N’WIDE: Jeff Green Scores Second Straight Loudon Last-Place Finish

SOURCE: NASCAR Media

Jeff Green picked up the 46th last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s CNBC Prime's The Profit 200 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #10 TriStar Motorsports Toyota fell out with a vibration after he completed 3 of the race’s 213 laps.

The finish was Green’s eighth of 2013 and his first since Kentucky, two races ago.  With sixteen races to go this season, Green is already just five finishes away from beating his own single-season last-place record of twelve he set last season.

Green qualified 25th for Saturday’s race at an average speed of 127.902 mph, ranking him 3rd fastest behind Matt Kenseth and Billy Johnson among the twelve “go-or-go-homers” who attempted to qualify.  Three cars failed to qualify: Daytona last-placer Morgan Shepherd, Mike Harmon in his #74, and Michigan last-placer Dexter Stacey in his #92.

For the second-straight race, however, Stacey’s team arranged for another team to withdraw so Stacey could make the race.  While Green withdrew last week at Daytona, Saturday’s withdrawal was Carl Long in the #15 Rick Ware Racing-prepared Ford.  Green was thus able to start Saturday’s race.

Radio communications indicated that Green was driving his primary car for next week’s race in Chicago.  Green fell to the rear in the early laps, then pulled off the track, resulting in a last-place finish.  For the sixth time this year, two cars from The Motorsports Group finished a close 38th and 39th.  Drivers J.J. Yeley (#46) and Josh Wise (#42) fell out four and seven laps, respectively, after Green.

The remaining two spots in the Bottom Five went to SR2 Motorsports with Blake Koch in the #00 and Brett Butler in the #24.  On Lap 43, Butler slammed the outside wall with the driver’s side of his #24 entering turn three, but was uninjured.  The car made it to the halfway point before it pulled behind the wall for good.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the second-consecutive last-place finish for both Green and the #10 TriStar Motorsports entry in a Nationwide Series race at New Hampshire.  Last year, Green fell out after two laps with a vibration.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #10-Jeff Green / 3 laps / vibration
39) #46-J.J. Yeley / 7 laps / vibration
38) #42-Josh Wise / 10 laps / brakes
37) #00-Blake Koch / 99 laps / brakes
36) #24-Brett Butler / 100 laps / crash

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (8)
2nd) Tanner Berryhill, Joey Gase, Blake Koch, Johanna Long, Eric McClure, Michael McDowell, Robert Richardson, Jr., Morgan Shepherd, Dexter Stacey (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #10-TriStar Motorsports (8)
2nd) #14-TriStar Motorsports, #17-Vision Racing, #23-R3 Motorsports, #27-SR2 Motorsports, #52-Jimmy Means Racing, #70-ML Motorsports, #89-Shepherd Racing Ventures, #92-KH Motorsports, #00-SR2 Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (13)
2nd) Chevrolet (2)
3rd) Dodge, Ford (1)

TRUCKS: Chris Lafferty Ties Johnny Chapman For 2013 LASTCAR Truck Lead

SOURCE: Troy Whitaker

Chris Lafferty picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Saturday’s Amercian Ethanol 200 presented by Enogen at the Iowa Speedway when his #0 Driven2Honor.org Ford fell out with rear end problems after he completed 3 of the race’s 200 laps.

The finish was Lafferty’s second of the season and his second in a row, following his last-place run at Kentucky two weeks ago.  Lafferty and Johnny Chapman, who have combined to sweep the last four last-place finishes, are now tied for the 2013 LASTCAR Truck Series lead with two finishes apiece.  Jo Cobb’s #0 remains the leader in the LASTCAR Owners Championship thanks to Scott Saunders’ last-place run at Kansas.

Just 35 trucks showed up to compete in Saturday’s race, so Lafferty secured the 34th spot with the slowest timed lap of 120.468 mph.  35th-place starter Bryan Silas failed to complete a qualifying lap.

Lafferty pulled behind the wall during the opening green-flag run.  He was followed four laps later by the #93 RSS Racing entry driven by Chris Jones, marking the seventh consecutive race Jones has finished in the Bottom Five.  Danny Efland came home 33rd in the Chris Fontaine-owned #84 followed by Lafferty’s team owner Jennifer Jo Cobb in her #10 Dodge RAM.  Rounding out the Bottom Five was Brendan Gaughan, who after qualifying 4th for the third consecutive race, ended up with his worst finish of 2013.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first last-place finish for both Lafferty and the #0 in a Truck Series race at Iowa.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
35) #0-Chris Lafferty / 3 laps / rear end
34) #93-Chris Jones / 7 laps / vibration
33) #84-Dany Efland / 11 laps / vibration
32) #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb / 20 laps / engine
31) #62-Brendan Gaughan / 159 laps / running

