XFINITY: Jordan Anderson goes head-to-head with Jeff Green in securing fourth-consecutive last-place finish

PHOTO: @j66anderson

Jordan Anderson picked up the 4th last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s My Bariatric Solutions 300 at the Texas Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #93 RSS Racing Chevrolet fell out with electrical issues after he completed 17 of 200 laps.

The finish, which came in Anderson’s 11th series start, was his fourth of the season and fourth in a row.  He now joins all-time last-place leader Jeff Green as the only two drivers in NASCAR history to trail four straight races.  The NASCAR record remains Green’s streak of eight in a row, also in XFINITY, during the summer of 2015.

Anderson was one of 41 drivers on a preliminary entry list which, once again, changed several times.  On Monday, Mike Harmon and his #74 SupportMilitary.org Dodge were added, growing the list to 42 for 40 spots.  Three days later, fellow owner-driver Morgan Shepherd withdrew his #89 Racing With Jesus / Visone RV Chevrolet.  Finally, the day after, Obaika Racing entered its #97 Vroom! Brands Chevrolet, once again with Stephen Leicht aboard.  In the end, Harmon and Leicht would be the two drivers sent home after qualifying.

Anderson ran 30th-fastest in Friday’s opening practice, 29th in Happy Hour, and timed in 31st in qualifying with a lap of 184.080mph, the third-slowest car to make the field on speed.

Starting last on Saturday was none other than Jeff Green in B.J. McLeod Motorsports’ #8 Chevrolet.  While he’d started in that spot one other time this season, at Daytona, he’d yet to finish there in 2017.  But last fall, the Texas track saw his 94th and, to date, most recent NASCAR last-place run.  During the pace laps, Anderson joined Green at the back of the pack and stole away last on the opening lap.  In four previous starts this season, Anderson had completed no more than three laps, but this time he stayed out there, challenging Green for the spot on track.  The two cars began to lose touch with the leaders, and Green fell behind Anderson on Lap 8.

Lap 11 saw the first yellow, and a new challenger broke up the battle.  Daniel Hemric, running 2nd in Richard Childress Racing’s #21 Smokey Mountain Herbal Snuff Chevrolet, broke loose in the first corner and backed into the outside wall, damaging the right-front corner as well.  By Lap 13, Hemric took last from Anderson and Green, but had made it to pit road for repairs.  The crew beat the Crash Clock, returning to competition two laps behind, but struggled to meet minimum speed.  Within two laps of the restart, it was Anderson who pulled off the track first, and by the 20th circuit, he’d taken last from Hemric.  Hemric managed to finish 32nd while Green remained past the halfway mark, coming home 36th.

39th on Saturday went to Carl Long, whose #13 Chris Kyle Memorial Benefit Toyota struggled to catch the field for the restart following Hemric’s wreck.  Motorsports Business Management cited steering issues as the reason for Long’s exit; his teammate Timmy Hill ran 31st.  38th went to Casey Mears, out with rear gear issues on the #98 GEICO Military Ford.  One spot behind Jeff Green was Brennan Poole, his #48 DC Solar Chevrolet eliminated in the day’s biggest accident on Lap 67.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the second-consecutive last-place finish for RSS Racing’s #93 in the spring race at Texas.  Last year, Josh Wise trailed in the car with early brake trouble, starting a weekend sweep with the Cup race.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #93-Jordan Anderson / 17 laps / electrical
39) #13-Carl Long / 24 laps / steering
38) #98-Casey Mears / 50 laps / rear gear
37) #48-Brennan Poole / 66 laps / crash
36) #8-Jeff Green / 114 laps / suspension

2017 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) RSS Racing (4)
2nd) B.J. McLeod Motorsports, Kaulig Racing (1)

2017 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (6)

2017 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

6/7/81: First Baxter Price, then Texas World Speedway “quit”

Jimmy Means' #52 Chevrolet, which may have become
Baxter Price's #50 at College Station, Texas
PHOTO: Unknown

On June 7, 1981, Baxter Price picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR Winston Cup Series career in the Budweiser NASCAR 400 at the Texas World Speedway when he “quit” driving his #50 Broadway Motors Chevrolet after 1 of 200 laps.

The finish, which came in his 90th start, was his first since that February at Richmond, 11 races earlier, when his #45 McWhirter Grading Buick broke a driveshaft after 16 laps of the Richmond 400.

