PORTLAND – Even with his back turned to it, Eddie MacDonald’s brief history in the TD Banknorth 250 still taunted him.

The bright yellow pace car wasn’t brought to Monday’s news conference to hype this Sunday’s race specifically to remind the veteran “outlaw” driver what happened in his very first 250 last year. But there it sat outside the Holiday Inn West in Portland, as MacDonald spoke to the assembled media, a little too close for comfort.

Just like a year ago.

The Rowley, Mass. driver was on his eighth lap leading last year’s 250 when he took his No. 17 Chevy in for a pit stop while under caution. Race officials held the car for a one-lap penalty, claiming he had passed the pace car on pit road while driving to his pit. MacDonald argued the pace car was on the track at the time, but nonetheless, he had to restart in the back. Moments later, he lost another lap when he was taken out by a car behind him.

“It’s too bad,” MacDonald said. “We had a fast car last year. We just weren’t able to do anything with it getting a couple of laps down.”

The day wasn’t a total disaster for MacDonald. He won his qualifying heat to earn the No. 4 starting position and, often riding the fabled third groove on the oval, he rallied in the final 100 laps of the 250 to finish 23rd. His strong, albeit luckless showing last year is one of the reasons that he was the second-most frequent selection among his fellow drivers to win this year’s race, trailing only OPS Late Model leader Ricky Rolfe.

MacDonald made his return to Oxford three weeks later a memorable one, passing 250 champion Roger Brown then holding off a late charge from Rolfe to win an American-Canadian Tour race. That made him the first driver to win an ACT race and a NASCAR Camping World Series East event in the same season since Robbie Crouch accomplished the feat in 1992.

He continues to have success on both ACT’s late model tour and in his NASCAR events. He finished second in the last ACT stop at OPS, the Dunkin’ Donuts 150, then, just a week later, won at Loudon for the first time in 16 career starts there at the NASCAR Camping World Series East race.

“The one goal we had this year was to win at Loudon, and we got it,” said MacDonald, who picked up the fourth checkered flag of his Camping World Series East career.

MacDonald will be on the go this weekend, competing in the NASCAR Camping World Series East in Nashville on Saturday night before hustling up to Maine in time for the TD Banknorth 250 qualifying heats early Sunday afternoon.

“We’re going to get in the car after the race and drive to Kentucky to catch a plane to get back to Portland,” he said. “It’s going to be a little tight, but hopefully, we’ll make it.”

Accompanying MacDonald will be his all-volunteer crew, led by his crew chief, New Gloucester’s Rollie Lachance.

“I’m just real lucky to have him,” MacDonald said. “We’ve had him, I think this is the fourth year we’re going on now, and it’s been great since we started. It was a huge turning point in my program and I’m just fortunate to have him and his whole family involved in it.”