CUP: Matt DiBenedetto trails shortest Cup field since 1996

SOURCE: NASCAR Media

Matt DiBenedetto picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s 58th Annual Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway after his #93 Dustless Blasting Toyota was involved in a multi-car wreck after he completed 91 of 200 laps.  The finish came in DiBenedetto’s 34th series start.

Seven years ago, the Grass Valley, California native made his XFINITY Series debut at Memphis, where he came home 14th as a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing.  Two years ago, he was start-and-parking for The Motorsports Group on a nearly full-time basis, but still broke through with an 11th-place finish at Road America.  Last year, he made his Sprint Cup debut at Phoenix driving for BK Racing, then soon after finished a career-best 18th at Talladega.  And when time trials were over last Sunday, Matt DiBenedetto had locked himself into his first Daytona 500 field with a qualifying lap of 192.686 mph, good enough for 24th-best of 44 entrants.

DiBenedetto finished a strong 9th in Can-Am Duel Race 2 on Thursday - tops among the four Open teams competing in that race - and driver and team continued to fine-tune their machine for Sunday’s race.  He was among the 31 drivers to participate in Happy Hour on Friday, running 22nd among that group, and was set to roll off 20th in “The Great American Race.”

In the aftermath of the Race Team Alliance’s arrangement over the offseason, just 40 cars rolled to the starting line for Sunday’s race.  This made the 500 the shortest Cup Series field since September 29, 1996, when 37 cars lined up for the Tyson Holly Farms 400, the final Cup event at North Wilkesboro Speedway.  Stating in that 40th spot was Robert Richardson, Jr., called away from farming on a Texas ranch to run as one of DiBenedetto’s teammates in the #26 Stalk It Toyota.  Joining Richardson in the rear were five backup cars sent there due to crashes in the Duels: Matt Kenseth, Brian Scott, A.J. Allmendinger, Jimmie Johnson, and Martin Truex, Jr.

At the end of Lap 1, Scott’s #44 Albertsons / Shore Lodge / Ritz Triscuit Ford had fallen to 40th, trailing a group of five cars that were already lagging behind the leaders.  Next on Lap 2 was Michael McDowell, in his open #59 Thrivent Financial / K-LOVE Chevrolet.  On Lap 4, Austin Dillon was struggling with the handling on his #3 Dow Chevrolet, putting him 40th for a moment before Richardson fell behind him on Lap 5.  Richardson and Dillon lost touch with the pack during the opening twenty circuits: at one point, Richardson was 8 seconds behind the field.  This gap went away completely when the first caution flew on Lap 20.

20-year-old Chase Elliott made headlines when he won the pole for the Daytona 500 in Jeff Gordon’s iconic #24, now sponsored by NAPA Auto Parts.  He was still among the leaders on Lap 20 when his car suddenly hooked left off Turn 4, causing him to cross the nose of Carl Edwards’ #19 ARRIS Toyota.  Elliott kept his car off the inside wall, but wound up in the grass, where the splitter was ripped from his machine.  Dropped to last as the entire field went by, Elliott was stuck behind the wall for nearly a quarter of the race as the Hendrick Motorsports crew attached a new nose to the #24.

Had Elliott finished last on Sunday, it would have been the first last-place finish for the #24 in Sprint Cup since April 6, 2008, when Jeff Gordon’s DuPont Chevrolet crashed 124 laps into the Samsung 500 at Texas.  It would also have been the first last-place run for the number in a Cup points race at Daytona since July 1, 1989, when Johnny McFadden’s Alliance Training Centers Pontiac crashed on the first lap of the Pepsi 400.  And it would have been the first last-place run for the #24 in the Daytona 500 since February 22, 1970, when Cecil Gordon’s unspsonsored 1968 Ford followed Richard Petty’s Plymouth Superbird to the garage area with a busted a-frame after 7 laps.  Instead, Elliott returned to the track on Lap 58, 40 laps down.