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Johnny Chapman, Chris Lafferty (2)
2nd) Mike Harmon, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chris Jones, Scott Riggs, Scott Saunders (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #0-Jennifer Jo Cobb (3)
2nd) #38-RSS Racing (2)
3rd) #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #84-Chris Fontaine, #92-Ricky Benton, #93-RSS Racing (1)

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

CUP: Paul Menard Scores His First Last-Place Finish In More Than Six Years

SOURCE: motorsport.com

Paul Menard picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Saturday’s Coke Zero 400 at the Daytona International Speedway when his #27 Rheem / Menards Chevrolet lost the engine after he completed 23 of the race’s 161 laps.

The finish was Menard’s first of the season.  It’s also his first last-place finish in a Sprint Cup race since his rookie season in 2007, when he raced for Dale Earnhardt, Inc.  That finish came 225 races ago in the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega on April 29, 2007 when his #15 Menards Chevrolet lost the engine after 22 laps.  That was the final Talladega race for what is now known the “Gen-Four” chassis, which was phased-out at the end of that season.  Menard has yet to finish last in 186 combined Nationwide and Truck Series starts.

Menard is competing in his third season with Richard Childress Racing as driver of their bright yellow #27 Chevrolets.  In that time, the 32-year-old Wisconsin driver scored his first Sprint Cup victory in the 2011 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis.  He came home 17th in points that year, then improved to a career-best 16th last season.

Entering the Daytona race, Menard was 15th in points with four top-ten finishes.  Three of those runs came in consecutive races at Las Vegas, Bristol, and Fontana, the latter bringing a season-best 8th-place run in the Auto Club 400.  However, in the twelve races since, Menard had finished outside the Top 15 seven times, including a 30th-place run last week in Kentucky where he was caught up in a multi-car wreck with Greg Biffle and Brad Keselowski.

Menard showed signs of a turnaround at Daytona.  He qualified a strong 6th at an average speed of 193.075 mph, his second-best starting spot of the year and his third Top Ten start in the last five races.  All 43 entrants made the show.

In the race itself, Michael McDowell was the first driver to pull behind the wall, making the left-hand turn after six laps.  Radio communications indicated McDowell had a severe vibration, and the team changed out the rear gear and both rear axles.  McDowell had finished last in the 400 in 2012, and without sponsorship for his #98, it appeared he was set to finish last once more.  He could have tied Mike Bliss for the LASTCAR lead as Bliss and the #19 Humphrey-Smith Motorsports team were not entered in the event.

However, while running with the leaders off Turn 4, Menard’s car showed a huge plume of smoke, and flames fanned out from beneath the car’s fenders.  Menard slowed quickly as the caution flew, nearly colliding with Kurt Busch on the apron.  Somehow, he avoided being collected by the entire field, and he pulled off the track on an access road exiting the tri-oval.  Menard looked under the hood himself, but the problem was terminal, and he was done for the night.

McDowell returned to the track to run twenty-seven more laps, ten more than Menard, nudging the #27 back to the 43rd spot.  The vibration sent McDowell behind the wall for good, leaving him 42nd.  Fishing 41st was Martin Truex, Jr., who on Lap 98 pounded the inside wall in a three-car crash coming off Turn 4.  40th went to Joey Logano, who lost the 10th spot in the point standings when he cut a tire and hit the wall on Lap 70.  39th went to the damaged car of Juan Pablo Montoya, whose #42 was collected in the Truex wreck.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first last-place finish for a Richard Childress-owned car since 2007, when Jeff Burton’s #31 Cingular Chevrolet lost the engine after 91 laps of the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega.  That race was the first restrictor-plate start for NASCAR’s “Car of Tomorrow.”
*This was the first last-place finish for the #27 in a Cup race since 2006, when Kirk Shelmerdine’s #27 Catdaddy Carolina Moonshine Chevrolet broke the rear end after he completed 28 laps of the Pepsi 400.  Shelmerdine, a former crew chief of Dale Earnhardt, attempted seven more races after that night, but that race was the 26th and final of his Cup career.  Earlier in 2006, Shelmerdine was the feel-good story of SpeedWeeks 2006 when he raced his way into the field for the Daytona 500.  He obtained funding from several well-wishers, including Richard Childress, who footed the bill for his tires.  Shelmerdine finished a career-best 20th.
*Menard’s 6th-place qualifying run was the best starting spot by a Cup last-place finisher since last fall at Phoenix, when outside-polesitter Martin Truex, Jr. lost the engine after ten laps.  It is the best start by a Cup last-placer at Daytona since this race in 2007, when outside-polesitter Denny Hamlin finished 61 laps down after an early crash with teammate Tony Stewart during the Pepsi 400.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #27-Paul Menard / 23 laps / engine
42) #98-Michael McDowell / 33 laps / vibration
41) #56-Martin Truex, Jr. / 97 laps / crash
40) #22-Joey Logano / 105 laps / running
39) #42-Juan Palo Montoya / 126 laps / running

