4/2/2000: Jerry Nadeau tangles with teammate Gordon in Texas

SOURCE: crash.net

On April 2, 2000, Jerry Nadeau picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Winston Cup Series career in the DirecTV 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway when his #25 MichaelHoligan.com Chevrolet was involved in a multi-car crash, ending his race after 110 of 334 laps.

The finish, which came in Nadeau’s 76th series start, was his first since September 5, 1999, when his #36 M&M’s Pontiac crashed after 48 laps of the 50th Annual Pepsi Southern 500 at Darlington, 17 races previous.

Nadeau’s brief and tumultuous NASCAR career began in 1995, when he made his Busch Series debut at the tiny Hickory Motor Speedway.  At the time of his 21st-place finish in Greg Pollex’s #15 Buss Fuses Ford, the Connecticut driver was also honing his road course skills overseas, turning his background in go-karts toward the Formula Opel European Union Series Championship.  By 1997, Nadeau decided to commit to NASCAR full-time, and that year made his Cup debut for Richard Jackson at Michigan, where he finished 36th in the #1 R&L Carriers Pontiac.

In 1998, Nadeau signed on with a new team, Elliott-Marino Motorsports.  Bill Elliott, at the time in his fourth season as owner-driver of the #94 McDonald’s Ford, co-founded the team with Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino.  Nadeau struggled in the dolphin grey and orange #13 FirstPlus Financial Ford, failing to qualify at Las Vegas and Texas with finishes no better than 21st.  That June at Sonoma, Nadeau’s first road course start in Cup, he put the #13 outside-pole next to Jeff Gordon.  Eager to take the lead from Gordon at the start, Nadeau ran off course in Turn 2 and damaged the track bar, eventually smashing into a dirt embankment and finishing last.  Elliott-Marino released Nadeau after the next race in New Hampshire.

Nadeau finished the 1998 season driving for Harry Melling, whose #9 Cartoon Network Ford was also struggling.  The team began the year with veteran Lake Speed, but the Mississippi native unexpectedly retired after the Loudon race.  Nadeau jumped aboard just in time for the next road course at Watkins Glen, where he started 8th and finished a season-best 15th.  Nadeau spent just over a year with the Melling team, scoring his first Top 10 with an 8th at Talladega, before he was released once more in the summer of 1999.  Once again, Nadeau would relieve another retiring driver - Ernie Irvan, whose second serious crash at Michigan forced him to step away from MB2 Motorsports’ #36 M&M’s Pontiac.  But the biggest surprise was still to come.

Hendrick Motorsports’ #25 team was struggling to find victory lane.  Fan favorite Ken Schrader, who came aboard to relieve the ailing Tim Richmond in 1988, hadn’t won a Cup race since 1991 and left the team in 1996.  Ricky Craven signed to drive in 1997, finishing 3rd in a Hendrick sweep of the Daytona 500 podium, but his concussion from a hard crash at Texas lingered for more than a year, ultimately putting him out of the ride in early 1998.  Randy LaJoie, then Wally Dallenbach, Jr. came aboard, but both were unable to find consistency with the team.  On top of it all, longtime sponsor Budweiser was leaving the team after 1999 to fund a youngster who made his Cup debut that year: Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, syndicated home improvement show host Michael Holigan approached Hendrick to sponsor the #25.  The one condition?  Holigan wanted Nadeau in the car.

And so it was.  One article nicknamed Nadeau “The Magician” for securing the top-tier ride after so many struggles with four different teams.  The first six races did little to sway the skeptics.  Nadeau’s dazzling blue-and-white Chevrolet showed speed, never qualifying worse than 22nd, but the tam had yet to come home on the lead lap or finish any better than 19th.  Texas, scene of Craven’s injury and Nadeau’s most recent DNQ, was next.

While Nadeau lined up 8th for the race, the last starting spot in the 43-car field went to Robert Pressley, whose #77 Jasper Engines & Transmissions Ford had carried him to his best Cup finish at that time, a 3rd in 1998.  By Lap 6, Darrell Waltrip, making his final Texas start as part of his “2000 Victory Tour,” had fallen to the rear in his #66 Big K Mart Route 66 Ford.  Waltrip had finished last in the inaugural when he was caught up in the Lap 1 pileup.  By Lap 12, the 43rd spot belonged to Gary Bradberry, who was making his first start of the season after replacing Rick Mast in the Larry Hedrick-owned #41 Big Daddy’s BBQ Sauce Chevrolet.

