LASTCAR

UPDATE: On Hiatus

2011-11-24T22:03:00.000-08:00

Due to my studying for the February 2012 California BAR Exam, there will be no more new articles here until early March (time and circumstances permitting). Hopefully, I will have an update for you all by then.

My apologies for the inconvenience.

Thank you for your support and have a wonderful holiday season.

--Brock, LASTCAR

CUP: McDowell Claims First LASTCAR Cup Driver’s Title With A 43rd At Homestead

2011-11-20T23:00:00.000-08:00

SOURCE: SPEED

Michael McDowell picked up the 14th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s Ford 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway when his unsponsored #66 HP Racing LLC Toyota fell out with driveshaft problems after completing 13 of the race’s 267 laps.

The finish was McDowell’s series-leading seventh of 2011 and his first since Chicago, nine races ago. By picking up the finish, McDowell also picked up his first-ever LASTCAR Sprint Cup Driver’s Championship, edging fellow Arizona native J.J. Yeley. Yeley, driver of the Front Row Motorsports #55 which clinched the 2011 LASTCAR Owner’s Title last Sunday, finished 41st, twelve laps behind McDowell.

McDowell and Yeley qualified 33rd and 30th, respectively, with McDowell turning in an average speed of 171.059 mph. In Saturday’s final practice, his #66 had turned in the 13th-fastest time, second among the weekend’s “go-or-go-homers” behind Red Bull Racing’s Cole Whitt, who was third.

At the start of Sunday’s race, it first appeared that Kurt Busch would pick up his first last-place finish since scoring the second of his two Homestead 43rd-place runs in 2008. A sudden transmission failure on Lap 2 forced Busch behind the wall for several laps. A last-place finish by Busch - or any driver other than Yeley - would secure McDowell the LASTCAR title by virtue of his tiebreaking 26 bottom-five finishes to Yeley’s 21.

Eleven laps later, with rain in the area, McDowell pulled behind the wall, followed under an ensuing caution flag by David Stremme in Inception Motorsports’ #30. J.J. Yeley, still on track when rain brought out that yellow on Lap 14, was told over radio communications to stay out and help teammate Travis Kvapil in the 38 lock up a spot in the Top 35. Soon after the Lap 22 restart, Yeley pulled out of the race, but twelve laps too short to take 42nd from McDowell.

When Kurt Busch returned to the track around Lap 64, McDowell was shuffled down to 43rd, breaking his tie with Yeley.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was McDowell’s second last-place finish in a Cup race at Homestead. The other time was in the 2009 Ford 400, back when he was driving Tommy Baldwin’s #36 Wave Energy Drink Toyota. McDowell left that race after 16 laps with engine woes.
*This is the #66 team’s second consecutive last-place finish in a Cup race at Homestead. Last year, when the Phil Parsons team was called PRISM Motorsports and Mike Bliss was driving, the unsponsored car fell out after 10 laps with electrical problems.

Baxter Price's #45 Buick, 1981
SOURCE: Historical Stock Car Racing Forum

*A Cup driver had not finished last due to a driveshaft problem since February 22, 1981, when owner-driver Baxter Price’s #45 McWhirter Grating Buick fell out after 16 laps of the Richmond 400 at Richmond.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #66-Michael McDowell / 13 laps / driveshaft
42) #30-David Stremme / 14 laps / ignition
41) #55-J.J. Yeley / 25 laps / vibration
40) #87-Joe Nemechek / 29 laps / vibration / led 3 laps
39) #9-Marcos Ambrose / 72 laps / engine

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL STANDINGS
The last time a LASTCAR Cup Driver’s title was settled in the final race of the year was in 1989 when none other than McDowell’s team owner, Phil Parsons, scored the final last-place finish of the year at Atlanta, breaking a tie with Butch Miller. Parsons ended the year with four last-place finishes to Miller’s three. The last time a LASTCAR Cup Driver’s title was settled by a tiebreaker was in 2008, when Joe Nemechek and A.J. Allmendinger’s tie of three finishes apiece was decided by Nemechek’s nine bottom-fives to Allmendinger’s six.
1st) Michael McDowell (7)
2nd) J.J. Yeley (6)
3rd) Mike Skinner (5)
4th) Kevin Conway, Joe Nemechek (4)
5th) Travis Kvapil (3)
6th) Robby Gordon (2)
7th) Dave Blaney, Landon Cassill, Jeff Green, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs, Scott Speed (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL STANDINGS
1st) #55-Front Row Motorsports (8)
2nd) #66-HP Racing LLC (7)
3rd) #60-Germain Racing (6)
4th) #87-NEMCO Motorsports (4)
5th) #46-Whitney Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
6th) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports (2)
7th) #37-MaxQ Motorsports, #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL STANDINGS
1st) Toyota (19)
2nd) Ford (10)
3rd) Chevrolet (4)
4th) Dodge (3)

N’WIDE: Shepherd’s Rough Week Ends With His First 43rd Since 2008

2011-11-20T22:55:00.000-08:00

SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin' Forums

Morgan Shepherd picked up the 12th last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s Ford 300 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway when his #89 Victory In Jesus Chevrolet fell out with engine trouble after completing 1 of the race’s 200 laps.

The finish came at the end of a very difficult week for Shepherd and his Faith Motorsports team. Last Sunday at Phoenix, while running in the Top 20 in the closing stages, he was involved in a grinding multi-car accident that destroyed the car he’d planned to bring to Homestead.

Uninjured in the crash, Shepherd, a NASCAR veteran with more than 41 years of experience, then received help from a surprising source. Tony Stewart, days before he would claim his third Sprint Cup Championship, paid for Shepherd’s tires, allowing the #89 to make a run in the finale. In qualifying, Shepherd made the show based on his rank in Owner Points, timing in 39th at a speed of 158.753. Among the six drivers to miss the race were 2011 LASTCAR Nationwide Driver’s Champion Jeff Green, who thus missed out on an opportunity to tie Jeff Fuller’s record-setting mark of 11 finishes in the 2004 season.

At the start of Sunday’s race, Shepherd’s luck proved no better. Early in the event, Shepherd made an unscheduled pit stop where the crew looked under his hood. Citing engine failure, the #89 team exited the race.

Shepherd and the other occupants of the Bottom Five became the focus of Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., who needed just a 37th-place finish to claim his first NASCAR Nationwide Series championship over Elliott Sadler. With five cars joining Shepherd in the garage by Lap 10, and all of them listed as “out” by Lap 30, Stenhouse clinched the title. He would go on to finish second in the race to Brad Keselowski.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Shepherd and the #89 had not finished last in a Nationwide Series race since 2008, when his Victory In Jesus Racing Dodge fell out with ignition failure without completing a single lap of the Meijer 300 at Kentucky. Brett Rowe, who drove a “start-and-park” #55 entry for Shepherd earlier this season, picked up three last-place finishes in 2011, most recently at Road America.
*Shepherd had never before finished last in a Nationwide race at Homestead.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #89-Morgan Shepherd / 1 lap / engine
42) #39-Fain Skinner / 2 laps / crash
41) #42-Scott Speed / 3 laps / overheating
40) #71-Matt Carter / 4 laps / vibration
39) #47-Josh Wise / 4 laps / electrical

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL STANDINGS
1st) Jeff Green (10)
2nd) Brett Rowe (3)
3rd) Kelly Bires, Johnny Chapman, Dennis Setzer (2)
4th) T.J. Bell, Matt Carter, Kevin Conway, Marc Davis, Matt Frahm, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Brian Keselowski, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Morgan Shepherd, Scott Speed, Scott Wimmer, J.J. Yeley (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL STANDINGS
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (10)
2nd) #47-Key Motorsports, #55-Faith Motorsports (3)
3rd) #25-Ed Rensi, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #49-Jay Robinson Racing (2)
4th) #0-JD Motorsports, #13-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #39-Go Green Racing, #41-Rick Ware Racing, #50-Mark Beaver, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports, #89-Faith Motorsports, #03-R3 Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL STANDINGS
1st) Chevrolet (26)
2nd) Ford (7)
3rd) Dodge (1)

TRUCKS: Chapman Inches Closer To Truck Series Record At Homestead

2011-11-20T22:51:00.000-08:00

SOURCE: TheHotLap.com

Johnny Chapman picked up the 10th last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Friday’s Ford 200 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway when his #07 Bobber.info / ASI Limited Toyota fell out with clutch failure after completing 1 of the race’s 119 laps.

The finish was Chapman’s first of 2011. His most recent finish came in the CampingWorld.com 200 at Gateway last summer, where his #72 TireMonkey.com / James Carter Attorney Chevrolet also left the race after the opening lap. For the #07 SS Green Light Racing Team, it was their second finish of 2011, joining a finish earned by Scott Riggs at Kansas, seventeen races ago.

In the LASTCAR standings, Chapman remains in sole possession of third in the Truck Series and sixth all-time. In the Truck Series, he stands just three finishes away from tying all-time series leader Wayne Edwards.

Chapman, who two weeks ago found himself in the middle of the controversial Kyle Busch / Ron Hornaday accident at Texas, made the show when qualifying was cancelled, forcing the lineup to be set by practice speeds. This gave him the 33rd spot in the 36-truck field, thus allowing the #07 team to make all 25 races of the 2011 season. It also gave team owner Ken Smith his 100th Truck Series start.

After the opening lap, moments before Jennifer Jo Cobb’s engine failure brought out the first caution of the night, Chapman was behind the wall.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Neither Chapman nor the #07 have ever finished last in a Truck Series race at Homestead.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #07-Johnny Chapman / 1 lap / clutch
35) #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb / 3 laps / engine
34) #38-Dennis Setzer / 4 laps / ignition
33) #74-Mike Harmon / 14 laps / overheating
32) #7-Miguel Paludo / 30 laps / engine

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL STANDINGS
1st) Mike Garvey (6)
2nd) Norm Benning, Chris Lafferty, Brent Raymer (2)
3rd) Johnny Borneman III, James Buescher, Johnny Chapman, Chris Jones, Mike Harmon, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Travis Kvapil, Johanna Long, Scott Riggs, Greg Seevers, Dennis Setzer, Brad Sweet, J.J. Yeley (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL STANDINGS
1st) #38-Shane Sieg (5)
2nd) #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #57-Norm Benning Racing, #75-Norm Benning Racing, #93-Shane Sieg, #07-SS Green Light Racing (2)
3rd) #5-Randy Moss, #20-Panhandle Motorsports, #27-Shane Sieg, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #65-Joey Sonntag, #66-Turn One Racing, #74-Mike Harmon, #87-Rick Jones, #89-Chris Lafferty (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL STANDINGS
1st) Chevrolet (19)
2nd) Toyota (4)
3rd) Ford (2)

CUP: Kvapil Locks Up LASTCAR Owner’s Title For #55 Team; Driver’s Title A Two-Man Showdown Between McDowell and Yeley

2011-11-14T01:46:00.000-08:00

SOURCE: SPEED

Travis Kvapil picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at the Phoenix International Raceway when his #55 Aloft Hotels Ford fell out with brake problems after completing 20 of the race’s 312 laps.

The finish was Kvapil’s third in 2011 and his first since Dover, six races ago.

For Phoenix, Kvapil again switched rides with Front Row Motorsports teammate J.J. Yeley and returned to “start-and-park” duty in the #55. He qualified 37th for Sunday’s race - sliding very close to the turn four wall in the process - at an average speed of 133.136 mph. Yeley timed in 40th in the fully-sponsored #38, which was painted by disabled veteran Scott Bates.

At the start of the race, it first appeared that Regan Smith would pick up the first last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career. On Lap 2, the Southern 500 winner was involved in a two-car crash with David Ragan, resulting in severe rear-end damage to both cars. Ragan returned to the track quicker than Smith, who spent more than 100 laps behind the wall.

Following the restart, the 42nd spot, held early on by Mike Skinner in the #37, was soon taken over by Kvapil, who pulled behind the wall on Lap 20. Skinner, who needed the finish to stay in contention for the LASTCAR Cup Driver’s Championship, did not pull out until five laps later. When Smith returned to the race around Lap 129, he needed only complete 17 laps to drop Kvapil to the 43rd spot. This Smith accomplished, and Kvapil picked up the finish.

Yeley came home 28th.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The last Cup driver to finish last at Phoenix due to brake failure was Tony Raines, who exited the 2009 Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix after 56 laps while driving Barry Haefele’s #73 Quality Concrete Dodge.
*This was the first Cup last-place finish at Phoenix for both the #55 and for Kvapil.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #55-Travis Kvapil / 20 laps / brakes
42) #37-Mike Skinner / 25 laps / brakes
41) #87-Joe Nemechek / 30 laps / brakes
40) #66-Michael McDowell / 46 laps / transmission
39) #46-Scott Speed / 60 laps / electrical

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Heading into the season finale at Homestead, the Driver’s Title is still up for grabs between Michael McDowell and J.J. Yeley, both still tied with a series-leading six last-place finishes in 2011. McDowell can claim the title even if Yeley does not finish last since McDowell has amassed 26 bottom-five finishes to Yeley’s 21, breaking the current tie. Yeley can only claim the title if he finishes last at Homestead. Mike Skinner is eliminated from competition as his lower number of bottom-five finishes will not win him the resulting three-way tie.
1st) Michael McDowell, J.J. Yeley (6)
2nd) Mike Skinner (5)
3rd) Kevin Conway, Joe Nemechek (4)
4th) Travis Kvapil (3)
5th) Robby Gordon (2)
6th) Dave Blaney, Landon Cassill, Jeff Green, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs, Scott Speed (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
With now a two-finish lead over the field with one race to go, the #55 Front Row Motorsports team has locked-up the 2011 LASTCAR Owner’s Championship. It’s a remarkable accomplishment since the #55 did not attempt a single race until Loudon in July while most other teams in the rankings - including McDowell’s #66 HP Racing LLC Team - have attempted every race this season.
1st) #55-Front Row Motorsports (8)
2nd) #60-Germain Racing, #66-HP Racing LLC (6)
3rd) #87-NEMCO Motorsports (4)
4th) #46-Whitney Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
5th) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports (2)
6th) #37-MaxQ Motorsports, #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Ford’s ten last-place finishes in 2011 are the most the manufacturer has scored in a single Cup Series season since 2004, when they picked up another 10 finishes. Ford did not finish last a single time in the 2010 season.
1st) Toyota (18)
2nd) Ford (10)
3rd) Chevrolet (4)
4th) Dodge (3)

N’WIDE: Lap One Crash Gives Frahm First Nationwide Last-Place Finish

2011-11-14T01:42:00.000-08:00

SOURCE: ESPN2

Matt Frahm picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s Wypall 200 at the Phoenix International Raceway when his #39 TSP Powder Coating Ford was involved in an eight-car wreck on the opening lap of the race and was unable to continue. The finish came in Frahm’s third series start.

The 21-year-old Frahm, a competitior from the K&N East Series, has made all three of his Nationwide Series starts this season. He made his debut with the Go Green #39 team at Loudon in July, where he came home 26th. Later that month, he improved to a 25th-place run in the finale at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis.

The #39 Go Green Racing Team, owned by Archie St. Hillaire, has made every race in the 2011 Nationwide Series season with multiple drivers. In all, ten other drivers have shared the ride with Frahm: Josh Wise, Danny Efland, Matt Carter, Luis Martinez, Jr., Joey Gase, Fain Skinner, Charles Lewandoski, Casey Roderick, Danny O’Quinn, Jr., and Will Kimmel. Among that group, Josh Wise’s 13th-place run at Road America in June remains the team’s best performance of the year. Up until Sunday, Go Green Racing team had yet to finish last in a race this season.

Frahm qualified the #39 in the 32nd spot at a speed of 129.037 mph. Joining Frahm in Row 16 was teammate Tim Andrews, driving Go Green’s “start-and-park” #04.

When the green flag flew on race day, Frahm and Andrews were jockeying for position when Danica Patrick and Brian Scott collided in front of him, triggering a multi-car accident. Frahm, unable to avoid the initial wreck, suffered damage to the right-front of his car and was struck again by Scott on the apron. This blocked the lower lane for several cars that rear-ended each other as they stopped, including Andrews in the #04 and 2011 LASTCAR Nationwide Champion Jeff Green.

In the end, Green returned to the race to finish 34th while Frahm and Andrews were two of the four cars that failed to continue after the crash. Andrews was at first credited with the 43rd spot, but Frahm claimed the position by virtue of his lower starting spot. The #04 team has now finished 42nd in four races this year and has yet to score a 43rd of its own in 2011.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The #39 had not finished last in a NASCAR Nationwide Series race since 2006, when Sam Hornish, Jr.’s Mobil 1 Dodge was involved in a single-car crash after 20 laps of the 2006 Ford 300 at Homestead. Curiously, it was Hornish who won Saturday’s race, picking up an emotional first-ever NASCAR victory in his sixth season of competition. He now enters Homestead five years after his 43rd-place run as the Nationwide series’ most recent winner.
*The #39 had never before finished last in a Nationwide race at Phoenix.
*Ford swept both Phoenix last-place finishes in Nationwide competition this season. Justin Marks, driving the unsponsored Baker Curb #27, finished last in February.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #39-Matt Frahm / 0 laps / crash
42) #04-Tim Andrews / 0 laps / crash
41) #11-Brian Scott / 0 laps / crash
40) #41-Johnny Chapman / 1 lap / crash
39) #71-Matt Carter / 2 laps / vibration

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Although Frahm’s finish prevented Jeff Green from breaking Jeff Fuller’s single-season record, he can still tie Fuller’s record with a 43rd-place run in next Saturday’s Homestead finale.
1st) Jeff Green (10)
2nd) Brett Rowe (3)
3rd) Kelly Bires, Johnny Chapman, Dennis Setzer (2)
4th) T.J. Bell, Matt Carter, Kevin Conway, Marc Davis, Matt Frahm, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Brian Keselowski, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Scott Speed, Scott Wimmer, J.J. Yeley (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (10)
2nd) #47-Key Motorsports, #55-Faith Motorsports (3)
3rd) #25-Ed Rensi, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #49-Jay Robinson Racing (2)
4th) #0-JD Motorsports, #13-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #39-Go Green Racing, #41-Rick Ware Racing, #50-Mark Beaver, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports, #03-R3 Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (25)
2nd) Ford (7)
3rd) Dodge (1)

CUP: Yeley Ties LASTCAR Cup Championship While McDowell Relieves Kyle Busch

2011-11-06T22:11:00.000-08:00

SOURCE: ESPN2

J.J. Yeley picked up the 8th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway when his #55 Ingersoll-Rand Ford fell out with fuel pressure issues after 10 of the race’s 334 laps.

With two races to go, the finish, Yeley’s sixth of 2011 and first since Kansas, four races ago, ties Michael McDowell for the lead in the 2011 LASTCAR Cup Driver’s Championship. Also, when combined with the efforts of teammates Travis Kvapil and Jeff Green, the #55 Front Row Motorsports Ford has now assumed a one-finish lead in the 2011 LASTCAR Cup Owner’s Championship over McDowell’s #66 HP Racing Team and the disbanded #60 Germain Racing entry.

Yeley qualified 27th at a speed of 191.069 mph, earning the #55 team its best starting spot of 2011. Though three teams failed to qualify, none of them were Yeley’s LASTCAR Championship contenders. Mike Skinner made his second-straight start for Larry Gunselman and started 38th, defending LASTCAR Cup Champion Joe Nemechek timed in 40th, and Michael McDowell put the #66 HP Racing entry in the 35th position.

However, on Saturday morning, NASCAR’s decision to park Kyle Busch for the weekend following a controversial wreck in the Truck Series gave McDowell the opportunity to run the entire race. McDowell, who had driven for Joe Gibbs’ Nationwide team in five races this season, was tabbed as Busch’s replacement for the Cup race. This put Josh Wise, recently released from Gunselman’s #37 team, back in the race as McDowell’s replacement in the #66.

Thus, when Sunday’s race began, McDowell was fighting his way through the pack in Busch’s #18 when Yeley pulled his #55 behind the wall. Nemechek and Skinner followed suit within the next nine circuits, followed by Wise and the #66 on Lap 23.

McDowell, who struggled with handling woes all afternoon long, fought his way to a 33rd place finish, three laps down to race winner Tony Stewart. As of this writing (late Sunday night), McDowell’s plans next Sunday for the Cup race at his home track at Phoenix are unknown.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Yeley has just one other Cup Series last-place finish at Texas - which, interestingly, came while driving Joe Gibbs’ #18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet - in 2007. That day, Yeley was involved in a multi-car crash with Casey Mears, Ricky Rudd, and David Ragan after the opening lap of the 2007 Samsung 500. It was also the first last-place finish of Yeley’s Cup career.
*The #55's most recent Cup Series last-place finish at Texas came in 2010, when the suspension on Dave Blaney’s #55 PRISM Motorsports Toyota failed after 20 laps of the 2010 Samsung Mobile 500.
*A Cup Series driver had not finished last due to “fuel pressure” issues since way back on July 26, 1964, when Darrell Bryant’s #36 Wade Younts-owned 1962 Dodge fell out after the opening lap of the Volunteer 500 at Bristol.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #55-J.J. Yeley / 10 laps / fuel pressure
42) #87-Joe Nemechek / 14 laps / clutch
41) #37-Mike Skinner / 19 laps / brakes
40) #66-Josh Wise / 23 laps / rear gear
39) #46-Scott Speed / 30 laps / rear gear

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Although two finishes out of the lead in the LASTCAR Cup Driver’s Championship, Joe Nemechek can still clinch his second-straight title with 43rd-place finishes at both Phoenix and Homestead. In the event of a tiebreaker with Nemechek last in those two races and both he, McDowell, and Yeley, scoring Bottom-Five Finishes in both races, Nemechek would claim the title with 32 bottom-fives to McDowell’s 27 and Yeley’s 23. Those two finishes would also give Nemechek the all-time LASTCAR record of 36 career NASCAR last-place runs.

Mike Skinner, currently with 16 bottom-fives, can also only claim the LASTCAR Cup Driver’s title with 43rds in these final two races. In short, McDowell, Yeley, Skinner, and Nemechek are all mathematically still in contention for the title, but Skinner and Nemechek will be eliminated from contention if they don’t finish 43rd next Sunday at Phoenix.
1st) Michael McDowell, J.J. Yeley (6)
2nd) Mike Skinner (5)
3rd) Kevin Conway, Joe Nemechek (4)
4th) Robby Gordon, Travis Kvapil (2)
5th) Dave Blaney, Landon Cassill, Jeff Green, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs, Scott Speed (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #55-Front Row Motorsports (7)
2nd) #60-Germain Racing, #66-HP Racing LLC (6)
3rd) #87-NEMCO Motorsports (4)
4th) #46-Whitney Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
5th) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports (2)
6th) #37-MaxQ Motorsports, #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (18)
2nd) Ford (9)
3rd) Chevrolet (4)
4th) Dodge (3)

N’WIDE: Speed Nips LASTCAR Nationwide Champion Jeff Green For First Last-Place Finish

2011-11-06T22:07:00.000-08:00

SOURCE: Brian Keselowski's Facebook Page

Scott Speed picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at the Texas Motor Speedway when his #47 Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet fell out with electrical problems after completing 3 of the race’s 200 laps. The finish came in Speed’s 16th series start.

Speed, who came home a season-best 6th at Montreal in August while driving for Kevin Harvick, entered the Texas race as the latest driver of the #47, the newest of Key Motorsports’ three “start-and-park” teams. It was Speed’s second start in as many races with the team, following a 41st-place run at Charlotte.

He qualified 35th for the race at a speed of 179.265 mph, good enough to beat five other “go-or-go-homers” who failed to qualify. Among the DNQs was defending LASTCAR Nationwide Series champion Dennis Setzer, whose Jay Robinson Racing #48 has been absent since Chicago in September.

Three laps into the race, and moments before Jamie Dick’s single-car spin, Speed’s was the first car behind the wall. Current LASTCAR Nationwide Champion Jeff Green followed suit three laps later under the ensuing caution.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Speed is the fifth first-time Nationwide Series last-placer in 2011, joining Kelly Bires (Daytona), Blake Koch (Dover), Marc Davis (Nashville), and T.J. Bell (Chicagoland).
*This was the first Nationwide Series last-place finish at Texas for the #47.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #47-Scott Speed / 3 laps / electrical
42) #44-Jeff Green / 6 laps / vibration
41) #50-T.J. Bell / 9 laps / electrical
40) #04-Tim Andrews / 11 laps / vibration
39) #46-Chase Miller / 13 laps / vibration

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
For 2011 LASTCAR Driver’s Champion Jeff Green to break Jeff Fuller’s all-time single-season LASTCAR record of 11 last-place finishes, he must finish last in both the season’s remaining races at Phoenix and Homestead.
1st) Jeff Green (10)
2nd) Brett Rowe (3)
3rd) Kelly Bires, Johnny Chapman, Dennis Setzer (2)
4th) T.J. Bell, Matt Carter, Kevin Conway, Marc Davis, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Brian Keselowski, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Scott Speed, Scott Wimmer, J.J. Yeley (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (10)
2nd) #47-Key Motorsports, #55-Faith Motorsports (3)
3rd) #25-Ed Rensi, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #49-Jay Robinson Racing (2)
4th) #0-JD Motorsports, #13-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #41-Rick Ware Racing, #50-Mark Beaver, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports, #03-R3 Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (25)
2nd) Ford (6)
3rd) Dodge (1)

TRUCKS: Garvey Ties Bonifield For Most Last-Place Finishes In A Single Truck Series Season

2011-11-06T22:05:00.000-08:00

SOURCE: TheHotLap.com

Mike Garvey picked up the 11th last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Friday’s WinStar World Casino 350k at the Texas Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #38 RSS Racing Chevrolet fell out with clutch issues after completing 5 of the race’s 148 laps.

The finish was Garvey’s sixth in 2011 and his second in as many races. This six-finish season ties that of 1999 LASTCAR Truck Series Champion Phil Bonifield for the most last-place runs in a single Truck Series season. Garvey can break this record with a last-place run in the Homestead finale in two weeks.

Garvey also ties Bonifield for the second-most last-place finishes in Truck Series history. Both trail all-time leader Wayne Edwards’ record of 13.

Garvey qualified 30th for Friday’s race at a speed of 175.524 mph, good enough to bump three other teams out of the field. Among those DNQs was second-ranked Norm Benning in his #57 Chevrolet.

SPEED’s scoring ticker showed at least three different changes for the 36th spot between Johnny Chapman, Mike Harmon, and T.J. Bell. However, when the final results were shown, it was Garvey in 36th, having exited the race after only five laps.

Chapman, driving Ken Smith’s #07 Toyota, found himself an unwilling participant in the night’s most controversial moment. On Lap 13, he was being lapped by Ron Hornaday, Jr. and Kyle Busch when the two faster trucks slid into the wall. Busch’s subsequent wrecking of Hornaday under caution led to NASCAR’s decision to park him for the night and, ultimately, for the rest of the weekend. This put both Hornaday and Busch - and their teams - in the Bottom Five for the first time in 2011.

Chapman, who avoided contact in the initial wreck, went on to finish 29th.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Garvey scored one other Truck Series last-place finish at Texas back in 2010 when his #93 S&W Services Chevrolet fell out with transmission trouble six laps into the 2010 WinStar World Casino 400k, held in June.
*This is the first Truck Series last-place finish at Texas for the #38.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #38-Mike Garvey / 5 laps / clutch
35) #87-Chris Jones / 10 laps / transmission
34) #33-Ron Hornaday, Jr. / 13 laps / crash
33) #18-Kyle Busch / 14 laps / parked
32) #0-T.J. Bell / 19 laps / vibration

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Garvey (6)
2nd) Norm Benning, Chris Lafferty, Brent Raymer (2)
3rd) Johnny Borneman III, James Buescher, Chris Jones, Mike Harmon, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Travis Kvapil, Johanna Long, Scott Riggs, Greg Seevers, Dennis Setzer, Brad Sweet, J.J. Yeley (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #38-Shane Sieg (5)
2nd) #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #57-Norm Benning Racing, #75-Norm Benning Racing, #93-Shane Sieg (2)
3rd) #5-Randy Moss, #20-Panhandle Motorsports, #27-Shane Sieg, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #65-Joey Sonntag, #66-Turn One Racing, #74-Mike Harmon, #87-Rick Jones, #89-Chris Lafferty, #07-SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (19)
2nd) Toyota (3)
3rd) Ford (2)

CUP: Skinner Returns To Track, Tightens LASTCAR Cup Battle After Early Crash

2011-10-30T18:38:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: ESPN2

Mike Skinner picked up the 14th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s Tums Fast Relief 500 at the Martinsville Speedway when his unsponsored #37 MaxQ Motorsports Ford was involved in a six-car accident after completing 7 of the race’s 500 laps.

The finish was Skinner’s fifth in 2011 and his first since Watkins Glen, eleven races ago. With three races to go, he is now tied with J.J. Yeley for the second-most Cup Series last-place finishes in 2011. Each are just one finish behind current leader Michael McDowell.

The last time the Cup Series came to Martinsville, Skinner was making his first start for Germain Racing as the “start-and-park” driver of their #60 Big Red Toyota. He acquired the ride after helping Frankie Stoddard’s #32 FAS Lane Racing team make the Top 35, scoring finishes of 24th and 29th in Phoenix and Las Vegas.

Skinner made fifteen starts in Germain’s #60, scoring four last-place finishes during the spring and summer months. The team’s final start - and last-place finish - came last month at Atlanta, where Skinner switched rides with an ailing Dave Blaney, who was suffering from kidney stones. Skinner brought Blaney’s car home 27th.

After the Atlanta race, a string of four DNQs and two withdrawals, combined with frequent switches between Toyota and Chevrolet and a qualifying crash at Dover, culminated with the #60 team pulling out of competition before Talladega.

