St. Louis, Mo (July 17, 2010)—Being a “go or go home” team heading into the event at Gateway International Raceway was not what Eric McClure wanted as he had suffered accidents in two of his past three qualifying attempts at the raceway.  Nevertheless, after solidly qualifying for their first two races as a non-guaranteed starter, the TRM team was confident they could post a lap fast enough to guarantee a starting position.  Despite some anxious moments after the 31-year-old driver made his qualifying attempt, and having to wait until the end of the session, the Hefty® Racing™ team was one of 43 starters in Saturday’s Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250.

In spite of taking the green flag from the 43^rd position, the Hefty® Odor Block® Ford quickly advanced to the 34^th position and was running in the 32^nd position, one lap down to the race leader, when the first caution flag waved on lap 44.  Struggling with the car’s handling, McClure brought his Fusion to pit road to receive four “scuff” tires with an air-pressure adjustment, fuel, and wedge and track-bar adjustments.  After the pit stop was complete, Team Rensi Motorsports was scored in the 30^th position when the field took the green on the lap 51 restart.

As the race progressed under green conditions, the Virginia driver continued to lose valuable time to the race leader as he battled the car’s handling as its characteristics changed from “tight on entry” to “loose throughout the turns.”   While running in the 27^th position, the Hefty® Ford came to pit road on lap 125, under green conditions, to receive wedge and track-bar adjustments, four “scuffed” tires and fuel.  Returning to the track two laps later in the 30^th position, McClure maintained his spot although the car’s handling never improved.  Following the event’s third caution on lap 142, McClure began to feel the effects of the heat as he became extremely dehydrated.  Receiving water and ice packs on several occasions in the closing 50 laps, he was able to finish the 200-lap event in the 26^th position.  As a result, TRM advanced one position to 31^st in NASCAR Owner Standings.

Up next for the Hefty® Racing™ team is the Kroger 200 under the lights at O’Reilly Raceway Park on July 24, 2010.  Eric McClure will be featured as the Nationwide Insurance Driver of the Week.

“We really struggled with the car’s handling tonight, but we are thankful we made the race which is huge for our team.  We just ran some two-lap runs in practice so the car went away pretty quick in race conditions.  I am not sure what happened to me there at the end; I guess I was dehydrated and I’m not sure I did us any favors during that time.  Having our third daughter early Sunday morning last week made my week heading in to this race extremely busy so I probably didn’t hydrate myself well enough and now I am feeling the effects but we finished.  Chris Wright, our crew chief, lost his father-in-law today and we know that family’s hurting right now so it’s safe to say our hearts were elsewhere tonight.”