CUP: Josh Wise Scores First Cup Series Last-Place Finish Since 2012

SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin' Forums

Josh Wise picked up the 5th last-place finish of his LASTCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Saturday’s Quaker State 400 at the Kentucky Speedway when his #98 Big Red Ford was involved in a two-car accident that ended his run after 17 of the race’s 267 laps.

The finish was Wise’s first of the 2015 season and his first in a Cup Series race since October 7, 2012, when his #26 MDS Transport Ford overheated after 5 laps of the Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 at Talladega, 96 races ago.  It is also the first last-place finish for Phil Parsons Racing since November 17, 2013 when Michael McDowell lost the brakes 63 laps into the Ford 400 at Homestead, 54 races ago.

The 2013 season was McDowell’s fourth and last for Parsons, whose team’s frequent “start-and-park” efforts earned them four LASTCAR titles from 2009 through 2013.  For 2014, Parsons was finally ready to attempt full-race runs for a full season, and Wise was brought from Front Row Motorsports’ third team to replace McDowell, who was headed to Leavine Family Racing.  In their first race together, Wise finished a surprising 5th in the Budweiser Duel at Daytona, giving them 11th on the grid for the Daytona 500.  Although Wise DNQ’d for the next race at Phoenix, driver and team earned a number of respectable runs early in the season, including a 23rd at Bristol and a 21st at Darlington.

Wise and Parsons’ efforts soon attracted the attention of a Kickstarter program started by Reddit users and the group’s fledgling Dogecoin Digital Currency.  The pair funded Wise’s race at Talladega, where the #98 again improved on their season-best finish with a 20th-place run.  The next month at Charlotte, Wise’s growing number of supporters voted driver and team into the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, where he came home 15th in a field of 22.  At season’s end, Wise finished 36th in points with just four DNFs.  And for the first time in its existence, Phil Parsons Racing did not finish last a single time all season.

This year, Wise and Parsons have continued to run full races, though the team has restructured behind the scenes.  The first switch was from 2014’s black Chevrolets to this year’s white Fords, and an ill-timed electrical issue in the Budweiser Duels that left the team last and out of the Daytona 500 field.  The team finished no better than 30th in the eight races that followed, though at Fontana celebrated business partner Mike Curb’s 200th start as a Cup Series owner.  At Talladega, the team began to be absorbed into Premium Motorsports, which currently fields the #62 Chevrolet.  The car changed sponsors that weekend and finished a season-best 10th.  The font of the car’s numbers changed next at Charlotte, and by Sonoma, when Dogecoin returned, both car and hauler carried Premium’s logos.  Officially, however, Mike Curb is still listed as the owner.

For Kentucky, Wise’s #98 was sponsored by the Big Red soda company, which in the past had run its logos on cars owned by Germain Racing and Tommy Baldwin Racing.  Wise turned in the 39th-fastest time in Friday’s opening practice and 37th in Happy Hour.  Qualifying was canceled by rain, and the first practice speed put him 37th on the grid.  Unfortunately, this also meant three part-time teams missed the show.  For the second-straight week, Ryan Blaney’s #21 and Michael McDowell’s #95 headed home early, joined by Travis Kvapil, who was set to make both his and The Motorsports Group’s first Cup attempt since last month at Dover.

The 43rd starting spot in Saturday’s race went to Alex Kennedy, who made his 8th start of the season and first since Sonoma in a black unsponsored #33 Chevrolet for owner Joe Falk and Circle Sport.  Kennedy held the spot through the moment he became the first to lose a lap on Lap 17 when trouble broke out ahead of him in Turn 3.  As leader Brad Keselowski ran up on the trailing J.J. Yeley and Wise, both trying to stay on the lead lap, Yeley lost control of his #23 TraqGear / Coolshirt Toyota entering the corner, clipping Wise and causing the #98 to smack the outside wall.  The first caution fell for Wise’s smoking car as it headed down pit road and into the garage.  What first appeared to be only a broken track bar apparently proved much worse as he never returned to the track, snagging 43rd from Kennedy under the yellow and holding it the rest of the night.