Price excelled in the Grand National East Series, a circuit consisting of tracks recently cut from the Winston Cup tour.  In 1972, he scored three Top Fives and 11 Top Tens on his way to a 4th-place showing in the standings.  The series was stacked with Cup Series veterans, including season champion Neil Castles and fellow owner-driver Elmo Langley, who finished 1-2 in points.  Among the drivers Price outpointed that season were Wendell Scott, Richard Childress, Tiny Lund, Buck Baker, and Bobby Allison.

With this success, Price made his Cup debut at Richmond on September 9, 1973.  He filled out the 34-car field in his #33 Price Racing Chevrolet, starting in the final spot.  On Lap 4, Price spun in the fourth corner and couldn’t restart.  With the track still in its tight half-mile configuration, outside-polesitter Darrell Waltrip couldn’t avoid Price’s car and slammed into the rear of #33.  The result was a 14-car pileup that also triggered a fuel fire in Baxter’s car, leaving the last-place finishing rookie with second-degree burns to his face and hands.  It was an inauspicious start to a brief career.

Price didn’t run another Cup race until May 10, 1975, when he returned at the Nashville Fairgrounds to run the Music City USA 420.  Now driving the #45 he would campaign for much of his career, the driver started next-to-last in the 28-car field and climbed to 20th despite running just 38 laps.  He improved to 22nd in his return to Nashville that summer, then ran 18th in his superspeedway debut at Pocono, the first track where he finished under power.  He slowly built his program over the next two seasons, running six races in 1976, 12 in ’77, and 24 for back-to-back seasons in 1978 and 1979.  He also picked up a series of local sponsors for his #45, including Tire King, Ray Cook’s Bar-B-Q, Ideal Maintenance, and Iron Peddlers, the last of which being his most consistent backer through the 1979 and 1980 seasons.

The Virginia 500 at Martinsville on April 23, 1978 saw Price earn what would be his best career finish, an 11th-place run, 45 laps behind Darrell Waltrip.  At Charlotte that October, Price was also tabbed to drive in relief of none other than Dale Earnhardt, who was preparing for his Rookie of the Year campaign.  Two competing deals arrived for Earnhardt to run Charlotte in Will Cronkrite’s #96 Cardinal Tractor Ford and run Atlanta in Rod Osterlund’s Chevrolet.  Since running both races would exceed the maximum number of starts Earnhardt could make and still run for rookie honors, Price was tabbed to start the #96 at Charlotte.  And so it was on October 8, 1978, that Baxter Price and Dale Earnhardt split time in the same car for 179 laps before the engine let go.

By 1981, when NASCAR downsized its cars from 115-inch to 110-inch wheelbase models, Price had scaled down his operation.  A fourth bid to make an elusive Daytona 500 start ended in disappointment, though he finished 4th in the 12-car “Consolation Race” run the Friday before the race.  A last-place finish at Richmond turned out to be the final green flag taken in his black-and-gold #45 Buick.  Then, in June, came a call from another owner-driver.

Jimmy Means was in his sixth season of competition on the Winston Cup tour, and headed toward the second-best season of his Cup career.  By June, he was 14th in the point standings, and he’d finish there at season’s end.  While preparing his #52 Broadway Motors Pontiac for the upcoming race in College Station, Texas, Means tabbed Price to drive a second car for him.  Price would drive a renumbered #50 Chevrolet, likely the same Chevrolet that Means ran four times earlier that season at Daytona, Bristol, North Wilkesboro, and Nashville.  The agreement was made and both drivers arrived at the track.

The venue was the Texas World Speedway, a blistering-fast two-mile oval similar in construction to Michigan International Speedway, but with steeper corners banked between 12 and 22 degrees.  The circuit joined the Winston Cup schedule in 1969, where Bobby Isaac prevailed in a 38-car contest.  Over the next four seasons, the fields grew as large as 49 cars with both Richard Petty and lead-footed Buddy Baker taking the checkered flag.  But the track was dropped from the schedule in 1974, and when it returned five years later, the fields were noticeably depleted.  Just 34 cars took the green in 1979, then 31 in 1980.  Means and Price were among just 34 drivers to arrive in 1981.