Meanwhile, DiBenedetto was fighting to stay with the lead pack.  His #93 had run around 20th for most of the early stages, but near the halfway point was beginning to fade toward the rear of the field.  Then, on Lap 93, his car broke loose entering Turn 1 and collided with the #34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford of rookie Chris Buescher, sending both cars hard into the outside wall.  Both drivers walked away uninjured, but both cars were unable to continue.  Elliott managed to not lose another lap for the rest of the afternoon and passed both DiBenedetto and Buescher on Lap 132.  A few laps later, Elliott also passed Richardson, whose #26 went behind the wall with a broken valve.  The #24 came just ten laps short of passing pre-race favorite Dale Earnhardt, Jr., whose #88 Nationwide Chevrolet spun in nearly the same spot as Elliott before hitting the inside wall.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marks the first time that both the #93 and BK Racing have ever finished last in the Daytona 500.
*This is the first last-place finish for the #93 in a Sprint Cup points race since October 26, 2014, when Clay Rogers’ own BK Racing entry, the Burger King / Dr. Pepper Toyota, overheated after 25 laps of the Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #93-Matt DiBenedetto / 91 laps / crash
39) #34-Chris Buescher / 91 laps / crash
38) #26-Robert Richardson, Jr. / 135 laps / engine
37) #24-Chase Elliott / 160 laps / running / led 3 laps
36) #88-Dale Earnhardt, Jr. / 169 laps / crash / led 15 laps

2016 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Matt DiBenedetto (1)

2016 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) BK Racing (1)

2016 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (1)

XFINITY: Ryan Preece’s wreck results in rare last-place run for JD Motorsports

SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin' Forums

Ryan Preece picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Powershares QQQ 300 at the Daytona International Speedway when his #01 Uptick Vineyards Chevrolet was involved in a multi-car crash after he completed 5 of 120 laps.  The finish came in Preece’s 4th series start.

Preece, a 25-year-old standout from the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, has won at least two modified races a season since 2012 in addition to the 2013 series championship.  That same year, he made his XFINITY Series debut with team owner and fervent modified supporter Tommy Baldwin, Jr., finishing 24th in that first race at Loudon.  Just last year, Baldwin coordinated with Premium Motorsports to give the youngster his first try at Sprint Cup, again at Loudon, where he came home 32nd in the #98 Mohawk Northeast / East West Marine Chevrolet.  After returning to Premium to run the final four races of the season, Preece was hired by Johnny Davis to drive his flagship #01 Chevrolet for the full XFINITY Series season in 2016.

48 cars showed up to make the 40-car field for Saturday’s race, and Preece looked to make an impression in his first superspeedway start.  He ran 34th in the opening practice, then leapt to 4th in the second session behind David Starr, Brandon Jones, and veteran Joe Nemechek.  He didn’t participate in Happy Hour and instead turned his sights to qualifying, where he timed in 31st with a speed of 177.322 mph.  Among the eight DNQs were 1990 Daytona 500 champion Derrike Cope and Mike Harmon, whose Truck also missed the race the night before.

Starting 40th in the field was all-time last-place leader and five-time and defending LASTCAR XFINITY Series Champion Jeff Green.  Green was making his first XFINITY Series start for a team other than TriStar Motorsports since he ran a one-off for ML Motorsports at Daytona in 2013.  This time, he would be driving the #17 Dashub.com Chevrolet for Rick Ware - ironically the same team with which Ryan Ellis finished 40th last September at Darlington to end Green’s record streak of eight last-place runs in a row.  Coming into the Daytona race, Green had finished last in the final six rounds of the 2016 season and had a chance to extend his record once more.

By the end of Lap 1, however, Green had moved all the way up to 29th, dropping Joey Gase and his Jimmy Means-owned #52 JT Concrete / TransLife Chevrolet to the last spot.  Gase held the spot until Lap 5, when the caution flew for the first time for a wreck in Turns 1 and 2.

FOX Sports 1 only caught the tail end of the wreck, but it was clear that Preece’s #01 had made contact with the #85 Lucas Oil Chevrolet of ARCA veteran Bobby Gerhart, causing severe right side damage to both vehicles.  Also involved was the #46 of Belgian driver Anthony Kumpen, whose EL Systems / Nexteer Automotive / LeasePlan Chevrolet made it to pit road along with Gerhart.  Preece, however, had to climb out and let his car be towed behind the wall, leaving the #01 and #85 in the final two spots.

Finishing 38th that afternon was Canada’s Martin Roy in the #90 Gamache Truck Center / Cote Chevrolet.  Roy’s team owner Mario Gosselin failed to make the field in his #92 and Roy fell out on Lap 23 when he clipped the apron in Turn 1 and smacked the wall.  Despite his early strong run, Green ended up 37th at the finish, citing transmission issues.  Morgan Shepherd, celebrating his 49th year in NASCAR, rounded out the Bottom Five when his #89 Racing With Jesus / Courtney Construction Chevrolet broke a rear gear.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first last-place finish for the #01 in an XFINITY Series race since August 10, 2013, when Mike Wallace’s unsponsored #01 JD Motorsports Chevrolet wrecked on the opening lap of the Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen International.
*This is the first last-place finish for JD Motorsports since November 8, 2014, when Jeffrey Earnhardt’s unsponsored #4 JD Motorsports Chevroelt lost an engine without completing a lap of the DAV 200 Honoring America’s Veterans 200 at the Phoenix International Raceway.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #01-Ryan Preece / 5 laps / crash
39) #85-Bobby Gerhart / 6 laps / crash
38) #90-Martin Roy / 22 laps / crash
37) #17-Jeff Green / 50 laps / transmission
36) #89-Morgan Shepherd / 59 laps / rear gear