42nd and 41st went to Yeley’s BK Racing teammates Matt DiBenedetto and Jeb Burton, both involved in a multi-car accident on Lap 144.  Entering Turn 1, Burton’s #26 Maxim Fantasy Sports Toyota was rear-ended by Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.’s #17 Fifth Third Bank Ford, sending Burton into a spin in front of DiBenedetto’s #83 Anest Iwata Toyota and Tony Stewart’s #14 Rush Truck Centers Chevrolet.  DiBenedetto smacked the outside wall as the spinning Burton pinched him high.  All drivers involved returned to the track, but DiBenedetto slowed on the restart and retired with crash damage while Burton’s suspension failed thirty laps later.  Kennedy and Yeley rounded out the Bottom Five, both laps down to race winner Kyle Busch.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Neither Wise nor the #98 had ever before finished last in a Cup Series race at Kentucky.
*Wise is the 10th different last-place finisher in the previous 10 Cup Series races.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #98-Josh Wise / 17 laps / crash
42) #83-Matt DiBenedetto / 145 laps / crash
41) #26-Jeb Burton / 175 laps / suspension
40) #33-Alex Kennedy / 247 laps / running
39) #23-J.J. Yeley / 260 laps / running

2015 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Landon Cassill (3)
2nd) Alex Bowman (2)
3rd) Justin Allgaier, A.J. Allmendinger, Aric Almirola, Trevor Bayne, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Joey Gase, David Gilliland, Sam Hornish, Jr., Bobby Labonte, Brian Scott, Josh Wise, J.J. Yeley (1)

2015 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Hillman Smith Motorsports (3)
2nd) Go FAS Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports, Tommy Baldwin Racing (2)
3rd) BK Racing, Front Row Motorsports, Hendrick Motorsports, HScott Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, JTG-Daugherty Racing, Phil Parsons Racing / Premium Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing / Circle Sport, Roush-Fenway Racing (1)

2015 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (9)
2nd) Ford (7)
3rd) Toyota (2)

XFINITY: Jeff Green Finishes Last While JGL Racing’s J.J. Yeley Starts First

SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin' Forums

Jeff Green picked up the 68th last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Friday’s Kentucky 300 at the Kentucky Speedway when his unsponsored #19 TriStar Motorsports Toyota fell out with a vibration after he completed 3 of the race’s 200 laps.

The finish was Green’s 8th of the season and his first since Chicagoland, two races ago.  At this current rate, Green is set to eclipse his 2013 record of 13 last-place finishes in a single season.  Through 16 races that year, Green had finished last 7 times.

Following his DNQ at Daytona, Green returned to pilot the #19 in his native Kentucky as one of 39 drivers on the preliminary entry list.  Just as at Chicagoland two races ago, the field grew to 40 by race weekend when Jimmy Means brought back Joey Gase’s renumbered backup car #79, this week driven by Truck Series competitor Ryan Ellis.  Ellis ran just one lap in Thursday’s lone practice, the slowest of the field, and Green was 30th.  Both started in those positions when rain washed out qualifying.

When the green flag flew on Friday night, it first crossed the hood of J.J. Yeley, whose unsponsored JGL Racing #28 Toyota surprised with the fastest speed in the practice session at 174.967 mph.  Among the drivers Yeley outpaced in practice were last week’s Daytona winner Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (16th), defending series champion Chase Elliott (14th), and dominant “Buschwhackers” Kyle Busch (6th) and Brad Keselowski (4th).  Yeley never led a lap on Friday and came home 18th, and though it came about because of weather, Yeley’s starting spot was owner Gregg Mixon’s first-ever front row start in NASCAR.  In 200 previous combined starts, the Mixon team’s only other start better than 14th was Yeley’s 9th-place run in qualifying at Daytona in February.