Talladega also saw Larry Gunselman’s #37 MaxQ Motorsports car score its third-consecutive DNQ with driver Josh Wise. Martinsville’s preliminary entry list placed Wise as MaxQ’s driver, but it was Skinner behind the wheel for Saturday morning practice. With qualifying cancelled by rain, Skinner secured the 38th starting spot and prepared for his first start with the team.

Seven laps into Sunday’s race, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Kurt Busch made contact in turns one and two, causing a spin that quickly blocked the track. Skinner and the #34 of David Gilliland, both trailing the initial spin, failed to slow down fast enough and collided with the stopped cars in front of them. Skinner rear-ended the #78 of Regan Smith, causing substantial damage to the nose of his Ford and a small fire under the hood. Skinner and Smith were uninjured, and the #37 was the only car involved in the wreck that failed to return to the track.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

Mike Skinner's #19 Zanworth Pontiac, 1986
SOURCE: LoboGraphix

*Skinner has just one other Cup Series last-place finish at Martinsville and, interestingly, it was the first finish of his career. The race was the 1986 Goody’s 500 - 25 years ago this past September - when Skinner’s unsponsored #19 Zanworth Racing Team Pontiac fell out with oil pressure problems after 34 of the race’s 500 laps. It was one of only three starts the Zanworth team ever made. All three came with Skinner in 1986 with the other two coming in the spring race at Martinsville and in the fall race at Rockingham. Their best finish was a 22nd in the spring Martinsville event.
*The last time the #37 finished last in a Cup race at Martinsville was in 2009, when Travis Kvapil’s Long John Silver’s Dodge fell out with brake problems after 30 laps.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #37-Mike Skinner / 7 laps / crash
42) #51-Landon Cassill / 27 laps / brakes
41) #87-Joe Nemechek / 33 laps / rear gear
40) #55-J.J. Yeley / 40 laps / brakes
39) #66-Michael McDowell / 45 laps / brakes

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (6)
2nd) Mike Skinner, J.J. Yeley (5)
3rd) Kevin Conway, Joe Nemechek (4)
4th) Robby Gordon, Travis Kvapil (2)
5th) Dave Blaney, Landon Cassill, Jeff Green, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs, Scott Speed (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Although Skinner is ranked second in the LASTCAR Driver’s Championship, this was actually the #37 team’s first last-place finish of 2011 after five previous bottom-five finishes.
1st) #55-Front Row Motorsports, #60-Germain Racing, #66-HP Racing LLC (6)
2nd) #87-NEMCO Motorsports (4)
3rd) #46-Whitney Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
4th) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports (2)
5th) #37-MaxQ Motorsports, #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (18)
2nd) Ford (8)
3rd) Chevrolet (4)
4th) Dodge (3)

TRUCKS: Garvey Clinches Second-Consecutive LASTCAR Truck Series Title at Martinsville

2011-10-30T18:31:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: TheHotLap.com

Mike Garvey picked up the 10th last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Saturday’s Kroger 200 at the Martinsville Speedway when his #93 S&W Services Chevrolet fell out with brake problems after completing 8 of the race’s 200 laps.

The finish, Garvey’s fifth of the year and first since Lucas Oil Raceway in July, ten races ago, secured him his second-consecutive LASTCAR Truck Series Driver’s Championship. No other Truck Series driver has scored more than two last-place finishes in 2011. Garvey joins Loni Richardson (2002, 2004) as the only two Truck Series drivers with multiple LASTCAR championships and becomes the first to win consecutive titles.

Although Garvey has driven owner Shane Sieg’s #38 for much of this season, Martinsville saw him drive Sieg’s #93 for the third time in 2011 and for the first time since Bristol. In qualifying, Garvey put up the 35th-fastest speed at an average of 90.938 mph, just getting him into the 36-truck field. Missing the race were Loudon last-placer Jennifer Jo Cobb and the #99 of newcomer Charlie Vest.

Garvey’s truck was the first to go behind the wall during the opening green-flag stretch. Though nine cautions slowed the race’s pace for fifty laps, however, the only other truck to fall out of the event was the wrecked #4 of Ricky Carmichael.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was Garvey’s second-consecutive last-place finish in the Truck Series fall race at Martinsville. In the 2010 Kroger 200, Garvey’s #93 S&W Towing Chevrolet left the race after 27 laps, again with brake problems.
*This was the third time in the last four Truck Series races at Martinsville that owner Shane Sieg’s #93 has finished last. Sieg himself finished last in the spring of 2010, citing electrical problems after three laps.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #93-Mike Garvey / 8 laps / brakes
35) #4-Ricky Carmichael / 37 laps / crash
34) #07-T.J. Duke / 159 laps / running
33) #20-Johanna Long / 166 laps / running
32) #32-Blake Feese / 182 laps / running

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Garvey (5)
2nd) Norm Benning, Chris Lafferty, Brent Raymer (2)
3rd) Johnny Borneman III, James Buescher, Chris Jones, Mike Harmon, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Travis Kvapil, Johanna Long, Scott Riggs, Greg Seevers, Dennis Setzer, Brad Sweet, J.J. Yeley (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Even though Garvey drove the #93 in place of the #38, the latter team has still claimed the 2011 LASTCAR Truck Series Owner’s Championship by virtue of its 13 bottom-five finishes. As mentioned last week, the 2nd-ranked #10, #57, and #75 teams have only five, three, and six bottom-five finishes respectively. The #93, now tied with them, has only eight.
1st) #38-Shane Sieg (4)
2nd) #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #57-Norm Benning Racing, #75-Norm Benning Racing, #93-Shane Sieg (2)
3rd) #5-Randy Moss, #20-Panhandle Motorsports, #27-Shane Sieg, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #65-Joey Sonntag, #66-Turn One Racing, #74-Mike Harmon, #87-Rick Jones, #89-Chris Lafferty, #07-SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (18)
2nd) Toyota (3)
3rd) Ford (2)

CUP: Conway The First Cup Driver To Finish 43rd In Three Consecutive Superspeedway Races

2011-10-23T23:06:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: SPEED

Kevin Conway picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s Good Sam Club 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway when his #97 ExtenZe Toyota fell out with a vibration after completing 2 of the race’s 188 laps.

At Talladega, Conway returned to “start-and-park” duty for Nationwide Series team owner and on-track teammate Joe Nemechek, again behind the wheel of Nemechek’s #97. On Saturday, with a qualifying lap of 179.693 mph, Conway timed in 20th - his best career starting spot in 31 total Cup starts.

After he narrowly missed the Daytona 500 field during a late battle in the Gatorade Duels, Conway has successfully made the show for every restrictor plate Cup race held since. Two laps into Sunday race, however, Conway also scored his third consecutive last-place finish on these tracks when he pulled behind the wall under green.

Dave Blaney, who nearly pulled the upset at Talladega in the spring in owner Tommy Baldwin's #36, drove a tremendous race and finished a career-best 3rd for the third time in nineteen years of Cup racing. His Golden Corral Chevrolet, rebuilt from a crash at Daytona in July, was revealed to be a former Bill Davis Racing chassis from 2007 or 2008. Nevertheless, with the drafting help of Brad Keselowski, Blaney sped to his first top-10 finish of the year, triggering his sponsor's now-famous "Top 10 Kids Eat Free" campaign.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Conway is the first Cup driver to finish last in three consecutive superspeedway races at Daytona and Talladega. This dates all the way back to the first Daytona qualifier in 1959 and includes every year that the qualifying races were listed as points races. On a handful of occasions, a driver has finished last in two consecutive plate races, most notably in 1992 when Dale Earnhardt’s terrible season was furthered by last-place showings in the July races at Daytona and Talladega.
*This is the second consecutive year that NEMCO’s #97 has finished last in the Cup Series’ fall race at Talladega. In 2010, Jeff Fuller was behind the wheel when his HeatRedefined.com Toyota left the race with a rear gear failure after two laps.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #97-Kevin Conway / 2 laps / vibration
42) #55-J.J. Yeley / 3 laps / wheel
41) #87-Joe Nemechek / 4 laps / rear gear
40) #66-Michael McDowell / 6 laps / clutch
39) #71-Andy Lally / 162 laps / crash / led 1 lap

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
With four races to go, Michael McDowell, 40th at Talladega, remains the leader of the LASTCAR Cup Driver’s Championship, having just avoided a tie with J.J. Yeley, who came home a close 42nd on Sunday. By scoring a season-best finish of 22nd at Charlotte last Sunday, Yeley now trails McDowell by an insurmountable five bottom-five finishes: 19 to McDowell’s 24. Thus, only an overall lead can guarantee Yeley the LASTCAR Cup Driver’s Championship. And it’s not a two-driver race. Although Mike Skinner has lost his ride with Germain Racing for the rest of 2011 and Kevin Conway is not expected to compete in the final races of this season, defending LASTCAR Champion Joe Nemechek remains two finishes out of the lead and has continued to make all 32 races this season. With four races to go, Nemechek already has four more bottom-fives than McDowell with a series-leading total of 28.
1st) Michael McDowell (6)
2nd) J.J. Yeley (5)
3rd) Joe Nemechek, Mike Skinner (4)
4th) Kevin Conway (3)
5th) Robby Gordon, Travis Kvapil (2)
6th) Dave Blaney, Landon Cassill, Jeff Green, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs, Scott Speed (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Last week, it was reported that the #60 Germain Racing team would not attempt any more races in 2011, eliminating the team from LASTCAR contention due to the team’s 19 bottom-five finishes to the #66's current total of 25. Nevertheless, the battle for the LASTCAR Owner’s Championship also remains close as Front Row’s #55, though with only 11 bottom-fives, remains tied for the most finishes with the #66 and will run the rest of the year. However, if NEMCO’s #87 can score the two finishes needed to join the tie, they may be able to wrestle the title from the #66 by virtue of its 28 bottom-fives collected with Nemechek so far.
1st) #55-Front Row Motorsports, #60-Germain Racing, #66-HP Racing LLC (6)
2nd) #87-NEMCO Motorsports (4)
3rd) #46-Whitney Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
4th) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports (2)
5th) #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (18)
2nd) Ford (7)
3rd) Chevrolet (4)
4th) Dodge (3)

TRUCKS: Yeley The First Driver Ever To Score Last-Place Finishes In All Three of NASCAR’s Top Divisions In The Same Season

2011-10-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: SPEED

J.J. Yeley picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Saturday’s Coca-Cola 250 at the Talladega Superspeedway when his unsponsored #66 Turn One Racing Chevrolet fell out with transmission problems after completing the first of the race’s 94 laps. The finish came in Yeley’s 13th series start.

With the finish, Yeley became the first driver in the history of NASCAR to score at least one last-place finish in each of its top three divisions in the same season. This season, prior to Saturday, he had one last-place finish in the Nationwide Series and five in Cup.

Yeley was driving for Turn One Racing, a team owned by series veteran Stacy Compton. In its first full year of competition, Turn One began the year with two trucks: Cole Whitt’s #60 and the #66, which began the year with sports car and ARCA competitor Justin Marks. Marks competed with the team for the opening twelve races, scoring a pole at Dover and a season-best finish of 9th at Charlotte.

Marks and primary sponsorship from GoPro left the #66 team after Nashville. Although the team has made all twelve races run since the split, and Ross Chastain put up a 10th-place finish at Indianapolis, the team has finished no better than 19th with five different drivers. Yeley became the fourth different driver at Chicago, where he finished 30th.

Last week at Talladega, Yeley timed in 33rd at a speed of 167.556 mph, relying on the #66 team’s owner points to beat the four “go-or-go-homers” that went home. Just as in his two previous starts for Turn One, the truck lacked sponsorship, and Yeley pulled it behind the wall after Lap 1. The next day, Yeley finished 42nd in the Cup race, parking Front Row’s #55 after three laps.

Teammate Cole Whitt finished 14th in the #60, extending a streak of five consecutive top-15 finishes in the Truck Series.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The #66 had not finished last in a Truck Series race since 2005, when Todd Bodine’s BowTech Archery / Sportcoins.com Toyota was involved in a crash with Ken Weaver after completing three laps of the 2005 American Racing Wheels 200 at the Auto Club Speedway of Southern California. Thus, the number had also never finished last in a Truck Series race at Talladega since the series arrived there in 2006.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #66-J.J. Yeley / 1 lap / transmission
35) #99-Patrick Sheltra / 14 laps / crash
34) #1-Jeffery Earnhardt / 15 laps / crash
33) #07-Butch Miller / 19 laps / rear gear
32) #16-Donnie Neuenberger / 25 laps / crash

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
With three races to go in the 2011 season, Mike Garvey can lock up his second-consecutive LASTCAR Camping World Series championship if Norm Benning, Chris Lafferty, and Brent Raymer do not finish last in the final three races of the season, starting this Sunday at Martinsville. If Garvey ties one of these drivers with four finishes apiece, he will still claim the title by virtue of his 15 bottom-five finishes while Benning, Lafferty, and Raymer only have three apiece.
1st) Mike Garvey (4)
2nd) Norm Benning, Chris Lafferty, Brent Raymer (2)
3rd) Johnny Borneman III, James Buescher, Chris Jones, Mike Harmon, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Travis Kvapil, Johanna Long, Scott Riggs, Greg Seevers, Dennis Setzer, Brad Sweet, J.J. Yeley (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Similarly, the #38 team can lock up the Owner’s Title if the trucks of the #10, #57, and #75 team fail to finish last in the final three races. The #38 team has 13 bottom-five finishes in 2011 compared to the #10's five, the #57's three, and the #75's six.
1st) #38-Shane Sieg (4)
2nd) #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #57-Norm Benning Racing, #75-Norm Benning Racing (2)
3rd) #5-Randy Moss, #20-Panhandle Motorsports, #27-Shane Sieg, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #65-Joey Sonntag, #66-Turn One Racing, #74-Mike Harmon, #87-Rick Jones, #89-Chris Lafferty, #93-Shane Sieg, #07-SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (17)
2nd) Toyota (3)
3rd) Ford (2)

CUP: After Charlotte, Joe Nemechek Is One Finish Away From Tying Derrike Cope For The Most Last-Place Finishes In NASCAR History

2011-10-16T17:04:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: ESPN2

Joe Nemechek picked up the 28th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career in Saturday’s Bank of America 500 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #87 AM / FM Energy / Pellet & Wood Stoves Toyota fell out with a vibration after 11 of the race’s 334 laps.

The finish was Nemechek’s fourth of the 2011 season and his first since the June race at Kansas, eighteen races ago.

The finish is also Nemechek’s 34th across all three of NASCAR’s top divisions, moving him within one finish of tying all-time LASTCAR leader Derrike Cope for the most last-place finishes in NASCAR history. Curiously, it was during the Charlotte weekend that Cope was expected to return to the Cup Series, but he withdrew his #75 Dodge on Thursday after failing to run any laps in the opening practice session.

Nemechek is also four finishes away from tying the late J.D. McDuffie for the most last-place finishes in Sprint Cup history (32).

Back at Charlotte, Nemechek qualified 39th at a speed of 187.311 mph, but was the slowest car in both Friday’s final two practice sessions. On race night, rookie driver Andy Lally first fell to the rear. Lally, who had campaigned TRG Motorsports’ #71 for much of the year, was debuting a new second team, #77, which would run for the rest of 2011. Though without sponsorship, Lally was the fastest “go-or-go-homer” in both Friday practice sessions, reaching seventh in Friday’s morning practice. In the race, Lally was still running 43rd when Nemechek pulled behind the wall after 11 laps, ending his night. Lally and the #77 pulled out nine laps later, citing brake failure.

Nemechek’s early exit ended a three-race last-place streak by Front Row’s #55, this time again driven by Travis Kvapil. Though the #55 carried sponsorship from the Ingersoll-Rand corporation, the car retained its “start-and-park” status and fell out after 27 laps, sixteen laps after Nemechek took 43rd.

As a result, Michael McDowell, who came home 39th, continues to hold a one-finish lead on J.J. Yeley for the LASTCAR Driver’s Championship while the Owner’s Title remains a three-way tie between the #55, McDowell’s #66, and the #60 Germain Racing team, which withdrew with Mike Skinner prior to the opening practice.

Nemechek now stands two finishes behind McDowell for the Driver’s title - still in contention to defend his 2010 title with five races left to be run.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Nemechek and the #87 scored their most recent Charlotte last-place finish in Sprint Cup competition during the 2009 running, when his unsponsored Toyota left the race with engine trouble after 26 laps of the NASCAR Banking 500 Only From Bank of America.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #87-Joe Nemechek / 11 laps / vibration
42) #77-Andy Lally / 20 laps / brakes
41) #30-David Stremme / 22 laps / overheating
40) #55-Travis Kvapil / 27 laps / overheating
39) #66-Michael McDowell / 30 laps / suspension

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (6)
2nd) J.J. Yeley (5)
3rd) Joe Nemechek, Mike Skinner (4)
4th) Kevin Conway, Robby Gordon, Travis Kvapil (2)
5th) Dave Blaney, Landon Cassill, Jeff Green, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs, Scott Speed (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #55-Front Row Motorsports, #60-Germain Racing, #66-HP Racing LLC (6)
2nd) #87-NEMCO Motorsports (4)
3rd) #46-Whitney Motorsports (3)
4th) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
5th) #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (17)
2nd) Ford (7)
3rd) Chevrolet (4)
4th) Dodge (3)

N’WIDE: Two More Last-Place Finishes In Final Three Nationwide Races Will Give Jeff Green The Single-Season LASTCAR Record

2011-10-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: TheHotLap.com

Jeff Green picked up the 26th last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Friday’s Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #44 Spirit Halloween Chevrolet fell out with a vibration after 3 of the race’s 200 laps.

It was Green’s tenth last-place finish of the season and his first since Dover, two races ago. Green has now equaled Dennis Setzer’s mark of ten last-place finishes in 2011 and, with three races to go, can mathematically break Jeff Fuller’s single-season last-place record of eleven finishes set back in 2004.

It was also Green’s 31st last-place finish across NASCAR’s top three divisions. He remains fifth in the all-time LASTCAR standings, but now just five finishes behind all-time leader Derrike Cope.

At Charlotte, Green secured the 43rd and final starting spot with a speed of 177.907 mph, good enough to beat the six other “go-or-go-homers” - including Setzer - who failed to qualify. Three laps into the race, during the opening green-flag run, Green pulled behind the wall, followed on the next lap by Erik Darnell, making his first Nationwide Series start of the season in Key Motorsports’ “start-and-park” #42 Chevrolet.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Jeff Green and his #44 have swept both Nationwide Series last-place finishes at Charlotte in 2011. In May, a vibration was also the listed cause of his exit after four laps.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #44-Jeff Green / 3 laps / vibration
42) #42-Erik Darnell / 4 laps / brakes
41) #47-Scott Speed / 6 laps / vibration
40) #41-Johnny Chapman / 12 laps / overheating
39) #03-Scott Riggs / 18 laps / brakes

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (10)
2nd) Brett Rowe (3)
3rd) Kelly Bires, Johnny Chapman, Dennis Setzer (2)
4th) T.J. Bell, Matt Carter, Kevin Conway, Marc Davis, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Brian Keselowski, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Scott Wimmer, J.J. Yeley (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (10)
2nd) #55-Faith Motorsports (3)
3rd) #25-Ed Rensi, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #47-Key Motorsports, #49-Jay Robinson Racing (2)
4th) #0-JD Motorsports, #13-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #41-Rick Ware Racing, #50-Mark Beaver, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports, #03-R3 Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (24)
2nd) Ford (6)
3rd) Dodge (1)

TRUCKS: Sixteen Years After His Father Became The First Truck Series Last-Placer, Johnny Borneman III Follows Suit At Las Vegas

2011-10-16T16:53:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: Rubbins-Racin

Johnny Borneman III picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Saturday’s Smith’s 350 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #75 Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet fell out with handling problems after completing the first of the race’s 146 laps. The finish came in Borneman III’s second series start and his first since driving his father’s #81 truck at Texas in 2003.

His father, John Borneman, who also made two career Truck Series starts, was the series’ first last-place finisher in a points race: his #8 MJ Soffe Chevrolet left the 1995 Copper World Classic at Phoenix after 22 laps with handling woes.

At Vegas, Borneman III was tabbed to drive Norm Benning’s #75 “start-and-park” entry in its sixth race of the 2011 campaign. He was likely signed to drive the truck at the 1.5-mile track as the Borneman family hails from nearby California. A veteran of twelve seasons in the K&N West Series, Borneman III has also made twenty Nationwide Series starts, scoring an emotional career-best fifth-place finish for his family’s team at Talladega last year (click here for the post race interview at 4:08).

With just 34 trucks showing up to compete in Las Vegas, Borneman III was able to secure the final starting spot with a speed of 153.118 mph, more than 23 mph slower than polesitter and race winner Ron Hornaday’s lap of 176.056 mph. After the opening lap of the race, Borneman III pulled behind the wall and out of the race.

Joining Borneman III in the bottom five positions was 31st-place Wayne Edwards, still the all-time LASTCAR leader in the Truck Series with 13 last-place finishes. Edwards was making his first start of 2011 driving the #0 - the same number he drove during part of his 2007 LASTCAR Truck Series championship. Saturday at Vegas, his #0 was a second Jennifer Jo Cobb-owned Ford.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Although this is Borneman III’s first last-place finish in the Truck Series, he has two Nationwide finishes at the Auto Club Speedway of Southern California, his home track. The first came in the 2007 Camping World 300, where his #44 Super Series Chevrolet fell out with engine problems after two laps. The second was in the 2010 Stater Brothers 300, six races before his breakout performance at Talladega, when his #83 Twisted X Boots / Red Line Oil Ford lost the transmission after two laps.
*This is the #75 team’s second last-place finish in 2011. The first came in the team’s debut at Iowa, where ARCA veteran Greg Seevers fell out of the race after three laps with overheating problems. Seevers was also the series’ most recent first-time last-place finisher.
*The #75 had never before finished last in a Truck Series race at Las Vegas.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
34) #75-Johnny Borneman III / 1 lap / handling
33) #27-Chris Jones / 6 laps / brakes
32) #65-Lance Fenton / 7 laps / engine
31) #0-Wayne Edwards / 8 laps / transmission
30) #38-Mike Garvey / 8 laps / electrical

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Garvey (4)
2nd) Norm Benning, Chris Lafferty, Brent Raymer (2)
3rd) Johnny Borneman III, James Buescher, Chris Jones, Mike Harmon, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Travis Kvapil, Johanna Long, Scott Riggs, Greg Seevers, Dennis Setzer, Brad Sweet (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #38-Shane Sieg (4)
2nd) #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #57-Norm Benning Racing, #75-Norm Benning Racing (2)
3rd) #5-Randy Moss, #20-Panhandle Motorsports, #27-Shane Sieg, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #65-Joey Sonntag, #74-Mike Harmon, #87-Rick Jones, #89-Chris Lafferty, #93-Shane Sieg, #07-SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (16)
2nd) Toyota (3)
3rd) Ford (2)

CUP: Yeley First Driver To Sweep Weekend’s Last-Place Finishes Since Blaney in 2009

2011-10-09T16:54:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: ESPN2

J.J. Yeley picked up the 7th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at the Kansas Speedway when his unsponsored #55 Front Row Motorsports Ford fell out with ignition trouble after 12 of the race’s 272 laps.

It was Yeley’s fifth last-place finish of 2011, his first since the August race at Michigan, seven races ago, and his third in Front Row’s #55. The #55 team is now in a three-way tie with Germain Racing’s #60 and HP Racing LLC’s #66 for the 2011 LASTCAR Owner’s Championship - each with six finishes apiece with six races to go.

In addition, Yeley became the first driver to finish last in both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races at the same track on the same weekend since Dave Blaney finished 43rd for both Phil Parsons’ teams at Atlanta in September of 2009.

After running four of the last five races in Front Row’s #38, scoring a best finish of 25th in that stretch, Yeley and Travis Kvapil switched rides once again, putting Yeley back in the “start-and-park” #55. Both Yeley and Kvapil put their cars into the race with Yeley putting up the 28th-fastest speed of 172.568 mph. Kvapil timed in 36th.

At the start of the race, A.J. Allmendinger, David Reutimann, and Reed Sorenson all fell to the rear of the field for missing driver’s introductions. While Allmendinger and Reutimann picked their way through the field in the early stages, Sorenson remained 43rd in Robby Gordon’s pink #7 SPEED Energy Dodge. Sorenson remained in that spot until Lap 13, when Yeley pulled behind the wall, followed by Casey Mears and Joe Nemechek before the first caution.

Kvapil finished 27th and led three laps when he stayed out for the ensuing Lap 24 restart.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The Front Row Motorsports #55 team is the first Cup Series organization to score three consecutive last-place finishes since last summer when Max Papis and the #13 Germain Racing team finished last at Michigan, Sonoma, and Loudon. Next week at Charlotte, the #55 has a chance to become the first Cup Series team to extend that streak to four.
*This was Ford’s first last-place finish in a Cup race at Kansas since 2004, when Kirk Shelmerdine’s #72 Vote For Bush Ford fell out with clutch problems three laps into the 2004 Banquet 400.
*Neither Yeley nor the #55 had ever before finished last in a Cup race at Kansas.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #55-J.J. Yeley / 12 laps / ignition
42) #13-Casey Mears / 16 laps / brakes
41) #87-Joe Nemechek / 18 laps / clutch
40) #30-David Stremme / 27 laps / rear gear
39) #66-Michael McDowell / 30 laps / brakes

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
With the finish, Yeley pulls within one finish of tying Michael McDowell for the 2011 LASTCAR Driver’s Championship. With the possibility of a tie in the next six races, McDowell remains just ahead of Yeley with 22 bottom-five finishes to Yeley’s 18. Mike Skinner, the current driver for the #60 Germain Racing team, failed to qualify at Kansas and has now missed the last five consecutive races.
1st) Michael McDowell (6)
2nd) J.J. Yeley (5)
3rd) Mike Skinner (4)
4th) Joe Nemechek (3)
5th) Kevin Conway, Robby Gordon, Travis Kvapil (2)
6th) Dave Blaney, Landon Cassill, Jeff Green, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs, Scott Speed (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
With three teams now tied for the lead in the Owner’s Championship, the tiebreaker will also revert to bottom-five finishes. There, again, the #66 team holds the advantage with 23 bottom-fives. The #60, due in part to their recent streak of DNQs, has 19 while the #55, which debuted at Loudon in July, has only 9.
1st) #55-Front Row Motorsports, #60-Germain Racing, #66-HP Racing LLC (6)
2nd) #46-Whitney Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
3rd) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
4th) #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (16)
2nd) Ford (7)
3rd) Chevrolet (4)
4th) Dodge (3)

N’WIDE: Yeley’s First Nationwide 43rd In Six Years Comes In Curb Team’s Return

2011-10-09T16:49:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: Rubbins Racin'

J.J. Yeley picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 at the Kansas Speedway when his #27 31-W Insulation Ford fell out with electrical problems after completing 2 of the race’s 200 laps.

The finish was Yeley’s first of the 2011 season, but the second for the Baker-Curb Motorsports team. Their other finish came with Justin Marks at Phoenix, 28 races ago.

Kansas was the #27 team’s sixth start of the 2011 Nationwide Series campaign and its fourth with J.J. Yeley aboard. The car’s best finish came in its most recent start at Fontana in April, where Canadian J.R. Fitzpatrick turned in a 20th-place finish. Having struggled through the first five races of the season, however, Baker-Curb did not make another race until Saturday.

Yeley’s lap of 164.951 mph in qualifying was just good enough for the 43rd and final starting spot, edging Dennis Setzer for the position by less than five hundredths of a second. On race day, Yeley missed the driver’s meeting, then pulled behind the wall a lap before T.J. Bell and 2011 LASTCAR Nationwide Driver’s Champion Jeff Green.

While Mike Curb’s team made only a brief appearance in the Nationwide race, he also succeeded in making his 100th Sprint Cup start as an owner. Austin Dillon, grandson of Richard Childress and the current Camping World Truck Series point leader, made his Cup Series debut Sunday driving Curb’s #98 Childress-prepared Chevrolet. It was Curb’s first Cup start as an owner since Brad Noffsinger’s run in the season-ending 1988 Atlanta Journal 500 at Atlanta.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was Yeley’s first Nationwide Series last-place finish in more than six years. His only other 43rd came at Fontana, when his #18 Vigoro / The Home Depot Chevrolet lost the engine four laps into the 2005 Ameriquest 300.
*Yeley’s finish in a Ford ends an eight-race last-place streak by Chevrolet in the series which began after Jennifer Jo Cobb’s Ford finished last at Lucas Oil Raceway.
*The #27 has never before finished last in a Nationwide Series race at Kansas.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #27-J.J. Yeley / 2 laps / electrical
42) #50-T.J. Bell / 3 laps / vibration
41) #44-Jeff Green / 3 laps / vibration
40) #47-Charles Lewandoski / 5 laps / vibration
39) #46-Chase Miller / 10 laps / ignition

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (9)
2nd) Brett Rowe (3)
3rd) Kelly Bires, Johnny Chapman, Dennis Setzer (2)
4th) T.J. Bell, Matt Carter, Kevin Conway, Marc Davis, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Brian Keselowski, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Scott Wimmer, J.J. Yeley (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (9)
2nd) #55-Faith Motorsports (3)
3rd) #25-Ed Rensi, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #47-Key Motorsports, #49-Jay Robinson Racing (2)
4th) #0-JD Motorsports, #13-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #41-Rick Ware Racing, #50-Mark Beaver, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports, #03-R3 Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (23)
2nd) Ford (6)
3rd) Dodge (1)

CUP: Kvapil Scores Back-To-Back Cup Series Last-Place Finishes

2011-10-02T16:42:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: ESPN2

Travis Kvapil picked up the 4th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s AAA 400 at the Dover International Speedway when his unsponsored #55 Front Row Motorsports Ford fell out with ignition problems after 12 of the race’s 400 laps.

