N’WIDE: Kevin Lepage Ends Green’s Streak, Scores 425th Nationwide Finish For Chevrolet

SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin'

Kevin Lepage picked up the 11th last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s Aaron’s 312 at the Talladega Superspeedway when his #52 TTTR Racing Engines Chevrolet fell out with clutch problems after completing 1 of the race’s 122 laps.

Qualifying for the race was rained-out, and Lepage secured the 37th starting spot. Although at least one of the four The Motorsports Group Chevrolets made an early pit stop, it was Lepage who was the first behind the wall. TMG’s Scott Speed followed one lap later, joined by teammates Chase Miller and Josh Wise.

Jeff Green came home 39th, ending a three-race streak of last-place finishes that propelled him to the all-time LASTCAR lead last Saturday.

Lepage’s Talladega car was owned by longtime owner-driver and 1988 LASTCAR Champion. Means, who campaigned the #52 during his own driving career, is making his return to the Cup Series as a team owner this season. Next week at Darlington, Hamilton Means Racing will make its second Cup Series attempt with Mike Skinner aboard. The team narrowly missed the show at Martinsville last month with Scott Speed aboard.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first Nationwide last-place finish for Means Racing and the #52 since 2008, when Donnie Neunberger’s Plan B Technology Dodge fell out with handling woes after the opening lap of the Camping World RV Sales 200 at Dover.
*This was Lepage’s first last-place finish in the series since 2010, when his #56 Hyatt Place Richmond Airport Toyota fell out with fuel pump problems after 6 laps of the Virginia 529 College Savings 250 at Richmond.
*The last time a Nationwide Series driver finished last due to clutch problems was in 2004, when David Keith’s #95 Sadler Brothers Racing Ford fell out two laps into the Pepsi 300 at Nashville.
*Lepage’s finish marked the 425th for Chevrolet in the Nationwide Series.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #52-Kevin Lepage / 1 lap / clutch
42) #47-Scott Speed / 2 laps / ignition
41) #46-Chase Miller / 8 laps / vibration
40) #42-Josh Wise / 9 laps / electrical
39) #10-Jeff Green / 9 laps / vibration

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (5)
2nd) Mike Harmon, Kevin Lepage, Josh Wise (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #10-TriStar Motorsports (5)
2nd) #42-The Motorsports Group, #52-Means Racing, #74-Mike Harmon (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (5)
2nd) Chevrolet (3)

CUP: Speed Is First Repeat Last-Placer of 2012 Cup Series Season

SOURCE: Leavine Family Racing Facebook

Scott Speed picked up the 4^th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Saturday night’s Capitol City 400 presented by Virginia is for Lovers at the Richmond International Raceway when his #95 TWD Drywall Ford fell out with electrical problems after 19 of the race’s 400 laps.

The finish was Speed’s second in as many starts in 2012 and his first since Texas, two races ago. As a result, Speed is the first Cup driver to score more than one last-place finish this season.

Speed qualified 36^th for Saturday’s race at an average speed of 125.839 mph, ranking him fifth among the ten "go-or-go-home" drivers who attempted to qualify. Joining Las Vegas last-placer J.J. Yeley as the other driver who failed to qualify was Kansas last-placer Scott Riggs, who also was the only DNQ from the Nationwide race the previous night.

In the race, it first appeared that Mike Bliss would score his first last-place finish of 2012 in the Randy Humphrey and Mark Smith-owned #19 Toyota. Bliss held the 43^rd spot in the early laps before Speed pulled behind the wall under green, followed four laps later by Bliss. Joe Nemechek, still without a last-place finish in 2012, came home 41^st, but scored an impressive 13^th in the Nationwide race.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is Speed’s second-consecutive last-place finish in a Cup race at Richmond. Last fall, he was involved in an early multi-car crash while driving Dusty Whitney’s #46 Ford.
*The #95 had never before finished last in a Cup race at Richmond.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #95-Scott Speed / 19 laps / electrical
42) #19-Mike Bliss / 23 laps / rear gear
41) #87-Joe Nemechek / 28 laps / brakes
40) #74-Cole Whitt / 29 laps / vibration
39) #98-Michael McDowell / 67 laps / brakes