Kirk Shelmerdine at Texas World Speedway, 1981
PHOTO: Unknown

According to the official results, it appears that Price’s car was one of at least three brought in to fill out the field.  Unlike the more recent examples of “start-and-park” teams, which often list mechanical failure as the reason out, it was then common for such cars to list the more direct “quit.”  Price pulled out first after the opening lap.  The next time by came Kirk Shelmerdine, who was making his Cup debut.  Like Price, Shelmerdine arrived in a second car belonging to an owner-driver, his future boss Richard Childress: Shelmerdine drove a #8 McDonald’s Pontiac renumbered from Childress’ #3.  By 2002, Shelmerdine would start his own team.  Third among the “quit” group was D.K. Ulrich.  Ulrich’s exit is a strange one as, just one month earlier, he’d piloted his #98 UNO Buick to a career-best 4th at Dover.

Rounding out the Bottom Five were 39-year-old Morgan Shepherd, fresh off his first Cup victory that April.  Shepherd’s #5 Performance Connection Pontiac prepared by Cliff Stewart exited with radiator issues.  Rounding out the Bottom Five was Darrell Waltrip, one of only four DNFs in a 12-win season that vaulted he and his Junior Johnson-prepared car to the first of three Winston Cup titles.

As it turned out, June 7, 1981 was both Baxter Price’s final Cup start and the final Cup race at the Texas World Speedway.  Price’s 90-race career set a mark for the most Cup starts without a Top 10 finish - a record which stands to this day.  Texas World Speedway hosted ARCA and K&N Pro Series West races until 1993, and in 2009 made the news when Greg Biffle turned a lap of over 218mph during a test session.  While one report in January 2016 indicated the track would be torn down to make way for a housing development, as of this writing, the track’s online calendar still has private tests and other track events scheduled for the rest of 2017.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first last-place finish for the #50 in a Cup Series race since August 3, 1980, when Bruce Hill lost the engine on his #50 Global Heat Exchanger Oldsmobile after 12 laps of the Talladega 500 at Talladega.  The number would not finish last in Cup again until October 11, 1987, when Greg Sacks’ #50 Valvoline Pontiac crashed after 20 laps of the Oakwood Homes 500 at Charlotte.  This was the first and only last-place finish for the #50 in a Cup Series race at Texas World Speedway.
*In 2,505 Cup Series races, “quit” has been the listed reason out for just 59 last-place finishers.  The first time it was used was February 24, 1967, when Daytona 500 polesitter Curtis Turner pulled off the track in Smokey Yunick’s #13 1966 Chevrolet after one lap of his qualifying race.  The last time was June 13, 1993, when another Jimmy Means backup car, this time driven by Graham Taylor, pulled the #53 State Shuttle Ford off track after 3 laps of the Champion Spark Plug 500 at Pocono.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
34) #50-Baxter Price / 1 lap / quit
33) #8-Kirk Shelmerdine / 2 laps / quit
32) #98-D.K. Ulrich / 4 laps / quit
31) #5-Morgan Shepherd / 17 laps / radiator
30) #11-Darrell Waltrip / 33 laps / cylinder head / led 12 laps

SOURCES
*Legends of NASCAR.com “Owner – Crew Chief Will Cronkrite.”
*McLaughlin, Matt. 50 Years of NASCAR Racing. “The Fall of Richmond (Post 87).” Reposted at RaceFansForever.org
*Racing-reference.info

Preliminary Entry List Storylines: Texas

PHOTO: Tommy Baldwin Racing

CUP SERIES
O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas

After five consecutive short fields, Texas will see the first 40-car starting lineup since the season-opening Daytona 500.

Rejoining after a one-week hiatus at Martinsville is Premium Motorsports’ second team, the #55, once again driven by veteran Derrike Cope.  The yet-unsponsored #55 Toyota will carry Cope to his first Texas start in the Cup Series since April 9, 2006, when he finished 41st in Raynard McGlynn’s #74 myguardian911.com Dodge.  Reed Sorenson, 31st at Martinsville after a flat tire sent him into a spin on Lap 335, is again entered in Premium’s #15, which is also looking for sponsorship.