2016 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Ryan Preece (1)

2016 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) JD Motorsports (1)

2016 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (1)

TRUCKS: Tommy Joe Martins’ return to Truck Series ends with tire issues

SOURCE: NASCAR Media

Tommy Joe Martins picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Friday’s NextEra Energy Resources 250 at the Daytona International Speedway when his #44 Diamond Guest Jeans Chevrolet was involved in a pair of single-truck crashes after he completed 11 of the race’s 100 laps.  The finish came in Martins’ 6th series start.

Martins, a 29-year-old owner-driver from Como, Mississippi, made his NASCAR debut in 2009, finishing 22nd in the Truck Series race at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis.  The next year, he made his superspeedway debut with the ARCA Racing Series at Daytona, and finished a sterling 8th.  In 2014, Martins and team moved to the XFINITY Series, where he made 11 of his 17 attempts in mostly-unsponsored Fords and Doges.  His season-best again came on the plate tracks, this time a 14th at Talladega in his Dodge.  However, after eight DNFs and continued sponsorship woes, Martins and team left the series at midseason.

Friday’s Daytona race marked Martins’ first NASCAR attempt since his DNQ for the 2014 XFINITY Series race at Indianapolis.  He would run truck #44, the same number he ran in his series debut seven years ago, and carried sponsorship from Diamond Gusset Jeans, which ran on his successful XFINITY effort at Talladega.  This time, he would also have technical support from Gallagher Motorsports, whose trucks started on the front row.

Martins ran 17th and 21st-fasted in the weekend’s two practice sessions, but was still one of 43 entries going for 32 spots in a very competitive field.  He struggled in qualifying, needing to rely on a provisional to start 28th with a speed of 173.685 mph, but most importantly was in the show.  Among the 11 DNQs were eight Chevrolets as well as series regulars Norm Benning, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Ryan Ellis, and Mike Harmon.

Starting 32nd on Friday was Travis Kvapil, whose unsponsored MAKE Motorsports #50 made the show with the Past Champion’s Provisional.  Kvapil moved out of last on Lap 3 en route to a fifth-place finish, his first in the series since 2012, putting Frenchman Michel Disdier’s #07 Pray For Paris Chevrolet to the final spot.  Meanwhile, the next time by, Martins had worked his way toward the Top 20 when the right-front tire went down, sending him hard into the outside wall in Turn 4, drawing the first caution of the night.

Martins’ crew got the #44 fixed quick enough to stay on the lead lap, and the race went green again on Lap 10.  In seconds, Martins had moved past Tyler Young’s #02 Randco / Young’s Building Systems Chevrolet to put Young in last.  Just one lap later, in the exact same spot as before, the right-front failed Martins again, and he this time hit the wall hard enough to knock him out of the race.

Finishing 31st on Friday was Cody Coughlin, whose #18 Jegs / Spillfix Toyota wrecked with Spencer Gallagher’s #23 Allegiant Travel Chevrolet when several leaders tried to duck onto pit road before the 20-minute Caution Clock expired.  30th went to Jordan Anderson, whose brand-new #66 Columbia SC - Famously Hot Chevrolet broke a rear gear and stopped on the track on Lap 78.  Rounding out the Bottom Five were Rico Abreu and Daniel Suarez, whose Toyotas were among the 18 drivers involved in a grinding Turn 3 wreck with six laps to go.

For more on Tommy Joe Martins, check out his website at http://tommyjoemartins.com/

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first last-place finish for the #44 in a Truck Series race since February 21, 2009, when local driver Lance Hooper left the San Bernardino County 200 after 2 laps when his unsponsored #44 Key Motorsports Chevrolet picked up a vibration.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
32) #44-Tommy Joe Martins / 11 laps / crash
31) #18-Cody Coughlin / 41 laps / crash
30) #66-Jordan Anderson / 75 laps / rear gear
29) #98-Rico Abreu / 92 laps / crash
28) #51-Daniel Suarez / 2 laps / crash

2016 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Tommy Joe Martins (1)

2016 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Tommy Joe Martins (1)

2016 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (1)

CUP: Cole Whitt’s spirited run ends with spin in Duel Race 1

SOURCE: NASCAR Media

Cole Whitt finished last in Thursday night’s running of Can-Am Duel Race 1 at the Daytona International Speedway when his #98 RTIC Coolers Toyota was involved in a single-car accident that ended his race after 47 fo the race’s 60 laps.