The first caution of the afternoon came on Lap 18.  Scott Pruett, then a rookie in the Cup Series, had started 3rd and taken the lead in Cal Wells’ #32 Tide Ford.  After Dale Earnhardt, Jr. slid past, Junior’s DEI teammate Steve Park clipped Pruett while racing for 2nd, sending the #32 sliding into the outside wall.  Repairs to the left-rear of the car dropped him two laps down in the 43rd spot, and he started to lose more laps from a likely trip behind the wall on Lap 68.  Joining Pruett in the garage was Stacy Compton, whose #9 Kodiak / Cougar Ford for Melling Racing had smacked the Turn 4 wall on Lap 88.  Pruett returned to the track before Compton, dropping the #9 to last by Lap 104.  Compton was still last when the caution flew again for a multi-car wreck.

Running in the middle of the pack, Nadeau was following rookie Dave Blaney’s #93 Amoco Pontiac through Turns 1 and 2 when Blaney washed up the track, forcing Nadeau to back off.  Unfortunately, Jeff Gordon, Bill Elliott, and Johnny Benson, Jr. were right behind him, causing a chain reaction that sent Nadeau and Gordon spinning.  Nadeau spun backwards into the outside wall while Elliott collided with Gordon, the McDonald’s Ford lifting on two wheels as it rode up on Gordon’s hood.  Benson also suffered damage to the right-front of his #10 Lycos.com Pontiac.  All the cars involved returned to the race except Nadeau, whose entire rear clip was destroyed in the wreck.  When Compton returned to the track, Nadeau took the 43rd spot.

Benson ended up 42nd at the finish after tangling with John Andretti down the backstretch on Lap 146.  41st went to Bradberry’s #41, which backed into the Turn 4 wall on Lap 170.  39th went to rookie driver Elliott Sadler.  Sadler, tabbed by the Wood Brothers to take over for Michael Waltrip in the #21 Citgo Ford, spun in the grass coming off pit road during the pit stops for Pruett’s crash.  Sadler suffered damage tangling with Sterling Marlin on the Lap 120 restart, but returned to the track 113 laps down.

Between Bradberry and Sadler in 40th was to Adam Petty, who became the Cup Series’ first fourth-generation racer when he timed his #45 Sprint Chevrolet into the 33rd spot (unfortunately, father Kyle was one of the five drivers who missed the show, including Robby Gordon, Dave Marcis, Wally Dallenbach, Jr., and Todd Bodine).  The youngest Petty managed to avoid all seven wrecks that started the race, but the engine let go after 215 circuits.  Petty was set to run a handful more races in 2000, but Texas proved to be his only Cup start.  Just over a month later, Petty tragically lost his life in a Busch Series practice crash at Loudon.  He was only 19.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. went on to win the DirecTV 500 for his first Cup Series victory.  He’d claimed his first Busch Series win there just two years earlier.

After the Texas race, Nadeau began to improve.  He scored three-straight Top 20 finishes at Martinsville, Talladega, and Fontana, then broke through at Charlotte in May.  He was one of the biggest stories of The Winston All-Star Race, winning the 25-lap No Bull Sprint to transfer into the main event, where he came home 4th.  The following week in the 600, Nadeau’s patriotic paint scheme honoring the Coast Guard paced the field for 115 of 400 laps and was in position to win a rain-shortened victory.  But when the rain stopped, the engine let go, leaving him a disappointing 38th.  Coming into the season finale at Atlanta, Nadeau had two top-five finishes and four Top Tens with a season-best 4th at Loudon and again in the Brickyard 400.  He started 2nd in the Atlanta race - again next to Jeff Gordon - and this time sealed the deal.  Nadeau paced the NAPA 500 field for 155 of 325 laps, passed Ward Burton on a late-race restart, and held off Dale Earnhardt in the final points race the #3 Goodwrench Chevrolet would finish under power.

In the two seasons that followed, “The Fury From Danbury” continued to show flashes of brilliance with Hendrick.  Atlanta remained one of his best venues - he was leading in the final laps of both 2001 races before Kevin Harvick’s rally in the spring and an empty fuel tank in the fall dropped him back.  He also continued to run strong on the road courses, finishing in the Top Ten at Sonoma in 2000 and Watkins Glen in 2001.  But after the spring race at Richmond in 2002, one week after new teammate Jimmie Johnson scored his inaugural victory at Fontana, Nadeau was released by Hendrick, replaced by Joe Nemechek.  No one knew at the time that Richmond would see the end of Nadeau’s career just one year later.

