at the title. It should be a great race for Daymark and its employee family to be part of, so we are really excited and determined to put on a good show. Rollie and the crew have worked hard all season long so we can be in this position to win it all.”

Daymark Solutions, Inc. headquartered in Littleton, Mass, is an experienced technology solutions provider focused on architecting, providing and implementing effective server, storage and backup/recovery solutions for businesses in the Northeastern United States. Clients include major financial institutions, biotechnology firms, service organizations, healthcare organizations and providers, hospitals, manufacturers and defense contractors. For more information about the company, please contact the website at www.daymarksi.com.

Practice for the race will take place on Thursday September 17 beginning at 11:30 a.m. with qualifying scheduled for 3:10 p.m. For more information contact the website www.grimmracing.com

This is Eddie’s ninth year in the Camping World Series East despite being only 29 years old. Eddie began his career as a high school teenager racing at his family owned track, Lee USA Speedway in Lee, N.H. about forty miles from his Rowley, Mass. home. After experiencing success at every level at Lee, Eddie joined what was then called the Busch North Series. The series has evolved into today’s NASCAR Developmental series that has fielded drivers from Joe Gibbs Racing, Dale Earnhardt Inc. among other Sprint Cup teams. Drivers Martin Truex and Joey Logano were former competitors in the series.

Things fall into place at times and one of the major elements of a successful racing program occurred when Rollie LaChance from New Gloucester, Maine agreed to come aboard as Eddie’s crew chief four years ago. As they say, “ good things come to those who wait.” Rollie brought eighteen years experience in the Busch East series with 16 wins when he served as crew chief for eleven years in the series. Eddie and Rollie hit it off immediately and started posting wins and top five finishes while on an austere budget that shook the heads of the well-heeled teams they were competing against. As co-owners of a struggling team, Eddie and Rollie decided to sell one of their cars to buy a spec engine used in the series and that is where the partnership with Rob Grimm began.

Grimm Racing, from Waymart, Pa. had long been a sponsor of racing in that region, when Rob decided to buy a racecar for the Camping East Series and purchased the car Eddie and Rollie had for sale. The deal was struck and after much deliberation, Rob decided to keep Eddie in the car, with Rollie as the crew chief. Since that time, Grimm Racing, just two short years ago, has posted three wins, multiple top five and ten finishes and in title contention this year. Perhaps the most impressive of the wins occurred at New Hampshire Motor Speedway last season when the little unknown team from the Northeast captured both wins at the famed speedway.

Eddie says of the wins, “When Rollie and I hooked up we knew we could race together and have fun. He had a lot of success in the series and that a number of great drivers. His goal and mine was to win at Loudon and to win the Oxford 250 because that is in his back yard. As is turns out, we won both races at Loudon and this year we won the 250. The Oxford 250 has long been known as the richest short track race in the country for Late Model cars and to win that race has always been a dream. There are only two things we have left to do this year and one is to win another Loudon race and to win the championship. Of course, winning Dover will be pretty special also.”

Rollie and Eddie have been together for four years and their success has been chronicled with wins and top five and ten finishes. However, the small under-funded team, as it was once called, received the boost it needed when Rob Grimm came aboard. Since that merger, the team has posted three wins including three top five finishes this year. When the Grimm racing team takes the green flag in the Heluva Good! 125 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Daymark Solutions will proudly be displayed on the car.