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Scott Speed (2)
2nd) Brendan Gaughan, Michael McDowell, David Ragan, Scott Riggs, Reed Sorenson, Josh Wise, J.J. Yeley (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #95-Leavine Family Racing (2)
2nd) #23-R3 Motorsports, #26-Front Row Motorsports, #33-Richard Childress Racing, #34-Front Row Motorsports, #49-Robinson-Blakeney Racing, #74-Turn One Racing, #98-Phil Parsons Racing (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Ford (5)
2nd) Chevrolet (3)
3rd) Toyota (1)

N’WIDE: Jeff Green Is NASCAR’s New All-Time Leader In Last-Place Finishes

SOURCE: NASCAR Media

Jeff Green picked up the 31^st last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Friday night’s Virginia 529 College Savings 250 at the Richmond International Raceway when his unsponsored #10 TriStar Motorsports Toyota fell out with a vibration after completing 3 of the race’s 250 laps.

The finish was not only Green’s third in a row and fifth of 2012, but was the 36^th of his NASCAR career, a new LASTCAR record. It is the first time this record has changed hands since Derrike Cope claimed it from the late J.D. McDuffie at Montreal in 2008.

23 of Green’s finishes came while driving for TriStar’s Nationwide Series team in the last three years, including a record-setting four-race streak last August. Friday’s record-breaking finish came in Green’s 593^rd start in NASCAR’s top three divisions.

Green qualified 41^st for Friday’s race at an average speed of 112.145 mph, ranking him eleventh among the fourteen "go-or-go-homers" who attempted to qualify.


LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Jeff Green's last-place history in NASCAR (click image below to enlarge):

*Neither Jeff Green, nor the #10, had ever before finished last in a Nationwide Series race at Richmond.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #10-Jeff Green / 3 laps / vibration
42) #46-Chase Miller / 7 laps / clutch
41) #74-Mike Harmon / 7 laps / rear gear
40) #47-Scott Speed / 9 laps / electrical
39) #75-Blake Koch / 10 laps / vibration

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (5)
2nd) Mike Harmon, Josh Wise (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #10-TriStar Motorsports (5)
2nd) #42-The Motorsports Group, #74-Mike Harmon (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (5)
2nd) Chevrolet (2)

EDIT (April 11, 2013): Due to updated statistics indicating that Derrike Cope scored 36 and not 35 last-place finishes, due to one more last-place finish in a Nationwide race at Darlington in 1995, Jeff Green did not actually beat Cope's mark until his last-place run at Road America in June 2012. Although the graphic is technically inaccurate, since he needed 37 and not 36 last-place runs to beat Cope, it will be reflected accurately in the upcoming LASTCAR Nationwide Series Chronicle.

CUP: Riggs’ Last-Place Finish At Kansas The First For #23 Since 2002

SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin'

Scott Riggs picked up the 4^th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s STP 400 at the Kansas Speedway when his #23 North Texas Pipe Chevrolet fell out with rear gear problems after 18 of the race’s 267 laps.

The finish was Riggs’ first of the 2012 season and his first in Cup Series competition in thirty-one races. That race was last June’s 5-Hour Energy 500 at Pocono, where his #81 WhitneysCollision.com Chevrolet fell out after 17 laps due to brake trouble.

Over the 2011-2012 offseason, Riggs landed a Cup Series ride with R3 Motorsports, a longtime Nationwide Series team that has recently made frequent attempts to enter NASCAR’s top racing division. The team’s DNQ streak continued through SpeedWeeks, when Robert Richardson was unable to race the #23 Toyota into the Daytona 500 field.

Then, as the team switched to Chevrolets and put Riggs behind the wheel, the R3 team qualified for six of the next seven races, missing only last month’s race at Las Vegas. Still, as R3 continues to pool its funds for its Nationwide Series program, Riggs has parked the #23 each week - twice he finished 41^st and three times he came home 42^nd. Sunday proved to be R3's first-ever last-place finish in Cup Series competition.