Once again, Nadeau was called as a relief driver, this time for Johnny Benson, Jr. at Charlotte, reuniting him with MB2 Motorsports for the first time since 1999.  At Sonoma, he was brought in by Petty Enterprises to replace Buckshot Jones on the road course.  That race, the Dodge / Save Mart 350, came to symbolize Nadeau’s career.  The #44 Georgia-Pacific / Brawny Dodge remained mid-pack for much of the day, the left-front fender caved in.  After a spin on Lap 68, the team knew they had to parlay pit strategy to get the best run they could.  When the final caution flew on Lap 85, Nadeau stayed out with a half-dozen others, suddenly placing him 2nd behind his former team owner Bill Elliott.  Three laps later, Nadeau passed Elliott and zipped to a lead of several seconds.  Ricky Rudd and Tony Stewart, both on fresh tires, clawed their way through the others who stayed out, but it seemed neither would catch Nadeau in time.  Then, coming to the white flag, Nadeau’s rear gear seized up in Turn 11, and the #44 stopped, handing the lead and the win to Rudd.

In 2003, Nadeau rejoined MB2 yet again in the team that was once the #36 M&M’s machine of Ken Schrader.  Schrader and M&M’s left at the end of the year, and the U.S. Army signed with the team, renumbering it #01 as part of the “Army of One” campaign.  When the series returned to Texas, the team had started to gel, starting 5th and finishing 4th.  Nadeau also continued to show a flair for the dramatic, pulling a 360 spin out of 2nd at Darlington without hitting the wall or another car.

Nadeau came to Richmond just 34th in points, but in practice, disaster struck.  The #01 spun in Turn 1 and slammed the unprotected concrete wall driver’s side first.  He survived, but only just.  The serious head, lung, and rib injuries he suffered put an abrupt end to his driving career.  Today, Nadeau is involved in the B.R.A.K.E.S. program in North Carolina, and has been a mentor to new racers, including current Sprint Cup rookie Jeffrey Earnhardt.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first last-place finish for the #25 in a Cup Series race since November 2, 1997, when Ricky Craven’s #25 Budweiser Chevrolet crashed after 39 laps of the Dura Lube 500 presented by K-Mart at the Phoenix International Raceway.
*Neither Nadeau nor the #25 had ever before finished last in a Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #25-Jerry Nadeau / 110 laps / crash
42) #10-Johnny Benson, Jr. / 143 laps / crash
41) #41-Gary Bradberry / 165 laps / crash
40) #45-Adam Petty / 215 laps / engine
39) #21-Elliott Sadler / 221 laps / running

CUP: Open Team Roundup - Martinsville

SOURCE: Sean Gardner, Getty Images

After four consecutive races with the same three Open teams, the preliminary entry list for Martinsville showed exactly 40 cars, meaning the short track would host just the second full field of 2016.  When the dust settled, one member remained on the lead lap while the other three fought to keep pace.

QUALIFIED

#21 Wood Brothers Racing
Driver: Ryan Blaney
Started: 12th, Finished: 19th

Top of the class for the fourth time in five races was the Wood Brothers, whose driver Ryan Blaney earned the team its sixth 19th-place finish in 110 Martinsville starts.  For much of the weekend, the statistic seemed like it was going to be even more impressive.  He was 7th-fastest in the opening practice, 12th in the second, 10th in Happy Hour, and locked-up the 12th starting spot for Sunday’s race.  Blaney raced door-to-door with Chase Elliott in the early laps and remained between 10th and 15th for most of the afternoon, keeping all the fenders on his Ford.  Blaney was one of the many takers to pit when Jamie McMurray’s spin drew the final yellow with 15 laps remaining, but a penalty for the crew jumping over the wall too soon sent him to the tail end of the lead lap.  He remained in that position at the finish, but still as the top rookie in the field, one lap ahead of 20th-place Elliott.

Next week’s race at Texas has always been on the Wood Brothers’ schedule, even as a part-time team.  It was here that Trevor Bayne broke through with an impressive 17th-place finish in the fall of 2010, setting the stage for his Daytona 500 triumph.  But Blaney has yet to share the same results.  In his last two Texas tarts, he’s finished 42nd and 43rd, the result of an early engine failure and crash, respectively.  In fact, the Woods haven’t finished inside the Top 10 since - you guessed it - 2005, when Ricky Rudd came home 8th.  