It was Kvapil’s second last-place finish of 2011 and his second in a row, following his early exit last Sunday at Loudon.

Kvapil locked himself into the Dover field with a speed of 156.230 mph, placing him 32nd on the starting grid. While teammate J.J. Yeley in the Front Row #38 was forced to a backup car following an accident in Friday’s opening practice, Kvapil had an uneventful weekend. Dropping to the rear at the start, Kvapil pulled behind the wall between the first and second cautions, followed twelve laps later by Scott Speed in Dusty Whitney’s #46 Ford.

Yeley was involved in a single-car accident on Lap 300 and ended up finishing ten laps down in 34th. David Gilliland in Front Row’s top-ranked #34 finished three laps down in 28th.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The #55 had not finished last in a Sprint Cup race at Dover since 1999, when Kenny Wallace’s Square D Chevrolet fell out with engine failure after 63 laps of the 1999 MBNA Gold 400 at Dover.
*This was Kvapil’s first-ever last-place finish in a Cup race at Dover.
*Kvapil joins current LASTCAR Cup leader Michael McDowell (Bristol and Fontana; Darlington and Dover) as the only two Cup drivers with consecutive last-place finishes in 2011. Kvapil had never before finished last in two consecutive races.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #55-Travis Kvapil / 12 laps / ignition
42) #46-Scott Speed / 24 laps / brakes
41) #30-David Stremme / 31 laps / vibration
40) #66-Michael McDowell / 44 laps / fuel pump / led 1 lap
39) #87-Joe Nemechek / 49 laps / clutch

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (6)
2nd) Mike Skinner, J.J. Yeley (4)
3rd) Joe Nemechek (3)
4th) Kevin Conway, Robby Gordon, Travis Kvapil (2)
5th) Dave Blaney, Landon Cassill, Jeff Green, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs, Scott Speed (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
The #60 Germain Racing team, still tied with HP Racing’s #66 for the Owner’s Championship, has now been absent from the last four consecutive races since Dave Blaney drove the car to its sixth last-place finish at Atlanta. In that time, Mike Skinner, the team’s regular driver, has scored three DNQs and the team withdrew back at Loudon. Although the #66 scored the tying last-place finish of at Chicagoland, the #55 Front Row Motorsports team’s streak could make it a three-car battle for the Owner’s Championship.
1st) #60-Germain Racing, #66-HP Racing LLC (6)
2nd) #55-Front Row Motorsports (5)
3rd) #46-Whitney Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
4th) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
5th) #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (16)
2nd) Ford (6)
3rd) Chevrolet (4)
4th) Dodge (3)

N’WIDE: Dover Sees Jeff Green Score The Most Last-Place Finishes In Nationwide Series History

2011-10-02T16:34:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: TheHotLap.com

Jeff Green picked up the 25th last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s OneMain Financial 200 at the Dover International Speedway when his unsponsored #44 TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet fell out with a vibration after 1 of the race’s 200 laps.

With the finish, Green has now scored the most last-place finishes of any driver in NASCAR Nationwide Series history, breaking a tie with three-time LASTCAR Nationwide Series champion Jeff Fuller. Also, with a combined total of 30 finishes, Green also holds sole possession of fourth in the all-time LASTCAR standings, just five finishes behind all-time leader Derrike Cope.

Further, this finish was the series-leading ninth of Green’s 2011 season - his first since Bristol, four races ago (LINK) - and he has now locked-up his second LASTCAR Nationwide Series championship. Green’s first LASTCAR title came in 1996, when he scored three last-place finishes while driving for Dale Earnhardt, Inc.

At Dover, Green timed in 29th at a speed of 148.325 mph, ranking him sixth among the field’s “go-or-go-homers.” It was also Green’s third consecutive qualifying run inside the Top 30. However, still on “start-and-park” duty for TriStar, Green pulled behind the wall after the opening lap.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was Jeff Green’s second-consecutive last-place finish in the fall Nationwide Series race at Dover. In last year’s Dover 200, while driving TriStar’s #36 Chevrolet, Green also left the race after the opening lap, that time with brake failure.
*This was the first time the #44 has ever finished last in a Nationwide Series race at Dover.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #44-Jeff Green / 1 lap / vibration
42) #50-T.J. Bell / 3 laps / brakes
41) #82-Scott Wimmer / 3 laps / ignition
40) #42-Tim Andrews / 4 laps / electrical
39) #46-Chase Miller / 5 laps / ignition

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
With a six-finish lead and just five races remaining, Jeff Green and the #44 TriStar Motorsports team have officially clinched the 2011 LASTCAR Nationwide Series Driver’s and Owner’s Championships. Second-ranked Brett Rowe and the #55 Faith Motorsports team have not raced since their most recent last-place run at Road America in June.
1st) Jeff Green (9)
2nd) Brett Rowe (3)
3rd) Kelly Bires, Johnny Chapman, Dennis Setzer (2)
4th) T.J. Bell, Matt Carter, Kevin Conway, Marc Davis, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Brian Keselowski, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Scott Wimmer (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (9)
2nd) #55-Faith Motorsports (3)
3rd) #25-Ed Rensi, #47-Key Motorsports, #49-Jay Robinson Racing (2)
4th) #0-JD Motorsports, #13-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #41-Rick Ware Racing, #50-Mark Beaver, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports, #03-R3 Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (23)
2nd) Ford (5)
3rd) Dodge (1)

TRUCKS: Raymer Scores Chevrolet’s 250th Truck Series Last-Place Finish

2011-10-02T16:31:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: zimbio

Brent Raymer picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Friday’s Kentucky 225 at the Kentucky Speedway when his #27 S&W Services Chevrolet fell out with a vibration after 2 of the race’s 150 laps.

The finish was Raymer’s second in 2011. The other came four races ago at Bristol while driving for Joey Sontaag.

With 36 trucks on the entry list, Raymer was able to put the #27, the Sieg team’s fourth truck, into its second race of the year with a 33rd-best lap of 167.463 mph. Prior to Kentucky, the truck was driven one other time by David Stremme, who turned in a 34th-place finish at Chicago last month with Rob Winfield listed as the owner. Two laps into the race, Raymer pulled behind the wall, followed less than twenty laps later by teammates Mike Garvey and Ryan Sieg. B.J. McLeod, driving the fourth Sieg truck #93, fell out with overheating problems and finished 26th.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The #27 had not finished last in a Truck Series race since 2007, when Jacques Villeneuve’s UNICEF Toyota was involved in a single-truck crash during the 2007 Ford 200 at Homestead, ending his day after 80 laps. The number had never before finished last in a Truck Series race at Kentucky.
*The finish was Chevrolet’s 250th in Truck Series competition, the most among all the series’ manufacturers.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #27-Brent Raymer / 2 laps / vibration
35) #74-Mike Harmon / 4 laps / power steering
34) #51-Josh Richards / 4 laps / crash
33) #39-Ryan Sieg / 19 laps / crash
32) #38-Mike Garvey / 21 laps / clutch

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Garvey (4)
2nd) Norm Benning, Chris Lafferty, Brent Raymer (2)
3rd) James Buescher, Chris Jones, Mike Harmon, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Travis Kvapil, Johanna Long, Scott Riggs, Greg Seevers, Dennis Setzer, Brad Sweet (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #38-Shane Sieg (4)
2nd) #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #57-Norm Benning Racing (2)
3rd) #5-Randy Moss, #20-Panhandle Motorsports, #27-Shane Sieg, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #65-Joey Sonntag, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Norm Benning Racing, #87-Rick Jones, #89-Chris Lafferty, #93-Shane Sieg, #07-SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (15)
2nd) Toyota (3)
3rd) Ford (2)

CUP: Kvapil’s Qualifying Face-Off Followed By His First Last-Place Finish Since 2009

2011-09-25T23:18:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: Rob Dostie

Travis Kvapil picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #50 Front Row Motorsports Ford fell out with brake problems after completing 10 of the race’s 300 laps.

Loudon marked Kvapil’s third attempt at getting Front Row’s “start-and-park” #55 team into a Cup Series race while new teammate J.J. Yeley raced his #38. The #38 team has been on the cusp of the Top 35 in Owner Points for much of the season due to three DNQs and a season-best finish of only 23rd at Loudon’s July race. That Loudon event saw the debut of Front Row’s #55 team, which Jeff Green drove to a last-place finish.

Once again, rain threatened track activities, this time during Friday’s qualifying day. Thanks to the #38 team’s 36th-place points ranking and attempts in every race in 2011, the NASCAR rulebook guaranteed Yeley a spot in the field if qualifying were rained out. However, since Kvapil’s #55 has made fewer attempts than newcomer T.J. Bell’s #50, Kvapil needed to not only qualify on time, but also needed the entire qualifying session to be completed. If rain cut qualifying short, Bell would edge Kvapil for the final starting spot.

These conflicting contingencies came into play when rain delayed the closing stages of qualifying. With five cars left to qualify, a light rain began to fall. At the time, Kvapil was locked-into the field in the #55 despite locking his brakes in turn three. Bell’s #50, on the other hand, was the slowest “go-or-go-homer” on the speed charts. If the session were canceled, Bell would still make the race on attempts, while Kvapil needed the session completed in order to make the show.

Steve Park's #35 Len Boehler Tribute / LASTCAR Chevrolet
SOURCE: Tommy Baldwin Racing Facebook

In the end, the final five cars were able to qualify, so Kvapil secured the 38th starting spot with his lap of 131.058 mph. Bell was sent home along with Steve Park, running one of Tommy Baldwin’s two paint scheme tributes to legends of NASCAR’s modified division. Park’s #35, honoring Len Boehler’s “Ol’ Blue,” was funded in part by fans since early spring. I was one of the 91 sponsors who signed on, giving this website a spot on the left-rear panel of his Chevrolet.

On Sunday, Kvapil pulled behind the wall during the opening green-flag run, scoring his first last-place finish of 2011 and the fourth for Front Row’s #55. Yeley's #38 came home 27th.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was Kvapil’s first Cup Series last-place finish since 2009, when his #37 Long John Silver’s Dodge fell out with brake failure after completing 30 laps of the Tums Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville. At the time, Kvapil’s #37 was another “start-and-park” team for Front Row Motorsports - originally, a single-car operation - which was used to build toward their full-season run in 2010.
*The #55 Front Row Motorsports team swept both Loudon last-place finishes in 2011. Jeff Green’s above-mentioned run in July’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 ended after 11 laps. Whitney Motorsports’ #46 is the only other team to have swept a track this season, racking up both finishes at Richmond with drivers J.J. Yeley and Scott Speed.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #55-Travis Kvapil / 10 laps / brakes
42) #13-Casey Mears / 19 laps / electrical
41) #46-Scott Speed / 23 laps / brakes
40) #7-Robby Gordon / 28 laps / brakes
39) #37-Josh Wise / 29 laps / brakes

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (6)
2nd) Mike Skinner, J.J. Yeley (4)
3rd) Joe Nemechek (3)
4th) Kevin Conway, Robby Gordon (2)
5th) Dave Blaney, Landon Cassill, Jeff Green, P.J. Jones, Travis Kvapil, Scott Riggs, Scott Speed (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #60-Germain Racing, #66-HP Racing LLC (6)
2nd) #55-Front Row Motorsports (4)
3rd) #46-Whitney Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
4th) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
5th) #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (16)
2nd) Ford (5)
3rd) Chevrolet (4)
4th) Dodge (3)

TRUCKS: Engine Woes Keep Jo Cobb’s Truck From Completing A Lap At Loudon

2011-09-25T23:10:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: SPEED, Rubbins-Racin

Jennifer Jo Cobb picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Saturday’s F.W. Webb 175 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway when her #10 hipchixfundraisers.com Ford fell out with engine trouble without completing any of the race’s 175 laps.

It’s Jo Cobb’s first last-place finish of the 2011 Truck Series season, but the second for her team. Chris Lafferty, driving in the only race this season where Jo Cobb’s truck was a Chevrolet, fell out after two laps at Dover in May.

With a short field of 35 competitors, Jo Cobb made her eighth Truck Series start of 2011 and the twelfth for her team. She, Brennan Newberry, and Jason White all failed to complete a timed lap in qualifying, giving Jo Cobb and White the final two starting spots following Newberry’s withdrawal. Following a pit stop just prior to the start of the race, Jo Cobb pulled her #10 behind the wall with engine trouble.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is Jo Cobb’s first Truck Series last-place finish since 2009, when her #50 Boys Racing Dodge fell out with engine problems after the opening lap of the Mountain Dew 250 Fueled by Fred’s at Talladega.
*Jo Cobb is the second Truck Series last-placer to fall out first without completing a single lap, joining Chris Jones’ run at last month’s VFW 200 at Michigan. Jones finished 32nd at Loudon, just ahead of last week’s last-placer Mike Harmon in his #74.
*This is the first time a Truck Series competitor has failed to complete the opening lap at Loudon since 1996, when Mike Hurlbert’s #11 RPM Racing Ford lost the engine in that year’s Pennzoil / VIP Tripleheader.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
35) #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb / 0 laps / engine
34) #75-Bobby Santos / 1 lap / brakes
33) #74-Mike Harmon / 2 laps / overheating
32) #87-Chris Jones / 4 laps / transmission
31) #96-Todd Peck / 10 laps / overheating

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Garvey (4)
2nd) Norm Benning, Chris Lafferty (2)
3rd) James Buescher, Chris Jones, Mike Harmon, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Travis Kvapil, Johanna Long, Brent Raymer, Scott Riggs, Greg Seevers, Dennis Setzer, Brad Sweet (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #38-Shane Sieg (4)
2nd) #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #57-Norm Benning Racing (2)
3rd) #5-Randy Moss, #20-Panhandle Motorsports, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #65-Joey Sonntag, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Norm Benning Racing, #87-Rick Jones, #89-Chris Lafferty, #93-Shane Sieg, #07-SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (14)
2nd) Toyota (3)
3rd) Ford (2)

CUP: McDowell Scores Toyota’s 100th NASCAR Last-Place Finish

2011-09-19T13:38:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: SPEED

Michael McDowell picked up the 13th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career in Monday’s GEICO 400 at the Chicagoland Speedway when his #66 James Fund Toyota fell out with brake problems after 25 of the race’s 267 laps.

The finish was McDowell’s series-leading sixth last-place finish of the 2011 season and his first since the Heluva Good! 400 at Michigan, twelve races ago. His finish is also the 100th for Toyota across all three of NASCAR’s top divisions. Toyota’s first NASCAR last-place finish came in 2004, when Robert Huffman’s #12 Toyota Tundra crashed 25 laps into the Truck Series season opener, the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 at Daytona.

McDowell, carrying decals for adoption assistance program The James Fund on a paint scheme that debuted at Richmond, qualified 33rd for Monday’s race at a speed of 180.060 mph. Just before the start of the race, McDowell fell to the rear along with Robby Gordon, who changed engines prior to the event.

When the race began, Josh Wise, driving for Larry Gunselman, fell to the back, followed on Lap 9 by David Stremme, who made an unscheduled stop in his Inception Motorsports #30. However, McDowell was the first to pull behind the wall on Lap 25, saying his car was running too tight. Once behind the wall, crew chief Gene Nead reported that there was a hole in the nose of his Toyota.

Wise and Stremme were the next two cars to fall out of the race, ending a pair of promising weekends. Wise’s hair-raising qualifying run ended the Gunselman team’s streak of three consecutive DNQs and also gave Wise his first Cup start after three unsuccessful attempts since late 2009. Nearby Bradley University had its decals on Wise’s #37 as eight of its students were interning with the team. Stremme lacked sponsorship, but ran in the Top 10 in both Chicagoland practices, running 7th in the first session and 9th in Happy Hour. The Inception team has had other flashes of brilliance in practice, running 2nd-fastest in Bristol’s Happy Hour last month and topping the speed charts during Happy Hour at Michigan in June.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The last time the #66 finished last at Chicagoland was in 2009, when Dave Blaney’s PRISM Motorsports Toyota fell out with an engine failure after 10 laps of the 2009 Lifelock.com 400. The year before, McDowell scored his first Cup Series last-place finish in the same event, finishing eight laps down, but still running, in his #00 Champion Mortgage Toyota.
*This was the first time a Cup driver finished last at Chicagoland due to brake failure.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #66-Michael McDowell / 25 laps / brakes
42) #37-Josh Wise / 41 laps / brakes
41) #30-David Stremme / 44 laps / vibration
40) #87-Joe Nemechek / 45 laps / electrical
39) #7-Robby Gordon / 77 laps / vibration

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (6)
2nd) Mike Skinner, J.J. Yeley (4)
3rd) Joe Nemechek (3)
4th) Kevin Conway, Robby Gordon (2)
5th) Dave Blaney, Landon Cassill, Jeff Green, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs, Scott Speed (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #60-Germain Racing, #66-HP Racing LLC (6)
2nd) #46-Whitney Motorsports, #55-Front Row Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
3rd) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
4th) #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (16)
2nd) Chevrolet, Ford (4)
3rd) Dodge (3)

N’WIDE: Bell Is First Nationwide Last-Placer To Fall Out With Power Steering Problems

2011-09-18T17:41:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: Rubbins-Racin

T.J. Bell picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s Dollar General 300 at the Chicagoland Speedway when his #50 Liberty Tire Recycle / Pinnacle Rubber Mulch Chevrolet fell out with power steering problems after 2 of the race’s 200 laps.

The finish, Bell’s first in any of NASCAR’s top three divisions, came in Bell’s 11th Nationwide Series start.

Bell, a Truck Series competitor since 2003, has raced in all three of NASCAR’s top divisions this year. He began the 2011 season by making three Truck Series starts for owner Mark Beaver, scoring a season-best finish of 22nd at Darlington. Two months after that finish, Darlington saw Bell make his first Cup Series start, bringing team owner Joe Falk back into the series with assistance from Germain Racing. Since that race, Bell has made three other Cup starts, but has failed to qualify for another eight.

At the same time, Bell has also made three Nationwide Series starts. Following a start-and-park effort for Jennifer Jo Cobb at Watkins Glen, Bell and Beaver expanded their truck effort to the Nationwide Series. Following a DNQ at Bristol, Bell put the team into its first race at Atlanta, coming home a respectable 22nd. Bell failed to qualify for both the Cup and Nationwide races at Richmond, then turned his attention to Chicago.

Although Bell’s Cup team withdrew from Sunday’s 400-miler, Bell was able to make the Nationwide race by timing in 37th 168.940 mph. He was fast enough to beat seven other “go-or-go-homers,” including Richmond’s last-placer Brian Keselowski in Raymond Key’s #47.

Two laps into the race, Bell pulled behind the wall, followed two laps later by J.J. Yeley in the Go Canada Racing #27. Current 2011 LASTCAR leader Jeff Green did not enter the race.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The #50 has not finished last in a Nationwide race since 2004, when Jennifer Jo Cobb picked up her first last-place finish after her Vassarette Chevrolet was involved in a single-car crash after 2 of the race’s 203 laps.
*Bell is the first Nationwide Series driver to ever finish last due to power steering problems.
*Bell is the fourth first-time Nationwide last-placer in 2011, joining Kelly Bires (Daytona February), Blake Koch (Dover), and Marc Davis (Nashville July).

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #50-T.J. Bell / 2 laps / power steering
42) #27-J.J. Yeley / 4 laps / vibration
41) #48-Dennis Setzer / 9 laps / vibration
40) #46-Chase Miller / 10 laps / ignition
39) #04-Danny O’Quinn, Jr. / 13 laps / electrical

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (8)
2nd) Brett Rowe (3)
3rd) Kelly Bires, Johnny Chapman, Dennis Setzer (2)
4th) T.J. Bell, Matt Carter, Kevin Conway, Marc Davis, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Brian Keselowski, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Scott Wimmer (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (8)
2nd) #55-Faith Motorsports (3)
3rd) #25-Ed Rensi, #47-Key Motorsports, #49-Jay Robinson Racing (2)
4th) #0-JD Motorsports, #13-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #41-Rick Ware Racing, #50-Mark Beaver, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports, #03-R3 Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (22)
2nd) Ford (5)
3rd) Dodge (1)

TRUCKS: Mike “hrmn8ter” Harmon Trails Truck Field at Chicago

2011-09-18T17:38:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: Rubbins-Racin

Mike Harmon picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Friday’s Fast Five 225 at the Chicagoland Speedway when his #74 @hrmn8ter Ford fell out with transmission problems after 3 of the race’s 150 laps.

This year, the 53-year-old Birmingport, Alabama competitor became an owner-driver, first fielding his #74 in the Nationwide Series at Fontana, where he finished last with a vibration. Last month at Michigan saw Harmon expand his operation into the Truck Series, his black Fords carrying the web address to his Twitter account. Following a 32nd-place run in the Michigan race, Harmon’s next truck race would be Friday’s race at Chicago.

Harmon qualified 33rd for the race at a speed of 163.117 mph. His speed was good enough to beat four other “go-or-go-homers,” including Wayne Edwards and Charlie Vest, who both failed to qualify. Three laps into the opening run, Harmon went behind the wall, followed on the next lap by Chris Jones and David Stremme. Stremme was making his first Truck Series start since 2008, debuting Rob Winfield’s #27 Chevrolet.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Harmon had not finished last in the Truck Series since 2010, when his Chris Lafferty-owned #89 Marriott / Shula’s 347 Grill Ford fell out with transmission trouble after 9 of the race’s 130 laps. That run was also Ford’s most recent last-place finish; Harmon’s is the first for Ford in 2011.
*This was Ford's 850th last-place finish across NASCAR's top three divisions.
*This last time the #74 finished last in a Truck Series race was in 2008, when Larry Gunselman’s #74 DCI / RMR Dodge left the race with electrical problems after 2 of the race’s 172 laps. Gunselman’s truck was owned by all-time LASTCAR leader Derrike Cope.
*Harmon is the first driver to finish last in both a Truck Series race (Chicago) and a Nationwide race (Fontana) this season. The only other driver to finish last in two divisions this season is Jeff Green, who has one finish in Cup (Loudon) and eight in Nationwide.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #74-Mike Harmon / 3 laps / transmission
35) #87-Chris Jones / 4 laps / wheel
34) #27-David Stremme / 4 laps / engine
33) #93-Dennis Setzer / 5 laps / brakes
32) #65-Brent Raymer / 7 laps / electrical

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Garvey (4)
2nd) Norm Benning, Chris Lafferty (2)
3rd) James Buescher, Chris Jones, Mike Harmon, Travis Kvapil, Johanna Long, Brent Raymer, Scott Riggs, Greg Seevers, Dennis Setzer, Brad Sweet (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #38-Shane Sieg (4)
2nd) #57-Norm Benning Racing (2)
3rd) #5-Randy Moss, #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #20-Panhandle Motorsports, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #65-Joey Sonntag, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Norm Benning Racing, #87-Rick Jones, #89-Chris Lafferty, #93-Shane Sieg, #07-SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (14)
2nd) Toyota (3)
3rd) Ford (1)

CUP: Early Wreck Destroys Scott Speed’s Fast Richmond Car

2011-09-10T23:27:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: ESPN2

Scott Speed picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Saturday’s Wonderful Pistachios 400 at the Richmond International Raceway when his #46 T&T Performance Ford was involved in a 13-car crash on Lap 8 of the 400-lap race.

After two difficult years on the Sprint Cup tour, Speed was released from Team Red Bull’s #82 team at the end of 2010 to make way for Kasey Kahne, set to drive for the team until his move in 2012 to Hendrick Motorsports. Speed was absent for much of the 2011 season and was unsuccessful in his return to open wheel racing when he failed to make the Indianapolis 500 field.

However, in July, Speed earned redemption at Indianapolis and, with it, a return to NASCAR. Team owner Larry Gunselman tabbed Speed to qualify his #37 Ford at the fabled speedway, where Speed successfully timed in 39th. He made the next two races at Pocono and Watkins Glen before switching teams once more to Dusty Whitney’s #46 team.

Since Whitney made the switch from Chevrolet to Ford at Indianapolis, the #46 team had only qualified for the August race at Pocono, leaving the team with a string of DNQs at Indianapolis, Watkins Glen, and Michigan. However, when Speed replaced driver Erik Darnell at Bristol, Speed timed the car in 42nd and was signed to run for the rest of 2011. Tuesday at Atlanta, Speed came home 32nd, scoring the team’s best finish since road racer Andy Pilgrim’s 26th-place run at Sonoma.

At Richmond, Speed turned heads by becoming the fastest “go-or-go-homer” in both Friday’s practice sessions, ranking 19th in the opening session and 18th in Happy Hour. In qualifying, Speed drove a conservative lap of 124.321 mph, good enough for only 41st in the field, but more importantly put Whitney’s team into its third-consecutive race.

At the start of the race, it first appeared Andy Lally was headed to the first last-place finish of his Sprint Cup career. Two laps into the race, the young road racer was sent spinning into the turn three wall, forcing him to the garage for extensive repairs. Speed avoided involvement, but was not so lucky on Lap 8.

After Clint Bowyer spun out of the Top 5 while racing David Reutimann, nearly a dozen cars in front of him piled into the mess, blocking the track. Following Robby Gordon’s #7 Dodge at the time, Speed was looking to the inside when he rammed Gordon’s car, resulting in extensive damage to the right-front of Speed’s Ford. Both cars were among those sent to the garage with Lally.

Lally returned to the track first, shifting Gordon to 43rd and Speed to 42nd. For much of the race, it appeared this would be how they would finish. However, even though he lacked funding to run the entire 400-lap race, Gordon returned to the track by Lap 293 to run 44 more laps, finally dropping Speed to 43rd. Speed’s team never returned to the track and remained in the last finishing position. Gordon came home 37th.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Dusty Whitney’s #46 team has finished last in both Richmond races in 2011. In April’s Crown Royal Presents the Matthew and Daniel Hansen 400, J.J. Yeley’s #46 Red Line Oil Chevrolet fell out with electrical woes after 38 laps. Until Saturday, Whitney’s team had not finished last since then.
*Scott Speed’s only other last-place finish came last year when his #82 Red Bull Toyota lost the engine after 28 laps of the 2010 Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen.
*Speed is the first Sprint Cup driver in 2011 to finish last due to crash damage.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #46-Scott Speed / 7 laps / crash
42) #55-J.J. Yeley / 22 laps / overheating
41) #87-Joe Nemechek / 24 laps / ignition
40) #30-David Stremme / 42 laps / brakes
39) #66-Michael McDowell / 46 laps / brakes

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (5)
2nd) Mike Skinner, J.J. Yeley (4)
3rd) Joe Nemechek (3)
4th) Kevin Conway, Robby Gordon (2)
5th) Dave Blaney, Landon Cassill, Jeff Green, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs, Scott Speed (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Whitney Motorsports’ two other last-place finishes this season came with current Front Row Motorsports driver J.J. Yeley, who finished 43rd in Whitney’s #46 in the Daytona 500 and, most recently, at Richmond back in the spring.
1st) #60-Germain Racing (6)
2nd) #66-HP Racing LLC (5)
3rd) #46-Whitney Motorsports, #55-Front Row Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
4th) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
5th) #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (15)
2nd) Chevrolet, Ford (4)
3rd) Dodge (3)

N’WIDE: Brian Keselowski Shuffled to 43rd at Richmond

2011-09-10T23:24:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: Brian Keselowski's Facebook Page

Brian Keselowski picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Friday’s Virginia 529 College Savings 250 at the Richmond International Raceway when his unsponsored #47 Key Motorsports Chevrolet fell out with an ignition problem after 2 of the race’s 250 laps.

The come-from-behind story of SpeedWeeks 2011, Keselowski and his #92 Sprint Cup team have faced an uphill struggle ever since. After several DNQs and withdrawals following their run in the Daytona 500, Keselowski and team made the shift to Chevrolet at Michigan, only to miss that race as well.

Following the team’s most recent attempt at Loudon, where Dennis Setzer was unable to get the car into the field, Keselowski was offered a job as spotter and “start-and-park” driver for Key Motorsports. Keselowski’s first start for Key’s #47 team came at Iowa, where he finished 42nd after four laps. Coming into Richmond, he had made the race at Bristol, but failed to qualify at Watkins Glen and Atlanta.

At Richmond, Keselowski qualified 29th at a speed of 119.437 mph, good enough to not only make the race, but rank him seventh among the nineteen “go-or-go-homers” who attempted to qualify.

After the first lap of Friday’s race, Dennis Setzer, driving the #48 of a new second team for Jay Robinson Racing, was the first to go behind the wall, followed by both Keselowski and Matt Carter’s Rick Ware-owned #71. Setzer and Carter both returned to run a handful more laps, but Keselowski’s car retired, leaving him with the 43rd place finish.

