N’WIDE: Half Of The 2013 Nationwide Series Last-Place Finishes Belong To TriStar’s #10

SOURCE: Jeff Wagoner

Jeff Green picked up the 53rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s ServiceMaster 200 at the Phoenix International Raceway when his unsponsored #10 TriStar Motorsports Toyota fell out with a vibration after he completed 4 of the race’s 200 laps.

The finish was Green’s fifteenth of 2013 and his fifth in the last seven races.  When adding in Michael McDowell’s last-place run for the team last week at Texas, the #10 TriStar Motorsports team has now finished last in four consecutive races, in six of the last seven, and amassed a season total of sixteen, exactly half of the thirty-two races run so far this year.

It is easily the most dominant last-place season of any team in NASCAR history in a year that has seen Green break his own single-season last-place record and continue to pad his lead in the overall LASTCAR standings.

Green was 26th in the opening practice, 30th in Happy Hour, then ended up 31st in qualifying with an average speed of 129.162 mph, fourth-slowest among the twelve “go-or-go-homers” who attempted to qualify.  Missing the race were 37th-fastest Morgan Shepherd, his eleventh DNQ of 2013 and second in a row, and the #92 of 41st-fastest Dexter Stacey.

Former LASTCAR record holder Derrike Cope took a turn in the ML Motorsports #70 Toyota this weekend, but crashed hard in qualifying.  For the race, he ran one of his own Creation-Cope Racing Chevrolets with the “3” on the car number “73” reshaped into a “70.”  Cope fell out after 104 laps with handling woes to finish 35th, narrowly missing the Bottom Five.

Green, however, pulled out after four laps, once again edging a car from The Motorsports Group for the final spot in the field.  This time, it was Josh Wise in 39th behind the wheel of TMG’s #42.  Blake Koch extended his streak of bottom-five finishes to four in a row in SR2 Motorsports’ #00, and TMG teammate T.J. Bell gave the team’s primary #40 its first Bottom Five of 2013 with a 37th place run.  Rounding out the Bottom Five was Carl Long, driving the only Dodge in the field for Mike Harmon.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was Green’s first last-place finish in a Nationwide Series race at Phoenix since March 3, 2012, when his #10 TriStar Motorsports Toyota fell out with a vibration after he completed 3 laps of the Bashas’ Supermarkets 200.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #10-Jeff Green / 4 laps / vibration
39) #42-Josh Wise / 6 laps / electrical
38) #00-Blake Koch / 9 laps / transmission
37) #40-T.J. Bell / 13 laps / brakes
36) #74-Carl Long / 63 laps / brakes

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (15)
2nd) Blake Koch (3)
3rd) Joey Gase, Michael McDowell (2)
4th) Tanner Berryhill, Danny Efland, Johanna Long, Eric McClure, Robert Richardson, Jr., Morgan Shepherd, Dexter Stacey, Mike Wallace, Josh Wise, J.J. Yeley (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #10-TriStar Motorsports (16)
2nd) #00-SR2 Motorsports (3)
3rd) #52-Jimmy Means Racing (2)
4th) #14-TriStar Motorsports, #17-Vision Racing, #23-R3 Motorsports, #27-SR2 Motorsports, #42-The Motorsports Group, #46-The Motorsports Group, #50-Mark Beaver, #70-ML Motorsports, #89-Shepherd Racing Ventures, #92-KH Motorsports, #01-JD Motorsports (1)

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

TRUCKS: Kennington The First Canadian Truck Series Last-Placer Since 2009

SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin' Forums

D.J. Kennington picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Friday’s Lucas Oil 150 at the Phoenix International Raceway when his #1 PocketFinder.com Chevrolet was involved in a multi-truck crash on the second lap of the race.  The finish came in Kennington’s second series start.