#98 Premium Motorsports
Driver: Cole Whitt
Started: 31st, Finished: 30th

Martinsville looked to be the first weekend where Premium Motorsports did not have a sponsor for its flagship #98.  However, by race morning, Whitt’s black Chevrolet from practice again had logos from RTIC Coolers, the sponsor which funded the team’s Daytona 500 effort.  Unlike the longer tracks on the circuit, it was too difficult for Whitt to fight to stay on the lead lap.  The battle instead became to remain just one lap down, which Whitt managed for much of the race’s first half.  As the intensity picked up, however, Whitt started to slide back through the rankings, eventually ending up five circuits back at the checkered flag.  Still, he remained second among this week’s Open teams and finished ahead of eight Chartered drivers, including Casey Mears, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Denny Hamlin, and last-place finisher Aric Almirola (LINK).  The 30th-place run is also Whitt’s second-best performance of the season behind his 26th-plac showing two weeks ago at Fontana.

Next Saturday at Texas, Whitt is poised to make his fifth career Cup start at Texas, where his best finish was a 26th in the fall of 2014.

#55 Premium Motorsports
Driver: Reed Sorenson
Started: 40th, Finished: 37th

After the team mentioned it briefly over the offseason, Premium Motorsports debuted a second team at Martinsville with veteran Reed Sorenson behind the wheel.  According to the preliminary entry list, Sorenson’s car was to be numbered 49 in a callback to team owner Jay Robinson’s XFINITY and Truck Series entries, but by Friday, it carried a bold white 55 from now-defunct Michael Waltrip Racing.  Sorenson’s first eight laps in the #55 during Friday’s practice ranked him ahead of three Chartered drivers: Joey Gase, Regan Smith, and Michael Annett.  Despite not taking a lap in qualifying, Sorenson also outpaced Gase and Trevor Bayne in Happy Hour.  Sorenson had worked this magic before - in qualifying for the 2012 Martinsville race, when driving for Stacy Compton’s Turn One Racing, Sorenson ranked fifth of eleven “go-or-go-homers."

The race proved to be a struggle.  Sorenson was the second car to be lapped following Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s spin and he would trade the 40th spot with Josh Wise for the first half of the race.  In the end, Sorenson came home with the car 10 laps down - the same lap as Joey Gase’s Chartered #32 - and ahead of The Motorsports Group and Wise.

Premium and Sorenson will return again on this week’s Texas entry list, keeping the field at 40.  Sorenson has made 13 starts at the Fort Worth track with a best finish of 13th in his very first start there, back when he drove for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2006.

#30 The Motorsports Group
Driver: Josh Wise
Started: 39th, Finished: 38th

For the third time in 2016, Josh Wise and The Motorsports Group finished last among the four Open teams - but, unlike Atlanta, did not come home last overall.  Wise showed some moderate speed in Friday’s first practice, outpacing Whitt and Sorenson in the 33rd spot, remained 33rd in the second session, and held 35th in Happy Hour.  Qualifying, which only earned him 39th in a field of 40, proved to be his slowest session overall.  In the race, he traded the 40th spot with Reed Sorenson’s #55 and was often booted to the high lane by faster cars.  On Lap 313, Wise’s unsponsored Chevrolet, then nine laps down, was nudged to the high side of Turn 2 by Martin Truex, Jr.  Wise maintained control and avoided contact with the wall, but NASCAR still threw the caution flag, thus giving Dale Earnhardt, Jr. his lap back.  On Lap 337, FOX’s cameras caught Wise slowing on the backstretch, then making the hard left turn into the garage area.  Reports of electrical issues were followed by the official results showing engine trouble as the official cause.

Wise has eight starts in next week’s race at Texas with a best finish of 30th driving Front Row Motorsports’ #35 MDS Transport Ford in the spring of 2013.

DID NOT QUALIFY

None.

DID NOT ENTER

#26 BK Racing
#35 Front Row Motorsports
#40 Hillman Racing
#59 Leavine Family / Circle Sport Racing
#93 BK Racing

While none of the five Daytona 500 teams showed up at Martinsville, at least one will later this month.  On March 28, it was announced that Ryan Ellis will drive the non-chartered #93 BK Racing entry at Richmond on April 24.  Ellis, who made his Cup debut last fall at Phoenix, is expected to run a number of races this season with returning sponsor ScienceLogic.