Just 3 laps into the race, as caution fell for John Wes Townley’s stuck car in the infield grass, Green followed Ellis to the garage area, where both retired for the night.  The next two cars left after 10 laps as Morgan Shepherd’s #89 Racing With Jesus Chevrolet followed Josh Reaume’s #40 Braille Battery / Grafoid Dodge.  Motorsports Business Management team owner Derek White, driving Reaume’s team car the #13, brought out the fourth caution of the night when his Toyota hit the wall in Turn 4.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marks Green’s fourth last-place finish in the past five XFINITY Series races at Kentucky.
*The #19 had never before finished last in an XFINITY Series race at Kentucky.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #19-Jeff Green / 3 laps / vibration
39) #79-Ryan Ellis / 3 laps / vibration
38) #89-Morgan Shepherd / 10 laps / carburetor
37) #40-Josh Reaume / 10 laps / suspension
36) #13-Derek White / 75 laps / crash

2015 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (8)
2nd) Dexter Bean (2)
3rd) C.J. Faison, Mike Harmon, Charles Lewandoski, Carl Long, Morgan Shepherd, Derek White (1)

2015 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) TriStar Motorsports (9)
2nd) King Autosport, Motorsports Business Management (2)
3rd) JGL Racing, Mike Harmon Racing, Shepherd Racing Ventures (1)

2015 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (11)
2nd) Chevrolet (3)
3rd) Dodge (2)

TRUCKS: Norm Benning Ends #0 Team’s Three-Year Last-Place Streak At Kentucky

SOURCE: NASCAR Media

Norm Benning picked up the 8th last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Thursday’s UNOH 225 at the Kentucky Speedway when his unsponsored #6 Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet fell out with engine issues after he completed 2 of the race’s 145 laps.

The finish was Benning’s 3rd of the season and his first since Charlotte, five races ago.  Benning now re-akes the 2015 LASTCAR Truck Series lead from Caleb Roark, who had tied Benning last month at Iowa.

Benning was originally to be one of 34 entrants for the Kentucky race, but the list was pared down twice to 31, marking the second short field of 2015.  The first change came Wednesday with the withdrawal of Kyle Busch Motorsports’ fourth entry, a #52 Toyota to be driven by Christopher Bell.  The #52 was withdrawn as Bell was tabbed as the departing Justin Boston’s replacement in KBM’s #54.  The next two withdrawals came Thursday as both Mike Affarano in the #03 and the second #36 Chevrolet fielded by Mike Mittler - the latter without a listed driver - were removed.

Kentucky’s persistent rains canceled both practice and qualifying for the third-tier series, and Benning secured the 24th starting spot based on his 26th-place ranking in Owner Points.  During the 22-lap green flag run before the first competition caution of the night, Benning became the first retiree after 2 laps with engine trouble.  Ryan Ellis followed fourteen laps later with electrical issues on MAKE Motorsports’ #50 Shane Duncan Band “Life’s Snooze Bar” Chevrolet.

Rounding out the Bottom Five were B.J. McLeod, his fifth-straight bottom-five finish in as many starts in 2015 driving the #45 Tilted Kilt Chevrolet, Jordan Anderson in owner-driver Mike Harmon’s #74 Battery Saver Racing Chevrolet, and Caleb Holman, whose crash on Lap 126 left him with his first DNF of the season in the #75 Food Country USA Chevrolet.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first last-place finish for both Benning and the #6 in a Truck Series race at Kentucky.
*Benning’s last-place finish ends a three-year streak by Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing’s #0, which trailed the previous three races here with Blake Koch (2012), Chris Lafferty (2013), and Ryan Ellis (2014).  Jo Cobb’s #0 was not entered in Thursday’s race while Cobb herself came home 23rd in the #10.
*Chevrolet has now finished last in 9 straight Truck Series races and in 14 of the last 15.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
31) #6-Norm Benning / 2 laps / engine
30) #50-Ryan Ellis / 16 laps / electrical
29) #45-B.J. McLeod / 32 laps / electrical
28) #74-Jordan Anderson / 98 laps / suspension
27) #75-Caleb Holman / 124 laps / crash

2015 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Norm Benning (3)
2nd) Caleb Roark (2)
3rd) Adam Edwards, Joey Gattina, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Travis Kvapil, Justin Marks (1)

2015 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing, Norm Benning Racing (4)
2nd) MAKE Motorsports, Win-Tron Racing (1)

2015 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (9)
2nd) Toyota (1)

CUP: Bobby Labonte’s Third Daytona Last-Place Finish Kicks Off Wild 400 Miles

SOURCE: Chris Graythen, Getty Images

Bobby Labonte picked up the 14th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s Coke Zero 400 at the Daytona International Speedway when his #32 C&J Energy Services Ford fell out in a multi-car accident that ended his race after 2 of the event’s 161 laps.