In addition to his Nationwide Series duties, Keselowski has also become the spotter for Front Row Motorsports’ #55 Sprint Cup team, driven Saturday by J.J. Yeley.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was Keselowski’s first last-place finish of the 2011 season. His two other last-place finishes also came in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The most recent of the two also came at Richmond when his #92 DoubleTree Hotel / K-Automotive Motorsports Dodge fell out with brake problems after 5 laps of the 2010 BUBBA Burger 250. Keselowski’s only other last-place finish was back in 2006 when his Keith Coleman-owned #23 Ridley Motorcycles Chevrolet was involved in a single-car crash on Lap 25 of the Wypall 200 at Phoenix.
*The #47 had not finished last in a Nationwide Series race at Richmond since 1998, when Andy Santerre’s Monro Muffler Chevrolet fell out with a fuel pump failure after 15 laps of the Hardee’s 250.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #47-Brian Keselowski / 2 laps / ignition
42) #46-Chase Miller / 4 laps / transmission
41) #03-Scott Riggs / 7 laps / overheating
40) #49-Mark Green / 8 laps / brakes
39) #48-Dennis Setzer / 9 laps / brakes

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (8)
2nd) Brett Rowe (3)
3rd) Kelly Bires, Johnny Chapman, Dennis Setzer (2)
4th) Matt Carter, Kevin Conway, Marc Davis, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Brian Keselowski, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Scott Wimmer (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (8)
2nd) #55-Faith Motorsports (3)
3rd) #25-Ed Rensi, #47-Key Motorsports, #49-Jay Robinson Racing (2)
4th) #0-JD Motorsports, #13-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #41-Rick Ware Racing, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports, #03-R3 Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (21)
2nd) Ford (5)
3rd) Dodge (1)

CUP: Blaney, Suffering From Kidney Stones, Exits Atlanta Race Early In Skinner’s #60

2011-09-06T14:07:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: SPEED

Dave Blaney picked up the 19th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Tuesday’s AdvoCare 500 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway when his #60 Big Red Chevrolet exited the race with a vibration after two of the race’s 325 laps.

With the finish, Blaney is now tied for the fourth-most last-place finishes in Cup history with G.C. Spencer. He is also tied for the fourth-most all-time across all three top divisions of NASCAR with Jeff Fuller and Jeff Green.

Following last week’s race at Bristol, Germain Racing switched its #60 team from Toyota to Chevrolet, but Mike Skinner remained the driver of the car. On Saturday, Skinner put the car into the 39th spot at a speed of 180.012 mph, more than enough to bump out four other teams. Teammate Casey Mears, his #13 GEICO machine still a Toyota, qualified one position ahead of Skinner in 38th.

Dave Blaney, who has enjoyed some of his best runs at Atlanta, qualified 35th in Tommy Baldwin’s #36 Golden Corral / Collective Soul Chevrolet. However, by the time rain pushed the start of the race to Tuesday morning, Blaney was suddenly suffering from kidney stones. Knowing Skinner was going to park the #60 to help fund Mears’ team, Blaney and Skinner switched rides, allowing Blaney to exit the race after two laps in the #60.

Skinner and Mears went on to finish the race 27th and 28th, with Skinner leading two laps during a late round of green-flag pit stops.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was Blaney’s first last-place finish of the season. The last time he came home 43rd was last fall in the AAA 400 at Dover, where his then-unsponsored #36 Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet exited the race after 29 laps with electrical problems.
*Blaney has one other last-place finish in a Cup race at Atlanta, which came in the 2009 running of this race. Back then in the 2009 Pep Boys Auto 500, Blaney’s #66 PRISM Motorsports Toyota left the race after 19 laps with electrical problems.
*This was the first time the #60 has ever finished last in a Cup race at Atlanta.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #60-Dave Blaney / 2 laps / vibration
42) #55-Travis Kvapil / 17 laps / electrical
41) #66-Michael McDowell / 23 laps / rear gear
40) #87-Joe Nemechek / 27 laps / ignition
39) #7-Robby Gordon / 34 laps / rear gear

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (5)
2nd) Mike Skinner, J.J. Yeley (4)
3rd) Joe Nemechek (3)
4th) Kevin Conway, Robby Gordon (2)
5th) Dave Blaney, Landon Cassill, Jeff Green, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Although this was Blaney’s first last-place finish of 2011, it was the sixth for the #60 Germain Racing team, breaking a tie with HP Racing’s #66 for the most last-place finishes so far this season. The team’s most recent last-place finish came with Mike Skinner at Watkins Glen, three races ago.
1st) #60-Germain Racing (6)
2nd) #66-HP Racing LLC (5)
3rd) #55-Front Row Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
4th) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports, #46-Whitney Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
5th) #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (15)
2nd) Chevrolet (4)
3rd) Dodge, Ford (3)

N’WIDE: Chapman Ends Jeff Green’s Last-Place Streak at Four

2011-09-04T19:01:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: Rubbins-Racin

Johnny Chapman picked up the 14th last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s Great Clips 300 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #41 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet fell out with overheating problems after the first of the race’s 195 laps.

The finish was Chapman’s second of 2011 and his first since Nashville, 18 races ago, when he was driving Rick Ware’s unsponsored #75 Ford. Chapman’s run not only tied him with Dennis Setzer for the second-most last-place finishes in Nationwide Series history, but also ended Jeff Green’s record-breaking streak of four-consecutive last-place finishes.

Chapman qualified 25th at a speed of 171.976 mph, ranking him third among the “go-or-go-homers” behind Ryan Truex and Trevor Bayne. Jeff Green’s #44 timed in three spots behind Chapman in 28th. Both were more than fast enough to bump out of the field Brian Keselowski’s #47 and the #74 of Mike Harmon.

For the first time since Iowa last month, owner Rick Ware had four cars in the starting field with Chapman joined by Timmy Hill’s #15, Carl Long in the #75, and Clay Greenfield making his series debut in the #71. When the race started, Chapman and Long fell out in the first six laps, followed by Hill and Greenfield by Lap 94.

Jeff Green remained in the race until Lap 17, which put him 37th in the final running order.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Rick Ware’s #41 scored its most recent last-place finish in the 2010 DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona, when Chrissy Wallace’s Fuel Doctor Chevrolet was involved in a crash on the opening lap.
*The #41 had never before finished last in a Nationwide Series race at Atlanta.
*A Nationwide Series driver has not finished last due to overheating problems since Kevin Conway fell out after two laps of this spring’s Las Vegas race, the 2011 Sam’s Town 300, 23 races ago.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #41-Johnny Chapman / 1 lap / overheating
42) #49-Mark Green / 4 laps / handling
41) #75-Carl Long / 6 laps / transmission
40) #46-Chase Miller / 6 laps / overheating
39) #42-Tim Andrews / 10 laps / suspension

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (8)
2nd) Brett Rowe (3)
3rd) Kelly Bires, Johnny Chapman, Dennis Setzer (2)
4th) Matt Carter, Kevin Conway, Marc Davis, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Scott Wimmer (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (8)
2nd) #55-Faith Motorsports (3)
3rd) #25-Ed Rensi, #49-Jay Robinson Racing (2)
4th) #0-JD Motorsports, #13-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #41-Rick Ware Racing, #47-Key Motorsports, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports, #03-R3 Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (20)
2nd) Ford (5)
3rd) Dodge (1)

TRUCKS: Setzer Scores First Truck Series Last-Place Finish Since 1999

2011-09-04T18:58:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: Rubbins-Racin

Dennis Setzer picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Friday’s Good Sam Club 200 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway when his #93 S&W Services Chevrolet fell out with brake problems after 6 of the race’s 130 laps.

Setzer was making his first Truck Series start of the year and his first-ever for owner Shane Sieg. In 297 previous starts dating back to the inaugural 1995 season, Setzer has amassed 18 wins, but none since his emotional win for Bobby Hamilton Racing at Martinsville in 2008. Martinsville was the scene of Setzer’s most recent Truck Series start, where he came home 29th driving for owner Ricky Benton.

Setzer qualified 33rd for the race at a speed of 169.076 mph, continuing the streak of Sieg’s #93 making every race this season. For the first time this year, the #93 was the first to the garage, followed a lap later by teammate and current 2011 LASTCAR Truck Series leader Mike Garvey in the #38.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Setzer’s only other Truck Series last-place finish came in 1999, when the engine blew on his #1 Mopar Performance Dodge after the opening lap of the season-opening Florida Dodge Dealers 400k at Homestead.
*Sieg’s #93 most recently finished last at Homestead when Shane Sieg himself fell out with electrical problems after 8 laps of the 2010 Ford 200.
*The #93 had never before finished last in a Truck Series race at Atlanta.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #93-Dennis Setzer / 6 laps / brakes
35) #38-Mike Garvey / 7 laps / overheating
34) #07-Johnny Chapman / 8 laps / transmission
33) #09-Charlie Vest / 14 laps / overheating
32) #60-Cole Whitt / 19 laps / engine

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Garvey (4)
2nd) Norm Benning, Chris Lafferty (2)
3rd) James Buescher, Chris Jones, Travis Kvapil, Johanna Long, Brent Raymer, Scott Riggs, Greg Seevers, Dennis Setzer, Brad Sweet (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #38-Shane Sieg (4)
2nd) #57-Norm Benning Racing (2)
3rd) #5-Randy Moss, #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #20-Panhandle Motorsports, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #65-Joey Sonntag, #75-Norm Benning Racing, #87-Rick Jones, #89-Chris Lafferty, #93-Shane Sieg, #07-SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (14)
2nd) Toyota (3)

CUP: Robby Gordon Out Early In Sprint Cup Night Race at Bristol

2011-08-27T23:27:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: SPEED

Robby Gordon picked up the 11th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Saturday’s Irwin Tools Night Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway when his #7 SPEED Energy Dodge fell out with brake problems after 10 of the race’s 500 laps.

It was Robby’s second last-place finish of the 2011 season and his first since exiting five laps into the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis, four races ago.

Robby had originally planned to enter two cars in the Bristol race, putting part-time driver Scott Wimmer into his #77. However, the #77 was withdrawn by the time the teams arrived trackside, so Robby turned his attention to his #7. One week after Wimmer narrowly missed getting the #7 into the field at Michigan, the owner-driver put his car into the 39th spot at a speed of 119.835 mph.

Although the car carried additional sponsorship from longtime Bristol sponsor Food City, Robby pulled behind the wall in the first ten laps, joining current LASTCAR Cup Series leader Michael McDowell in the #66. McDowell had been reporting electrical issues over the radio that were bad enough to cause his engine to shut off. The crew was able to make repairs, however, allowing McDowell to return to the track. Robby, with only enough sponsorship to run the distance in the upcoming Cup races at Chicagoland, Texas, and Phoenix, called it a night and fell to 43rd.

McDowell followed suit after completing 49 laps and came home 39th.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The #7 had not finished last at Bristol since 1996, when Geoff Bodine’s #7 QVC Ford went out with an oil leak after completing 206 laps of the 1996 Goody’s Headache Powders 500.
*This was Robby Gordon’s first-ever last-place finish in a Cup race at Bristol.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #7-Robby Gordon / 10 laps / brakes
42) #46-Scott Speed / 28 laps / brakes
41) #60-Mike Skinner / 28 laps / brakes
40) #87-Joe Nemechek / 42 laps / brakes
39) #66-Michael McDowell / 49 laps / electrical

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (5)
2nd) Mike Skinner, J.J. Yeley (4)
3rd) Joe Nemechek (3)
4th) Kevin Conway, Robby Gordon (2)
5th) Landon Cassill, Jeff Green, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #60-Germain Racing, #66-HP Racing LLC (5)
2nd) #55-Front Row Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
3rd) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports, #46-Whitney Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
4th) #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (15)
2nd) Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford (3)

N’WIDE: Jeff Green Becomes The First NASCAR Driver To Score Four Straight Last-Place Finishes

2011-08-27T23:22:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: TheHotLap.com

Jeff Green picked up the 24th last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Friday’s Food City 250 at the Bristol Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #44 TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet fell out with vibration problems after 4 of the race’s 250 laps.

With the finish, Green became the first driver in the history of any of NASCAR’s top three divisions to finish last in four consecutive NASCAR-sanctioned points-scoring races. The previous three finishes came at Iowa, Watkins Glen, and Montreal. Green, now tied with Jeff Fuller for the fourth-most last-place finishes in NASCAR history, is also now tied with Fuller for the most last-place finishes in NASCAR Nationwide Series history.

In Nationwide Series qualifying, Green secured the 43rd and final starting spot at a speed of 115.236 mph, good enough to bump out of the field the cars of Johnny Chapman, J.J. Yeley, John Jackson, T.J. Bell, Jennifer Jo Cobb, and Carl Long. Green also attempted to qualify Larry Gunselman’s #37 Ford for the Sprint Cup race, but spun in Turn 4 and backed into the wall during his first timed lap. Although he was able to turn around and valiantly went through his second lap, Green still missed the race along with J.J. Yeley and T.J. Bell.

That night in the Nationwide race, Green pulled behind the wall, followed two laps later by Brian Keselowski in Key Motorsports’ #47 Chevrolet.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The race marked Jeff Green’s second-consecutive last-place finish in the Nationwide Series’ night race at Bristol. Last year, Green’s #36 Long John Silvers Chevrolet lost its brakes after four laps. Green was also the last-place finisher of this race in 1992, when his #16 31-W Insulation Chevrolet lost its engine after the opening lap.
*The #44 had not finished last at Bristol since this race in 2002, when Mike Harmon fell out with handling woes after two laps. As reported in an earlier article, Harmon was driving a backup car provided by Larry Gunselman following Harmon’s horrifying practice wreck into the unlocked crossover gate off Turn 2.

FOUR-RACE LAST-PLACE STREAKS IN NASCAR
Five times in the history of NASCAR, a driver has finished last in three consecutive points-paying races, only to have fallen short in the fourth. All five of the following streaks took place in the Cup Series and Nationwide Series; a driver has yet to finish last in three consecutive Truck Series races.
(1) 2010 Sprint Cup Series
#13-Max Papis at Michigan, Sonoma, and Loudon
Next Race: Papis Finishes 42nd at Daytona; #66-Dave Blaney Finishes Last by 2 Laps
(2) 2010 Nationwide Series
#36-Jeff Green at Dover, Kansas, and Fontana
Next Race: Green’s team doesn’t enter race at Charlotte; #26-Parker Kligerman Finishes Last
(3) 2009 Sprint Cup Series
#66-Dave Blaney at Bristol, Atlanta, and Richmond
Next Race: Blaney Finishes 42nd at Loudon; #37-Tony Raines Finishes Last by 15 Laps
(4) 2009 Nationwide Series
#90-Johnny Chapman at Milwaukee, Loudon, and Daytona
Next Race: Chapman DNQs at Chicagoland; #49-Mark Green Finishes Last
(5) 2004 Nationwide Series
#88-Jeff Fuller at Rockingham, Las Vegas, and Darlington
Next Race: Fuller Finishes 37th at Bristol; #77-Donnie Neuenberger Finishes Last

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #44-Jeff Green / 4 laps / vibration
42) #47-Brian Keselowski / 6 laps / brakes
41) #71-Matt Carter / 7 laps / brakes
40) #46-Chase Miller / 7 laps / brakes
39) #42-Tim Andrews / 11 laps / electrical

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (8)
2nd) Brett Rowe (3)
3rd) Kelly Bires, Dennis Setzer (2)
4th) Matt Carter, Johnny Chapman, Kevin Conway, Marc Davis, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Scott Wimmer (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (8)
2nd) #55-Faith Motorsports (3)
3rd) #25-Ed Rensi, #49-Jay Robinson Racing (2)
4th) #0-JD Motorsports, #13-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #47-Key Motorsports, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports, #03-R3 Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (19)
2nd) Ford (5)
3rd) Dodge (1)

TRUCKS: Brent Raymer Scores First Last-Place Finish In Two Years

2011-08-27T23:18:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: SPEED, Rubbins-Racin Forums

Brent Raymer picked up the 4th last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Series career in Wednesday’s O’Reilly 200 at the Bristol Motor Speedway when his #65 County Building Centers / Trans Pecos Trucking Chevrolet fell out with electrical problems after 3 of the race’s 200 laps.

Since the 2008 season, Raymer has made 43 Truck Series starts with his family-owned race team. His best finish in the series came last summer at Pocono, where he came home 16th. However, with manufacturer support scaling back and Raymer’s #85 trucks sponsored almost always by Ford, the team scaled back operations earlier this year following back-to-back DNQs at Daytona and Phoenix. Brent Raymer Racing is currently accepting donations for a return to the track at http://brentraymer.com/

Since then, Raymer has made one other start for owner Joey Sonntag, driving his #65 Chevrolet to a 29th-place finish at Nashville. Wednesday’s race at Bristol would be Raymer’s second start of the season for Sonntag.

Raymer qualified for the race at a speed of 117.862 mph, edging Jennifer Jo Cobb and Norm Benning for the 36th and final spot in the field. He pulled behind the wall after three laps of the race, followed a lap later by current 2011 LASTCAR Truck Series leader Mike Garvey in the #93.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The last time Raymer finished last in a Truck Series race was in the 2009 Built Ford Tough 225 at Kentucky, where the rear end on his #85 Car Truck & RV / BrentRaymer.com Ford failed after the opening lap. It was Raymer’s second consecutive last-place finish. It’s also his second consecutive last-place finish after starting in last place.
*The #65 has not finished last in a Truck Series race since 1999, when Milan Garrett’s Champion Wheel Ford lost its engine after 13 laps of the 1999 Dodge California Truck Stop 300 at Mesa Marin Raceway.
*The #65 has finished last in a Truck Race at Bristol one other time, when Kenny Allen’s Petroleum World Chevrolet was involved in a crash after 4 laps of the 1997 Loadhandler 200.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #65-Brent Raymer / 3 laps / electrical
35) #93-Mike Garvey / 4 laps / brakes
34) #87-Chris Jones / 54 laps / crash
33) #01-Jake Crum / 61 laps / crash
32) #07-John King / 62 laps / wheel

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Garvey (4)
2nd) Norm Benning, Chris Lafferty (2)
3rd) James Buescher, Chris Jones, Travis Kvapil, Johanna Long, Brent Raymer, Scott Riggs, Greg Seevers, Brad Sweet (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #38-Shane Sieg (4)
2nd) #57-Norm Benning Racing (2)
3rd) #5-Randy Moss, #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #20-Panhandle Motorsports, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #65-Joey Sonntag, #75-Norm Benning Racing, #87-Rick Jones, #89-Chris Lafferty, #07-SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (13)
2nd) Toyota (3)

CUP: Yeley Keeps LASTCAR Cup Series Championship Battle Close With His Second 43rd In Last Three Races

2011-08-21T17:21:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: ESPN2

J.J. Yeley picked up the 6th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 at the Michigan International Speedway when his unsponsored #55 Front Row Motorsports Ford fell out with electrical problems after 11 of the race’s 203 laps.

It was Yeley’s fourth last-place finish of 2011 and his first in two races, when he trailed the field at Pocono earlier this month.

Yeley qualified 31st for Sunday’s race at a speed of 186.287 mph, ranking him 3rd behind Casey Mears and teammate Travis Kvapil among the field’s “go-or-go-home” drivers. The run was more than enough to lock Yeley into the field ahead of Johnny Sauter in Robby Gordon’s #7, Erik Darnell in Dusty Whitney’s #46, and T.J. Bell’s Joe Falk-owned #50, who all failed to qualify.

Early in the race, it appeared that Mike Skinner, his #60 slowest in both the weekend’s practice sessions, would tie Michael McDowell for the 2011 LASTCAR Cup Series lead. With McDowell again replaced by Todd Bodine in the #66 following McDowell’s Nationwide run at Montreal, Skinner, the 43rd-place starter, maintained the last position early. However, it was Yeley who fell out first, beating Skinner to the garage by three laps. Bodine finished 39th, exiting the race 21 laps into the opening green-flag run.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The #55 had not finished last in a Cup race at Michigan since 1994, when Jimmy Hensley’s Petron Plus Ford lost its engine 2 laps into the 1994 Miller Genuine Draft 400 at Michigan.
*Ford had not finished last in a Cup race at Michigan since 2009, when Bobby Labonte’s #96 DLP Ford fell out with engine problems after 18 laps of the 2009 CARFAX 400 at Michigan.
*Yeley had never before finished last in a Cup race at Michigan.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #55-J.J. Yeley / 11 laps / electrical
42) #60-Mike Skinner / 14 laps / electrical
41) #87-Joe Nemechek / 18 laps / ignition
40) #30-David Stremme / 20 laps / clutch
39) #66-Todd Bodine / 21 laps / electrical

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (5)
2nd) Mike Skinner, J.J. Yeley (4)
3rd) Joe Nemechek (3)
4th) Kevin Conway (2)
5th) Landon Cassill, Robby Gordon, Jeff Green, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #60-Germain Racing, #66-HP Racing LLC (5)
2nd) #55-Front Row Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
3rd) #46-Whitney Motorsports,#97-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
4th) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports, #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (15)
2nd) Chevrolet, Ford (3)
3rd) Dodge (2)

N’WIDE: Jeff Green Set To Challenge Two LASTCAR Records at Bristol Following His Third-Consecutive Last-Place Finish

2011-08-21T17:19:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: TheHotLap.com

Jeff Green picked up the 23rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s NAPA Auto Parts 200 presented by Dodge at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal when his unsponsored #44 TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet fell out with brake problems after 1 of the race’s 74 laps.

The finish was Green’s seventh of 2011 and his third in a row, matching a three-race streak from the fall of 2010 during which he finished last at Dover, Kansas, and Fontana in TriStar’s #36.

Green qualified 30th for Saturday’s event at a speed of 92.752 mph, putting him solidly into the 300th NASCAR Nationwide Series race of his 21-year career. Unfortunately, his run did not last long as he “start-and-parked” for Tri-Star after the opening lap. At first, it appeared Eric McClure, who also went to the garage that lap, had edged Green for his first last-place finish since Kentucky in 2006. However, McClure returned to finish 20 laps down in 36th, shuffling Green back to 43rd.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Only two other drivers have ever finished last in three consecutive Nationwide Series races. In 2009, Johnny Chapman, driving MSRP Motorsports’ #90, finished last at Milwaukee, New Hampshire, and Daytona before the streak ended with a DNQ at Chicagoland. In 2004, LASTCAR Nationwide Series leader Jeff Fuller and NEMCO’s #88 teamed up to finish last at Rockingham, Las Vegas, and Darlington before coming home 37th the next week at Bristol. If Green finishes last this Friday at Bristol, he will not only set a new consecutive last-place record, but also equal Fuller’s all-time series leading total of 24 last-place finishes.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #44-Jeff Green / 1 lap / brakes
42) #89-Morgan Shepherd / 5 laps / engine
41) #53-Andrew Ranger / 23 laps / engine
40) #13-D.J. Kennington / 28 laps / suspension
39) #51-Jeremy Clements / 45 laps / rear gear

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (7)
2nd) Brett Rowe (3)
3rd) Kelly Bires, Dennis Setzer (2)
4th) Matt Carter, Johnny Chapman, Kevin Conway, Marc Davis, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Scott Wimmer (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (7)
2nd) #55-Faith Motorsports (3)
3rd) #25-Ed Rensi, #49-Jay Robinson Racing (2)
4th) #0-JD Motorsports, #13-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #47-Key Motorsports, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports, #03-R3 Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (18)
2nd) Ford (5)
3rd) Dodge (1)

TRUCKS: Chris Jones The 28th Truck Driver To Finish Last Without Completing The First Lap

2011-08-21T17:16:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: Chris Jones Fans Facebook Page

Chris Jones picked up the 4th last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Saturday’s VFW 200 at the Michigan International Speedway when his #87 Garbee’s Truck and Trailer Chevrolet fell out with an engine failure without completing a lap of the 102-lap race.

Just 33 trucks showed up to the 2-mile Michigan track for qualifying, allowing Jones to make his third Truck Series start of 2011 without taking a qualifying lap. In his two previous starts at Dover and Kansas, his #87 has come home 32nd and 34th, exiting both races in the early laps.

This time, Jones failed to complete the opening lap, going behind the wall with engine trouble as the race began. Mike Harmon, driving in his own Truck Series ride for the first time since 2009, fell out two laps later with handling woes.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was Jones’ first last-place finish in 28 races, dating back to an early-race crash his #87 Copy Wizard Chevrolet suffered 6 laps into the 2010 AAA Insurance 200 at Lucas Oil Raceway.
*It is only the third time in Truck Series history that the #87 has finished last. The first time came when the late John Nemechek lost the engine on his Chevrolet 3 laps into the 1995 Pizza Plus 150 at Bristol.
*This was the 30th time in Truck Series history that a driver finished last without completing a single lap. The last time it happened was 20 races ago when Johanna Long’s #20 Panhandle Grading and Paving Toyota lost its transmission at the start of the 2010 Smith’s 350 at Las Vegas. Jones is the 28th driver to have done so as Chris Horn failed to complete a single lap of three races from 1999-2000.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
33) #87-Chris Jones / 0 laps / engine
32) #74-Mike Harmon / 2 laps / handling
31) #75-J.J. Yeley / 4 laps / rear gear
30) #38-Mike Garvey / 4 laps / transmission
29) #93-Casey Roderick / 6 laps / clutch

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Garvey (4)
2nd) Norm Benning, Chris Lafferty (2)
3rd) James Buescher, Chris Jones, Travis Kvapil, Johanna Long, Scott Riggs, Greg Seevers, Brad Sweet (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #38-Shane Sieg (4)
2nd) #57-Norm Benning Racing (2)
3rd) #5-Randy Moss, #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #20-Panhandle Motorsports, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #75-Norm Benning Racing, #87-Rick Jones, #89-Chris Lafferty, #07-SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (12)
2nd) Toyota (3)

CUP: Skinner 43rd In First Watkins Glen Start Since 2002

2011-08-15T12:53:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: Rob Dostie

Mike Skinner picked up the 13th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Monday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen when his #60 Big Red Toyota fell out with brake problems after 4 of the race’s 92 laps.

It was Skinner’s fourth Cup last-place finish of 2011 and his first since the inaugural Quaker State 400 at Kentucky, four races ago.

On Saturday, Skinner qualified 37th at a speed of 122.130 mph, putting him into his first start at Watkins Glen since 2002, when he finished 40th in Morgan-McClure’s iconic #4 Kodak Chevrolet. Germain Racing, Skinner’s present team, was already struggling at The Glen after teammate Casey Mears’ #13 blew an engine in spectacular fashion on the frontstretch during Friday’s first practice session. However, when qualifying was over, both Mears and Skinner were in the field with Mears a respectable 26th.

In the race itself, Skinner and defending LASTCAR Cup Champion Joe Nemechek exchanged the 43rd position along with Kurt Busch, who spun in the Inner Loop on Lap 5. By then, however, Skinner was already behind the wall with brake troubles, followed the next lap by J.J. Yeley in Front Row Motorsports’ “start-and-park” #55. Current LASTCAR leader Michael McDowell fell out two circuits after that with Nemechek exiting after 12 laps.

Casey Mears finished on the lead lap in 20th.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*A Cup driver had not finished last at Watkins Glen with “brakes” listed as the official cause in the results since way back in 1964, when Pete Boland’s 1963 #01 Mercury lost its brakes two laps into the 1964 The Glen 151.8, leaving Boland with his second-consecutive last-place finish. Billy Wade went on to win the race from the pole in what was then a 66-lap event around a 2.3-mile course.
*This is the first time Skinner and the #60 have both finished last in a Cup race at Watkins Glen.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #60-Mike Skinner / 4 laps / brakes
42) #55-J.J. Yeley / 5 laps / brakes
41) #66-Michael McDowell / 7 laps / engine
40) #87-Joe Nemechek / 12 laps / brakes
39) #37-Scott Speed / 45 laps / suspension

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (5)
2nd) Mike Skinner (4)
3rd) Joe Nemechek, J.J. Yeley (3)
4th) Kevin Conway (2)
5th) Landon Cassill, Robby Gordon, Jeff Green, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
When combined with Landon Cassill’s last-place performance for the team at Phoenix in February, the #60 Germain Racing Team is now in a tie with HP Racing’s #66 for the LASTCAR Owner’s Championship lead.
1st) #60-Germain Racing, #66-HP Racing LLC (5)
2nd) #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
3rd) #46-Whitney Motorsports, #55-Front Row Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
4th) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports, #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (15)
2nd) Chevrolet (3)
3rd) Dodge, Ford (2)

N’WIDE: Jeff Green’s Brakes Result in Second-Straight Last-Place Finish

2011-08-15T12:46:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: Rob Dostie

Jeff Green picked up the 22nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen International when his unsponsored #44 TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet fell out with brake problems after completing one of the race’s 85 laps.

It was Green’s series-leading sixth Nationwide last-place finish in 2011 and second in a row, following his Lap 3 exit at Iowa last week. Green is also two finishes away from tying Jeff Fuller for the all-time LASTCAR Nationwide Series lead.

In qualifying, Green turned in a lap of 116.767 mph, the 38th-fastest speed, but rolled off 43rd as five teams locked into the field ran slower than him in qualifying. Still, Green was assured his twentieth start of the year as he ran fast enough to bump five other “go-or-go-homers” out of the field. Among those who failed to qualify were Key Motorsports’ three “start-and-park” Chevrolets driven by Chase Miller, Brian Keselowski, and Tim Andrews.