Also returning is Tommy Baldwin Racing, absent since their 20th-place finish at Daytona with Elliott Sadler.  This week, J.J. Yeley is the listed driver for what will be his first Cup start since the 2015 finale at Homestead, where he ran 34th for BK Racing, and his first for Baldwin since 2013.  Yeley’s best finish in 14 Texas starts was a 17th in 2007, though he was also the outside-polesitter in the spring of 2006.  TBR’s best finish at the track came in the fall of 2014, when Michael Annett came home 22nd.  Accell Construction, Inc., a longtime backer of the Baldwin team, returns to back #7.

This weekend, Cole Whitt’s longtime sponsor RTIC Coolers moves to the primary backer of TriStar Motorsports’ #72 Chevrolet.  At Martinsville, Whitt turned heads on the track and in the booth, ultimately coming home 21st, the first car one lap down.  Whitt looks to carry that momentum into Fort Worth, where his best finish in five previous starts was a 26th in 2014.  If Whitt doesn’t DNF, it will mark the first time Mark Smith’s car has done so in a Cup race at the track following four “start-and-park” entries in 2012 and 2013.

Timmy Hill is slated to make his fifth-straight start in Rick Ware Racing’s #51, which last week at Martinsville came one spot short of equaling their season-best 32nd-place finish at Phoenix.  Hill’s best finish at the Texas track was a 35th his last time out in the fall of 2014, when he drove for Circle Sport.  The Circle Sport with The Motorsports Group #33 Chevrolet is entered as well with Jeffrey Earnhardt.  Earnhardt avoided his third-consecutive last-place finish at Martinsville, but not his third-straight DNF, out after slamming the Turn 2 wall hard on Lap 392.  Earnhardt’s best finish in two Texas starts came last fall with BK Racing, where he ran 34th.

BK Racing’s rookie duo of Gray Gaulding and Corey LaJoie are back once more, having made some progress at Martinsville.  Gaulding spun on Lap 310, but finished 29th, his first finish inside the Top 30 in seven career starts.  LaJoie came home one spot and one lap in front of his teammate in 28th, his best finish since a 24th-place run in this year’s Daytona 500.  Both drivers will be making their first Cup starts in Texas.

Matt DiBenedetto left Martinsville with his first DNF – and his first finish worse than 29th – of 2017.  The hard Turn 3 crash dropped him from 28th to 32nd in points.  The Texas track has also proved challenging: in three previous starts, he’s finished 34th, 35th, and 34th.  The preliminary entry list indicates the bright green Can-Am / Kappa paint scheme will likely return.

XFINITY SERIES
My Bariatric Solutions 300 at Texas

A preliminary list of 41 drivers are listed to attempt Saturday’s 40-car field, yet there are still teams missing that have attempted previous races.

Just as at Phoenix, neither Obaika Racing’s #77 for Josh Bilicki nor the #97 for Stephen Leicht have been entered.  The last time out at Fontana, Mike Harmon was entered in his #74 Dodge while Morgan Shepherd’s #89 did not.  This week, it’s the opposite: Shepherd is entered with returning sponsorship from Visone RV while Harmon has yet to be added.  The two times Shepherd has finished an XFINITY race at Texas under power, he came home a respectable 28th.  Based on prior performance, it’s likely that Harmon and at least one of the Obaika cars will be added later this week.

Six teams are listed with the sponsor “to be determined.”  Two belong to B.J. McLeod’s team: McLeod’s own #78 Chevrolet and the #8 Chevrolet once again driven by last-place record holder Jeff Green.  David Starr, still with Striping Technology on his McLeod #99 Chevrolet, finished a season-best 24th his last time out at Fontana.  Two more yet-unsponsored cars belong to Motorsports Business Management, which again has Carl Long listed in the #13 Chevrolet and Timmy Hill looking for double duty in the #40 Dodge.  MBM’s driver lineup has often changed between the preliminary entry list and race day, so it wouldn’t be surprising if that happens again.  The other two of the TBD group are the TriStar #14 of J.J. Yeley, a driver who will be running double-duty with Tommy Baldwin in Cup, and Brandon Jones’ Richard Childress Racing #33.

The only car entered without a listed driver is King Autosport’s #90 Can-Am Chevrolet, fielded by Mario Gosselin.  Martin Roy drove the car at Fontana to a 25th-place finish.  At least one source has indicated that Truck Series driver Brandon Brown will be driving the #90 at Richmond later this month.