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Bliss (4)
2nd) Michael McDowell, Scott Riggs (3)
3rd) Bobby Labonte (2)
4th) Trevor Bayne, Dave Blaney, Jason Leffler, Paul Menard, Joe Nemechek, Scott Speed (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #19-Humphrey-Smith Racing (5)
2nd) #44-Xxxtreme Motorsports, #98-Phil Parsons Racing (3)
3rd) #7-Tommy Baldwin Racing, #21-Wood Brothers Racing, #27-Richard Childress Racing, #47-JTG Daugherty Racing, #51-Phoenix Racing, #87-NEMCO Motorsports, #95-Leavine Family Racing (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Ford (8)
2nd) Toyota (7)
3rd) Chevrolet (3)

N’WIDE: Morgan Shepherd and Dodge Score Their First Nationwide Last-Place Finishes Since 2011

SOURCE: NASCAR Media

Morgan Shepherd picked up the 14th last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Friday’s Subway Firecracker 250 at the Daytona International Speedway when his #89 Racing With Jesus Dodge fell out with a broken rear gear after he completed 21 of the race’s 101 laps.

The finish was Shepherd’s first of 2013 and his first in a Nationwide Series race since the Ford 300 at Homestead, fifty races ago.  It is also Shepherd’s 35th last-place finish across NASCAR’s top three divisions, ranking him fourth in the all-time standings behind Jeff Green, Joe Nemechek, and Derrike Cope.  Of that group, Shepherd is the only driver with LASTCAR championships in both Cup (1983) and Nationwide (2007).

Though he has not won in NASCAR since 1993, the 71-year-old Shepherd has been a fixture in the garage area, having made no fewer than twenty-one Nationwide starts per season since he returned to being an owner-driver in 2007.  However, this year, citing sponsorship woes, the veteran has made just four starts out of the sixteen races run so far, including four DNQs.  He has not finished a race this year, and his best finish of the season remains a pair of 35th-place runs at Talladega and Kentucky.

However, last week’s race at Daytona saw Shepherd score his best qualifying run of the season, a 31st-place run at an average speed of 175.172 mph.  For the race, Shepherd ran a Dodge Challenger with his distinctive purple-and-black paint scheme.  Dodge had pulled out prior to the 2013 season, but NASCAR allows recent models to compete, so both Shepherd and Mike Harmon raced Dodges on Friday.  Harmon’s #74 Paxco Dodge started 29th.

Darlington last-placer Blake Koch was the only driver to miss the race after another post-qualifying shuffle.  Dexter Stacey had originally missed the field along with Koch, but an agreement was struck whereby LASTCAR leader Jeff Green withdrew his qualified #10 TriStar Motorsports Toyota.  Stacey secured the 40th starting spot while Green replaced Tony Raines as driver of the #70 ML Motorsports Toyota.  Green finished 30th, two laps down, ending a streak of four-straight last-place finishes in Nationwide races at Daytona.  Stacey broke an axle and came home 38th.

Shepherd pulled behind the wall during the opening green-flag run, resulting in his last-place finish.  He beat 39th-place Reed Sorenson by nearly fifty laps.  Sorenson brought out the second caution of the night on Lap 72 when he lost the engine on his #40 Swisher e-Cigarettes Chevrolet fielded by The Motorsports Group.  Following 38th-place Stacey was Mike Wallace, who brought out the next caution when his #01 lost power on the backstretch.  Fontana last-placer Joey Gase rounded out the Bottom Five in the Jimmy Means-owned #52 Donate Life FL / Tanslife Chevrolet.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was Shepherd’s first last-place finish in a Nationwide race at Daytona since 1988, when his #97 AC Spark Plugs Buick started 7th, led eight laps, then lost the engine after 21 laps of the Goody’s 300.  The next day, Shepherd also finished last in the Daytona 500, again driving the #97.  Bobby Allison, who in 1982 was the last driver until Jimmie Johnson on Saturday to sweep both Cup races at Daytona, also swept the 1988 weekend with wins in the Cup and Nationwide races.
*This was the first Nationwide Series last-place finish for Dodge since 2011, when Blake Koch’s #82 Daystar.com Dodge was involved in a crash with his teammate after the opening lap of the crash-filled 5-Hour Energy 200 at Dover.
*It is the first last-place finish for the #89 in a Nationwide Series race at Daytona.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #89-Morgan Shepherd / 21 laps / rear gear
39) #40-Reed Sorenson / 70 laps / engine
38) #92-Dexter Stacey / 76 laps / axle
37) #01-Mike Wallace / 87 laps / engine
36) #52-Joey Gase / 90 laps / running