After the start of the race, Green’s car was the first to pull behind the wall, followed three laps later by T.J. Bell, who complained that the brakes had gone soft on his Jennifer Jo Cobb-owned #13.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Neither Jeff Green nor the #44 had ever before finished last in a Nationwide Series race at Watkins Glen.
*Ever since he joined TriStar Motorsports in late 2009 for what was then the #36 team, Green has finished last in 14 of the last 38 races - nearly two last-place finishes for every five Nationwide Series races.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #44-Jeff Green / 1 lap / brakes
42) #13-T.J. Bell / 4 laps / brakes
41) #82-J.J. Yeley / 4 laps / brakes
40) #49-Mark Green / 6 laps / brakes
39) #52-Dan Clarke / 21 laps / engine

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (6)
2nd) Brett Rowe (3)
3rd) Kelly Bires, Dennis Setzer (2)
4th) Matt Carter, Johnny Chapman, Kevin Conway, Marc Davis, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Scott Wimmer (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (6)
2nd) #55-Faith Motorsports (3)
3rd) #25-Ed Rensi, #49-Jay Robinson Racing (2)
4th) #0-JD Motorsports, #13-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #47-Key Motorsports, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports, #03-R3 Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (17)
2nd) Ford (5)
3rd) Dodge (1)

Twenty Years Later, Former #70 Crewman Marty Burke Remembers J.D. McDuffie

2011-08-10T01:29:00.000-07:00

J.D. McDuffie, circa 1991
(SOURCE: McDuffie Collection; "Forty Years of Stock Car Racing"
by Greg Fielden)

Twenty years ago Thursday, under heavy overcast skies, a young Marty Burke walked out onto pit road at Watkins Glen International. He stopped at the driver’s side of a Pontiac that sat 35th on the grid for the 1991 Budweiser at the Glen. The car was burgundy and black with a sharp white racing stripe around the middle, a distinctive paint scheme the driver came up with after spotting a sharp-looking new Cadillac outside a restaurant earlier that year. Peering through the window of car #70, Burke met eyes with the fifty-two-year-old driver, who was still smiling from beneath his open-faced helmet about his win in a celebrity race the night before.

The driver was J.D. McDuffie.

Over the rumble of idling engines, Burke talked with J.D. about their plan for the 90-lap race. They would run in the middle of the pack early on, then make a bid for the Top 20, maybe even a Top 15 if things shook out right. J.D. was winless in 652 previous starts and hadn’t finished any better than 22nd since late 1987, but driver and team had many reasons to be excited.

Thanks to shocks rebuilt by Bilstein, a brand-new transmission purchased on auction from the defunct Blue Max Racing team, and a powerful motor built by fellow team member Gerry Glenn, the oldest car in J.D.’s fleet could now run flat-out down The Glen’s 2600-foot backstretch. In Happy Hour, J.D. even pulled up on polesitter Terry Labonte, who broke the track record in qualifying, before both braked for treacherous Turn 5.

Consistently, J.D. negotiated the hard downhill right-hander safely, even as nearly a half-dozen of his fellow competitors - including defending winner Ricky Rudd - left practice with cars damaged or destroyed by the unforgiving tire barriers at the edge of Turn 5's grassy runoff.

Even a new sponsor took notice of J.D.’s performance as local New York construction firm L.C. Whitford Co., Inc. signed-on for a one-race deal, putting their logo on the quarter-panels.

“We went all over the car,” Burke recalls. “It was the most prepared we ever were for a race.”

But nothing could prepare Burke - and everyone else in attendance - for what happened on the fifth lap.

For Burke, the crash that claimed the life of veteran NASCAR driver J.D. McDuffie that day took with it not only a boss, but a business partner, a mentor, and a close friend. In an interview I conducted with Burke in May, I invited him to share some of these memories.

THE BLUE-COLLAR RACER

Four years after he got his start in NASCAR by working as a crewman for Elmo Langley’s Cup team, Burke began working for J.D. in 1985. At the time, the Sanford, North Carolina driver was competing in his 21st season on what was then the Winston Cup Series. Burke recalls J.D. was a quiet man who spent most of his time working on his race cars, but was very much a fixture in the garage area. Recent NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Ned Jarrett often came by to chat with J.D. during his work with ESPN, as did any fan who stopped by:

“Since J.D. was not a super star,” Burke recalls, “the fans must have found him very approachable, and he never disappointed them. We would be out to dinner and they would come up and ask for his autograph and he would always oblige. The fans always wanted to talk with him as I really believe they thought of him as a blue-collar racer, and many fans related to that.”

Still, as a southern owner-driver at a time when multi-car teams and northerners like Geoff Bodine were gaining popularity, J.D. could use all the help he could get. Burke recalls the youth movement in today’s NASCAR was already changing the sport in the late 1980s, as shown by the difference in age of the fans who came by:

“The kids really were more attracted to the stars of the day. J.D.'s fan base was much more of the true racer and race fan.”

While other drivers in the garage area were friendly with J.D. as well, the increasing demands of big-name sponsors on their drivers started to restrict how much assistance he received from his fellow drivers. A working relationship like the one fellow owner-driver Dave Marcis had with Richard Childress Racing at the time was nonexistent at McDuffie Racing:

“[M]ost teams would loan us something if we needed it. But nobody ‘supported’ J.D. I think a lot of it had to do with the pressure of your own team’s performance. Even back then, the sponsors paid you to perform and that pressure was certainly there for the more well-financed teams.”

J.D. McDuffie's final car, co-owned by Marty Burke,
carrying Burke's Classic Trophies logos at Pocono, 1991
(SOURCE: Jack Kromer, Stock Car Racing Magazine)

As a result, as with crewmen for many other single-car teams at the time, Burke’s work for J.D. required he fill a number of roles for the organization - so many, in fact, that by 1991 he’d worked every position but jackman. As J.D.’s rear tire changer, for example, Burke hustled-up tires from other teams, most often Melling Racing, and calibrated stagger on pit road. Also, as one of J.D.’s sponsors, Burke’s Pennsylvania company Classic Trophies, one of a number of businesses he owned at the time, was on the #70 when money was tighter than usual. And it often was.

Working for J.D. also brought Burke into the fold with a small group of teammates, sponsors, and supporters who often accompanied the veteran driver at the race. The elder statesman of the group was Tom Rumple, whose Elkin, North Carolina company Rumple Furniture funded the team for nearly a decade. Mike Demers, whose company Son’s Auto Supply also sponsored J.D., assumed the role as crew chief “due to his booming voice,” Burke recalls, and worked with his wife at J.D.’s fan club. Gerry Glenn, of the New Jersey-based Medford Speed Shop, was J.D.’s engine guy, working alongside his son, Gerry Jr. AC Spark Plugs, J.D.’s only mainstream sponsor during the twilight of his career, remained with the team over his final six seasons, provided spark plugs and air filters at the track, and read the plugs for the team. Even though he was an independent, J.D. also received a lot of assistance from Pontiac with Morgan-McClure’s team acting as distributor:

“We got all the sheet metal we needed [from Pontiac],” says Burke, “and they sent a couple of blocks and cylinder heads every year. Yes, J.D. would change brands if he could get a better deal as he had to do what was best for him. But deep down he was a Chevy guy!”

Even as his fellow independent drivers were gradually squeezed out of the sport, J.D. and his rag-tag group continued to plug away, at times turning heads with surprising success. One of Burke’s fondest memories came during SpeedWeeks 1989.

One year earlier, a fiery crash in the 1988 Twin 125-mile qualifiers resulted in severe burns to both J.D.’s hands, putting him on the sidelines for much of the season. By 1989, J.D.’s crew had managed to successfully rebuild the car for another run at the Daytona 500 field. This time in the qualifiers, J.D. dodged a tremendous pile-up in the tri-oval and came home 15th, locking him into what was to be his 15th and final Daytona 500 start. And, as many drivers will tell you, J.D. refused to put a price on a chance to start “The Great American Race:”

“In 1989 we made the Daytona 500 and Kyle Petty didn't. They stopped by and talked to J.D. about buying him out of his spot. J.D. wouldn't sell. He told me, ‘he came here to race.’ Me, I would have taken the [money]!. . .I know he was really happy about getting in the race. We missed the jetting on the carb on race day, so we were not really very fast. I think we finished 25th. But we finished!”

Though it is true that J.D. has 32 last-place finishes, the most of any NASCAR Sprint Cup driver as of this writing, Burke also pointed out that, while start-and-park teams did exist at the time, J.D. never used this strategy - even when it was more economical to do so.

“We never did start-and-park, that I can say with certainty! We would try to stay in the race and wait for others to drop out and move up that way. . .There were some start-and-parks during our days and NASCAR really frowned upon it.”

THE PROTÉGÉE

But what Burke remembers best about those seven seasons was working alongside J.D. himself and the lessons he learned from him as an aspiring race car driver.

“[J.D.] took me under his wing. We normally bunked together at the races and we would talk about the racetracks and how to drive them before we went to sleep.”

After J.D.’s son Jeff McDuffie left the team in the mid-1980s, the veteran turned his attention to Burke, who was looking to cut his teeth as a driver in ARCA. J.D. found an eager student in Burke and, by early 1991, the two had worked out a plan to both secure sponsorship for J.D. and get Burke’s career started:

“My plans that I did discuss with him was to try to get a sponsor and race. . .I was young and could speak clearly and thought I might have some appeal to a potential sponsor. . .So my desire was to get a sponsor for the #70 and J.D., and for me to get experience in ARCA and in a couple of years move up into Cup, hoping to have J.D. as my mentor & crew chief using his race shop (obviously the sponsorship money would go directly to him).”

“That was my plan, he knew that I wanted to race and was doing everything he could to help me. We talked about how to drive the tracks that ARCA raced on (Michigan, Pocono, Talladega & Daytona). I would never have asked him to step out of the car, that would have to be his decision.”

The first phase of the plan commenced in March of 1991, when Burke purchased the oldest of J.D.’s three Winston Cup cars. J.D. acquired this particular car five years earlier from Tom Winkle, a Defiance, Ohio car salesman who invested in the #70 team in 1986. Winkle, looking to follow in the footsteps of an already-successful Rick Hendrick, purchased the car from Richard Childress, converting it from one of Dale Earnhardt’s old Wrangler Chevrolets into a 2+2-bodied Pontiac sponsored by AC Spark Plugs. Winkle, impatient with the team’s progress, parted ways with J.D. early in the 1986 season, but J.D. kept the car. Since J.D. still had two newer Hutcherson-Pagan chasses with fresh 1991 Pontiac sheetmetal, one dark-blue (J.D.’s customary paint scheme, carried on the car that made the 1989 Daytona 500 field) and the other cherry-red, this oldest #70 was now Burke’s.

But racing luck was not on J.D.’s side. Though he and his blue Pontiac qualified for the spring race at Darlington and finished under power in 30th, he failed to qualify for eight of the 1991 season’s first ten races and skipped the 500-miler at Atlanta.

After he missed the show at Talladega that April in his Darlington car, J.D. was allowed to compete as a late entry in the ARCA race, the Poulan Pro 500k, back when Cup backmarkers were allowed to compete in the series. Unfortunately, the day ended with J.D.’s car destroyed following a tragic late-race accident. After he ran as high as 9th, J.D. cut low entering turn one to avoid the flipping Oldsmobile of young Chris Gehrke. Just as he hit the grass, Gehrke’s car collided with Carl Miskotten’s Buick, sending a huge chunk of debris into J.D.’s path. J.D. drove away uninjured from the resulting crash to finish 25th, but Gehrke was fatally wounded.

Then, just under a month later, J.D. qualified for his 2nd Cup race of the season at Dover only to leave with his second red Pontiac annihilated after Kenny Wallace sent him spinning into the inside wall on the backstretch. Again, J.D. was uninjured, but now both his cars were destroyed, waiting to be repaired back in his garage.

Less than two weeks later, Burke was slated to make his ARCA debut at Pocono. But with both of J.D.’s cars now weeks from being repaired, he insisted that J.D. run his old burgundy car in the Cup race instead. It’s a conversation Burke has relived many times:

“Pocono was coming up and I was already entered in the ARCA race. I really had a tough time convincing J.D. that I wanted him to run in the Cup race and I could wait. He said he made a commitment to me to have my car ready for the ARCA race and I was to race at Pocono. We didn't get into an argument but I had to do a lot of ‘convincing’ that we needed to stay in the Cup Series. J.D. was a man of his word, I know that he knew the smartest thing was for him to race my car in Cup, but he knew how badly I wanted to drive. Part of me is glad I convinced him, part of me is not, who knows what would have happened?”

Thus, while the two Hutcherson-Pagan Pontiacs were being rebuilt back in Sanford, Burke assumed yet another role for J.D.: as car owner.

J.D. qualified Burke’s car for both Cup races at Pocono that summer, finishing 34th in June and a season-best 25th in July. The car also made an appearance in ARCA, finishing 13th at Michigan in June. With neither of the damaged cars ready in time for Talladega, the team then looked toward preparing Burke’s car for Watkins Glen.

With work completed, J.D. strapped that Pontiac to the rear of “Ol’ Blue,” the team’s aging open-topped hauler, and headed out for the long drive north.

“WINNERS BUY”

As J.D. McDuffie neared New York, “Ol’ Blue’s” brakes failed.

Somehow, he was able to bring the hauler to a safe stop, but was unable to afford any lost time getting to the track, knowing he would have to qualify on speed as three teams would be sent home. So, J.D. put a pop-rivet in the brake line, climbed back in, and brought both car and driver safely to the 2.428-mile road course. Burke met J.D. when he arrived at the track for signing day on Thursday, August 8, 1991.

The next day, J.D. had qualified for his sixth consecutive start at The Glen, one of his favorite racetracks. Another obstacle had been overcome. The risk had paid off. Now, it was time to have fun.

Looking back on the Watkins Glen weekend, the events leading up to the race feel surreal to Burke. In a season plagued with tremendous difficulty for a team struggling to survive, an unexpected trip to victory lane gave J.D. and his team a boost of confidence right when they needed it most - no one knowing how short-lived their joy would be.

On the night of August 10, hours before the start of Sunday’s 90-lapper, J.D. McDuffie participated in a one-hour autograph session with Dale Earnhardt, then headed out with Burke and his crew to compete in a celebrity race at Shangri-La Speedway in nearby Owego, New York. The race would be between J.D. and members of Earnhardt’s pit crew. Burke recalls the moment that would become the veteran’s on-air eulogy during the ESPN broadcast the next day:

“It was a lot of fun for J.D. He was given a car and there was no question he was the class of the field. He pulled out into the lead and tried to keep the rest of the field close so they could put on a good show for the fans. He knew that he was the class of the field, he was more happy for us than he was for himself.”

The excitement of that victory - and its importance to the team as whole - cannot be overstated. The most vivid of Burke’s memories came when J.D. and the rest of the team went to breakfast on the morning of Sunday, August 11, 1991, all of them still savoring the win:

“Sunday morning we all went to breakfast and J.D. bought with the money he got night before. When J.D. was with me, Mike Demers or Gerry Glenn, we took care of all the expenses. . .J.D. grabbed the breakfast check and said, ‘Winners Buy’ and that really stuck in my mind all these years.”

“As humble as J.D. was (and he truly was a humble man) that morning he was beaming with pride, not because he won the race, but because he wanted to buy us breakfast.”

J.D. paid the check. Then the team drove back to Watkins Glen.

TODAY

In the years since the crash, Marty Burke has continued to carry on the legacy of J.D. McDuffie. In 1991, he licensed the likeness of J.D.’s #70 - complete with Burke’s Classic Trophies logos - to die cast manufacturer Racing Champions, arranging it so the profits would go toward helping J.D.’s widow Jean raise their grandson.

Though the events of August 11, 1991 put Burke’s racing career on hold, he soon discovered that he had more in common with J.D. than he thought: no matter what the adversity, Burke was determined to not give up his dream of racing.

He sold Classic Trophies in 1997 and moved from Pennsylvania to Texas, where he resides today as an owner-driver of his own drag racing team and custom race part business. Today, Marty Burke Motorsports has held NHRA national records from 2000 to 2004 and continues to compete today. On the front page of his website is a photo of his modified Mustang - painted the same shade of burgundy as the car he shared with J.D. - rearing-up at the starting line. And, with every flash of the green lights and the roar of his engine, Burke continues to pay tribute to his mentor and the friendship they shared.

But, most of all, Burke is protective of J.D.’s legacy and determined to dispel the misconceptions of the competitor who made him the man he is today.

“When you write your article about J.D.,” he told me, “just know that he was a true racer and an outstanding gentleman. A lot of negative things have been written about him in the past about ‘running junk.’ He never ran ‘junk.’ The parts might have been used, but they were not wore out! He had to run to conserve his equipment, yes he would have loved to run up front, but he had to make a living.”

“J.D. could do more with less (money, parts etc.) than anyone I know, but mostly he was a fine man and my friend.”

J.D. McDuffie (waving at the camera) and crew at Watkins Glen, circa 1990
(SOURCE: Claychamp123 at the NewYorkRacing Forums)

CUP: Yeley’s Is The Third #55 To Finish 43rd In Last Four August Pocono Races

2011-08-07T17:01:00.000-07:00

SOURCE: ESPN2

J.J. Yeley picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s Good Sam RV Insurance 500 at the Pocono Raceway when his unsponsored #55 Front Row Motorsports Ford fell out with overheating problems after 7 of the race’s 200 laps.

Yeley was competing in his second race as driver of Front Row’s new third team that debuted last month at New Hampshire when Jeff Green finished last in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301. Though he failed to qualify in his team debut at Indianapolis, he came back to time in 34th at a speed of 168.909 mph. It was a solid effort for driver and team as Yeley outranked all “go-or-go-homers” in Friday’s opening practice session and was ranked second of that group in qualifying. Todd Bodine, taking a turn in the HP Racing #66 while Michael McDowell competed in the Nationwide event at Iowa, qualified 30th.

In the race itself, the 43rd spot changed hands several times between Bodine, Jason White (making his Cup debut in the #32), and David Stremme in the Inception Motorsports #30. However, Yeley’s #55 was the first to go behind the wall on Lap 7, followed the next lap by Erik Darnell in Dusty Whitney’s unsponsored #46 Ford. Pocono was the first race for Whitney’s Ford as Darnell failed to qualify along with Yeley at Indianapolis.

Yeley, who started the season driving for Whitney, will race for Front Row Motorsports for the rest of 2011, splitting time between “start-and-parking” the #55 and running the full race in the #38 currently occupied by Travis Kvapil. Yeley drove the #38 to a 23rd-place finish at New Hampshire last month.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the third time in the last four years that the #55 has finished last in the second Cup race at Pocono. Each time, the number was run by a different team. Last year, Michael McDowell’s unsponsored PRISM Motorsports Toyota fell out with a vibration 23 laps into the race and, in 2008, Michael Waltrip’s NAPA Toyota fell out with an engine failure after 24 laps.
*Yeley is the only Cup driver to finish last for more than one team in 2011. Prior to Sunday, he finished last in the Daytona 500 and at Richmond in Dusty Whitney’s #46, back when they ran Chevrolets.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #55-J.J. Yeley / 7 laps / overheating
42) #46-Erik Darnell / 8 laps / brakes
41) #87-Joe Nemechek / 14 laps / transmission
40) #37-Scott Speed / 16 laps / electrical
39) #83-Brian Vickers / 18 laps / engine

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (5)
2nd) Joe Nemechek, Mike Skinner, J.J. Yeley (3)
3rd) Kevin Conway (2)
4th) Landon Cassill, Robby Gordon, Jeff Green, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #66-HP Racing LLC (5)
2nd) #60-Germain Racing (4)
3rd) #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
4th) #46-Whitney Motorsports, #55-Front Row Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
5th) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports, #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (14)
2nd) Chevrolet (3)
3rd) Dodge, Ford (2)

N’WIDE: Jeff Green Extends 2011 LASTCAR Nationwide Lead At Iowa

2011-08-07T16:57:00.001-07:00

SOURCE: TheHotLap.com

Jeff Green picked up the 21st last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s U.S. Cellular 250 at the Iowa Speedway when his unsponsored #44 TriStar Motorsports fell out with a vibration after 3 of the race’s 250 laps.

Green timed in 25th for the race at a speed of 128.054 mph, ranking him a solid third among the thirteen “go-or-go-homers” that filled the 43-car field. Still, with the effort of supporting TriStar teammates Mike Bliss and Eric McClure in mind, Green pulled behind the wall after three laps. Bliss and McClure came home 18th and 26th, respectively.

Iowa saw Brian Keselowski make his first start with Key Motorsports, running the team’s #47. Keselowski pulled behind the wall one lap after Green, then served as a spotter for the remainder of the event. Charles Lewandoski, running Key’s primary #40, finished 22nd.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was Green’s fifth last-place finish of 2011 and his first since the Subway Jalapeno 250 at Daytona, where he also exited after 3 laps with a vibration in the #44.
*This is the second-consecutive year that Green has finished last in the July race at Iowa. Last year, his 43rd-place showing in TriStar’s #36 was the first of eight last-place finishes he scored in the 2010 Nationwide Series season.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #44-Jeff Green / 3 laps / vibration
42) #47-Brian Keselowski / 4 laps / overheating
41) #42-Tim Andrews / 5 laps / brakes
40) #71-Carl Long / 7 laps / brakes
39) #46-Chase Miller / 8 laps / brakes

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (5)
2nd) Brett Rowe (3)
3rd) Kelly Bires, Dennis Setzer (2)
4th) Matt Carter, Johnny Chapman, Kevin Conway, Marc Davis, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Scott Wimmer (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (5)
2nd) #55-Faith Motorsports (3)
3rd) #25-Ed Rensi, #49-Jay Robinson Racing (2)
4th) #0-JD Motorsports, #13-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #47-Key Motorsports, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports, #03-R3 Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (16)
2nd) Ford (5)
3rd) Dodge (1)

TRUCKS: Lafferty Last Before the Rain At Pocono

2011-08-07T16:56:00.000-07:00

Special Thanks to Aaron Creed for this week's photo!

Chris Lafferty picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Saturday’s Good Sam RV Emergency Road Service 125 at the Pocono Raceway when his #89 Lafferty Performance / Blue Ox Chevrolet fell out with handling problems after 2 of the race’s 53 laps.

Only 31 trucks showed up at the unique Pennsylvania track, allowing Lafferty to make the field with a lap of just 127.520 mph - more than 15 seconds off the pace of polesitter Kevin Harvick. It would be just the second time his family-owned #89 team qualified for a Truck Series race and his first since he came home 31st at Nashville. After a DNQ at Darlington, Lafferty also parked Jennifer Jo Cobb’s #10 at Dover in May, scene of his most recent last-place finish.

Two laps after the green flag, Lafferty was the first to pull behind the wall. Five laps later, he was followed to the garage by 76-year-old James Hylton, making his Truck Series debut in Norm Benning’s second truck. By doing so, Hylton bested his own record of oldest driver to start a NASCAR-sanctioned race set when he finished last in the Nationwide race at Darlington.

Neither truck returned to the track when the race was postponed by rain to Sunday.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Lafferty and the #89 most recently finished last in a Truck Series race in 2010, when Lafferty scored his first career last-place finish in the 2010 Dover 200 at Dover, leaving the race after the opening lap.
*This is only the second time in NASCAR history that the #89 has finished last in any NASCAR-sanctioned race at Pocono. The other time was in the Sprint Cup Series when Morgan Shepherd’s #89 Racing With Jesus / Red Line Oil Ford fell out with handling woes 44 laps into the 2003 Pennsylvania 500.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
31) #89-Chris Lafferty / 2 laps / handling
30) #75-James Hylton / 7 laps / engine
29) #93-Shane Sieg / 9 laps / brakes
28) #38-Mike Garvey / 11 laps / vibration
27) #84-Chris Fontaine / 17 laps / ignition

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Garvey (4)
2nd) Norm Benning, Chris Lafferty (2)
3rd) James Buescher, Travis Kvapil, Johanna Long, Scott Riggs, Greg Seevers, Brad Sweet (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #38-Shane Sieg (4)
2nd) #57-Norm Benning Racing (2)
3rd) #5-Randy Moss, #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #20-Panhandle Motorsports, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #75-Norm Benning Racing, #89-Chris Lafferty, #07-SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (11)
2nd) Toyota (3)

CUP: Robby Gordon Gets First Brickyard Last-Place Finish, Falls From Top 35

2011-07-31T23:55:00.000-07:00

Robby Gordon picked up the 10th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s 18th Annual Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when his #7 SPEED Energy Dodge fell out with engine problems after 5 of the race’s 160 laps.

Gordon, an owner-driver still fighting to make it through another Sprint Cup season, came into Sunday’s race in the coveted 35th spot in Owner Points, just 7 markers ahead of 36th-ranked TRG Motorsports, which fields rookie Andy Lally’s #71. Coming into the weekend, it appeared that Gordon, a ten-time starter of the Indianapolis 500, would have the advantage in padding this lead over the rookie. Unfortunately, it was not to be.

Scott Wimmer, who has helped keep Gordon’s #7 in Top 35 contention, was unable to qualify the team’s backup #77 on Saturday, joining a list of four other DNQs that included the #55 Front Row Motorsports team that came home 43rd at New Hampshire. Gordon, 41st on the grid at a speed of 177.866 mph, was destined to run a short race on Sunday. Five laps into the race, Gordon pulled behind the wall.

It was the eighth time his #7 was forced to “start-and-park” in 2011 and the first time this season that it has resulted in a last-place finish (joining part-time teammate P.J. Jones’ finish at Sonoma in the #77).

As a result of the finish, Gordon’s team has fallen outside the Top 35 and now stands 10 points behind Lally’s #71, which came home on the lead lap in 26th. Gordon must now attempt to qualify on speed this Saturday at Pocono, where co-driver Scott Wimmer parked his Dodge 51 laps into the June race.

Paul Menard went on to score his first Sprint Cup victory in a stunning upset. In 167 series starts since 2003, Menard has just one last-place finish: an engine failure 22 laps into the 2007 Aaron’s 499 at Talladega. At the time, Menard was driving Dale Earnhardt, Incorporated’s #15 Chevrolet in his rookie season, a year in which he qualified for 30 of the season’s 36 races. The Wisconsin native has never finished last in his 174 combined Nationwide and Truck Series starts.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Gordon and the #7’s most recent last-place finish in Cup came last year at the spring race at Atlanta, where his #7 Warner Music Nashville / Blake Shelton Toyota lost a tire and crashed after three laps of the 2010 Kobalt Tools 500.
*This was Gordon’s first-ever last-place finish at Indianapolis - including his 10 open-wheel starts at the fabled Brickyard.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #7-Robby Gordon / 5 laps / engine
42) #50-T.J. Bell / 10 laps / brakes
41) #23-Terry Labonte / 15 laps / transmission
40) #60-Mike Skinner / 16 laps / electrical
39) #37-Scott Speed / 19 laps / rear gear

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Current 2011 LASTCAR Cup Championship leader Michael McDowell turned in the 12th-fastest speed in Friday’s second practice session and timed in 35th for Sunday’s race. Still without sponsorship, however, McDowell also exited the race early and came home 37th.
1st) Michael McDowell (5)
2nd) Joe Nemechek, Mike Skinner (3)
3rd) Kevin Conway, J.J. Yeley (2)
4th) Landon Cassill, Robby Gordon, Jeff Green, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #66-HP Racing LLC (5)
2nd) #60-Germain Racing (4)
3rd) #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
4th) #46-Whitney Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
5th) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports, #55-Front Row Motorsports, #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (14)
2nd) Chevrolet (3)
3rd) Dodge (2)
4th) Ford (1)

N’WIDE: Jo Cobb’s Sour Indy Weekend Ends With A Last-Place Finish In LOR Finale

2011-07-31T23:52:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Jo Cobb picked up the 4th last-place finish of her NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s Kroger 200 Benefitting Riley Hospital for Children at the Lucas Oil Raceway when her #13 TenForJen.com / Lilly Trucking Ford fell out with handling problems after completing 2 of the race’s 204 laps.

Overall, the Indianapolis weekend proved forgettable for the aspiring female racer. On Friday, she spun during Truck Series qualifying, narrowly avoiding contact with the inside wall, then finished 32nd in the race, 17 laps down.

Saturday proved even worse as Cobb wrecked her Nationwide car in practice. Though she acquired a backup car from owner Rick Ware, who withdrew his #71 start-and-park entry before the race, she was overly-cautious in qualifying, turning in a lap good enough for 41st in the 42-car field at a speed of 94.066 mph. Cobb’s lap was more than three seconds slower than polesitter Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.’s lap of 108.278 mph.

Ironically, after stepping out of a ride she was asked to “start-and-park” at Bristol, Cobb pulled Ware’s backup car behind the wall after two laps.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is Cobb’s first last-place finish in the Nationwide Series since 2010, when she and teammate Johnny Chapman were involved in a two-car crash on Lap 6 of the 2010 Subway Jalapeno 250 at Daytona - scene of the debut of the new Nationwide Series car.
*The #13 has not finished last in a Nationwide Series race since 2001, when Drew White’s bgnracing.com Chevrolet fell out with overheating problems six laps into the 2001 Nazareth 200 at Nazareth.
*Cobb’s finish ended a nine-race last-place streak by Chevrolet in 2011, which started after Blake Koch gave Dodge its only 2011 last-place finish at Dover in May.
*With Nationwide Series racing at Lucas Oil Raceway possibly at an end, it is perhaps significant to note that every Nationwide Series race ever held at the track has had a different last-place finisher. Among the track’s most famous last-placers were Bobby Allison (1984), Darrell Waltrip (1987), and Jack Ingram (1990).

THE BOTTOM FIVE
42) #13-Jennifer Jo Cobb / 2 laps / handling
41) #46-Chase Miller / 7 laps / brakes
40) #47-Charles Lewandoski / 8 laps / vibration
39) #42-Scott Wimmer / 9 laps / brakes
38) #74-Mike Harmon / 11 laps / brakes

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (4)
2nd) Brett Rowe (3)
3rd) Kelly Bires, Dennis Setzer (2)
4th) Matt Carter, Johnny Chapman, Kevin Conway, Marc Davis, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Scott Wimmer (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
It was another rough night for Key Motorsports at LOR. After the team’s three “start-and-park” cars left the race within the opening nine laps, Tim Andrews, taking his turn driving Key’s primary (but still unsponsored) #40, was involved in a grinding crash with Rusty Wallace Incorporated teammates Michael Annett and Steven Wallace with just 23 laps to go.
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (4)
2nd) #55-Faith Motorsports (3)
3rd) #25-Ed Rensi, #49-Jay Robinson Racing (2)
4th) #0-JD Motorsports, #13-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #47-Key Motorsports, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports, #03-R3 Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (15)
2nd) Ford (5)
3rd) Dodge (1)

TRUCKS: Garvey Last For Second Consecutive Truck Race

2011-07-31T23:49:00.000-07:00

Mike Garvey picked up the 9th last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Friday’s AAA Insurance 200 at the Lucas Oil Raceway when his #38 S&W Services Chevrolet fell out with rear gear problems after 7 of the race’s 200 laps.