The finish was Labonte’s first in the series since June 23, 2013, when his #47 Kingsford Toyota lost the engine on the opening lap of the Toyota / Save Mart 350 at the Sonoma Raceway, 73 races ago.  Sunday’s finish occurred in Labonte’s 724th series start.  He now stands tied for 11th in the all-time LASTCAR Cup Series rankings, tied with Mike Skinner and J.J. Yeley.

Labonte, the 2000 series champion and a 21-time race winner, currently drives a limited schedule in Frankie Stoddard and Archie St. Hilaire’s #32 Ford.  He will run only the season’s four restrictor-plate races, taking over duties for his older brother and two-time champion Terry Labonte, who retired following the Talladega race last fall.  Last year, Labonte finished 15th in the Daytona 500 driving a second car for HScott Motorsports, then timed in 4th for the July race driving for Joe Falk before a mid-race crash left him 26th.

At SpeedWeeks in February, Labonte’s #32 was one of several cars destroyed in a controversial wreck during qualifying, the damage sustained after rear-ending Clint Bowyer’s Toyota forcing the team to a backup.  Despite this, Labonte came home 24th in the Daytona 500 with the car intact, then returned to finish 27th at Talladega.  With the #32 shared this season by drivers Mike Bliss, Richmond last-placer Joey Gase, Travis Kvapil, and most recently Boris Said last week at Sonoma, Labonte returned from a weekend at the Goodwood Festival of Speed for another Cup race.  Labonte’s 24th in the Daytona 500 remained Go FAS Racing’s best finish of 2015.

Labonte ran 40th-fastest in the opening practice session and improved to 36th in Happy Hour, but when qualifying was cancelled by rain, the field was set by the first session’s speeds, leaving him 38th.  The two drivers who missed the race were Michael McDowell, who was 15th in Happy Hour but ended up with his first DNQ since Talladega, and Ryan Blaney, 4th at Talladega, but left with the Wood Brothers’ first DNQ since the team scaled back to a partial schedule in 2009.

Starting 43rd on Sunday’s rain-delayed race was Brendan Gaughan, who by virtue of Premium Motorsports’ full-season schedule was able to make his first Cup start since Pocono last month.  Gaughan’s white Vydox Plus Chevrolet held the spot during the first two laps before trouble broke out off Turn 3.  David Gilliland, who last week finished 43rd at Sonoma, was racing Clint Bowyer for 5th when the two cars made contact off Turn 4, sending Gilliland into a spin.  Eight other cars lost control trying to avoid Gilliland’s #38, and Labonte found himself right in the middle of the mess.  When timing and scoring reset following the wreck, Labonte was credited with the 43rd spot with the damaged cars of Gilliland, Jeb Burton, Joey Logano, and Danica Patrick rounding out the Bottom Five.  Of this group, only Labonte failed to return to the track, though NBC did not officially list him as “OUT” until Lap 98.

The rest of the Bottom Five wasn’t set until Lap 154 as the other drivers involved in the Lap 3 wreck returned to the track.  Jeb Burton, 42nd upon Labonte’s retirement, brought is #26 Maxim Toyota back on track on Lap 39 and ultimately came home 36th.  Gilliand, 42nd after Burton’s return, followed on Lap 58, spun on Lap 60 for a cut right-rear tire, then rejoined the field on Lap 71 to salvage a 40th-place run in the #38 Florida Lottery Ford.  Michael Annett’s camouflaged #46 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet completed a few more laps than Gilliland after the Lap 3 crash and also returned on Lap 58, eventually making it to 37th at the checkered flag.

On Lap 86, Carl Edwards, who had already spun his #19 Subway Toyota off Turn 4, lost control again after contact from Kyle Larson’s #42 Coca-Cola Chevrolet in Turn 2.  As Edwards slid up the track, he was rear-ended hard by the #33 Shore Lodge Chevrolet of Talladega last-placer Brian Scott, lifting the rear of Edwards’ car from the track.  Both Edwards and Scott retired after the crash and dropped into the Bottom Five.  Jeb Burton passed the pair on Lap 124, Annett did the same on Lap 136, and Gilliland followed on Lap 150 to drop Edwards and Scott to 41st and 42nd, respectively.  Annett held 39th until Lap 154 when he passed Larson, who was also involved in a second accident that ended his night on Lap 106, and eventual 38th-place finisher Martin Truex, Jr.