CUP: Engine sours on Aric Almirola’s throwback ride

SOURCE: Sean Gardner, Getty Images

Aric Almirola picked up the 7th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s STP 500 at the Martinsville Speedway when his #43 STP Ford fell out with engine problems after he completed 206 of 500 laps.

The finish, Almirola’s first of the year, came in his 185th series start.  It was his first in a Sprint Cup race since last fall at Loudon, 14 races ago.

The crash that gave Almirola the last-place run at Loudon was one of just two DNFs for the #43 team in 2015.  Though they did not win a race, the team racked up three Top Fives and six Top Tens on the way to a 17th-place showing in points.  In four seasons with Richard Petty Motorsports, Almirola has never once finished outside the Top 20 in the driver standings.  Coming into the Martinsville race, Almirola had yet to finish better than a 12th in the Daytona 500, but had not run worse than a 24th at Las Vegas, keeping him a solid 13th in the standings with an unofficial spot in the Chase.

Next on the schedule was Sunday’s race at Martinsville, a track where the driver had seen both highs and lows.  He finished 4th in the fall of 2012, led 53 laps in the fall of 2008, but in his 2007 debut at the track Almirola finished last with electrical issues on DEI’s #01 U.S. Army Chevrolet.

With STP as the title sponsor of the Martinsville event, Almirola would again drive a florescent red and Petty Blue Ford for the race.  This year’s scheme resembled the cars the Pettys fielded in STP’s final years as primary sponsor in the late 1990s, including John Andretti’s Pontiac that secured Petty Enterprises its final victory in 1999.  Amidst the STP-sponsored fervor for the Martinsville race, there was also a near disaster in Petty’s hometown of Level Cross.  On Saturday, fire broke out at the Richard Petty Museum, but was contained before there were any injuries or severe damage.

Meanwhile, Almirola had timed in 21st in Friday’s opening practice session and secured the 20th starting spot with a speed of 96.244 mph.  He remained 20th in Saturday’s second practice session, but was just 27th in Happy Hour.

For the first time since the season-opening Daytona 500, 40 cars showed up to fill the 40-car starting field.  Joining the usual cast of characters was a second entry from Premium Motorsports, a black #55 Chevrolet driven by Reed Sorenson.  Sorenson, whose car carried old door and roof numbers from Michael Waltrip Racing, didn’t turn a lap in qualifying, securing him the final starting spot in his first Cup start since another turn for Premium last October at Kansas.

On race day, Sorenson held the 40th spot for less than a lap before he got around Josh Wise in The Motorsports Group’s unsponsored #30 Chevrolet.  On Lap 5, the race for 20th place between Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and David Ragan resulted in contact, sending Earnhardt’s #88 Nationwide Chevrolet spinning up the track with a flat left-rear tire.  While the spin cost Earnhardt a lap that he would not get back for another 304 circuits, he did manage to claw his way out of 40th on Lap 42, when he caught and passed Sorenson’s #55.  Sorenson lost a second lap around the 58th circuit, then moved past Josh Wise on Lap 77.  Wise lost a third lap in the process, but moved past Sorenson again by the time the second caution flew for Michael Annett’s spin on Lap 92.  Wise again retook it under the caution for Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.’s spin on Lap 139 and was five circuits behind by Lap 176.  It appeared that the two black Chevrolets would wage war for the rest of the afternoon until a much more brightly painted car began to struggle.

Through the first half of the race, Almirola was struggling to keep pace with the leaders and quickly lost two laps of his own.  On Lap 187, he slowed going down the backstretch with the engine sounding down a cylinder.  He pulled into the pits, complaining of a possible ignition problem, and soon took last from Wise on Lap 189.  Almirola returned to competition on Lap 195, but the engine problem only worsened, the car reporting on only five cylinders.  The Petty team vowed to keep the #43 out there until the engine blew, but 11 laps down and slowing, they soon had to pull the car off the track.  Almirola pulled into the garage a final time on Lap 222, just as another wreck drew Caution #4.