Born in St. Thomas, Ontario, the 35-year-old Kennington is a two time champion of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.  In seven years on the tour, he has scored nineteen victories and never finished worse than third in series points, including a close runner-up finish to Scott Steckly this past September.  He also has 48 starts in the NASCAR Nationwide Series with a career-best finish of 11th at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2010.

Kennington was making his first Truck Series start of 2013.  His most recent start in the series  came on March 27, 2010 when he finished 17th in the Kroger 250 at Martinsville.  He drove for longtime car owner Rick Ware that day, and would again for his return to the series last Friday.  Although Ware’s team has competed regularly in the Nationwide Series since 2011, Kennington’s race would be just the third Truck Series start for 2013.  Ware’s #1 Chevrolets finished 20th with Dusty Davis at Daytona and a season-best 6th with Timmy Hill at Talladega.

At Phoenix, Kennington ran 25th in both practice sessions, then timed in 20th with an average speed of 131.584 mph.  This ranked Kennington fifth among the eleven “go-or-go-homers” who attempted to qualify, though with 36 trucks once again running for as many spots, no one failed to qualify.

On Lap 2 of the race, Kennington was running the high lane in Turns 3 and 4 when he suddenly broke loose and slapped the outside wall, causing significant damage to the right-front of his truck.  As the field checked-up, Brennan Newberry spun to the apron, but was undamaged in the incident.  Kennington pulled behind the wall, his night finished.  Newberry recovered to come home 18th.  J.J. Yeley apparently also suffered damage in the Kennington wreck and exited the race after two laps, leaving him 35th.

Rounding out the Bottom Five were Mike Harmon, who left with an oil leak during the Kennington caution; Bryan Silas with his third 33rd-place finish in his last six starts; and the RSS Racing Chevrolet of 2013 LASTCAR Truck Series runner-up Chris Jones.

The 2013 LASTCAR champ, Chris Lafferty, was not in Friday’s field.  However, if Lafferty starts and finishes last next week at Homestead, he can set a new single-season last-place record in the Truck Series.  His current total of six is tied for most all-time with Phil Bonifield (1999) and Mike Garvey (2011).

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Although this was Kennington’s first last-place finish in the Truck Series, he also has two more in the Nationwide Series, both within two weeks of each other while driving the #72 MacDonald Motorsports entry in the fall of 2007.  The first came at Memphis, when handling woes stopped his NPPL / Vector Dodge after 44 laps.  The other came at Phoenix, when his Northern Provincial Pipe Lines Dodge was taken out in a two-car crash after seven laps.
*Kennington is the first Canadian to finish last in a Truck Series race since September 26, 2009, when NASCAR Cup Series veteran Trevor Boys fell out with a vibration after the opening lap of the Las Vegas 350 at Las Vegas.  Boys was driving the #89 Laffery Performance / Blue Ox Chevrolet owned by Chris Lafferty, this year’s LASTCAR Truck Series Champion.
*This was the first last-place finish by the #1 in a Truck Series race since September 16, 2006, when Robert Richardson, Jr.’s WinYourMortgage.com Chevrolet was involved in a multi-truck crash after he completed the opening lap of the New Hampshire 200 at New Hampshire.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #1-D.J. Kennington / 1 lap / crash
35) #07-J.J. Yeley / 2 laps / crash
34) #84-Mike Harmon / 3 laps / oil leak
33) #99-Bryan Silas / 10 laps / engine
32) #93-Chris Jones / 14 laps / brakes

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chris Lafferty (6)
2nd) Chris Jones (3)
3rd) Johnny Chapman (2)
4th) Jeff Babcock, Ryan Blaney, Ricky Ehrgott, Mike Harmon, Jennifer Jo Cobb, D.J. Kennington, Mason Mingus, Scott Riggs, Scott Saunders, Jimmy Weller (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #0-Jennifer Jo Cobb (7)
2nd) #93-RSS Racing (3)
3rd) #38-RSS Racing, #84-Chris Fontaine (2)
4th) #1-Rick Ware Racing, #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #29-Brad Keselowski, #35-Kevin Cywinski, #81-Bobby Dotter, #92-Ricky Benton, #07-Ken Smith (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (13)
2nd) Ford (4)
3rd) RAM, Toyota (2)

CUP: Michael McDowell Secures Record-Breaking Third Consecutive LASTCAR Cup Series Championship

SOURCE: motorsport.com

Michael McDowell picked up the 26th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #98 Phil Parsons Racing Ford fell out with a vibration after he completed 27 of the race’s 334 laps.

