Blaney Extends 2009 Lead With Overheating Car at Daytona

Dave Blaney picked up the 9th last-place finish of his career in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at the Daytona International Speedway when his unsponsored #66 Prism Motorsports Toyota fell out with overheating problems on lap 2 of the 160-lap race.

Qualifying was rained-out for the second straight NASCAR Sprint Cup race, allowing Blaney to secure the 40th starting spot. The #64 team of Gunselman Motorsports and the #13 team of Germain Racing were also on the entry list for Daytona, but both attempted fewer races than Blaney in 2009 and wound up as the two teams that failed to qualify. Still, Blaney was unable to secure a sponsor for the Daytona event and, just two laps in, he pulled behind the wall with overheating problems.

It is the first time the #66 had finished last at Daytona since Harry Gant fell out with an engine failure after completing just one lap of the 1978 Daytona 500.

The finish was the fourth for Blaney, team, and the number 66 in 2009, and the first for each since Blaney’s crash early in May's Crown Royal presents the Russ Friedman 400 at the Richmond International Raceway. Blaney tied P.J. Jones in last month’s Toyota / Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway for the fewest laps completed of any last-place finisher in 2009 and joined Mike Bliss in the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta as the only two drivers to finish last because of overheating problems.

Blaney moved past Ricky Craven and Kyle Petty and now stands alone with the fourth-most last-place finishes since 1998. Blaney sits 12th-ranked on the all-time list. Only three times since 1972 has a single driver scored more than four last-place finishes in a single NASCAR Sprint Cup season. By scoring their fourth, both Blaney and Prism Motorsports might make history in 2009. With 18 races to go, Derrike Cope’s driver record of six last-place finishes in 2006 and Means Racing’s team record of nine finishes in 1992 may both fall at season’s end.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #66-Dave Blaney / 2 laps / overheating
42) #36-Patrick Carpentier / 18 laps / engine
41) #87-Joe Nemechek / 25 laps / transmission
40) #71-David Gilliland / 76 laps / accident
39) #88-Dale Earnhardt, Jr. / 76 laps / accident

2009 RANKINGS
1st) Dave Blaney (4)
2nd) Mike Bliss, Patrick Carpentier, David Gilliland, Tony Raines (2)
3rd) Todd Bodine, P.J. Jones, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Mark Martin, Joe Nemechek (1)

Carpentier Crashes Out At New Hampshire

Patrick Carpentier picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his career in Sunday’s rain-shortened Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #36 Tommy Baldwin Racing Toyota was involved in a single-car wreck on lap 14 of the 273-lap race.

Carpentier, the defending polesitter of the New Hampshire event, was making his return to the #36 for the first time since his last-place finish in the Pocono 500 three weeks before. On Friday, a track bar problem prevented him from competing in most of the opening practice session. Still, when rain washed out qualifying, Carpentier secured the 41st starting spot. Carpentier was hanging tough in Sunday’s race when, on lap 14, his brakes locked entering turn three, bouncing him off the outside wall and bringing out the first caution of the race. Carpentier was uninjured and, while the contact was not too severe, the #36 did not return to the track.

Carpentier is the fourth driver to finish last in a 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup point race because of a crash, the last being Dave Blaney’s early wreck in the Crown Royal Presents the Russ Friedman 400 at Richmond last month. With the second last-place finish for driver, number, and team in 2009, Carpentier now makes it a four-way tie for 2nd in the 2009 last-place standings behind overall leader Dave Blaney.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #36-Patrick Carpentier / 14 laps / crash
42) #66-Dave Blaney / 29 laps / overheating
41) #37-Tony Raines / 30 laps / electrical
40) #71-David Gilliland / 48 laps / electrical
39) #87-Joe Nemechek / 67 laps / transmission

2009 RANKINGS
1st) Dave Blaney (3)
2nd) Mike Bliss, Patrick Carpentier, David Gilliland, Tony Raines (2)
3rd) Todd Bodine, P.J. Jones, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Mark Martin, Joe Nemechek (1)

P.J. Loses Power Steering at Sonoma

P.J. Jones picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his career in Sunday’s Toyota / Save Mart 350 at the Infineon Raceway when his #04 Jim Beam / Menard’s Toyota fell out with power steering problems after completing 2 of the race’s 113 laps.

Jones, a NASCAR Sprint Cup “road ringer” with 26 series starts coming into Sunday’s race, has worked closely with owner-driver Robby Gordon as a relief driver. Jones wasn’t tabbed as a “road ringer” for any of the other Sprint Cup teams coming into Sonoma, so Gordon fielded a second Toyota for Jones on Thursday. This made Jones a “post-entry,” that is, even if he qualified, Jones would not score any points in Sunday’s race because the entry was filed after the deadline had lapsed.

A wild qualifying session on Friday saw full-time rookie Scott Speed slide off course in Turn 10 and fellow road racer Brian Simo blow the engine during their qualifying laps. This made Jones’ lap of 91.425 mph good enough to beat five “go-or-go-home” drivers, including Speed and Simo, granting Jones the 37th starting spot. When the green flag waved on Sunday, Jones made an unscheduled stop right after completing the first lap. After some repairs, Jones returned to the track, only to slow in the Esses and go behind the wall, having lost his power steering. 2009 last-place finish leader Dave Blaney went behind the wall on the same lap, but the lap Jones lost put him one lap behind Blaney and, thus, became the last-place finisher.

It was the first last-place finish for Jones in almost five years, dating back to his first-ever last-place finish driving for Don Arnold in the 2004 Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono. In terms of laps completed, Jones has completed the fewest laps of any driver in any points race this season, besting Todd Bodine’s three laps completed in this spring’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville. (That finish, however, is still the season record holder for fewest miles completed).

The race also marked the third time that the #04 has finished last in the 21 NASCAR Sprint Cup races held at the Infineon Raceway. The previous two last-place finishes occurred with ageless veteran Hershel McGriff behind the wheel in the 1990 and 1993 runnings. Jones and McGriff share a few other historical coincidences as a result of Sunday’s race. The 1993 event was McGriff’s final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start and, until now, that race was also the last time the #04 had qualified for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race in Sonoma. This same weekend when Jones got the #04 back into the show, McGriff attempted his return to NASCAR competition by trying to qualify for the Bennett Lane Winery 200, a NASCAR Camping World West Series race, also held at Infineon.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #04-P.J. Jones / 2 laps / power steering
42) #66-Dave Blaney / 3 laps / rear end
41) #02-Brandon Ash / 94 laps / crash
40) #43-Reed Sorenson / 99 laps / running
39) #12-David Stremme / 101 laps / overheating

2009 RANKINGS
1st) Dave Blaney (3)
2nd) Mike Bliss, David Gilliland, Tony Raines (2)
3rd) Todd Bodine, Patrick Carpentier, P.J. Jones, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Mark Martin, Joe Nemechek (1)