With 36 trucks qualifying for as many starting spots, Garvey timed in 31st at a speed of 104.128 mph. After narrowly avoiding a Lap 1 melee in turn one that damaged teammate Ryan Sieg’s #39, Garvey remained on track for the restart, raced for a couple laps, then pulled behind the wall.

Sieg finished 29th, seven laps down to race winner Timothy Peters. Team owner Shane Sieg, driving the third S&W truck - #93 - finished 35th after a vibration ended his run at 127 laps.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Neither Garvey nor the #38 had ever before finished last in a Truck Series race at Lucas Oil Raceway.
*This was the first time a Truck Series driver has finished last in a race at Lucas Oil Raceway with rear gear problems.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #38-Mike Garvey / 7 laps / rear gear
35) #93-Shane Sieg / 127 laps / vibration
34) #00-Brad Queen / 133 laps / engine
33) #42-Tommy Joe Martins / 181 laps / running
32) #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb / 183 laps / running

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Garvey (4)
2nd) Norm Benning (2)
3rd) James Buescher, Travis Kvapil, Chris Lafferty, Johanna Long, Scott Riggs, Greg Seevers, Brad Sweet (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #38-Shane Sieg (4)
2nd) #57-Norm Benning Racing (2)
3rd) #5-Randy Moss, #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #20-Panhandle Motorsports, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #75-Norm Benning Racing, #07-SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (10)
2nd) Toyota (3)

N’WIDE: Marc Davis Scores First NASCAR Last-Place Finish In Nationwide Series Return

2011-07-24T01:08:00.000-07:00

Marc Davis picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s Federated Auto Parts 300 at the Nashville Superspeedway when his unsponsored #03 R3 Motorsports Chevrolet fell out with alternator problems after completing the first of the race’s 225 laps. The finish came in Davis’ 10th series start.

Davis, a former development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, was tabbed to be the driver of R3 Motorsports’ part-time “start-and-park” team for the Nashville event. The #03 team Davis joined had competed in five previous races in 2011 with four different drivers, most recently at Kentucky, where Scott Riggs came home 36th. Ironically, Riggs also gave R3 its best finish of the season driving the team’s primary car, #23, at Darlington, where he came home 13th.

Nashville would see the #23 continue its streak of making every Nationwide Series race this season, this time with its fifth different driver, defending LASTCAR Nationwide Series leader Dennis Setzer. Setzer had difficulty finding speed in qualifying and had to rely on Owner Points to make the field in the 41st spot. Davis’ #03 timed in two spots ahead of Setzer in 39th at a speed of 148.971 mph, more than enough to bump three-time 2011 last-placer Brett Rowe out of the field in Key Motorsports’ #46.

Saturday’s race was not only Davis’ first start of the 2011 campaign, but his first NASCAR start since driving R3's primary #23 to a 23rd-place finish at Dover last September. Unfortunately, he did not get to enjoy his return for long as he pulled behind the wall after the opening lap. Teammate Setzer came home 34th, felled by a vibration after just 28 laps.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #03-Marc Davis / 1 lap / alternator
42) #04-Danny O’Quinn, Jr. / 3 laps / brakes
41) #47-Charles Lewandoski / 6 laps / brakes
40) #49-Mark Green / 7 laps / handling
39) #42-Tim Andrews / 8 laps / transmission

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The #03 had not finished last in a Nationwide Series race since 2005, when David Gilliland’s Rich’s Motorsports / HYPE Chevrolet lost its engine 12 laps into the 2005 Arizona 200 presented by “Walk the Line” at Phoenix. Gilliland was making his series debut with owner Clay Andrews that day, the owner he took to victory lane in a stunning upset at Kentucky the following year.
*This was the first time in NASCAR Nationwide Series history that a driver finished last due to alternator problems.
*This was the first-ever last-place finish for owner Robert Richardson, Sr. and R3 Motorsports. The R3 team’s best-ever finish in the series remains road course specialist Jean Francois Dumoulin’s lone series start at Montreal in 2009, where he came home 7th.

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (4)
2nd) Brett Rowe (3)
3rd) Kelly Bires, Dennis Setzer (2)
4th) Matt Carter, Johnny Chapman, Kevin Conway, Marc Davis, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Scott Wimmer (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (4)
2nd) #55-Faith Motorsports (3)
3rd) #25-Ed Rensi, #49-Jay Robinson Racing (2)
4th) #0-JD Motorsports, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #47-Key Motorsports, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports, #03-R3 Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (15)
2nd) Ford (4)
3rd) Dodge (1)

TRUCKS: Mike Garvey Ties Loni Richardson For 4th In All-Time Truck Series Rankings

2011-07-24T01:04:00.000-07:00

Mike Garvey picked up the 8th last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Friday’s Lucas Deep Clean 200 at the Nashville Superspeedway when his #38 S&W Services Chevrolet fell out with a vibration after 3 of the race’s 150 laps.

Garvey has now tied Loni Richardson for fourth in the all-time LASTCAR Camping World Truck Series rankings. Both drivers stand five finishes from tying all-time series leader Wayne Edwards.

After he and the #38 team skipped last week’s race at Iowa, Garvey qualified 30th in Nashville’s 34-truck field at a speed of 143.316 mph. The speed ranked him fifth among the nine “go-or-go-homers” in the field. With three laps completed under green, Garvey pulled behind the wall, followed by Mike Harmon, who was driving the second Norm Benning truck that debuted with Iowa last-placer Greg Seevers.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Garvey has swept both last-place finishes at Nashville this season, with both finishes coming in the #38. Driver and number have never before finished last in a Truck race at this track, but owner Shane Sieg trailed the field in his #93 back in the 2009 Toyota Tundra 200 at Nashville.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
34) #38-Mike Garvey / 3 laps / vibration
33) #75-Mike Harmon / 6 laps / overheating
32) #07-Johnny Chapman / 12 laps / clutch
31) #89-Chris Lafferty / 16 laps / rear gear
30) #73-Clay Greenfield / 44 laps / handling

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Garvey (3)
2nd) Norm Benning (2)
3rd) James Buescher, Travis Kvapil, Chris Lafferty, Johanna Long, Scott Riggs, Greg Seevers, Brad Sweet (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #38-Shane Sieg (3)
2nd) #57-Norm Benning Racing (2)
3rd) #5-Randy Moss, #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #20-Panhandle Motorsports, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #75-Norm Benning Racing, #07-SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (9)
2nd) Toyota (3)

CUP: Jeff Green Finishes 43rd In Debut of Front Row Motorsports’ New #55 Team

2011-07-17T23:29:00.000-07:00

Special Thanks to Rob Dostie, a LASTCAR fan who provided his photos of Jeff Green's #55 and the rest of the Bottom Five in today's post!

Jeff Green picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #55 Front Row Motorsports Ford fell out with brake problems after completing 11 of the race’s 301 laps.

Bob Jenkins’ Front Row Motorsports (FRM) began 2011 with three teams: the #34 of David Gilliland and the #37 of Robert Richardson, Jr., both locked into the first five races on their 2010 Owner Points rankings, and the #38 of Travis Kvapil, which fell outside the Top 35 following a costly penalty for bleeder valves on his tires at Pocono.

The start of the year saw Gilliland turn in a stunning 3rd-place finish in the Daytona 500 while Richardson and Kvapil were both taken out in separate accidents. As both the #38 and #37 fell outside the Top 35 in this year’s Owner Points, single-car owner Larry Gunselman acquired the #37 at Bristol, still using Fords out of the FRM shop with Tony Raines as driver. Since then, both Raines’ #37 and Kvapil’s #38 teams have struggled with each suffering DNQs while Gilliland’s #34 has made every race this year and remained inside the Top 35.

Earlier this month, FRM was set to enter a new third team, an unsponsored #55 Ford, at Kentucky, but withdrew it before the preliminary entry list for the race could be published. Instead, the team looked to make its first attempt at Loudon the following week, putting Jeff Green behind the wheel. Green, a former Nationwide Series champ, was looking to make his first Cup race since driving for Larry Gunselman’s old #64 team at Charlotte last October. Green may have been selected to drive the #55 into the show for scoring his career-best Cup finish, a 2nd, in the 2002 running of the July race.

Sure enough, Green qualified for Sunday’s race at a speed of 131.175 mph, putting him 36th on the grid and fourth-ranked among the day’s eleven “go-or-go-homers.” It was a tremendous accomplishment for the team, which had to knock three current teams out of the field after David Stremme and Dennis Setzer joined as last-minute entries. Setzer, driving K-Automotive’s #92, was one of the three who missed the race, joining Scott Riggs in Dusty Whitney’s #81 and Raines in the Gunselman #37.

On race day, Green fell to the rear early, followed soon after by current 2011 LASTCAR Cup leader Michael McDowell, fighting an ill-handling #66 Toyota. During the opening green-flag stretch, Green was the first to go behind the wall, followed six laps later by three-time last-placer Mike Skinner.

Green’s FRM teammates both finished inside the Top 25 with Gilliland’s #34 coming home 25th and J.J. Yeley driving Kvapil’s #38 home 23rd. Yeley had filled-in for Kvapil in anticipation of Kvapil’s running the Truck Series race at Iowa, but some last-minute team changes put Todd Bodine in Kvapil’s ride, leaving him on the sidelines. Truck Series competitor Erik Darnell took over for Yeley in his #46, which has twice finished last in 2011.

In two weeks at Indianapolis, Yeley will take over as driver of the #55 FRM team Green raced for on Sunday, parting ways with Whitney Motorsports, whose #46 and #81 will switch from Chevrolet to Ford starting that weekend.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Jeff Green had not finished last in a Cup race since 2007, when his #66 HAAS Automation Chevrolet was involved in a single-car crash after 13 laps of the 2007 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.
*This was the first last-place finish for FRM since 2009, when Tony Raines’ #37 Long John Silver’s Dodge fell out with electrical problems after 6 laps of the 2009 Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix.
*The #55 had not finished last in a Cup race since last August, when Michael McDowell’s #55 PRISM Motorsports Toyota fell out with engine failure 16 laps into the 2010 Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol.
*The #55 had not finished last in a Cup race at New Hampshire since 2000, when the engine on Kenny Wallace’s Square D Chevrolet blew 39 laps into the 2000 Dura Lube 300 Sponsored by K-Mart at New Hampshire. That race is better-known for being the day outside-polesitter Jeff Burton led all 300 laps after NASCAR instituted restrictor plates at Loudon following the fatal crashes that took the lives of Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin, Jr. earlier that year.
*This was not only Ford’s first last-place finish of 2011, but the manufacturer’s first since 2009, when Bobby Labonte’s #96 DLP Ford fell out with engine trouble after 18 laps of the 2009 CARFAX 400 at Michigan.

UNVERIFIED LASTCAR STATISTIC
*This weekend, three teams that made their series debut in Cup (#55), Nationwide (#47), and Trucks (#75) all finished last in the same weekend. As of this moment, I cannot confirm if this is the first time this has ever happened.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
(click the links to see a photo of their exit)
43) #55-Jeff Green / 11 laps / brakes
42) #60-Mike Skinner / 17 laps / electrical
41) #87-Joe Nemechek / 37 laps / brakes
40) #66-Michael McDowell / 46 laps / brakes
39) #46-Erik Darnell / 72 laps / brakes

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (5)
2nd) Joe Nemechek, Mike Skinner (3)
3rd) Kevin Conway, J.J. Yeley (2)
4th) Landon Cassill, Jeff Green, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #66-HP Racing LLC (5)
2nd) #60-Germain Racing (4)
3rd) #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
4th) #46-Whitney Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
5th) #55-Front Row Motorsports, #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (14)
2nd) Chevrolet (3)
3rd) Dodge, Ford (1)

N’WIDE: Wimmer’s One Of Three Key Motorsports Chevrolets In Nationwide "Bottom Five" at Loudon

2011-07-17T22:30:00.000-07:00

Scott Wimmer picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s New England 200 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #47 Key Motorsports Chevrolet fell out with engine problems after 5 of the race’s 206 laps.

Team owner Curtis Key has fielded cars in the Nationwide Series since 1993, when Rodger Sawyer made his lone series start at his home track of Martinsville with a 14th-place run driving a #05 Moen Faucets Chevrolet. In the eighteen years since, Key Motorsports gradually worked its way from a part-time team to running the full schedule in 2010 with Mike Bliss driving the team’s flagship #40 for most of the races that season.

2011 began with Wimmer as Key’s new driver of the #40. Although Wimmer gave the team a season-best finish of 12th at Talladega, three engine failures and struggles to find sponsorship resulted in a driver change with Charles Lewandoski, known by his crew as “The Polish Rocket,” taking over driving duties of the #40 at Iowa in May.

Unfortunately, Iowa also saw Key Motorsports have to bring “start-and-park” teams to the track in order to keep the #40 team going. Tim Andrews debuted Key’s #46 at Iowa with a 39th-place finish, then after the team acquired Chase Miller to help in the effort, Miller took over the #46 and Andrews debuted the #42 at Michigan.

Saturday’s race would see a team record four of Key’s unsponsored white Chevrolets in the starting field, which was still one car short of a full 43 entrants. Fastest of Key’s group was 28th-ranked Lewandoski in the #40, followed by 32nd-place Andrews in the #42 and Miller’s #46 in 33rd. Driving the team’s new #47 “start-and-park” team was Wimmer, slowest of the group in 37th at a speed of 120.972 mph.

Five laps into the race, still under green at that point, Wimmer pulled behind the wall, followed two laps later by Andrews and another two laps by Miller. Lewandoski came home 22nd, which is Key Motorsports’ best finish since Wimmer’s Talladega run.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Wimmer had not finished last in a Nationwide Series race since 2002, when his unsponsored #23 Bill Davis Racing Pontiac fell out with engine failure 20 laps into the 2002 Little Trees 300 at Charlotte.
*Owner Curtis Key’s Nationwide team had not finished last in a Nationwide race since 1995, when Chuck Bown’s #05 Key Motorsports Ford fell out with engine failure 12 laps into the 1995 Autolite 250 at Richmond.
*The #47 had not finished last in a Nationwide Series race since 2009, when Chris Cook’s #47 ConstructionJobs.com Toyota fell out with overheating problems after the opening lap of the 2009 Able Body Labor 200 at Phoenix. This was the first time the #47 has finished last in a Nationwide Series race at New Hampshire.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
42) #47-Scott Wimmer / 5 laps / engine
41) #42-Tim Andrews / 7 laps / rear gear
40) #04-Danny Efland / 7 laps / rear gear
39) #46-Chase Miller / 9 laps / ignition
38) #75-Johnny Chapman / 12 laps / brakes

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (4)
2nd) Brett Rowe (3)
3rd) Kelly Bires, Dennis Setzer (2)
4th) Matt Carter, Johnny Chapman, Kevin Conway, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Scott Wimmer (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (4)
2nd) #55-Faith Motorsports (3)
3rd) #25-Ed Rensi, #49-Jay Robinson Racing (2)
4th) #0-JD Motorsports, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #47-Key Motorsports, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (14)
2nd) Ford (4)
3rd) Dodge (1)

TRUCKS: Greg Seevers Parks For Benning In Truck Series Debut

2011-07-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

Greg Seevers picked up the first last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Saturday’s Coca-Cola 200 presented by Hy-Vee at the Iowa Speedway when his unsponsored #75 Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet fell out with overheating problems after 3 of the race’s 200 laps. The finish came in Seevers’ series debut.

Seevers, a 45-year-old Ohio driver, was enlisted by fellow ARCA competitor Norm Benning to field a second truck, #75, to help fund Benning’s still-unsponsored #57 Chevrolet. Though new to the Truck Series, Seevers had helped Benning raise money in ARCA for years. From 2004 through 2009, Seevers drove Benning’s backup ARCA cars in 20 races, never completing more than two laps of a race with the exception of his most recent start at Kentucky in 2009, where he finished 35th after 13 laps.

Seevers was guaranteed to make his Truck Series debut in this capacity as only 32 trucks were on the entry list at Iowa, even when he joined the field as a late entry. This allowed him to time in 31st at a speed of 97.866 mph, nearly 40 mph slower than polesitter David Mayhew’s lap of 136.482 mph. Benning timed in 30th at 124.104 mph.

Three laps into the race, with the green flag still out, Seevers pulled behind the wall. Benning, who has two ast-place finishes in 2011, went on to finish 26th, seventeen laps down to race winner Matt Crafton.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #75 had finished last in a Truck Series race since 2006, when Aric Almirola picked up his first Truck Series last-place finish in the 2006 Con-Way Freight 200 at Michigan. Almirola, whose Spears Manufacturing Chevrolet was involved in a single-truck accident on Lap 12, finished the race under power 33 laps down to race winner Johnny Benson, Jr.
*Seevers is the fourth first-time last-place finisher in the Truck Series this season, joining Travis Kvapil, Brad Sweet, James Buescher, and, most recently at Kansas, Scott Riggs.
*A Truck Series driver had not finished last due to overheating problems since 2010, when Tim Andrews’ #95 Team Gill Racing Dodge fell out after two laps of last year’s EnjoyIllinois.com 225 at Chicagoland.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
32) #75-Greg Seevers / 3 laps / overheating
31) #96-Todd Peck / 34 laps / brakes
30) #93-Mike Garvey / 46 laps / brakes
29) #63-Jack Smith / 86 laps / crash
28) #66-Justin Marks / 101 laps / crash

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Norm Benning, Mike Garvey (2)
2nd) James Buescher, Travis Kvapil, Chris Lafferty, Johanna Long, Scott Riggs, Greg Seevers, Brad Sweet (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #38-Shane Sieg, #57-Norm Benning Racing (2)
2nd) #5-Randy Moss, #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #20-Panhandle Motorsports, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #75-Norm Benning Racing, #07-SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (8)
2nd) Toyota (3)

CUP: Skinner Is Inaugural Last-Place Finisher Of Kentucky Cup Race

2011-07-10T00:04:00.000-07:00

Mike Skinner picked up the 12th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Saturday’s inaugural Quaker State 400 at the Kentucky Speedway when his #60 Big Red Toyota fell out with electrical problems after completing 17 of the race’s 267 laps.

Kentucky, scene of NASCAR’s first new Sprint Cup venue since 2001, was also the home track of Big Red Soda, who sponsored three teams entered into the race. Skinner, the only Big Red car among the “go-or-go-homers,” was locked-in based on the #60's attempting all 18 races in 2011 after qualifying was cut short by rain. Joining Skinner in the Big Red contingent were Dave Blaney, whose #36 Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet started 32nd, and Mike Bliss, who rolled out 42nd in the FAS Lane Racing Ford #32.

Blaney changed transmissions before Saturday’s race, sending him to the back of the field along with Denny Hamlin, who changed engines in Happy Hour. During the pace laps, the two were joined by Joe Nemechek and Michael McDowell, who surrendered their starting spots in anticipation of an early exit. McDowell’s #66 was carrying an eye-catching new paint job, officially listed under sponsors “Standard Publishing” and “Relentless Hope.”

In the early laps, Scott Riggs, in Dusty Whitney’s unsponsored red #81, slipped from the 40th starting spot to 43rd, but it was Skinner, still on “start-and-park” duty, who exited the race first during the opening green-flag run. Riggs followed eleven laps later followed by McDowell, who pulled out right after getting the Lucky Dog during the first competition caution on Lap 31.

Fellow Big Red Soda drivers Blaney and Bliss finished 33rd and 34th, respectively, each three laps down to race winner Kyle Busch.

LASTCAR STATISTIC: INAUGURAL CUP RACES
*The last time the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series added a new track to its schedule was in 2001, when Casey Atwood’s #19 Dodge / UAW-sponsored Dodge was involved in a crash during the opening lap of the inaugural Protection One 400 at Kansas.

*Here are the last-place finishers of the ten most recent inaugural Cup races:
KANSAS - #19-Casey Atwood (crash on the opening lap) in 2001
CHICAGO - #96-Andy Houston (engine failure after 3 laps) in 2001
HOMESTEAD - #66-Darrell Waltrip (handling problems after 85 laps) in 1999
LAS VEGAS - #8-Hut Stricklin (electrical problems after 150 laps) in 1998
TEXAS - #17-Darrell Waltrip (crash on the opening lap) in 1997
FONTANA - #8-Hut Stricklin (crash after 28 laps) in 1997
INDIANAPOLIS - #27-Jimmy Spencer (crash after 9 laps) in 1994
LOUDON - #65-Jerry O’Neil (crash after 9 laps) in 1993
SONOMA - #29-Dale Jarrett (transmission problems after 8 laps) in 1989
PHOENIX - #15-Brett Bodine (engine problems after 13 laps) in 1988

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #60-Mike Skinner / 17 laps / electrical
42) #81-Scott Riggs / 28 laps / brakes
41) #66-Michael McDowell / 32 laps / electrical
40) #46-J.J. Yeley / 35 laps / transmission / led 1 lap
39) #87-Joe Nemechek / 37 laps / brakes

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (5)
2nd) Joe Nemechek, Mike Skinner (3)
3rd) Kevin Conway, J.J. Yeley (2)
4th) Landon Cassill, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #66-HP Racing LLC (5)
2nd) #60-Germain Racing (4)
3rd) #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
4th) #46-Whitney Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
5th) #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (14)
2nd) Chevrolet (3)
3rd) Dodge (1)

N’WIDE: Setzer Third In LASTCAR Nationwide Rankings After Second-Straight 43rd at Kentucky

2011-07-10T00:02:00.000-07:00

Dennis Setzer picked up the 14th last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Friday’s Feed The Children 300 at the Kentucky Speedway when his unsponsored #49 Jay Robinson Racing Chevrolet fell out with brake problems after 2 of the race’s 200 laps.

With the finish, Setzer now stands in sole possession of third in the all-time LASTCAR Nationwide Series standings, trailing only Jeff Fuller and current 2011 series leader Jeff Green.

Setzer qualified 31st for the race at a speed of 166.605 mph, ranking him eighth among the fifteen “go-or-go-homers” who attempted to qualify for the race. His lap was more than enough to beat Danny Efland and Carl Long, who missed the race.

After two laps of the race, Setzer pulled behind the wall under green, followed the next lap by both John Jackson and Chase Miller. Jeff Green came home 37th, retiring after 18 laps.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The race marked Setzer’s second-consecutive last-place finish in a Nationwide race at Kentucky. Last summer, while driving K-Automotive’s #92 Dodge, he fell out after six laps with electrical problems.
*Setzer’s other last-place finish in 2011 came last month at Michigan, where his #49 fell out after the opening lap with a vibration.
*The #49 had never before finished last in a Nationwide Series race at Kentucky.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #49-Dennis Setzer / 2 laps / brakes
42) #72-John Jackson / 3 laps / electrical
41) #46-Chase Miller / 3 laps / ignition
40) #74-Mike Harmon / 7 laps / brakes
39) #75-Johnny Chapman / 10 laps / ignition

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (4)
2nd) Brett Rowe (3)
3rd) Kelly Bires, Dennis Setzer (2)
4th) Matt Carter, Johnny Chapman, Kevin Conway, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (4)
2nd) #55-Faith Motorsports (3)
3rd) #25-Ed Rensi, #49-Jay Robinson Racing (2)
4th) #0-JD Motorsports, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (13)
2nd) Ford (4)
3rd) Dodge (1)

TRUCKS: Early Crash Shortens Johanna Long’s Night at Kentucky

2011-07-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

Johanna Long picked up the 3rd last-place finish of her NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Thursday’s UNOH 225 at the Kentucky Speedway when her #20 Panhandle Grading and Paving Toyota was involved in a two-truck accident on Lap 6 of the 152-lap race.

Long qualified 21st for the race at a speed of 168.755 mph, ranking her second behind 19th-fastest John King among the session’s “go-or-go-homers.” Coming off the team’s season-best finish of 11th at Texas last month, hopes were high that the Long’s speed would lead to another good finish.

Unfortunately, an accident sparked by Timothy Peters on Lap 6 sent Long’s truck spinning backwards into the turn two wall along with Justin Marks, taking both her and Marks out of the race. Long was credited with the last-place finish.

King, the fastest “go-or-go-homer,” was also involved in a multi-truck crash late in the race that left him 28th. It was King’s first start of the 2011 season.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*It was Long and the #20's first last-place finish since 2010, when she scored the other two finishes of her career. Her most recent came last fall at Texas, where she crashed after the opening lap.
*Neither Long, the #20, nor a Toyota had ever finished last in a Truck Series race at Kentucky.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #20-Johanna Long / 5 laps / crash
35) #66-Justin Marks / 6 laps / crash
34) #38-Mike Garvey / 9 laps / transmission
33) #84-Chris Fontaine / 10 laps / electrical
32) #88-Matt Crafton / 18 laps / engine

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Norm Benning, Mike Garvey (2)
2nd) James Buescher, Travis Kvapil, Chris Lafferty, Johanna Long, Scott Riggs, Brad Sweet (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #38-Shane Sieg, #57-Norm Benning Racing (2)
2nd) #5-Randy Moss, #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #20-Panhandle Motorsports, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #07-SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (7)
2nd) Toyota (3)

CUP: Conway Last In The 400, But NEMCO Turns Heads At Daytona

2011-07-03T00:53:00.000-07:00

Kevin Conway picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career in Saturday’s Coke Zero 400 at the Daytona International Speedway when his #97 ExtenZe Toyota fell out with rear gear problems after completing one of the race’s 170 laps.

Conway’s weekend began on a high note with a surprising run in Friday’s Nationwide Series race. Three months after team owner Joe Nemechek nearly pulled off the victory in the wild Aaron’s 312 at Talladega, NEMCO Motorsports fielded two blue ExtenZe Toyotas in the race, putting Conway in the #87 and Nemechek in the #97. Locked nose-to-tail in a two-car draft, the duo rocketed into the Top 10 early, then remained there for much of the race.

However, with just 10 laps remaining, Conway nudged Nemechek loose in turn four, causing a crash that took both cars out of contention. They held onto the lead lap and came home 25th and 26th.

Conway and Nemechek both qualified for the Cup race, apparently set to work together once again. Conway had a fleet #97 in qualifying, putting up the 22nd-fastest time at a speed of 180.310 mph, third-fastest among the “go-or-go-homers.” Nemechek snared the 43rd and final starting spot, but edged Tony Raines and J.J. Yeley - the race’s two DNQs - by more than two tenths of a second.

However, when the race began, Conway was quickly behind the wall, back in his “start-and-park” role from Talladega, scene of his first Cup last-place finish. Conway had also left the Talladega race after the opening lap. Current LASTCAR Cup Series leader Michael McDowell fell out of the race one lap later, just before Daytona 500 champion Trevor Bayne’s race ended with a very hard crash in turn two. Bayne came home 41st.

Joe Nemechek, whose #87 carried sufficient sponsorship from ExtenZe and AM FM Energy to run the entire race, was one of many underfunded drivers who contended for the lead during the middle stages of the race. Holding 20th by Lap 37, Nemechek hooked up with Travis Kvapil’s #38, who shoved the #87 into 11th by Lap 66, 7th by Lap 74, and to the lead by Lap 77.

Though other pairs of drivers would join the battle for the lead, Nemechek was still in touch with the Top 10 all the way up to the first green-white-checkered finish, when he was swept up in the grinding 15-car crash that took place in turn two. Nemechek came home one lap down in 30th, his best run of the year and the first Cup race he’s finished under power in 2011.

David Ragan went on to win his first Cup Series race in an electrifying finish. Curiously, Daytona was the scene of Ragan’s only last-place finish in any of NASCAR’s top three divisions: a crash after four laps of the 2007 Koolerz 300 at Daytona, the season opener for the Nationwide Series. Ragan has yet to finish last in any of his 163 Cup Series starts.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The #97 had not finished last in a Cup race at Daytona since 1997, when Chad Little’s John Deere Pontiac was involved in a multi-car crash after completing 32 laps of the 1997 Pepsi 400 at Daytona.
*NEMCO’s #97 has now finished last in three of the last four Cup restrictor-plate points races, including Jeff Fuller’s 43rd-place showing in last fall’s AMP Energy Juice 500 at Talladega. Fuller also finished last in his Gatorade Duel that season.
*Conway’s 22nd-place starting spot is the best of this year’s Cup last-place finishers, beating the previous record of 32nd set by both Nemechek at Phoenix and matched by Conway himself at Talladega.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #97-Kevin Conway / 1 lap / rear gear
42) #66-Michael McDowell / 2 laps / electrical
41) #21-Trevor Bayne / 4 laps / crash
40) #60-Mike Skinner / 5 laps / wheel
39) #36-Dave Blaney / 47 laps / crash

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (5)
2nd) Joe Nemechek (3)
3rd) Kevin Conway, Mike Skinner, J.J. Yeley (2)
4th) Landon Cassill, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #66-HP Racing LLC (5)
2nd) #60-Germain Racing, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
3rd) #46-Whitney Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
4th) #81-Whitney Motorsports, #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (13)
2nd) Chevrolet (3)
3rd) Dodge (1)

N’WIDE: Jeff Green Tied For Fifth In All-Time LASTCAR Standings

2011-07-03T00:50:00.000-07:00

Jeff Green picked up the 20th last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Friday’s Subway Jalapeno 250 at the Daytona International Speedway when his #44 East Central Florida View / HURT Chevrolet fell out with a vibration after 3 of the race’s 100 laps.