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (7)
2nd) Tanner Berryhill, Joey Gase, Blake Koch, Johanna Long, Eric McClure, Michael McDowell, Robert Richardson, Jr., Morgan Shepherd, Dexter Stacey (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #10-TriStar Motorsports (7)
2nd) #14-TriStar Motorsports, #17-Vision Racing, #23-R3 Motorsports, #27-SR2 Motorsports, #52-Jimmy Means Racing, #70-ML Motorsports, #89-Shepherd Racing Ventures, #92-KH Motorsports, #00-SR2 Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (12)
2nd) Chevrolet (2)
3rd) Dodge, Ford (1)

An Open Letter to the Broadcasters at Daytona

SOURCE: Phoenix Racing Twitter - @PhoenixRacing51

Dear ESPN and TNT,

This weekend at Daytona, Phoenix Racing has cars in both the Cup and Nationwide races.  Each car carries a special paint scheme that harkens back to NASCAR’s boom in the early 1990s, the time period when owner James Finch’s fledgling organization made its first few starts.

On Friday, Kurt Busch will run a green-and-yellow #1 Chevrolet.  The car is reminiscent of the #46 City Chevrolet machine driven by Tom Cruise’s character Cole Trickle in the 1990 film “Days of Thunder.”  The Phoenix team has even gone to the extreme of putting together a hilarious video with Rick Hendrick where they recite quotes from the film.  It’s mandatory viewing before the race - especially if you’re listening to Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack when you do.

On Saturday, A.J. Allmendinger will climb behind the wheel of the pink-and-yellow #51 Phoenix Construction Chevrolet, a car with much more somber significance.  It was in a similarly-colored #51 Country Time Chevrolet that, on February 11, 1994,  NASCAR legend Neil Bonnett lost his life in a crash while practicing for the Daytona 500.  We saw this paint job run earlier this season in the Nationwide race at Talladega, where Kurt Busch led on the final lap before a last-second slingshot move slipped him back to 4th.

And, as I pointed out, ESPN completely failed in their journalistic duty to discuss that Bonnett car in a mature and respectful manner.

Just three days after ESPN’s flub, it was announced that Finch will sell both of his NASCAR teams.  Finch’s final race as owner of the #51 will be the July 28 race at Indianapolis, which is now just twenty-three days away.  Although it now appears the team will be sold to a new owner instead of closed, Finch’s impending exit adds yet more significance to his two cars running this weekend.

This weekend will be Finch’s final appearance as a car owner for a restrictor-plate race.  It is significant because it is likely the last best chance Finch will have to hoist another NASCAR trophy.

The events at Daytona and Talladega have long been the team’s best, and this year's have been their greatest of all.  Back in February, Regan Smith finished 7th in the Daytona 500, one day after his Finch-owned Nationwide car was crashed out of the lead within sight of the checkers.  Smith followed this up with a 6th-place finish for Finch in the Aaron’s 499, one day after he slipped past Busch’s Finch car for the Nationwide win.

Make no mistake, ESPN and TNT - with Allmendinger topping the speed charts in Friday’s opening Cup practice, and with Kurt Busch running Top Ten in both Nationwide sessions, Finch’s cars can not only win, but could very well sweep the weekend.

You’re going to have to talk about them.

And this time, you had better get it right.

You better get it right because the stakes are even higher than they were in May.

This isn’t just about honoring the life of Neil Bonnett anymore - it’s also about honoring Finch himself and all that he, too, has given to this sport for more than two decades.  And, in turn, it’s about saluting what has made this sport great - the personalities who, like Finch, built a professional team from the ground up, and like Bonnett, who drove for such teams with everything they had.

This isn’t simply a suggestion or a request.  It is an ultimatum.

It doesn’t need to be an all-consuming thing.  A segment, a series of clips, or the sharing of a memories will work just fine.  Maybe something like SPEED did for Dick Trickle during the All-Star Race or the beautiful tribute NASCAR’s videographer did for Jason Leffler.

But I better not hear another one-liner about that #51 looking silly.  Because if these networks - the commentators, producers, and the rest of their television crews - continue to treat NASCAR history as rudely and carelessly as ESPN did in May, they will someday find themselves in darkened press boxes above desolated grandstands.

Because there’s more fans like me than you think.

Sincerely,
Brock Beard
LASTCAR