The finish of Sunday’s race was marred by a terrifying crash in the tri-oval that tore apart Austin Dillon’s #3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet and injured three fans in the grandstands.  The ensuing accident damaged nearly every car from 4th on back, but did not prevent a number of surprising finishes.  Trevor Bayne scored his second top-ten finish in the last three races by coming home 9th in his #6 AdvoCare Ford.  Landon Cassill, 43rd at Daytona in February, ran in the Top 10 all night and came home 13th, one spot shy of his career-best Daytona finish of 12th in the 2014 Daytona 500.  And after starting last, Brendan Gaughan ran as high as 14th in the final stages before equaling his season-best 28th at Atlanta.  In his other seven Cup starts in 2015, Gaughan had finished no better than 34th.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is Labonte’s third last-place finish in a Cup Series race at Daytona.  The first came on July 3, 1993, when his #22 Maxwell House Ford was involved in a five-car pileup that stopped him 21 laps into the Pepsi 400.  It was Labonte’s first-ever last-place finish in Cup in his 17th career start and occurred during his rookie season driving for owner Bill Davis.  The other finish came in the 2005 Daytona 500 on February 20 of that year when his #18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet lost the engine after 14 laps.
*This is the first last-place finish for the #32 in a Cup race at Daytona since July 5, 2003 when Ricky Craven’s Tide Pontiac was involved in a seven-car crash that ended his race after 79 laps.  No other cautions fell in the final 81 laps and then-rookie Greg Biffle went on to score his first Cup victory on fuel mileage.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #32-Bobby Labonte / 2 laps / crash
42) #33-Brian Scott / 85 laps / crash
41) #19-Carl Edwards / 85 laps / crash
40) #38-David Gilliland / 96 laps / running
39) #42-Kyle Larson / 103 laps / crash

2015 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Landon Cassill (3)
2nd) Alex Bowman (2)
3rd) Justin Allgaier, A.J. Allmendinger, Aric Almirola, Trevor Bayne, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Joey Gase, David Gilliland, Sam Hornish, Jr., Bobby Labonte, Brian Scott, J.J. Yeley (1)

2015 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Hillman Smith Motorsports (3)
2nd) Go FAS Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports, Tommy Baldwin Racing (2)
3rd) BK Racing, Front Row Motorsports, Hendrick Motorsports, HScott Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, JTG-Daugherty Racing, Richard Childress Racing / Circle Sport, Roush-Fenway Racing (1)

2015 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (9)
2nd) Ford (6)
3rd) Toyota (2)

XFINITY: Dexter Bean Sweeps Both Daytona Last-Place Finishes For 2015

SOURCE: NBC Sports

Dexter Bean picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Subway Firecracker 250 at the Daytona International Speedway when his #92 CrashClaimsR.us Chevrolet fell out with a vibration after he completed 6 of the race’s 104 laps.

The finish was Bean’s second of 2015 and his first since the season-opening round at Daytona, 14 races ago.  The finish occurred in Bean’s third series start and his first since the February race.

Bean’s ride for Daytona was again King Autosport’s second team, #92, owned by Bean’s relative Mario Gosselin.  This time, Bean would drive the same orange, blue, and white-colored scheme as the car Gosselin finished 19th with at Talladega in May.  Martin Roy, another Canadian racer who had driven for Gosselin since 2014, would drive the team’s primary #90 Gamache Truck Center / Cote Chevrolet.  Roy would go on to finish a career-best 21st on Saturday, improving on his previous mark of 28th last month at Michigan.