The finish was McDowell’s seventh of 2013 and his first since Dover, five races ago.  Now two finishes ahead of second-place Mike Bliss in this year’s last-place standings with just two races to go, McDowell has secured the 2013 LASTCAR Cup Series Championship.  Bliss, who has not started a Cup race since Atlanta in September, would lose the championship even if he finished last at both Phoenix and Homestead.  McDowell already leads the bottom-five tiebreaker 23-11.

McDowell is the first Cup driver ever to score three consecutive LASTCAR Cup Series championships.  The late J.D. McDuffie scored three out of four from 1984 through 1987.

McDowell’s three titles have all come driving for Phil Parsons, who in 2010 signed the former Michael Waltrip Racing rookie to join Dave Blaney at PRISM Motorsports.  When Blaney eventually left to join Tommy Baldwin Racing, McDowell became the team’s only driver for HP Racing LLC, the Parsons team’s new name in 2011.

McDowell claimed the 2011 LASTCAR title in a close contest with Travis Kvapil, then driving a “start-and-park” entry, #55, for Front Row Motorsports.  The next two titles came after the Parsons team merged with Whitney Motorsports who, with the help of longtime Cup owner Mike Curb, formed Phil Parsons Racing.  Last year’s title chase was again a close one as McDowell claimed the title in a bottom-ten tiebreaker over Reed Sorenson, driving for former PRISM partner Randy Humphrey.

This week, it was announced that McDowell would be leaving the Parsons team in 2014 to replace Sorenson as driver of the #95 Leavine Family Racing team. McDowell drove the #95 in his first-ever start in the Sprint Showdown at Charlotte this past May.  McDowell finished 14th in the 23-car field.  Like the Parsons team, which turned in an impressive 9th in the Daytona 500 and a 15th last month at Talladega, the Leavine team has also turned heads in 2013, finishing 9th with driver Scott Speed in the spring Talladega race.

At Texas, McDowell began the weekend filling in for 2013 LASTCAR Nationwide Series Champion Jeff Green as driver of the #10 TriStar Motorsports Toyota while Green relieved TriStar teammate Eric McClure in the #14.  McDowell finished last that day and was set to start 35th for Sunday’s Cup race.  McDowell secured the spot with a lap of 189.321 mph, having turned in the 40th fastest time in the opening practice, then improved to 37th in Happy Hour.

At the start of Sunday’s race, last-place was juggled between 43rd-place starter J.J. Yeley, who spun out in his qualifying attempt, and the #87 of Joe Nemechek.  Nemechek was still running near the back when the first caution came out for debris on Lap 16.  Under the yellow, McDowell decided not to pit in order to lead a lap.  He ran on the outside of Carl Edwards before surrendering the lead on the backstretch just before the green flag. McDowell pulled out of the race soon after the restart, securing him the 43rd spot.

It was the first time a driver finished last in the Cup and Nationwide races at the same track and on the same weekend since Josh Wise at Bristol in the spring of 2012.