Denny Hamlin was running 5th when he wheel-hoped his #11 FedEx Express Toyota going into Turn 1, sending his car sliding and slamming into the outside wall.  Hamlin was uninjured, but the right side of his Toyota was totaled, putting an abrupt end to his afternoon.  The crash left him just 15 laps ahead of Almirola in the final standings.  If the engine on the #43 held out long enough to drop Hamlin to last, Sunday would’ve marked the first time the #11 finished last in a Cup race at Martinsville since May 21, 1950, when Bob Apperson’s 1949 Oldsmobile blew an engine in the second-ever Grand National race on the half-mile track.  Instead, Hamlin wound up 39th.

Finishing 38th was Wise, who pulled behind the wall on Lap 337 citing engine problems.  24 laps earlier, Wise was routed out of the groove by Martin Truex, Jr., and though he avoided contact with the wall, the fifth caution of the day was thrown.  Curiously, it was this caution that gave back Earnhardt, Jr. his lap.  37th went to Sorenson, who lost fifteen laps but finished under power in a car without any clear damage.  Rounding out the group in 36th was Joey Gase, who made his first Cup start at Martinsville in Go FAS Racing’s #32 Donate Life Virginia Ford.  Gase himself avoided a wreck in the final stages, saving his car from a four-wheel drift down the backstretch.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first last-place finish for the #43 at Martinsville since April 1, 2007, when Bobby Labonte’s Cheerios / Betty Crocker Dodge finished under power, but 235 laps down, in the Goody’s Cool Orange 400.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #43-Aric Almirola / 206 laps / engine
39) #11-Denny Hamlin / 221 laps / crash
38) #30-Josh Wise / 326 laps / engine
37) #55-Reed Sorenson / 490 laps / running
36) #32-Joey Gase / 490 laps / running

2016 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Aric Almirola, Matt DiBenedetto, Kyle Larson, Ryan Newman, Cole Whitt, Josh Wise (1)

2016 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) BK Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing, Premium Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports, The Motorsports Group (1)

2016 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (4)
2nd) Ford, Toyota (1)

TRUCKS: For the first time more than 10 years, Johnny Sauter finishes last in Trucks

SOURCE: Sean Gardner, Getty Images

Johnny Sauter picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Saturday’s Alpha Energy Solutions 250 at the Martinsville Speedway when his #21 Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff Chevrolet was involved in a single-truck crash that ended his race after 43 of 255 laps.

The finish, which came in Sauter’s 178th series start, was his first in 230 Truck races.  This dates back to September 8, 2005, when his #43 Menards / Energizer Chevrolet crashed after 100 laps of the Cheerios Betty Crocker 200 at Richmond International Raceway.

From the moment he committed to a full-time Truck Series schedule in 2009, Sauter has been a perennial race and championship contender.  In that time, he’s scored all 11 of his series victories and has finished no worse than 9th in the series standings.  He departed ThorSport Racing at the end of last season to join GMS Racing, a rising Chevrolet team whose fleet of drivers includes personable rising star Spencer Gallagher.  Sauter’s first run in GMS’ #21 Chevrolet came in the Daytona opener, which he won in dramatic fashion while a multi-car wreck unfolded behind him.  Mechanical issues in the second round at Atlanta left him 28th, Sauter eyed Martinsville, where he’d won twice with ThorSport in 2011 and 2013.

Sauter showed his usual speed throughout the weekend.  He was 4th in the opening practice, 14th in the second, and 10th in Happy Hour.  He improved even more in qualifying, securing the 3rd starting spot at an average speed of 95.864 mph.  It was Sauter’s best start at the track since the fall of 2013, when he secured the outside-pole.

Things were much wilder at the other end of the field.

39 drivers were originally entered to qualify for Saturday’s 32-truck field, but by Friday, a withdrawal by Faith Motorsports cut the list to 38.  Owner-driver Donne Levister was set to make his series debut at Martinsville driving his #62 Property Pros / SMD Toyota, but the truck failed tech inspection.  The crew prepared to make repairs, but according to the team’s press release, the team did not have sufficient budget or time to complete the work in time.

By the end of qualifying, five drivers had made the field for their first-ever Truck Series start: Kaz Grala (who started 19th in GMS Racing’s #33 Allegiant Travel Chevrolet), Spencer Boyd (27th in the #63 Go-Parts.com RAM for Mike Mittler), Shane Lee (28th in the #07 LeeBoy Toyota for Kevin Cywinski), Claire Decker (31st in the #10 AmsOil Chevrolet for Jennifer Jo Cobb), and last-place starter Bryce Napier (32nd in the #1 Lilly Trucking Chevrolet for Rick Ware Racing).

