Engine Woes Can't Stop theGPSstore.com / Garmin Chevrolet

Chad McCumbee and the No. 08 theGPSstore.com / Garmin Chevrolet at Charlotte. (VPS Motorimages Photo)

Chad McCumbee and the No. 08 theGPSstore.com / Garmin Chevrolet headed to Lowe's Motor Speedway hoping to bring home a top-five finish in the most recent NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event. Engine problems at the beginning of the weekend would instead force the team to have to settle for a solid 18th place finish.

"It wasn't the finish that we were looking for, but we will take a solid top-20 any day," said McCumbee. "We had a lot of expectations going into Charlotte but unfortunately there was a little bit of bad luck waiting for us there.

"We had some issues that started pretty early in practice. We blew an engine during the first part of the day on Friday. It must have been a bad batch of parts, because my teammate lost an engine as well, and normally our engines are pretty stout. That set us back for the whole weekend. We only had three or so laps of practice before we had to get ready to qualify."

Despite the issues that started early for the team, McCumbee was able to qualify the truck in the 21st starting position and he and theGPSstore.com / Garmin Chevrolet team were able to rally back and bring home the truck in the 18th spot.

"An 18th place finish is a good solid points day for us," added McCumbee. "We can be pleased with the finish and it keeps us hanging around the top-20 in points. I wanted a lot more just because it was a big local race for us; It was something that I had put a lot of focus on to be one of the best races of the year for us. But 18th isn't a bad finish considering everything that happened to us this weekend and we can take what we learned and put it toward our next races."

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series continue their season this Saturday May 26th, 2007 at Mansfield Motorsport Park.