Bean was technically the slowest of the 37 cars who participated in the opening practice session, though he aborted his only timed lap.  He did not participate in Happy Hour.  In qualifying, Bean faced stiff opposition from a 44-car entry list that would be trimmed to 40 starters in Saturday’s race.  While the rules allowed everyone to run just a single lap, Bean prevailed with a 27th-fastest lap of 176.894, besting even Roy’s 30th-best mark of 176.339 mph.  Among the four drivers who missed the field was current 2015 LASTCAR leader Jeff Green, who managed just the 43rd-fastest lap in his unsponsored TriStar #19, and both Motorsports Business Management cars of team owner Derek White and ARCA veteran Mark Thompson.  Thompson’s #13 Phoenix Air Dodge was originally locked into the field with the 32nd-best time, but failed post-qualifying inspection.  Thompson’s spot went to 41st-fastest Derrike Cope in his flat black #70 Evergreen Fabrication & Industrial Services Chevrolet.

At the start of Saturday’s race, Bean surrendered his 27th starting spot and fell to the rear.  He was still running at the back of the pack on Lap 4 when Bobby Gerhart’s #85 Lucas Oil Chevrolet spun off the nose of Joey Gase’s #52 Faith of our Fathers / SupportMilitary.org Chevrolet exiting Turn 4.  Gerhart slid into the wet infield grass and dug up a sizeable chunk of the turf with his splitter.  Gerhart continued on for the Lap 7 restart, but Bean pulled off the track at that instant, ending his night in another “start-and-park” effort.

Finishing 39th was the #89 Racing With Jesus / Courtney Construction Chevrolet of Atlanta last-placer Morgan Shepherd, who has yet to finish outside the Bottom Five in any of his six starts this season.  38th went to Cope, who was not quite clear of eventual race winner Austin Dillon in the tri-oval and turned himself into the outside wall on Lap 16.  Crash damage also took out Scott Lagasse Jr. in the #15 Alert Today Florida / Boy Scouts of America Chevrolet.  His car damaged in an early collision, Lagasse’s hood flapped up during the race’s first half, causing enough damage to the car for him to stop for the night.  Rounding out the Bottom Five was Brennan Poole in HScott Motorsports’ #42 DC Solar Chevrolet, the result of the first of two grinding multi-car accidents that slowed the action in the middle stages.

The accidents allowed several small teams to shine when the checkered flag fell.  Dakoda Armstrong put RPM’s #43 WinField Ford in 6th, setting a new career-best finish for the Indiana driver.  Johnny Davis’ venerable JD Motorsports had two cars in the Top 10 with teammates Harrison Rhodes in the #0 Flex Seal Colors Chevrolet coming home 9th ahead of Ross Chastain in the patriotic Flex Shot / Watermelon.com Chevrolet in 10th.  For Rhodes, it was his first top-ten finish in his 27th series start.  For Chastain, it was his third in just 22 starts.

But most impressive was the 5th-place run earned by owner-driver Benny Gordon.  Gordon, a four-time champion of the X-1R Pro Cup Series, purchased Vision Racing earlier this year after Tanner Berryhill’s #17 team closed following a disastrous SpeedWeeks.  Two months ago at Talladega, Gordon made his first XFINITY Series start since 2012 and put Vision’s #17 Toyota 13th at the finish.  He returned Saturday at Daytona with a new car number - #66 - and sponsorship from Somerset Regional Water Resources.  Gordon ran in the Top 10 for most of the night, avoided all the night’s chaos, and despite a smoking right-front fender in the final laps, earned his first finish better than 12th in his 20th series start.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Bean is the first driver to sweep both XFINITY Series last-place finishes at Daytona since Jeff Green did in 2012 driving TriStar’s #10 Toyota.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #92-Dexter Bean / 6 laps / vibration
39) #89-Morgan Shepherd / 10 laps / overheating
38) #70-Derrike Cope / 15 laps / crash
37) #15-Scott Lagasse, Jr. / 58 laps / crash
36) #42-Brennan Poole / 90 laps / crash

2015 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (7)
2nd) Dexter Bean (2)
3rd) C.J. Faison, Mike Harmon, Charles Lewandoski, Carl Long, Morgan Shepherd, Derek White (1)

2015 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) TriStar Motorsports (8)
2nd) King Autosport, Motorsports Business Management (2)
3rd) JGL Racing, Mike Harmon Racing, Shepherd Racing Ventures (1)

2015 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (10)
2nd) Chevrolet (3)
3rd) Dodge (2)