Claire Decker would join sister Paige in the race while cousin Natalie Decker ended up the slowest of the race’s six DNQs.  Joining Natalie were restrictor plate veteran Chris Fontaine in his #78 Glenden Enterprises Toyota, Norm Benning whose #6 Chevrolet has now missed five straight races, Travis Kvapil in MAKE Motorsports’ #50 Bubba Burger / Corvetteparts.net Chevrolet, newcomer Jordan Anderson still looking for his first start since Daytona in an unsponsored #66 Bolen Motorsports Chevrolet, and defending ARCA Racing Series runner-up Austin Wayne Self.

Austin Wayne Self was set to make his third start of the year in his family-prepared #22 AM Technical Solutions Toyota, but ended up the fastest of the six drivers who failed to qualify.  Meanwhile, Daytona last-placer Tommy Joe Martins managed to secure the 24th starting spot, but had wrecked his #44 Diamond Gusset Jeans Chevrolet in the first round of qualifying.  With Martins forced to a backup and Self trying to make the field, an arrangement was made where Self’s #22 would take Martin’s place, the entry renumbered to Martin’s #44 with Self behind the wheel.  The last-minute number changed was accomplished with Richard Petty Motorsports decals from Brian Scott’s Cup entry and a hand-made number decal on the nose.

Self’s driver change sent him to the rear along with the #86 Coastal Carolina University Chevrolet, whose driver Brandon Brown missed the driver’s meeting.  Both joined 32nd-place starter Bryce Napier in his baby-blue #1 Chevrolet.  The opening fifteen minutes ran under the green flag, and a handful of drivers fell down a lap.  Timmy Hill went three laps down in his #49 Testoril Chevrolet for Premium Motorsports, then on Lap 42 was passed by Claire Decker in Cobb’s #10.  At that moment, trouble broke out in Turns 3 and 4.

Johnny Sauter was running 2nd, just over a second behind polesitter Ben Rhodes, when brake heat apparently melted the bead on his right-front tire, sending him into the outside wall.  Sauter managed to keep rolling under the ensuing yellow, but could only pull into the garage, done for the afternoon.  GMS Racing’s tough day continued just 50 laps later when Kaz Grala lost a right-front of his own and clobbered the Turn 4 fence, leaving him 31st.

30th went to Mike Bliss, who took his first turn in the #71 Race Trac Convenience Stores Chevrolet fielded by fellow series veteran Carlos Contreras.  Bliss lost laps early and was eventually sidelined with electrical issues. 29th went to Cole Custer, whose #00 Haas Automation Chevrolet was destroyed in a grinding backstretch wreck with Christopher Bell with just 13 laps remaining.  Bell managed to keep going and finish 19th while first-timer Spencer Boyd’s RAM rounded out the group.  With 79 laps to go, Boyd spun off the nose Rico Abreu and Tyler Reddick coming off Turn 2.  Boyd avoided damage in the incident and later earned the second of two Lucky Dogs, but left the race late citing crash damage.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first last-place finish for the #21 in a Truck Series race since November 6, 2009, when Nick Tucker’s #21 GunBroker.com Dodge fell out with electrical issues after he completed 2 of 147 laps in the WinStar World Casino 350 at Texas.
*This is the first last-place finish for the #21 in a Truck Series race at Martinsville since April 7, 2001, when Morgan Shepherd’s #21 Genzman Racing Ford lost the brakes after 31 of 250 laps at the Advance Auto Parts 250.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
32) #21-Johnny Sauter / 43 laps / crash
31) #33-Kaz Grala / 91 laps / crash
30) #71-Mike Bliss / 115 laps / electrical
29) #00-Cole Custer / 235 laps / crash
28) #63-Spencer Boyd / 237 laps / crash

2016 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) William Byron, Tommy Joe Martins, Johnny Sauter (1)

2016 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) GMS Racing, Kyle Busch Motorsports, Tommy Joe Martins (1)

2016 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (2)
2nd) Toyota (1)

INTERVIEW: Norm Benning struggling under NASCAR’s 32-truck cap

SOURCE: FOX Sports

The moment has played over and over since that warm July evening in 2013.  On the inside, Clay Greenfield and his black RAM.  To his outside, the cherry-red Chevrolet of Norm Benning.  Through clouds of Eldora dirt, these two underdogs waged sheet-metal war for the final transfer spot into the inaugural Mudsummer Classic.  In the end, the spot went to Benning, his battered #57 cheered by fans in the stands and drivers in the infield.  His late-race battle quickly became an internet sensation.