Green now has 23 last-place finishes across NASCAR’s top-three divisions, tying him with Dave Blaney for fifth-most all-time. He remains second in the Nationwide Series standings, four finishes behind all-time series leader Jeff Fuller’s mark of 24.

Green qualified 28th for the race at a speed of 176.374 mph, besting five “go-or-go-homers” including Chase Miller, whose Key Motorsports #46 was the only team that failed to qualify. Soon after the green flag dropped, Green pulled behind the wall along with Fontana last-placer Mike Harmon and his #74.

Harmon held 43rd for much of the race, but returned to the track in the closing stages to complete a total of 29 laps. This shuffled Harmon up to 41st, moving Green down to last and Carl Long to 42nd.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is Green’s first-ever last-place finish in a Nationwide Series race at Daytona.
*The #44 had never before finished last in a Nationwide Series race at Daytona.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #44-Jeff Green / 3 laps / vibration
42) #68-Carl Long / 4 laps / overheating
41) #74-Mike Harmon / 29 laps / running
40) #40-Charles Lewandoski / 29 laps / engine
39) #30-Ricky Carmichael / 34 laps / crash

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
The finish in Saturday’s race moved Green back into the 2011 LASTCAR Nationwide Series lead, breaking a tie with Brett Rowe, who came home last in the previous race at Road America.
1st) Jeff Green (4)
2nd) Brett Rowe (3)
3rd) Kelly Bires (2)
4th) Matt Carter, Johnny Chapman, Kevin Conway, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Dennis Setzer (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (4)
2nd) #55-Faith Motorsports (3)
3rd) #25-Ed Rensi (2)
4th) #0-JD Motorsports, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #49-Jay Robinson Racing, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (12)
2nd) Ford (4)
3rd) Dodge (1)

CUP: P.J. Jones Gets Dodge Its First Cup Last-Place Finish of 2011 at Infineon

2011-06-27T12:02:00.000-07:00

P.J. Jones picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career in Sunday’s Toyota / Save Mart 350 at the Infineon Raceway when his #77 Speed Energy / GNC Dodge fell out with suspension problems after five of the race’s 110 laps.

For the third consecutive year, Jones was tabbed by Cup Series regular Robby Gordon to drive a second car for him at Sonoma. On Friday, Jones made it three-for-three when he timed in 35th at a speed of 91.223 mph, ranking him second behind only Joe Nemechek among the day’s “go-or-go-homers.” Missing the race was fellow road racer Tony Ave, driving Travis Kvapil’s #38 for Front Row Motorsports.

Before the start of Sunday’s race, Mike Skinner pulled out of his 37th starting spot and fell to the rear of the field, apparently set to give the #60 team its fourth last-place finish of 2011. However, Jones pulled out of the race after the first five green-flag laps, and Skinner followed five circuits after that.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. busted his radiator after an early tangle with Brian Vickers in Turn 11, ultimately ending his day with a 41st-place finish. Only Jones and Skinner’s early departure kept Earnhardt, Jr. from scoring his 7th last-place finish and his first since Phoenix in the fall of 2007.

Robby Gordon, Jones’ car owner, started 28th and finished 18th, the #7 team’s best run since Gordon came home 16th in the season-opening Daytona 500. Gordon successfully recovered from an incident in Turn 11 and ran the final laps on tires lent from fellow Dodge driver Brad Keselowski.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The #77 had not finished last in a Cup race since 2008, when Sam Hornish, Jr.’s Mobil 1 Dodge was involved in a fiery crash with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Casey Mears 20 laps into the 2008 Auto Club 500 at the Auto Club Speedway of Southern California.
*The #77 had never before finished last in a Cup, Nationwide, or Truck Series road race.
*This was P.J.’s second last-place finish at Infineon in the last three years. In his first run with Gordon in 2009, he fell out after two laps with power steering problems driving a #04 Menards / Jim Beam Toyota. That race was the scene of P.J.’s most recent last-place showing.
*It’s Dodge’s first last-place finish in the 2011 Cup season. Dodge had not finished last in a Cup race since last September’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire, where Michael McDowell’s #46 Cash America Dodge fell out with engine failure after 29 laps. Ford has yet to finish last in a Cup race this season.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #77-P.J. Jones / 5 laps / suspension
42) #60-Mike Skinner / 10 laps / ignition
41) #88-Dale Earnhardt, Jr. / 45 laps / overheating
40) #87-Joe Nemechek / 66 laps / transmission
39) #14-Tony Stewart / 88 laps / crash / led 3 laps

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (5)
2nd) Joe Nemechek (3)
3rd) Mike Skinner, J.J. Yeley (2)
4th) Landon Cassill, Kevin Conway, P.J. Jones, Scott Riggs (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #66-HP Racing LLC (5)
2nd) #60-Germain Racing, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
3rd) #46-Whitney Motorsports (2)
4th) #77-Robby Gordon Motorsports, #81-Whitney Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (12)
2nd) Chevrolet (3)
3rd) Dodge (1)

CORRECTION: The original details about Joe Nemechek’s exit from the race have been omitted in light of conflicting scanner communications provided by a reader. My apologies for any confusion.

N’WIDE: Rowe Ties Green For LASTCAR Nationwide Series Lead at Road America

2011-06-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

Brett Rowe picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s Bucyrus 200 presented by Menards at Road America when his #55 Imperial Bedding Chevrolet fell out with brake problems after 2 of the race’s 57 laps.

All 42 cars on the entry list qualified for the series’ first road race of the year, and Rowe placed 37th in qualifying at a speed of 150.671 mph. Two laps into the race, Rowe followed Key Motorsports teammates Tim Andrews and Chase Miller to the garage area, all three of them listed as out due to brake failure.

Morgan Shepherd, Rowe’s owner and teammate, started 35th and came home in the same position due to handling woes 11 laps into the event.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was Rowe’s first-ever last-place finish on a road course.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
42) #55-Brett Rowe / 2 laps / brakes
41) #42-Tim Andrews / 2 laps / brakes
40) #46-Chase Miller / 2 laps / brakes
39) #03-Scott Wimmer / 3 laps / brakes
38) #44-Jeff Green / 3 laps / vibration

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green, Brett Rowe (3)
2nd) Kelly Bires (2)
3rd) Matt Carter, Johnny Chapman, Kevin Conway, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Dennis Setzer (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports, #55-Faith Motorsports (3)
2nd) #25-Ed Rensi (2)
3rd) #0-JD Motorsports, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #49-Jay Robinson Racing, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (11)
2nd) Ford (4)
3rd) Dodge (1)

CUP: McDowell, Fellow Underdogs Keep Jimmie Johnson From First Cup Last-Place Finish

2011-06-19T22:18:00.000-07:00

Michael McDowell picked up the 12th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at the Michigan International Speedway when his unsponsored #66 HP Racing LLC Toyota fell out with electrical problems after 28 of the race’s 200 laps.

Happy Hour at Michigan brought HP Racing and other underfunded Sprint Cup teams some much-needed TV time as several of them topped the speed charts. McDowell himself put up the 11th-best time in a session that was led by David Stremme in start-up team Inception Motorsports’ #30. Also among the Top 10 that session were J.J. Yeley’s Dusty Whitney-owned Chevrolet (2nd), Travis Kvapil for Front Row Motorsports (3rd), Joe Nemechek (7th), and Robby Gordon (10th).

On Saturday, McDowell qualified 38th for the race at a speed of 184.573 mph, ranking him second-slowest among the “go-or-go-homers” who qualified (ahead of last week’s last-place finisher Scott Riggs in the #81), but more importantly ahead of Tony Raines, Brian Keselowski, and Mike Skinner, who failed to qualify.

Joe Nemechek, who timed-in 29th, fell to the rear before the green flag to join Joey Logano, sent to the rear after an engine change in Happy Hour. By Lap 8, all 43 cars were still running, but McDowell had fallen to 41st with Scott Riggs holding onto 43rd.

On that same lap, Jimmie Johnson spun off turn two, resulting in a broken front sway bar that put him a lap down. With McDowell, Riggs, and the other teams remaining on track and on the same lap as the leaders, this dropped Johnson back to 43rd, a position he was trapped in when he lost two laps making repairs under a subsequent caution on Lap 27.

However, McDowell pulled his unsponsored Toyota behind the wall under that yellow, ultimately sparing Johnson of what could have been his first-ever last-place finish in a Sprint Cup points-paying race. Johnson, who went on to finish 27th in the 200-lapper, did finish last in Race 1 of the 2002 Gatorade Twin 125s at Daytona when he left the race nine laps from the finish with ignition troubles.

Joining Johnson as drivers who have yet to finish last in a Sprint Cup points-paying race are Kasey Kahne, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, and Boris Said.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #66 had ever finished last in a Cup Series race at Michigan.
*A Cup driver had not finished last at Michigan due to electrical problems since 2009, when Tony Raines’ #37 Long John Silvers Dodge fell out 17 laps into the 2009 Lifelock 400.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #66-Michael McDowell / 28 laps / electrical
42) #81-Scott Riggs / 30 laps / brakes
41) #30-David Stremme / 39 laps / clutch
40) #87-Joe Nemechek / 44 laps / vibration
39) #46-J.J. Yeley / 47 laps / brakes

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (5)
2nd) Joe Nemechek (3)
3rd) Mike Skinner, J.J. Yeley (2)
4th) Landon Cassill, Kevin Conway, Scott Riggs (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #66-HP Racing LLC (5)
2nd) #60-Germain Racing, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
3rd) #46-Whitney Motorsports (2)
4th) #81-Whitney Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (12)
2nd) Chevrolet (3)

N’WIDE: Setzer Tied For Third-Most Nationwide Series Last-Place Finishes

2011-06-19T22:16:00.000-07:00

Dennis Setzer picked up the 13th last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s Alliance Truck Parts 250 at the Michigan International Speedway when his unsponsored #49 Jay Robinson Racing Chevrolet fell out with a vibration after completing 1 of the race’s 125 laps.

The finish moved Setzer up to 3rd in the LASTCAR Nationwide Series standings, putting him into a tie with Ed Berrier and Johnny Chapman. Setzer also sits 11th all-time.
This week’s team, Jay Robinson Racing, has fielded cars in the Nationwide Series for eleven seasons, dating back to Rodney Childers’ lone series start at Myrtle Beach in 2000 (today, Childers is the crew chief for David Reutimann’s #00 Cup team). The Robinson team’s best finish came in 2008, when Kenny Wallace drove their #28 to a 3rd-place finish at Memphis.

Today, the team still runs both the #28 and #49, now with 1990 Daytona 500 champion Derrike Cope as driver of the #28. Cope has so far made all but one race this season with a best finish of 23rd on three occasions. However, with sponsorship woes continuing to plague teams on the circuit, Robinson’s #49 has been delegated to “start-and-park” status with Dennis Setzer behind the wheel in five of nine starts. Two weeks ago at Chicago, Setzer gave the #49 its best finish of the year when he came home 35th.

Setzer, who scored the most last-place finishes of any Nationwide Series driver in 2010 (10), timed in 24th for the 43-car field at a speed of 176.406 mph, ranking him fifth among the field’s “go-or-go-home” drivers. Brett Rowe, who has two last-place finishes in 2011, missed the race in Morgan Shepherd’s #55 along with Chase Miller in Curtis Key’s #46.

After the opening lap of the race, Setzer pulled behind the wall under green. Cope, again in the #28, finished 28th, four laps down.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The #49 had not finished last in a Nationwide Series race since 2010, when Mark Green’s Jay Robinson Inc. Chevrolet fell out with electrical problems two laps into the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 at Gateway.
*The #49 had not finished last in a Nationwide Series race at Michigan since 2002, when the radiator on Dan Shaver’s #49 Blitz Motorsports Ford failed after 17 laps of the 2002 Cabela’s 250 at Michigan. Shaver brought out the first caution of the race four laps earlier with a spin in turn four.
*It is Setzer’s first-ever Nationwide Series last-place finish at Michigan.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #49-Dennis Setzer / 1 lap / vibration
42) #52-Tony Raines / 2 laps / electrical
41) #44-Jeff Green / 2 laps / vibration
40) #42-Tim Andrews / 2 laps / brakes
39) #74-J.J. Yeley / 5 laps / vibration

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (3)
2nd) Kelly Bires, Brett Rowe (2)
3rd) Matt Carter, Johnny Chapman, Kevin Conway, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Dennis Setzer (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (3)
2nd) #25-Ed Rensi, #55-Faith Motorsports (2)
3rd) #0-JD Motorsports, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #49-Jay Robinson Racing, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (10)
2nd) Ford (4)
3rd) Dodge (1)

CUP: Riggs Scores First Cup Last-Place Finish In Nearly Three Years

2011-06-12T15:36:00.000-07:00

Scott Riggs picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s 5-Hour Energy 500 at the Pocono Raceway when his #81 WhitneysCollision.com Chevrolet fell out with brake problems after completing 17 of the race’s 200 laps.

Riggs returned to the Sprint Cup Series this season as the driver of Dusty Whitney’s second team, a “start-and-park” #81 car that would help fund Whitney’s primary #46 driven by J.J. Yeley. In his first attempt at Darlington, Riggs narrowly missed the field when the engine on his #81 blew after his first timed lap. Riggs missed the show the next race at Dover, withdrew from the Sprint Showdown, and ended up with his second DNQ of the year for the Coca-Cola 600.

Since then, Riggs has qualified for two straight races, including Sunday’s race at Pocono, where he qualified 39th at a speed of 167.264 mph. The run was more than enough to beat two-time last-placer Mike Skinner, who crashed hard in turn one after running the slowest qualifying lap of the day.

Just like at Kansas, where Riggs was forced to park and finished 42nd, the #81 was sent behind the wall early. When the first caution of the race fell for debris on Lap 18, Riggs headed to the garage and the team packed up for the day. It was Riggs’ second-consecutive last-place finish in NASCAR, joining his run in last week’s Truck Series race at Kansas.

By the restart, several other teams also pulled out, including the #37 of Tony Raines, the #66 of Michael McDowell, the #50 of T.J. Bell, and teammate Yeley’s #46. However, when Raines, McDowell, and Bell returned to run some more laps, Yeley was shuffled down to 42nd in the final running order.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time two Sprint Cup teammates have finished in the final two spots since PRISM Motorsports did in last August’s Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol. Riggs himself drove PRISM’s #66 to a 42nd-place finish ahead of teammate Michael McDowell, 43rd in the #55.
*It was Riggs’ first last-place finish in almost three years, dating back to when his #66 Hunt Brothers Pizza Chevrolet finished running, but 128 laps down, in the 2008 Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta.
*The #81 had not finished last in a Cup race since 2003, when John Andretti’s #81 Kraft 100th Anniversary Chevrolet was involved in a single-car crash after 46 laps of the 2003 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis.
*It is the first time the #81 has ever finished last in a Cup race at Pocono.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #81-Scott Riggs / 17 laps / brakes
42) #46-J.J. Yeley / 23 laps / brakes
41) #66-Michael McDowell / 29 laps / electrical / led 1 lap
40) #87-Joe Nemechek / 29 laps / ignition
39) #50-T.J. Bell / 33 laps / electrical

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (4)
2nd) Joe Nemechek (3)
3rd) Mike Skinner, J.J. Yeley (2)
4th) Landon Cassill, Kevin Conway, Scott Riggs (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #66-HP Racing LLC (4)
2nd) #60-Germain Racing, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
3rd) #46-Whitney Motorsports (2)
4th) #81-Whitney Motorsports, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (11)
2nd) Chevrolet (3)

TRUCKS: Benning Ties Garvey For LASTCAR Lead Following Texas Engine Trouble

2011-06-12T15:14:00.001-07:00

Norm Benning picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Friday’s WinStar World Casino 400k at the Texas Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #57 Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet fell out with engine problems after 3 of the race’s 168 laps.

Benning qualified 35th - last in the short-fielded race - at a speed of 155.070 mph, more than eight miles per hour slower than the next-fastest truck of Stephan McCurley. Both Benning and McCurley remained in the rear after making adjustments outside of impound and both exited the race within the first 30 laps. Between the two, previous LASTCAR Truck Series leader Mike Garvey fell out one lap after Benning, followed by Johnny Chapman.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Benning and the #57 had finished last in a Truck race at Texas on just one other occasion, the 2009 WinStar World Casino 400, when his Germane Tooling Group Chevrolet fell out with handling woes after three laps.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
35) #57-Norm Benning / 3 laps / engine
34) #38-Mike Garvey / 4 laps / brakes
33) #07-Johnny Chapman / 9 laps / transmission
32) #65-Stephan McCurley / 25 laps / clutch
31) #30-Todd Bodine / 66 laps / crash

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Norm Benning, Mike Garvey (2)
2nd) James Buescher, Travis Kvapil, Chris Lafferty, Scott Riggs, Brad Sweet (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #38-Shane Sieg, #57-Norm Benning Racing (2)
2nd) #5-Randy Moss, #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #07-SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (7)
2nd) Toyota (2)

CUP: Nemechek Shuffled By Skinner Up To Second In Two LASTCAR Rankings

2011-06-05T15:44:00.000-07:00

Joe Nemechek picked up the 27th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s STP 400 at the Kansas Speedway when his unsponsored #87 NEMCO Motorsports Toyota fell out with rear gear problems after completing 19 of the race’s 267 laps.

The finish moved Nemechek into 2nd in both the All-Time and Sprint Cup LASTCAR standings. His 27th Sprint Cup last-place finish breaks a tie for second with Derrike Cope, putting him five finishes away from tying the late J.D. McDuffie for the most-ever in the series. It’s also Nemechek’s 33rd last-place finish across all three divisions, moving him into a tie with Morgan Shepherd for second-most all-time, two finishes behind Cope’s all-time record of 35.

At Kansas, scene of Nemechek’s most recent Cup win in 2004, he ran 16th-fastest in the opening practice session, then qualified 34th at a speed of 171.445 mph, good enough to beat six other “go-or-go-home” drivers, including Tony Raines and T.J. Bell, who failed to qualify.

On race day, Mike Skinner looked like he was going to give Germain Racing’s #60 its fourth last-place finish of 2011 when he went behind the wall on Lap 8. As it turned out over the radio, Skinner’s team was fighting a tight condition on the car and would return to the track. Nemechek joined Skinner behind the wall just over ten circuits later, followed a lap later by Scott Riggs, who was making his first Cup race of the season after finishing last in the Truck Series race the previous day.

While both Nemechek and Riggs were done for the day, Skinner made at least four trips back and forth to the racetrack, continually chasing a setup he called “an aerodynamic nightmare.” As he did, several other drivers who had also parked their cars returned to the track, trying to keep Skinner behind them. By Lap 56, Skinner had completed enough laps to ease past Nemechek and Riggs, but was unable to catch drivers Michael McDowell, David Stremme, and Johnny Sauter (driving for Robby Gordon), who all parked earlier, then returned from the garage area to log more laps. McDowell was the first of this group to retire, allowing Skinner to edge him for 40th before he finally pulled the #60 out of the race for good. This allowed both Stremme and Sauter to hold him off and finish 39th and 36th, respectively.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*It was Nemechek’s third last-place finish of the 2011 season, the most recent coming at the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville where his brakes failed 25 laps into the race.
*Neither Nemechek nor the #87 had ever before finished last in a Cup race at Kansas.
*It’s the second-straight year that a Cup driver has finished last at Kansas because of a rear gear failure. Last October, Landon Cassill picked up his first career last-place finish in the Price Chopper 400 after his #64 Little Joe’s Autos Toyota fell out 33 laps into the event.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #87-Joe Nemechek / 19 laps / rear gear
42) #81-Scott Riggs / 20 laps / rear gear
41) #66-Michael McDowell / 33 laps / electrical
40) #60-Mike Skinner / 34 laps / ignition
39) #30-David Stremme / 37 laps / brakes

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (4)
2nd) Joe Nemechek (3)
3rd) Mike Skinner, J.J. Yeley (2)
4th) Landon Cassill, Kevin Conway (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #66-HP Racing LLC (4)
2nd) #60-Germain Racing, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
3rd) #46-Dusty Whitney (2)
4th) #97-NEMCO Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (11)
2nd) Chevrolet (2)

N’WIDE: Rowe Edges Miller And Green To Pit Road For Second Last-Place Finish of 2011

2011-06-05T15:41:00.001-07:00

Brett Rowe picked up the 4th last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s STP 300 at the Chicagoland Speedway when his #55 Imperial Bedding Company Chevrolet fell out with brake problems after 3 of the race’s 200 laps.

Qualifying was rained-out at Chicagoland, so since only 42 drivers were on the entry list, Rowe was one of the competitors. Starting 39th, Rowe remained in the rear of the field early on and, after three laps, followed Jeff Green and Chase Miller behind the wall. As the last of the three cars to cross the start / finish line, this credited Rowe with his second last-place finish of 2011.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Neither Rowe nor the #55 had ever before finished last in a Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland.
*This was the first time a Nationwide Series driver has ever finished last at Chicagoland due to brake failure.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
42) #55-Brett Rowe / 3 laps / brakes
41) #46-Chase Miller / 3 laps / handling
40) #44-Jeff Green / 3 laps / transmission
39) #74-Mike Harmon / 6 laps / clutch
38) #75-Johnny Chapman / 15 laps / overheating

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (3)
2nd) Kelly Bires, Brett Rowe (2)
3rd) Matt Carter, Johnny Chapman, Kevin Conway, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Blake Koch, Justin Marks (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (3)
2nd) #25-Ed Rensi, #55-Faith Motorsports (2)
3rd) #0-JD Motorsports, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (9)
2nd) Ford (4)
3rd) Dodge (1)

TRUCKS: Riggs Finishes 36th In Truck Series Return

2011-06-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

Scott Riggs picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Friday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 at the Kansas Speedway when his #07 SS Green Light Racing / www.Bobber.info Toyota fell out with a rear gear problem after running 4 of the race’s 167 laps. The finish came in Riggs’ 44th series start.

The Kansas race saw Riggs make his first Truck Series start since the end of his 2001 campaign, when he won five races and finished fifth in points for owner Jim Smith. This time around, Riggs would be driving SS Green Light Racing’s #07, a team that has made every race this season with drivers Donnie Neunberger, B.J. McLeod, Jamie Dick, Caleb Roark, Johnny Chapman, and J.J. Yeley. Roark gave the team its best finish of the season at Martinsville, where he rallied from 32nd to finish 19th. In the four races since, however, the team has finished no better than 31st and completed no more than 40 laps.

Riggs qualified 28th for the Kansas race at a speed of 162.308 mph, enough to beat seven other “go-or-go-homers,” including Stephan McCurley’s #65, the race’s lone DNQ. Unfortunately, Riggs did not get to run the race very long, sent behind the wall four laps into the race. Mike Garvey, a two-time last-placer in 2011, fell out three laps later, followed by Chris Jones three circuits after that.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The last time Riggs competed in a Truck Series race was the 2001 season finale, the Auto Club 200 at Fontana, where a crash left him 32nd after starting on the pole. Finishing last that day was Sammy Sanders, whose Ed Rensi-owned #61 Chevrolet lost the engine after eight laps. It was Sanders’ first and only last-place finish.
*The #07 had not finished last in a Truck Series race since last fall at Phoenix, when Butch Miller fell out 8 laps into the 2010 Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #07-Scott Riggs / 4 laps / rear gear
35) #38-Mike Garvey / 7 laps / transmission
34) #87-Chris Jones / 10 laps / vibration
33) #57-Norm Benning / 22 laps / suspension
32) #73-J.J. Yeley / 42 laps / power steering

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Garvey (2)
2nd) Norm Benning, James Buescher, Travis Kvapil, Chris Lafferty, Scott Riggs, Brad Sweet (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #38-Shane Sieg (2)
2nd) #5-Randy Moss, #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #57-Norm Benning Racing, #07-SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (6)
2nd) Toyota (2)

CUP: Skinner’s Backup Toyota Scrapes Wall, Finishes Last In 600

2011-05-29T22:20:00.000-07:00

Mike Skinner picked up the 11th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #60 Big Red Toyota fell out with a vibration after completing 6 of the race’s 402 laps.

Skinner qualified 43rd for Sunday’s race at a speed of 186.774, beating five other “go-or-go-homers” who failed to qualify. Skinner edged Andy Lally for the final spot in the field by 0.019 second. Lally’s speed of 186.651 mph came on his first timed lap before his loose #71 Ford lost control entering turn three the next time by. Despite his rookie status, Lally saved the car from wrecking, sustaining only minor damage to the left-front. Still, Lally left the track with his second DNQ of 2011.

Skinner remained in the rear of the field as the team decided to run a backup car. Six laps into Sunday’s race, Skinner was still running near the tail end of the field when he scraped the wall in turn three. Spotter communications indicated the car did not suffer significant damage, but Skinner was concerned about a vibration the car had developed. After a brief discussion with his crew chief and spotter, Skinner pulled the car behind the wall, ultimately ending their race.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*It was Skinner’s first last-place finish since last month’s Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas, where he and the #60 team fell out after 36 laps due to a rear gear failure.
*The last time Skinner finished last in a Cup race at Charlotte was in 2006, when his #72 Dutch Quality Stone Chevrolet crashed after the opening lap of the 2006 Bank of America 500.
*The last Cup driver to finish last at Charlotte due to a vibration was Mike Bliss, whose #09 Phoenix Racing Dodge fell out 42 laps into the 2009 Coca-Cola 600.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #60-Mike Skinner / 6 laps / vibration
42) #46-J.J. Yeley / 22 laps / brakes
41) #87-Joe Nemechek / 28 laps / clutch
40) #30-David Stremme / 34 laps / handling
39) #66-Michael McDowell / 40 laps / engine

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (4)
2nd) Joe Nemechek, Mike Skinner, J.J. Yeley (2)
3rd) Landon Cassill, Kevin Conway (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #66-HP Racing LLC (4)
2nd) #60-Germain Racing (3)
3rd) #46-Dusty Whitney, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
4th) #97-NEMCO Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (10)
2nd) Chevrolet (2)

N’WIDE: Jeff Green Tied For 6th In All-Time LASTCAR Standings

2011-05-29T22:18:00.000-07:00

Jeff Green picked up the 19th last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s Top Gear 300 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #44 TriStar Motorsports / Pro Motor Engines Chevrolet fell out after 4 of the race’s 200 laps with a vibration problem.

The finish is also Green’s 22nd last-place finish across all three NASCAR divisions, tying him for 6th on the all-time rankings with Johnny Chapman and Kevin Lepage.

Green qualified 35th for Saturday’s race at a speed of 176.338 mph, beating six other “go-or-go-home” drivers including Chase Miller and Charles Lewandoski, who failed to qualify. Four laps into the race, Green went behind the wall, followed one lap later by two-time last-placer Kelly Bires and two laps before David Green.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is Green’s second last-place finish in a Nationwide Series race at Charlotte, the other coming in 1996 Red Dog 300 at Charlotte when his #3 Goodwrench Service Chevrolet lost its engine after 14 laps.
*The #44 had not finished last in a Nationwide Series race at Charlotte since 2001, when Mike Harmon’s www.firehero.org Chevrolet fell out with rear end trouble 7 laps into the 2001 Little Trees 300.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #44-Jeff Green / 4 laps / vibration
42) #04-Kelly Bires / 5 laps / overheating
41) #49-David Green / 6 laps / vibration
40) #74-Mike Harmon / 10 laps / wheel
39) #75-Carl Long / 15 laps / overheating

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Green re-takes the lead in the 2011 LASTCAR Nationwide Driver’s Championship, breaking a tie with fellow two-time finisher Kelly Bires, who came home 42nd.
1st) Jeff Green (3)
2nd) Kelly Bires (2)
3rd) Matt Carter, Johnny Chapman, Kevin Conway, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Brett Rowe (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #44-TriStar Motorsports (3)
2nd) #25-Ed Rensi (2)
3rd) #0-JD Motorsports, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #55-Faith Motorsports, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (8)
2nd) Ford (4)
3rd) Dodge (1)

N’WIDE: Rowe Scores First Last-Place Finish In Three Years At Iowa

2011-05-22T21:14:00.000-07:00

Brett Rowe picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Sunday’s Iowa John Deere Dealers 250 at the Iowa Speedway when his #55 Imperial Bedding Company Chevrolet fell out with brake problems after 2 of the race’s 250 laps.

Rowe, 9th in the 2006 ARCA series championship with two Top 5s and six Top 10s, has been running part-time in the Nationwide Series since 2007. In 28 Nationwide Series starts, Rowe has a best career finish of 21st, where he finished on three occasions, most recently at Montreal in 2009. Sixteen of Rowe’s starts came with veteran owner Wayne Day, whose #05 Chevrolets are currently driven by David Starr and Willie Allen.

This year, Rowe was tabbed to drive a second car for another series veteran, 69-year-old Morgan Shepherd, owner-driver of Faith Motorsports. Running a #55 with longtime sponsor Imperial Bedding Company on his Chevrolets, Rowe has so far qualified for 6 of the 8 races his team has attempted. However, as a “start-and-park” team to fund Morgan Shepherd’s full-time ride (car #89), Rowe has so far completed no more than 12 laps in a race this season. His best finish came after those 12 laps at Las Vegas, where he came home 36th. Shepherd’s best finish also came in that race, where he finished four laps down in 18th.