Released from Front Row Motorsports at the end of last season, Whitt signed with Premium Motorsports on February 2.  The #98 switched from Phil Parsons Racing’s Fords and Premium’s former Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolets to Toyota for 2016 and on February 13 announced sponsorship from icebox company RTIC Coolers.  One day earlier, Premium leased its charter medallion inherited from the Parsons merger to HScott Motorsports, meaning Whitt would have to make the field on speed or else race his way in.

Whitt was 40th and 37th in the opening two practices and remained 37th in time trials with a speed of 190.375 mph, ranking him fifth among the non-chartered “open” teams.  He was just three-hundredths of a second of besting Robert Richardson, Jr., whose BK Racing #26 Stalk It Toyota was the second of two cars who were not quite locked-in, but could fall back on their qualifying time.  Whitt and the three “open” cars behind him had no such safety net, meaning their only chance of making the 500 was to race their way in on Thursday.

Just 36 cars practiced on Wednesday morning, but Whitt pulled to 12th-fastest overall, second among the “open” teams behind overall leader Michael McDowell.  He didn’t complete a lap in the two sessions that followed and instead set his sights on Duel Race 1, where he would roll out 19th.

Starting 22nd in Duel Race 1 was last year’s second-place points man Kevin Harvick, who along with teammate Brian Vickers had their qualifying times disallowed for a track bar infraction.  He was joined at the back by Roush-Fenway Racing teammates Trevor Bayne, Greg Biffle, and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., who all changed rear gears prior to the race.  By the time the field entered Turn 1, Harvick had passed three cars, dropping Bayne’s #6 AdvoCare Ford to last.

On Lap 5, Bobby Labonte #32 Can-Am fell to last, joining the Roush-Fenway trio that was rapidly losing ground to the leaders.  By Lap 12, Labonte had fallen four seconds behind the next car in line and ten second back on Lap 18.  Labonte held the spot until Lap 30, when Ryan Blaney’s fleet #21 Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford pitted by himself and lost a lap to the leaders.

Whitt, meanwhile, had been dogging McDowell for a transfer spot and tried some strategy after his own stop on Lap 41.  While McDowell beat Whitt off pit road, the #98 lay back to catch the drafting help of a line of cars, including Regan Smith’s #7 Golden Corral / Nikko Chevrolet for Tommy Baldwin Racing.  The plan seemed to work as Whitt caught McDowell within a lap and in Turn 1 looked set to make a move around McDowell’s #59.  However, as he switched lanes, Smith made contact with Whitt’s rear bumper, sending the #98 spinning to the apron for the first caution of the night.

Whitt had fallen to last by Lap 48 as the crew made repairs and sent him back on track.  On the restart, the #98 struggled to keep pace with the leaders and dove back down pit road the next time by, ending his night.  Without enough speed to make the field, he became the first driver to miss Sunday’s race.

The only other two retirees were Paul Menard, who had a tire issue, and Brian Scott, who tangled off the final corner racing near the back of the lead pack.  Scott’s #44 Albertsons Co. / Shore Lodge Ford was fastest in Wednesday’s second practice session, but was totaled when he slammed the inside wall near the entrance to pit road.  Rounding out the Bottom Five were Labonte, the final car on the lead lap, and Clint Bowyer - his second-straight bottom-five finish in Daytona’s preliminaries.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was Whitt’s first last-place finish in the Duels, but the second in a row for the #98 team.  Last year, when the #98 was owned by Phil Parsons, Josh Wise was unable to start Duel Race 2 when his Phoenix Construction Ford had electrical issues on pit road.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
22) #98-Cole Whitt / 47 laps / transmission
21) #27-Paul Menard / 58 laps / tire
20) #44-Brian Scott / 59 laps / crash
19) #32-Bobby Labonte / 60 laps / running
18) #15-Clint Bowyer / 60 laps / running

CUP: Ryan Newman’s dropped cylinder leads to early exit in Duel Race 2

SOURCE: NASCAR Media

Ryan Newman finished last in Thursday night’s running of Can-Am Duel Race 2 at the Daytona International Speedway when his #31 Caterpillar Chevrolet lost an engine after he completed 31 of the race’s 60 laps.

Newman enters his 17th Sprint Cup season and third with Richard Childress Racing.  The 2008 Daytona 500 winner comes off his third-straight Chase appearance, but is also looking for his first Cup win in the Caterpillar colors.  With the exception of sponsor Quicken Loans moving to Hendrick Motorsports, the team has remained largely the same since last season and has come to Daytona looking to make a statement.