“I’m not tooting my horn,” said Benning in an interview last week, “but Eldora, three years ago, I went viral on three continents. . .I got texts from Jimmie Johnson on that deal, Mark Martin, and Clint Bowyer.  Bowyer came over and said ‘I’ve never in my life seen anything so exciting’ - that’s a direct quote. Jimmie Johnson said, ‘Norm, it’s one thing to be banging up against a wall out of control, it’s quite another when another guy hits you at the same time,’ he said, ‘that’s one helluva job.’”

Fighting for every last position is nothing new to Benning.  He cut his teeth at dirt tracks like Eldora as a 15-year-old racing adults.  He’s competed in ARCA and NASCAR, attempted to qualify for 11 Daytona 500s and the inaugural Brickyard 400, and now races full-time in the Truck Series.  Though Benning’s team only has three trucks in its stable, he has also fielded a second entry to fill fields, giving valuable on-track experience to series newcomers like Joey Gattina and Ted Minor.

But barely two years after his Eldora triumph, Benning and his team are struggling more than ever before.  He comes into this weekend’s race at Martinsville having failed to qualify for four straight races, including his first at Daytona in several years.  The skid began last fall at the Virginia short track, where he missed the race by four-tenths of a second.

“Four of my fans were together there at Martinsville,” said Benning.  “They said ‘You know what? We’re not even gonna stay. We came to watch him race.  We’re leaving.'”

In a cruel twist, Benning’s speed last fall was 34th-fastest of the 36 trucks who took time, which prior to 2015 would have been enough to put him - and his fellow three DNQs - in the show.  However, since NASCAR shortened Truck Series fields from 36 to 32 trucks, drivers like Benning are now regularly missing races they should be making - not because of a lack of speed, but due to a lack of available spots.  This problem has carried over into the current season.

“I was actually 24th quick at Daytona this year, but. . .I ended up getting squeezed out of that race - I missed it by one position.  And I went to Atlanta and the same thing happened. . .Now I’m falling into that bracket where I’m missing races - me and Mike Mittler and Mike Harmon - I’m just really aggravated about it.  I can’t afford to miss any races.”

Benning explained that the field reductions were put in place in order to curb “start-and-park” efforts, as well as to save purse money.  However, unlike Sprint Cup, which has been consistently unable to field its short 40-car fields, the Truck Series has still consistently pulled in more entries than available spots.  The result is what Benning has experienced: series regulars and fully-sponsored rides being sent home for no good reason.  “They sent 11 trucks home from Daytona,” said Benning.

Missed races mean big losses for a race team, and this loss of funding is felt much harder by teams such as Norm Benning Racing, where tire costs are a key issue:

“Well it’s all about the money, it’s that simple. These teams, we can buy 7 sets of tires, the most we’re allowed to buy.  The most I personally get is 3 sets, then not enough money to race.  These tires are between $2,300 and $2,500 a set.  The big teams, they’ll burn up 2 sets just in practice, that’s $5,000 - and the purses we get are $7,000, $8,000, $9000.  I’ve had major sponsorships, but this point and time I don’t.  And without major sponsorship, you can’t afford all the tires and equipment you need to compete with the major teams.”

Benning expressed concern about the future of the sport, that the 32-truck field will prevent so many small teams from competing that soon only big-budget and Cup development programs will run each race.

“The Truck Series is for up-and-coming drivers, and they need to limit the number of teams an owner can own. Because if they don’t, there won’t be a way for new teams to come in.  If it were up to me, there would be a limit of two teams per owner.  If you want to have more teams, then you should move up to Cup or XFINITY.”

The solution, says Benning, is to simply undo the 32-truck cap.

“Put it back the way it was 2 years ago.  Every driver that made all the attempts  - the top 25 or 27 teams that made all the attempts get provisionals. You know, if you didn’t make all the attempts you can’t get provisionals.”

Benning says he looks forward to returning to the Eldora track this July.  “I know I can win that race. It seems every year - that first year, I had nothing left because it was all banged up, the last two years I was very competitive in the main event, and this year I expect to be better.”  

“I would like to see the fans pushing to put the trucks back to a 36-truck starting field.  If the fans want to see more action, they need to tell NASCAR we need to have 36 trucks again in the starting field.”