At Iowa, rain washed out qualifying for Sunday’s race, so all 43 cars on the entry list made the field, including Rowe and Shepherd. Rowe would line up 36th while Shepherd, making his 300th series start, started 31st. Two laps into the race, Rowe pulled behind the wall, earning his first last-place finish of the season. Shepherd went on to finish 20th, his second-best finish of the year. Shepherd has competed in all but four seasons in the 28-year history of the Nationwide Series.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Rowe had not finished last in a Nationwide Series race since 2008, when his #05 CertainTeed / 31-W Insulation Chevrolet lost the engine and crashed nine laps into the 2008 Pepsi 300 at Nashville.
*The #55 has not finished last in a Nationwide Series race since 2008, when Scott Gaylord’s Bennett Classics Museum Ford lost the engine two laps into the 2008 Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix.
*Faith Motorsports has also not finished last in a Nationwide Series race since 2008, when owner Morgan Shepherd’s ignition failed on the #89 Victory in Jesus Racing Dodge without completing a lap of the 2008 Meijer 300 at Kentucky.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #55-Brett Rowe / 2 laps / brakes
42) #0-Tim Schendel / 5 laps / electrical
41) #40-Charles Lewandoski / 5 laps / brakes
40) #68-Chase Miller / 6 laps / overheating
39) #46-Tim Andrews / 7 laps / transmission

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Kelly Bires, Jeff Green (2)
2nd) Matt Carter, Johnny Chapman, Kevin Conway, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Brett Rowe (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #25-Ed Rensi, #44-TriStar Motorsports (2)
2nd) #0-JD Motorsports, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #55-Faith Motorsports, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (7)
2nd) Ford (4)
3rd) Dodge (1)

CUP: Kahne Second Driver To Finish Last In Budweiser Shootout, All-Star Race In The Same Year

2011-05-22T00:52:00.000-07:00

Kasey Kahne finished last in Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #4 Red Bull Toyota was involved in a single-car crash after completing 59 of the race’s 100 laps.

Coming off his track record-setting pole and fourth-place finish at Darlington two weeks ago, Kahne was eligible to run the All-Star Race by virtue of his 2008 victory in the event. In qualifying, Kahne’s team put up the 7th-fastest time without receiving any penalties. Though his team did not claim the Pit Crew Challenge on Thursday, Kahne claimed a victory of his own in the Pennzoil Ultra Victory Challenge the afternoon of the main event.

In the race itself, Kahne was able to stay in touch with the leaders at various moments, running up to 4th on Lap 26 after he took a two-tire stop. A second two-tire stop at the end of Segment 1 on Lap 50 moved him up to 2nd behind Carl Edwards, and he held onto the Top 5 after the restart. However, on Lap 59, the run came to an end when Greg Biffle got him loose entering turn one, causing his Toyota to slap the outside wall hard enough to strip off most of the paint on the passenger side.

The wreck put Kahne behind the wall that same lap, making him the first retiree. Brad Keselowski, at the time six laps down due to his own brush with the wall, was then moved up from last. Thanks to being the only car laps down in the closing stages, Keselowski received enough Lucky Dogs to come home one lap behind in 18th.

Carl Edwards, who finished last in the 2010 All-Star Race, went on to win.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*With the finish, Kahne became the second driver to finish last in both the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona and the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race in the same season. The other driver to do it was John Andretti, driving Richard Petty’s #43, in 2000. Andretti was credited with a last-place finish in the 2000 Budweiser Shootout as the #43 team rendered itself ineligible for the Bud Pole Award pursuant to a family agreement.
*This is the first time Kahne, the #4, and Team Red Bull have ever finished last in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.
*This is Toyota’s second last-place finish in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, joining Kyle Busch’s last-place showing in 2008. That night, Busch led 38 laps, the most of any All-Star last-placer.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
21) #4-Kasey Kahne / 59 laps / crash
20) #78-Regan Smith / 90 laps / fuel pump
19) #25-Mark Martin / 93 laps / crash
18) #2-Brad Keselowski / 99 laps / running
17) #1-Jamie McMurray / 100 laps / running

CUP: Cope’s Savage Crash With Cassill Leaves Him Last In Sprint Showdown

2011-05-22T00:49:00.001-07:00

Derrike Cope finished last in Saturday’s Sprint Showdown at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #64 Morningstar Marinas Ford was involved in a frightening two-car crash after completing 2 of the race’s 40 laps.

Cope, the all-time leader in NASCAR last-place finishes with 35, had twice attempted to enter a Sprint Cup race this season in his own equipment. Both times, which came at Martinsville and Darlington, Cope was forced to withdraw his #75 when the engine on his car was not turning out enough power. The latest news from Cope’s team has shown promise, however, as he switched manufacturers from Dodge to Chevrolet before the Darlington race and had gained sponsorship funds from Maxellence Energy Drink.

Still unwilling to bring his Chevrolet to Charlotte for the Sprint Showdown, Cope instead accepted an invitation from car owner Larry Gunselman to run his #64 in the race. It would be the first appearance of the #64 since SpeedWeeks at Daytona, during which Cope came up short of racing the Sta-Bil Toyota into the Daytona 500 after a 14th-place run in the second Gatorade Duel. Thanks to a partnership with Front Row Motorsports, Gunselman had also switched manufacturers from Toyota to Ford and had operated Front Row’s #37 team since Bristol with Tony Raines as the driver. Gunselman would also have sponsors for both his cars in the 27-car field, with Black Cat Fireworks and Firehouse Subs for Raines (part of an extended sponsorship deal through the summer) and Morningstar Marinas for Cope.

Cope qualified 25th for the Showdown at a speed of 181.781 mph, starting one row behind Raines, who timed in 23rd. At the start of the race, Cope was holding his own after Raines slapped the wall on the opening lap. Then, as the third lap started, Landon Cassill’s #09 blew a left-rear tire entering turn one, sending him sliding up into traffic. Cope picked the high line, looking to follow David Stremme’s #30, but Cassill’s car closed the hole. With nowhere else to go, Cope slammed into the left-rear of Cassill’s Chevrolet with enough force to lift the #09 off the ground. Though Cope rolled to the apron of turn two and did not drop the window net, both he and Cassill emerged unscathed.

Due to his lower running position on the previous lap than Cassill, Cope was credited with the last-place finish.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first time Cope, owner Larry Gunselman, and the #64 have ever finished last in the Sprint Showdown.
*The last thirteen runnings of the Sprint Showdown have now seen thirteen different last-place finishers. 1998 saw the most recent repeat last-placer when Andy Hillenburg’s #95 suffered an oil leak on the opening lap of the 1998 Winston Open, joining his last-place run in 1996 driving Andy Petree’s #33.
*Ford had not finished last in the Sprint Showdown since 2007, when Jon Wood’s #21 Motorcraft Ford was involved in a multi-car crash during the opening lap of the 2007 Nextel Open.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
27) #64-Derrike Cope / 2 laps / crash
26) #09-Landon Cassill / 2 laps / crash
25) #32-Boris Said / 3 laps / crash
24) #30-David Stremme / 27 laps / crash
23) #71-Andy Lally / 28 laps / running

TRUCKS: Garvey First Repeat Truck Series Last-Placer; Rosenblum Team Makes The Show

2011-05-22T00:47:00.000-07:00

Mike Garvey picked up the 7th last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Friday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #38 S&W Services Chevrolet fell out with transmission problems after completing 4 of the race’s 134 laps.

Garvey now stands alone as 5th in the all-time Truck Series last-place standings, six finishes behind series leader Wayne Edwards with 13.

In qualifying, Garvey timed in 34th at a speed of 168.982 mph, enough to best three other “go-or-go-home” trucks including Daytona last-placer Norm Benning, whose #57 was the only truck sent home. Before the first of a record 10 cautions flew on Lap 9, Garvey’s truck had already pulled behind the wall five laps earlier.

LASTCAR EXTRA: ROSENBLUM TEAM MAKES THE SHOW

Finishing 33rd after a hard crash was Wes Burton, who gave owner Jim Rosenblum his first Truck Series start since Andy Lally timed in 20th last fall at Talladega. Burton’s qualifying run was enough to give the FDNY Racing team its eighth start in the last six seasons, rebounding from a DNQ in the Charlotte race last spring. Burton and the #28 FDNY Chevrolet started last in the field at a speed of 165.022 mph, edging Norm Benning for the final spot by just under two tenths of a second.

Rosenblum has fielded entries in NASCAR as far back as 1983, when he put Cup driver Jocko Maggiacomo into the field for the 1983 Mason-Dixon 500 at Dover. Maggiacomo drove in the majority of Rosenblum’s 27 Cup starts - 11 in all - with a best finish of 24th in the 1987 Summer 500 at Pocono. In a tragic twist, when the team returned to Pocono the following June, Rosenblum’s #63 Chevrolet finished last, destroyed in a terrifying first-lap crash with Bobby Allison that ended Allison’s racing career. Six more drivers would race for Rosenblum until the team’s final Cup race was run in 1993.

Rosenblum’s current Truck Series team debuted during the series’ inaugural season in 1995, during which his #51 Chevrolets made 12 races with driver Kerry Teague. Teague finished a season-best 13th at both Tucson and Bristol. The following spring, driver T.J. Clark gave Rosenblum his team’s best finish to date, a 12th at Phoenix in 1996. As of now, Rosenblum’s team has qualified for 38 races in the Truck Series.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Garvey is the first repeat last-place finisher in the 2011 Truck Series season. He was also the first driver to repeat last year when he finished last in consecutive races at Charlotte and Texas.
*This is Garvey’s second consecutive last-place finish in this event: his #93 S&W Services Chevrolet fell out 9 laps into the 2010 North Carolina Education Lottery 200 with engine trouble.
*Garvey is the first Truck Series driver to finish last due to transmission trouble since 2010, when Johanna Long’s #20 Panhandle Grading & Paving Toyota fell out on the opening lap of the 2010 Smith’s 350 at Las Vegas.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #38-Mike Garvey / 4 laps / transmission
35) #7-Miguel Paludo / 25 laps / engine
34) #07-J.J. Yeley / 40 laps / axle
33) #28-Wes Burton / 43 laps / crash
32) #17-Timothy Peters / 62 laps / crash

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Garvey (2)
2nd) Norm Benning, James Buescher, Travis Kvapil, Chris Lafferty, Brad Sweet (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #38-Shane Sieg (2)
2nd) #5-Randy Moss, #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #57-Norm Benning Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Garvey’s is the fifth consecutive Chevrolet to finish last in the series. Out of the seven races run so far this season, Travis Kvapil’s Toyota at Phoenix is the only non-Chevrolet to finish last.
1st) Chevrolet (6)
2nd) Toyota (1)

CUP: McDowell Shuffled To 43rd Again By Germain Racing’s #60

2011-05-15T16:29:00.000-07:00

Michael McDowell picked up the 11th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s FedEx 400 Benefitting Autism Speaks at the Dover International Speedway when his unsponsored #66 HP Racing LLC Toyota fell out with electrical problems after 45 of the race’s 400 laps.

Last week at Darlington, McDowell and the HP Racing LLC team decided to leave the Showtime Southern 500 early after an incident with Mike Skinner’s #60 on Lap 5. Crew communications indicated that, even though the damage was not significant and that the team had enough funding to run the whole race, they were planning on running the same car at Dover and did not want to risk it being destroyed. Skinner, running 43rd at the time, then returned to the track several laps down, running just long enough to slip McDowell back to 43rd before he also called it a night.

At Dover, McDowell and the Darlington car returned, though now without the K-Love decals on their black-and-white Toyota. This time, qualifying was rained-out, but since the team was fastest among the “go-or-go-homers” in practice, they secured the 36th spot on the grid. Skinner and the #60 were locked-in as well, lining up 39th on race day.

When the green flag flew, first Joe Nemechek, then Andy Lally slipped to 43rd after Kyle Busch, sent to the rear due to a Friday engine change, drove by them both in the early laps. Lally’s #71 was the first car to lose a lap, earning him the Lucky Dog when Joey Logano’s spin brought out the first yellow on Lap 20. Just before the Lap 24 restart, McDowell fell to the rear of the field and Skinner pulled behind the wall, dropping Skinner to 43rd and Logano to 42nd. McDowell remained on the track through the Lap 41 competition caution, which allowed him to stay out and lead two laps. Only then, just after the restart on Lap 45, McDowell also pulled behind the wall.

Once again, Skinner made another trip out onto the racetrack by Lap 63, at which point his Toyota was more than a dozen laps down. Just like at Darlington, this extra run dropped McDowell to 43rd in the final running order. Skinner pulled out after 51 laps as his car handled so badly that he could barely keep out of the leaders’ path during the long green-flag runs of the race. This inched him past the #30 Inception Motorsports entry of David Stremme, who became NASCAR’s random selection for post-race inspection following his exit after 47 laps. Skinner finished 41st, even though running one more lap would have put him past J.J. Yeley’s #46 for 40th.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time McDowell had ever finished last in a Cup race at Dover. Also, the #66 had never before finished last in any of the previous 82 Sprint Cup races held at the track.
*McDowell is the first Cup last-placer to lead laps since Denny Hamlin led 74 laps, then blew an engine 143 laps into last fall’s Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #66-Michael McDowell / 45 laps / electrical
42) #30-David Stremme / 47 laps / vibration
41) #60-Mike Skinner / 51 laps / vibration
40) #46-J.J. Yeley / 51 laps / brakes
39) #87-Joe Nemechek / 55 laps / electrical

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (4)
2nd) Joe Nemechek, J.J. Yeley (2)
3rd) Landon Cassill, Kevin Conway, Mike Skinner (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #66-HP Racing LLC (4)
2nd) #46-Dusty Whitney, #60-Germain Racing, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
3rd) #97-NEMCO Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (9)
2nd) Chevrolet (2)

N’WIDE: Nightmare Wreck For MacDonald Motorsports Nets Koch Inaugural Last-Place Run

2011-05-15T16:24:00.000-07:00

Blake Koch picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s 5 Hour Energy 250 at the Dover International Speedway when his #82 Daystar.com Dodge was involved in a two-car crash during the opening lap of the 209-lap race. The finish came in Koch’s 12th series start.

In his third season of driving for Randy and Pat MacDonald’s Nationwide Series team, Koch has qualified for nine of the season’s first eleven races, culminating in a career-best 16th at Talladega last month. Saturday’s race at Dover would see Koch switch numbers with part-time teammate Donnie Neuenberger, giving Neuenberger his second opportunity of the season to drive the team’s primary #81 car. Koch was moved to the #82, which netted him the finish at Talladega.

46 cars were on the initial entry list, but when rain washed-out qualifying, three teams with last-place finishes this season were paid to withdraw by Rusty Wallace Racing: Matt Carter (#68, Texas), Mike Harmon (#74, Fontana), and Johnny Chapman (#75, Nashville). This allowed David Reutimann, driving for Wallace’s “go-or-go-home” third team (#64) to compete in the race sponsored by team sponsor 5 Hour Energy. Neuenberger and Koch, locked-in before this arrangement, would line up 27th and 33rd under NASCAR’s new rain-out qualifying procedure.

However, when the green flag dropped, the race turned disastrous for MacDonald Motorsports. Entering turn three, Mike Bliss tried to pass Neuenberger’s #81, but the two made contact, sending Neuenberger spinning up the track - directly into the path of Koch’s #82. The two cars collided, tearing apart the left-front wheel assembly on the #82 with the driver’s door of the #81. Both drivers were uninjured, but Koch’s day was done. The car, stuck on pit road, was towed behind the wall before the race restarted. Neuenberger returned to finish 33rd, forced to park after 70 laps for failing to meet the minimum speed requirement.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Both MacDonald Motorsports and the #82 had not finished last in a Nationwide Series race since 2010, when Matt Carter scored his own first last-place finish after his #82 Mobile-Shop.com Dodge lost its brakes after the opening lap of the 2010 Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen.
*A Nationwide Series driver had not finished last due to an opening-lap crash since 2008, when Kertus Davis’ #01 RaceGirl Chevrolet wrecked in turn eight during the first circuit of the 2008 Corona Mexico 200 at Mexico City.
*This was also Dodge’s first last-place finish in NASCAR competition. The last time a Dodge finished last in any of NASCAR’s top three divisions was last November, when Dennis Setzer’s #92 K-Automotive Motorsports Dodge fell out with a vibration 3 laps into the 2010 O’Reilly Challenge at Texas.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #82-Blake Koch / 1 lap / crash
42) #04-Charles Lewandoski / 4 laps / ignition
41) #44-Jeff Green / 6 laps / vibration
40) #55-Brett Rowe / 7 laps / handling
39) #0-Brad Teague / 10 laps / engine

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Kelly Bires, Jeff Green (2)
2nd) Matt Carter, Johnny Chapman, Kevin Conway, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Blake Koch, Justin Marks (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #25-Ed Rensi, #44-TriStar Motorsports (2)
2nd) #0-JD Motorsports, #27-Baker Curb Racing, #68-Fleur-De-Lis Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #75-Rick Ware Racing, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (6)
2nd) Ford (4)
3rd) Dodge (1)

TRUCKS: Lafferty Last For Second-Consecutive Truck Race At Dover

2011-05-15T16:22:00.000-07:00

Chris Lafferty picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Friday’s Lucas Oil 200 at the Dover International Speedway when his #10 DrivenMale / DriverBoutique.com Chevrolet fell out with engine problems after 2 of the race’s 200 laps.

Lafferty, a three-year veteran of the series, was making his first start for owner Jennifer Jo Cobb, whose Truck Series seat was vacant as she turned her team’s focus back to running the Nationwide Series. In his nine previous series starts, Lafferty has run his own Lafferty Performance equipment in eight of them, running the ninth for owner Daisy Ramirez at Kentucky last year. That race saw Lafferty finish 30th, so far a career-best mark that he matched in Indianapolis and Nashville that same season. This year, Lafferty’s #89 has only attempted one race: a DNQ at Darlington.

A 36-truck entry list guaranteed Lafferty a spot in the Dover field, where he timed in last at a speed of 123.805 mph. Two laps into the race, he pulled behind the wall, following Nashville last-placer Mike Garvey in Shane Sieg’s #38.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was Lafferty’s second-consecutive last-place finish in the Truck Series race at Dover. Last spring, an oil leak took his #89 Lafferty Performance Chevrolet out of the race after the opening lap.
*The #10 had not finished last in a Truck Series race since 2007, when David Starr’s International MAXX Force Diesel Ford crashed 34 laps into the 2007 Casino Arizona 150 at Phoenix. The number had never before finished last in a Truck Series race at Dover.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #10-Chris Lafferty / 2 laps / engine
35) #38-Mike Garvey / 2 laps / radiator
34) #99-J.R. Fitzpatrick / 5 laps / crash
33) #1-Carl Long / 15 laps / brakes
32) #87-Chris Jones / 27 laps / overheating

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Norm Benning, James Buescher, Mike Garvey, Travis Kvapil, Chris Lafferty, Brad Sweet (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #5-Randy Moss, #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #38-Shane Sieg, #57-Norm Benning Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (5)
2nd) Toyota (1)

LASTCAR EXTRA: Regan Smith and Furniture Row: Kindred Spirits Find Victory Lane

2011-05-08T21:42:00.000-07:00

The date was Sunday, October 5, 2008.

With shade from the fast-approaching darkness covering much of Talladega Superspeedway, the white flag finally flew across the wreck-depleted field of the AMP Energy 500. After more than three-and-a-half hours and ten cautions, it was now every man for himself. Sitting second, shadowing leader Tony Stewart’s every move, 24-year-old Regan Smith sat anxiously in his virtually-unsponsored black #01, fingers welded to the steering wheel, trying to look for any opening he could find. Before the restart, Paul Menard and Aric Almirola, Smith’s two teammates from Dale Earnhardt, Incorporated, were locked onto his rear bumper, each determined to put one of their struggling team’s cars into victory lane for the first time in more than two years. Almirola was shaken out of the draft on the restart, but Smith could still see Menard’s bright yellow Chevrolet fill his rear view mirror, rekindling memories of that fabled “23 Car” Michael Waltrip and Dale, Jr. made famous years before.

Entering turn three, Smith chose to lay back, earning him a helpful shunt from Menard. Now, the two were gaining ground on the leader again, ready for a last-minute assault on Stewart. As the leaders stormed into the tri-oval, Smith took a look up high and Menard followed, but Stewart threw the block, leaving the bottom wide open. Smith quickly cut low, and as Menard tried to follow, Stewart cut across Smith’s nose. The two made contact and Smith turned left, steering his car onto the flat apron to avoid a certain wreck. The checkered flag in sight, Smith held his ground, blended back up the track to pick up Menard, and began to inch ahead. As Menard closed once more, the checkered flag dropped.

And Regan Smith had won.

Down on pit road, crewmen in the #01 pit, their blank uniforms bearing only the signature of their fallen team owner, leapt into each other’s arms and cheered wildly, running in circles in unrestricted joy. On the backstretch, Smith let down the window net to release his pumping fist as Menard pulled alongside to congratulate him. It was a tremendous moment, a return to glory for a team that just a short time earlier had dominated the restrictor-plate tracks, headed by the sport’s most popular driver under its most revered name.

And then it was all taken away.

Not just the victory was lost, but also the team. That fateful judgment call which left Smith 18th in the final running order spelled the final death knell for DEI. Just a few weeks later, what little sponsorship the team still had dried up and the they closed its doors, laying off dozens of employees in the process. As what little remained of The Intimidator’s program merged with Chip Ganassi Racing, Smith accepted his Rookie of the Year award as one of the unemployed. In a cruel twist, it was the “Yellow-Line Rule,” a measure enacted in the shadow of Dale Earnhardt, which had cut down a living reminder of his legacy.

It was wrong then, and it always will be. But if anything positive is to be derived from that dark October day, it is that Smith found a home at Furniture Row Racing, paving the way to what transpired at Darlington last Saturday.

In a sport where it’s practically expected that one’s Cup team headquarters will be based in the vicinity of Mooresville, North Carolina, Barney Visser and Joe Garone’s Denver, Colorado-based team, like Smith, has been an underdog in every sense of the word. Invariably bearing the sponsor that is the team’s namesake, their distinctive #78 Chevrolets first hit the track in the Nationwide Series at Nashville in 2005 with Jerry Robertson behind the wheel. After eight starts in the series, the team quickly moved to Cup that September with Kenny Wallace coming home 34th at Dover. The following year, Wallace barely missed racing into the field for the 2006 Daytona 500, but stayed with the program through 28 more starts, culminating with both he and one-time teammate Joe Nemechek putting two Furniture Row Chevrolets into the field for the fiftieth running of the Great American Race.

Following the collapse of Ginn Racing in 2007, Nemechek had joined Furniture Row late that year and was tabbed as driver for the #78's first full season in 2008. With multi-car programs holding the key to understanding the new “Car of Tomorrow,” Furniture Row struggled to make the adjustment to full-time competition, missing four races that year. Even so, Nemechek’s restrictor-plate prowess gave the team valuable exposure. Besides the speed he showed during time trials for the 500, the veteran scored them their first pole at Talladega in the spring of 2008, an 18th-place finish at Daytona that July, and what was then a team-best 11th the day Smith’s win was taken away. But, after a 37th-place showing in the 2008 points standings and five last-place finishes in their first four seasons, Visser and Garone were looking for a change. They found Regan Smith.

Aware of their 2008 struggles, Furniture Row scaled back to a part-time schedule in 2009 that would include just 20 of the season’s 36 races, even at the expense of skipping the qualifying event for the All-Star Race. The team would also debut a fresh new look to their Chevrolets, their garish brown-and-white machines replaced with flat black cars that resembled the ones Smith had driven at DEI. In their first outing together, Smith put the team into its second-consecutive Daytona 500 and finished a healthy 21st, followed by a 19th their next time out at Las Vegas. Despite damage sustained in an early crash, the pair came home 15th in their return to Talladega, then finished 12th in the summer Daytona event.

That fall, a cut tire led to a crash at Richmond, ending Smith’s unprecedented 53-race streak of finishing every Cup race he’d entered. Still, to this day, Smith is one of only a handful of Cup drivers - including Kasey Kahne and Kevin Harvick - without a single last-place finish in any Cup or Nationwide Series points races. In fact, Smith’s only last-place run in NASCAR came early in his Truck Series career, when a two-truck crash took his #47 Ginn Resorts Chevrolet out of the 2007 Kroger 250 at Martinsville. Though Smith failed to qualify for two races late in the 2009 season, Visser and Garone were satisfied with the team’s progress and re-signed Smith for a run at the full 2010 season. The objective: finish in the Top 35 in Owner Points.

After a rough start to the year, Smith and Furniture Row ultimately attained their goal last November, coming home 29th in Owner Points to lock themselves into the first five races of this season’s campaign. For the first time, both team and driver had successfully run an entire Cup schedule. A strong run in the Gatorade Duels put them 11th in the Daytona 500 field. At Talladega in the spring, they led for three laps and were still running with the leaders late in the event before an engine failure left them 39th. Through 36 races, Smith finished inside the Top 20 ten times. Half of these finishes came in the Chase, where the team became known for its daring efforts to stay out on late restarts with old tires in an effort to capture a solid finish. Even after most of the team’s equipment was destroyed in a frightening freeway pileup in Colorado just days before the season finale, the team showed tremendous heart, banding together with the aid of their fellow competitors. They qualified 10th that weekend and came home 17th.

No longer worried about the dreaded “go-or-go-home” qualifying sessions, Smith and Furniture Row turned their attention to SpeedWeeks 2011 with dramatic results. In the Gatorade Duels, Smith teamed up with Kurt Busch, one of the fastest cars of the week, and nearly outmaneuvered Busch for the win. The two paired-up again in the 500 and Smith again returned to the lead, pacing the field for six laps while dodging all the early wrecks. Even after Busch turned Smith during a late-race restart, Smith rebounded once more and finished 7th, scoring the first Top 10 both driver and team had ever scored in the Cup Series.

From there, Smith became the king of Fridays, never qualifying worse than 18th in the first nine races including an outside-pole at Richmond that was one of seven performances inside the Top 10. While those nine races gave Smith the best average start of the series, however, luck suddenly eluded him on race day: in the six races that followed the 500, he never cracked the Top 20 and suffered a pair of DNFs. It is indeed most curious that at Darlington - a track where Smith had never finished better than 17th and where he had on Friday qualified a season-worst 23rd - that he once again found himself in a green-white-checkered battle for the lead.

Only this time, it was different. There was no yellow line, no frustration, no heartbreak. In fact, the race’s most controversial moment didn't involve Smith at all. Instead, there was only the unparalleled thrill of victory. The thrill of winning at a track that rewards legends for their tenacity and bravery: veterans like the one Regan Smith has become during his brief journey in this sport and teams with the entrepreneurial spirit of Furniture Row.

Because today, Regan Smith is a champion of the Southern 500. And Furniture Row Racing has brought hope to the struggling start-up teams of today.

CUP: Incident Forces Fully-Funded McDowell To Exit Early At Darlington

2011-05-08T20:42:00.000-07:00

Michael McDowell picked up the 10th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Saturday’s Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington when his #66 K-LOVE Toyota fell out with a vibration after completing 7 of the race’s 370 laps.

For the second consecutive week, McDowell and the HP Racing LLC team had full sponsorship from Christian radio network K-LOVE, allowing the team to run an entire Cup race for the third time in 2011. In the latter portion of Friday’s “knock-out” qualifying session, McDowell locked the team into the show, picking up two spots on his second timed lap with a speed of 175.353 mph, good enough for 39th on the grid.

At the start of Saturday’s race, McDowell was working his way through the field when disaster struck on Lap 5. Heading down the backstretch, trying to pass Mike Skinner’s #60 Big Red Toyota on the inside, Skinner suddenly turned left, damaging the right-front fender of McDowell’s Toyota. Skinner spun to the apron of the track, bringing out the first caution of the race. As Skinner pulled his virtually undamaged car behind the wall, McDowell’s crew told him to go to the garage as well. Though the crew pointed out the #66 had only minor damage to the fender and a hole in the nose, it was decided to call it a night and save the car for next week’s race at Dover.

Radio communications indicated that McDowell was upset at the early misfortune and was seeking out Mike Skinner to have a heated discussion about the contact. There have been no reports of such a confrontation, however, and Skinner returned to the track 25 laps down later that night. Once Skinner had dropped McDowell to 43rd and moved past Joe Nemechek and David Stremme, two other early exits, Skinner’s Germain Racing team also pulled the plug and he came home in 40th.

Click here to listen to McDowell's team audio from those first seven laps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q5riko6rsA

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*The #66 had not finished last at Darlington since 2000, when Darrell Waltrip’s #66 K-Mart / Route 66 Ford fell out with handling problems after completing 116 laps of the 2000 Mall.com 400.
*A Cup Series driver had not finished last at Darlington due to a vibration since 2004, when Joe Ruttman’s #09 Miccosukee Resort and Casino Dodge left 22 laps into the 2004 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400.
*McDowell had never before finished last in a Cup race at Darlington.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #66-Michael McDowell / 7 laps / vibration
42) #87-Joe Nemechek / 22 laps / electrical
41) #30-David Stremme / 27 laps / electrical
40) #60-Mike Skinner / 29 laps / brakes
39) #46-J.J. Yeley / 34 laps / engine

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
It was a rough weekend for owner Dusty Whitney, who attempted to enter two cars into Saturday’s race for the first time since last fall at Phoenix. In qualifying, Scott Riggs, driver of the unsponsored second team, #81, had just completed his first timed lap when the engine exploded in turn one. Ultimately, Riggs became the fastest of the three teams to DNQ, having been edged for the 43rd spot by Joe Nemechek. J.J. Yeley and the team’s lead #46 had qualified 31st for Saturday’s race and remained on the lead lap in the early going, only to blow an engine in the exact same spot 34 laps into the race.
1st) Michael McDowell (3)
2nd) Joe Nemechek, J.J. Yeley (2)
3rd) Landon Cassill, Kevin Conway, Mike Skinner (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #66-HP Racing LLC (3)
2nd) #46-Dusty Whitney, #60-Germain Racing, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
3rd) #97-NEMCO Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (8)
2nd) Chevrolet (2)