Finishing 42nd was David Ragan, last week’s last-placer at Martinsville, who suffered another engine failure after 81 laps.  Jeff Gordon, who wrecked in Turn 1 on Lap 75, had fallen as far back as 42nd, but returned to the track in the final sixty laps to climb up to 38th.  The rest of the Bottom Five included 41st-place Timmy Hill, whose engine let go after 125 laps, Bobby Labonte, who also lost an engine after 144, and Josh Wise in Front Row’s #35.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*McDowell is the first Cup Series last-place finisher this season to have led a single lap in the same race.
*McDowell has swept both Cup Series last-place finishes at Texas in 2013.  In the spring, his car overheated after 44 laps, and he relieved an ailing Bobby Labonte for a few additional laps.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #98-Michael McDowell / 27 laps / vibration / led 1 lap
42) #34-David Ragan / 81 laps / engine
41) #32-Timmy Hill / 125 laps / engine
40) #47-Bobby Labonte / 144 laps / engine
39) #35-Josh Wise / 145 laps / vibration

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Michael McDowell (7)
2nd) Mike Bliss (5)
3rd) Scott Riggs (4)
4th) Bobby Labonte, Joe Nemechek, Scott Speed, J.J. Yeley (2)
5th) Trevor Bayne, Dave Blaney, Jeff Burton, Denny Hamlin, Jason Leffler, Paul Menard, Danica Patrick, David Ragan, Tony Raines, David Reutimann (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #98-Phil Parsons Racing (7)
2nd) #19-Humphrey-Smith Racing (6)
2nd) #44-Xxxtreme Motorsports, #95-Leavine Family Racing (3)
3rd) #36-Tommy Baldwin Racing, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (2)
4th) #7-Tommy Baldwin Racing, #10-Stewart-Haas Racing, #11-Joe Gibbs Racing, #21-Wood Brothers Racing, #27-Richard Childress Racing, #31-Richard Childress Racing, #34-Front Row Motorsports, #40-Hillman Racing, #47-JTG Daugherty Racing, #51-Phoenix Racing, #83-BK Racing (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Ford (15)
2nd) Toyota (11)
3rd) Chevrolet (8)

N’WIDE: McDowell, Filling In For Green, Finishes Last At Texas

SOURCE: Jeff Wagoner

Michael McDowell picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at the Texas Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #10 TriStar Motorsports Toyota fell out with a vibration after he completed 4 of the race’s 200 laps.

The finish was McDowell’s second of 2013 and his first since Bristol last spring, twenty-seven races ago.

McDowell was making his first Nationwide Series start since his runner-up performance at Mid-Ohio in August and his first-ever for TriStar Motorsports.  Jeff Green, who had already secured the 2013 LASTCAR Nationwide Series title in the #10 five races ago, was set to drive the car at Texas.  However, when Green’s teammate Eric McClure was again sidelined by illness, Green took over the fully-funded #14.

McDowell, tabbed as Green’s replacement, ran 28th-fastest in the first practice, 27th in Happy Hour, then timed in 24th in qualifying at an average speed of 180.192 mph.  The only the driver to miss the field was July Daytona last-placer Morgan Shepherd in his #89 Chevrolet.

At the start of Saturday’s race, McDowell pulled the #10 behind the wall just one lap before Michigan last-placer Dexter Stacey in the #92 Maddie’s Place Rocks Ford.  Finishing 38th was Josh Wise, securing yet another bottom-five finish for The Motorsports Group in his #42, followed by Johanna Long in the #70 ForeTravel Motorcoach Chevrolet and the #00 FrontlineWraps.com Toyota of Blake Koch.

Jeff Green finished 27th, four laps down, in McClure’s #14 Hefty Ultimate / Reynolds Toyota.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Despite the driver change, the #10 TriStar Motorsports team successfully swept both last-place finishes at Texas in 2013.  Four of the last six Nationwide races at this track have had a TriStar car finish last with three of those coming with Jeff Green.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #10-Michael McDowell / 4 laps / vibration
39) #92-Dexter Stacey / 5 laps / suspension
38) #42-Josh Wise / 6 laps / electrical
37) #70-Johanna Long / 49 laps / clutch
36) #00-Blake Koch / 79 laps / handling

