LOUDON, N.H. — Eddie MacDonald reached victory lane for the first time in 16 NASCAR Camping World East Series starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Friday evening in the Heluva Good! Summer 125.
MacDonald and Trevor Bayne traded the lead several times down the stretch before the final caution came on lap 122. On the restart, MacDonald got the jump on Bayne to pull away for the win by half a second.
“This is just awesome,” MacDonald said. “The one goal we had this year was to win Loudon, and we got it.”
The victory for MacDonald was the fourth of his NASCAR Camping World East Series career. His most recent victory came June 18, 2007 at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway.
“We’ve led a lot of laps here,” MacDonald said, “but never seemed to be able to finish it off.”
Bayne, a rookie, wound up as the runner-up, followed by Matt Kobyluck. It was the best career finish for Bayne, who had been third twice. Kobyluck tied his best New Hampshire finish in his 25th start at the 1.058-mile oval.
Rookies Austin Dillon and Ricky Carmichael registered top-five finishes in their first race at New Hampshire.
The finish:
Showing driver, car, laps completed and money won: 1. Eddie MacDonald, Chevrolet, 127 laps, $13,900; 2. Trevor Bayne, Chevrolet, 127, $10,215; 3. Matt Kobyluck, Chevrolet, 127, $8,450; 4. Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 127, $7,400; 5. Ricky Carmichael, Chevrolet, 127, $6,500; 6. Marc Davis, Toyota, 127, $5,900; 7. Mike Olsen, Chevrolet, 127, $5,100; 8. John Salemi, Chevrolet, 127, $4,600; 9. Brad Leighton, Chevrolet, 127, $4,100; 10. Brian Ickler, Chevrolet, 127, $4,200; 11. Dustin Delaney, Chevrolet, 127, $3,550; 12. Jesus Hernandez, Chevrolet, 127, $4,000; 13. Jody Lavender, Chevrolet, 127, $3,900; 14. Mike Johnson, Ford, 127, $4,800; 15. Jeff Anton, Chevrolet, 127, $3,200; 16. Max Dumarey, Chevrolet, 127, $3,068; 17. Jonathan Smith, Chevrolet, 127, $3,000; 18. Charles Lewandoski, Toyota, 127, $2,950; 19. Jamie Hayes, Chevrolet, 127, $3,400; 20. Joe Masessa, Chevrolet, 127, $2,850; 21. Alan Tardiff, Chevrolet, 127, $2,800; 22. Craig Goess, Toyota, 127, $2,750; 23. Bryon Chew, Chevrolet, 127, $3,200; 24. Derek Thorn, Ford, 126, $2,675; 25. Chase Mattioli, Ford, 125, $2,650; 26. Antonio Perez, Dodge, 120, $2,625; 27. Scott Bouley, Chevrolet, 120, $2,600; 28. Steve Park, Chevrolet, 118, $3,100; 29. Peyton Sellers, Chevrolet, 118, $3,100; 30. Ryan Duff, Chevrolet, 108, $2,600; 31. Patrick Dupree, Dodge, 108, $2,600; 32. Rogelio Lopez, Chevrolet, 102, $3,100; 33. Todd Peck, Chevrolet, 81, $2,600; 34. Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 34, $3,100; 35. Bobby Hamilton, Jr., Dodge, 23, $2,600; 36. James Pritchard, Dodge, 0, $2,600.