Newman began SpeedWeeks 2016 with a late-race crash in the Sprint Unlimited, leaving him 19th in a field of 25.  He ran 18th-fastest in the opening Daytona 500 practice that day, ran 16th in the second session, and timed in 15th in qualifying at a speed of 194.099 mph.  He missed the cut for the second round by just under four-hundredths of a second.

On Wednesday, Newman was just 32nd-fastest of 36 entrants for the third practice session, but was preparing to make some race runs in the second session later that evening.  In the last half of the session, he followed a single-file line of traffic off pit road and onto the track.  Just as the line picked up speed, Ty Dillon’s #95 Cheerios Chevrolet fielded by Leavine Family / Circle Sport Racing cracked a weld in the oil cooler, leaking oil all over Turns 1 and 2.  Newman, following Reed Sorenson’s #40 CRC Brakleen Chevrolet several carlengths behind, checked-up with the rest of the field, but slid in the oil.  Newman bumped Sorenson and was hit by Michael Waltrip’s #83 Maxwell House Toyota, sending both of them into a spin.  When the smoke settled, Newman was in the garage area, the Childress crew working hard to fashion a new right-front fender.

Newman was one of the seven drivers who returned to the track on Thursday morning, running 5th-fastest of the group with the second-most laps turned.  Satisfied, the Childress team prepared for Thursday night’s qualifier, where Newman was set to roll off 7th in Race 2.

Starting last in Race 2 was Brian Vickers, whose relief duties for Tony Stewart in the #14 Bass Pro Shops / Mobil 1 Chevrolet began with a hard crash in the Sprint Unlimited and a technical infraction that wiped his qualifying time.  He was joined in the rear by Martin Truex, Jr., whose #78 Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Toyota was denied a qualifying attempt for an improper roof flap adjustment.  Joining them were Kyle Larson and Michael Waltrip, both of them sent to backup cars in Wednesday’s wreck that damaged Newman’s machine.

When the green flag flew, Larson fell to last going into the first corner, but Waltrip was last by the time the leaders came off Turn 4.  Vickers took a turn in 22nd on Lap 2 followed on Lap 6 by Landon Cassill, making his first racing laps in Front Row Motorsports’ #38 Florida Lottery Ford.  As three Joe Gibbs Racing teammates ran nose-to-tail ahead of a long single-file line, Cassill and the nine cars in front of him fell back into a distant second group, gapped by two seconds.  Sorenson’s #40 fell to last on Lap 7 followed again by Cassill on Lap 10.  By this point, Cassill, Sorenson, Waltrip, and Michael Annett had fallen back into a third pack even further back and were already in danger of eventually losing a lap.

Then on Lap 30, Newman, still with the lead single-file pack, suddenly slowed on the track.  He reported to his crew he had lost a cylinder, and the engine continued to sour as the rest of the field passed by.  Coming off Turn 2 on Lap 31, Cassill passed Newman for last, and the #31 pulled into the garage soon after, done for the night.  Newman, who races for a chartered team, will start 38th in Sunday’s Daytona 500.

The remainder of the field finished under power, even as five of the leaders wrecked on the final lap.  Finishing next-to-last was Sorenson, who lost a lap on track then three more in the closing stages.  20th went to Waltrip followed by Aric Almirola, who stayed out during green-flag stops to lead two laps in Richard Petty’s #43 Smithfield Ford.  Rounding out the Bottom Five was Robert Richardson, Jr., whose #26 Stalk It Toyota secured the 40th and final starting spot in the 500 field based on his qualifying time.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was Newman’s first last-place finish in the Can-Am Duels.
*This was the first last-place finish for the #31 in a Duel race since 1994, when Ward Burton’s #31 Hardee’s Chevrolet was involved in a first-lap accident in Race 2.  Just seconds after the green flag, Dale Jarrett lost an engine, causing the middle of the field to check-up.  Buddy Baker clip Jeremy Mayfield’s car and the track closed up in front of Burton, who was one of the five cars eliminated in the wreck.
*This is the Childress team’s first last-place finish in the Duel races since February 17, 1977, when Childress himself, then an owner-driver, lost the transmission on his #3 Kansas Jack Chevrolet after 1 lap of Race 1.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
22) #31-Ryan Newman / 31 laps / engine
21) #40-Reed Sorenson / 56 laps / running
20) #83-Michael Waltrip / 59 laps / running
19) #43-Aric Almirola / 59 laps / running / led 2 laps
18) #26-Robert Richardson, Jr. / 59 laps / running