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (14)
2nd) Blake Koch (3)
3rd) Joey Gase, Michael McDowell (2)
4th) Tanner Berryhill, Danny Efland, Johanna Long, Eric McClure, Robert Richardson, Jr., Morgan Shepherd, Dexter Stacey, Mike Wallace, Josh Wise, J.J. Yeley (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #10-TriStar Motorsports (15)
2nd) #00-SR2 Motorsports (3)
3rd) #52-Jimmy Means Racing (2)
4th) #14-TriStar Motorsports, #17-Vision Racing, #23-R3 Motorsports, #27-SR2 Motorsports, #42-The Motorsports Group, #46-The Motorsports Group, #50-Mark Beaver, #70-ML Motorsports, #89-Shepherd Racing Ventures, #92-KH Motorsports, #01-JD Motorsports (1)

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

TRUCKS: Lafferty, Cobb End RSS Racing’s Three-Year Reign As LASTCAR Truck Series Champions

SOURCE: motorsport.com

Chris Lafferty picked up the 9th last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping Word Truck Series career in Friday’s WinStar World Casino 350 at the Texas Motor Speedway when his #0 OEM Auto Parts Plus / Koma Unwind Chevrolet fell out with transmission troubles after he completed 4 of the race’s 147 laps.

The finish was Lafferty’s sixth of 2013 and his first since his most recent start at Las Vegas, three races ago.  With two races to go and a three-finish lead over second-place Chris Jones in the 2013 last-place standings, Lafferty has officially clinched this year’s LASTCAR Truck Series Championship, his first in any of NASCAR’s top divisions.  It is a successful comeback for the #0 Jennifer Jo Cobb-owned team, which last year lost the title in a bottom-five tiebreaker with RSS Racing’s #38 driven by Dennis Setzer.  Lafferty’s title also ends RSS Racing’s streak of three consecutive LASTCAR Truck Series titles.

Lafferty did not practice in the opening session, but timed in 34th in Happy Hour, then secured the 35th and final starting spot for the race with an average speed of 154.985 mph.  With just thirty-five trucks for as many spots, no one was sent home.

Lafferty and three others in the Bottom Five fell out during the opening green-flag run.  By a single lap, he edged Morgan Shepherd for the spot.  The 71-year-old Shepherd, making his first Truck Series start since 2008, fell out with transmission trouble in Norm Benning’s second truck, #75.  J.J. Yeley, driving the #07 that finished last the previous week in Martinsville with newcomer Jimmy Weller, finished 33rd, followed by the RSS Racing #38 of LASTCAR title runner-up Chris Jones.  Rounding out the Bottom Five was Mike Harmon, whose #84 WCIParts.com Chevrolet lost the transmission after 31 laps.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first last-place finish for the #0 in a Truck Series race at Texas since June 11, 2004, when Loni Richardson’s Value Tool & Engineering Chevrolet lost the rear end after 2 laps of the O’Reilly 400K.
*This was Lafferty’s first last-place finish in a NASCAR race at Texas.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
35) #0-Chris Lafferty / 4 laps / transmission
34) #75-Morgan Shepherd / 5 laps / suspension
33) #07-J.J. Yeley / 6 laps / suspension
32) #38-Chris Jones / 6 laps / rear end
31) #84-Mike Harmon / 31 laps / transmission

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chris Lafferty (6)
2nd) Chris Jones (3)
3rd) Johnny Chapman (2)
4th) Jeff Babcock, Ryan Blaney, Ricky Ehrgott, Mike Harmon, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Mason Mingus, Scott Riggs, Scott Saunders, Jimmy Weller (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #0-Jennifer Jo Cobb (7)
2nd) #93-RSS Racing (3)
3rd) #38-RSS Racing, #84-Chris Fontaine (2)
4th) #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #29-Brad Keselowski, #35-Kevin Cywinski, #81-Bobby Dotter, #92-Ricky Benton, #07-Ken Smith (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (12)
2nd) Ford (4)
3rd) RAM, Toyota (2)