MacDonald Motorsports

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MacDonald Motorsports
Owner(s) Name(s) Randy MacDonald, Pat MacDonald
Racing Series Nationwide Series
Number of Championships 0
Car Number(s) #81
Driver(s) D. J. Kennington
Primary Sponsor(s) Mahinda Tractors/MC2 Energy Drink
Shop Location Thomasville, North Carolina
Homepage MacDonald Motorsports

MacDonald Motorsports is a NASCAR team. It currently fields the #81 Dodge Charger driven by D. J. Kennington in the Nationwide Series. MacDonald Motorsports previously fielded entries in the Craftsman Truck Series.

[edit] Craftsman Truck Series

MacDonald made its NASCAR debut in 2000 at Daytona International Speedway. Randy MacDonald drove the #72 3M Chevrolet Silverado to a sixth place finish. MacDonald drove the truck full-time for the rest of the season and finished nineteenth in points. MacDonald’s bid for the championship the next season ended early when he suffered a neck injury in a wreck at Daytona. Rob Morgan took over for the next race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he finished 27th, before Steve Portenga, Jerry Hill, and Jimmy Hensley finished out the year in the truck, which finished 18th in owner’s points. Throughout the season, the team also got sponsorship from the Left Behind book series as well.

Randy MacDonald returned to the driver’s seat of the 72 in 2002, where he had ten top-twenty fishes and finished nineteenth in points. He followed that up with a fifteenth place points finish in 2003. During the 2002 season, Teri MacDonald made two races for the team, one in the new #71 truck, and the other in the #72 while Randy raced for Troxell Racing. MacDonald made his final Truck race in 2004 at Daytona, where he finished 21st with Drill Doctor sponsorship. Jerry Hill and Teri MacDonald then took over for two races apiece in the 2004 season, where Macdonald, had a best finish of 25th at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway, and Hill a 26th at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The team soon stopped running the Truck Series following that season.

[edit] Nationwide Series

MacDonald’s Nationwide Series team made its debut in 2003 at the Koolerz 300. Randy MacDonald finished 22nd in the #72 Pontiac Grand Prix. He ran five more races that season, with the Koolerz 300 garnering his best result. In 2004, Larry Gunselman ran the first three races for MacDonald, finishing 22nd at Daytona, before Lance Hooper, MacDonald, Jason White, and Jamie Mosley began running select races. Kevin Lepage and Stan Boyd finished out the year for the team.

For 2005, Donnie Neuenberger began the year as driver at Daytona, where he finished 38th after suffering an engine failure, then Eric Norris and Ruben Garcia Novoa ran the next two races. Geoffrey Bodine was then announced as the team’s full-time driver, but left the team after the Federated Auto Parts 300. Wade Day, Lepage, and Dale Quarterly were among those who finished out the year for the team. At the end of the season, the team announced it was closing down and selling its equipment and shop, but that was soon retracted and the team continues to run.

D.J. Kennington ran eleven races for MacDonald in 2007, with a best finish of twenty-third at Dover. MacDonald will switch to Dodges and the #81 in 2008 and will attempt a full schedule, with Kennington running at least 20 races. During the races Kennington misses he will be racing in the Nascar Candian Tire Series.

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