In qualifying, Riggs put the #23 into the 34^th position at an average speed of 173.249 mph, ranking him fourth among the eleven "go-or-go-homers" who attempted to qualify. It was vindication for Riggs, who had missed the show for the Truck Series race the day before while driving Mike Harmon’s #74.

THIS FRIDAY: JEFF GREEN CHASES THE LASTCAR RECORD
Riggs’ run in qualifying also bumped out of the field Jeff Green, still tied for the all-time LASTCAR lead. Last week, Green was tabbed as the driver for the #33 team that finished last at Fontana with Brendan Gaughan, but the car lacked speed in time trials. This Friday in the Nationwide Series race at Richmond, Green is expected to run the #10 TriStar Motorsports Toyota in which he has scored the most recent three of his record-tying 35 NASCAR finishes.

Another 43^rd on Friday will break his tie with Derrike Cope, putting a new leader on top for the first time since Cope beat the record of the late J.D. McDuffie by scoring his 33^rd finish in the Nationwide race at Montreal on August 2, 2008.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first last-place finish in Cup for the #23 since 2002, when the number belonged to Bill Davis Racing and the Hills Bros. Dodge driven by Hut Stricklin. Stricklin’s car came home 43^rd in the 2002 MBNA America 500 at Atlanta in the spring of that year, having lost an engine after 164 laps.
*This was Riggs’ first last-place finish in a Cup race at Kansas.
*For the third time in the last four Cup races at Kansas, the last-place finisher fell out with rear gear problems as the listed cause.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #23-Scott Riggs / 18 laps / rear gear
42) #19-Mike Bliss / 27 laps / brakes
41) #87-Joe Nemechek / 47 laps / vibration
40) #98-Michael McDowell / 58 laps / overheating
39) #26-Josh Wise / 65 laps / rear gear

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
With eight different last-place finishers in the first eight races, 2012 is the most competitive LASTCAR season since 2008, which started with 17 different finishers. The last three seasons began with streaks of only four, two, and six, respectively.
1st) Brendan Gaughan, Michael McDowell, David Ragan, Scott Riggs, Reed Sorenson, Scott Speed, Josh Wise, J.J. Yeley (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #23-R3 Motorsports, #26-Front Row Motorsports, #33-Richard Childress Racing, #34-Front Row Motorsports, #49-Robinson-Blakeney Racing, #74-Turn One Racing, #95-Leavine Family Racing, #98-Phil Parsons Racing (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Ford (4)
2nd) Chevrolet (3)
3rd) Toyota (1)

TRUCKS: Jeb Burton’s Hard Crash Ends His Kansas Race Early

SOURCE: Autoweek

Jeb Burton picked up the 1^st last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Saturday’s SFP 250 at the Kansas Speedway when his #27 State Water Heaters Chevrolet was involved in a single-truck crash after 2 of the race’s 167 laps. The finish came in Burton’s third series start.

The 19-year-old son of 2002 Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton began his rookie season at Martinsville, where he finished 13^th. Last Sunday at Rockingham, he bested this finish with an 11^th-place run. Combined with Ward’s 8^th-place run in the #27 at Daytona, Hillman Racing was off to a solid start heading to Kansas.

Burton qualified 25^th for Saturday’s race at an average speed of 167.999 mph. On the first lap of the race, Burton made contact with the outside wall in turns three and four, then cut down a tire and hit the wall much harder in turn one. The damage was enough to take him out of the race.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the #27's first last-place finish in nine races, dating back to when Brent Raymer’s S&W Services Chevrolet fell out with a vibration after two laps of last fall’s race at Kentucky 225 at the Kentucky Speedway.
*Although neither Ward Burton and his brother Jeff have never finished last in Truck Series competition, both have only a combined five series starts.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #27-Jeb Burton / 2 laps / crash
35) #07-Chris Jones / 14 laps / rear end
34) #08-Ross Chastain / 17 laps / engine
33) #12-Russ Dugger / 39 laps / crash
32) #14-Brennan Newberry / 40 laps / crash

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeb Burton, Rick Crawford, Grant Enfinger, Jason Leffler (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #18-Kyle Busch Motorsports, #27-Hillman Racing, #60-Turn One Racing, #74-Mike Harmon (1)

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