Dakoda Armstrong continues a strong start to the season in the #28 Toyota for James Whitener.  In five starts this season, he’s finished no worse than 21st and completed all but one lap.  Armstrong’s best XFINITY finish at Texas was a 10th in the fall of 2014 for Richard Petty Motorsports.

Jordan Anderson is entered in the #93 RSS Racing Chevrolet.  If the team remains on “start-and-park” duty, is in position to score his fourth-consecutive last-place finish, joining Jeff Green as the only two drivers to do so.

TRUCK SERIES
Next Race: May 12, 2017
Toyota Tundra 250 at Kansas

CUP: Jamie McMurray’s tire woes hand #1 first Martinsville last-place finish since 1964

PHOTO: @KicknTheTires

Jamie McMurray picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s STP 500 at the Martinsville Speedway when his #1 Cessna / Beechcraft Chevrolet was involved in a single-car crash after 105 of 500 laps.

The finish, which came in McMurray’s 516th start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since last fall at Dover, 13 races ago.

The engine failure that left McMurray last at Dover ended McMurray’s Chase in the first round for the second-straight year.  It also ended a streak of 312 races without a last-place finish, dating back to the spring Bristol race on March 16, 2008.  But the 13th-place showing in points and third-straight season without a win motivated the veteran from Joplin, Missouri, and he and teammate Kyle Larson have performed much better this season.

Following a 28th-place finish after a late crash in the Daytona 500, McMurray came into Martinsville having finished no worse than 15th in each of the following races.  His best run came last Sunday at Fontana, a 6th.  That same day, McMurray’s young teammate Kyle Larson broke through with his second career victory, ending a streak of near-misses and runner-up finishes.  With the short track approaching, Larson had the point lead and McMurray sat 6th, 81 points behind.

McMurray was one of just 38 drivers to arrive in Martinsville, the shortest field for a Cup Series race since 37 rolled off in the final race at North Wilkesboro Speedway on September 29, 1996.  The #1 car again showed speed early, running 5th in opening practice, 15th in Saturday morning’s session, and 3rd in Happy Hour.  When rain washed out Friday’s qualifying, McMurray secured the 6th starting spot on points with Larson on pole.

For the fourth time in six races this season, Rick Ware Racing’s #51 Chevrolet lined up last, this time with new sponsor Go-Parts.com partnered with driver Timmy Hill.  Joining him at the rear was Daniel Suarez, sent to a backup car during Friday’s opening practice when he backed into the outside wall.  When the green flag dropped, Suarez held last on the first lap, then passed Gray Gaulding’s #23 SunFrog.com Toyota.  Gaulding caught teammate Corey LaJoie, and he passed his #83 RMC Events Toyota on Lap 4.

Jeffrey Earnhardt came into Sunday’s race on the heels of back-to-back last-place finishes.  His #33 Chevrolet, which by Sunday carried a hood decal for the Honor And Remember Foundation, fell to last the first time on Lap 6, 11.1 seconds behind the leader.  By Lap 15, Earnhardt was hugging Timmy Hill’s rear bumper, but both the #33 and #51 had lost touch with the rest of the pack.  On Lap 21, Earnhardt was the first to be lapped by race leader Kyle Larson, but three circuits later Earnhardt caught Hill in traffic, dropping the #51 to the rear once more.  Hill lost a second lap on Lap 45, a third on Lap 67, and a fourth on Lap 98.

McMurray, meanwhile, was again battling hard for position at the front of the pack.  By Lap 106, however, his #1 was smoking heavily from the left-rear tire.  A few laps earlier, McMurray was on the outside of both Ryan Blaney and Jimmie Johnson, who both made contact and slid into McMurray’s left-rear.  In a questionable decision, the crew kept McMurray out on the track for several laps.  The gamble didn’t pay off.  On the 106th circuit, heading into Turn 3, the left-rear cut down, sending McMurray spinning into the outside wall.  The car made hard contact with the driver’s side, in particular the left-front, and had to be towed back to the garage area.  Under NASCAR’s new “Crash Clock” rules, this eliminated McMurray from competition.  On Lap 110, he took last from Hill.

A series of other crashes during the final segment filled the Bottom Five.  37th went to Daytona 500 winner Kurt Busch.  Busch’s #41 Monster Energy / Haas Automation Chevrolet was damaged in a multi-car accident on Lap 290, beat the five-minute clock, then on the restart lost a tire and slammed the wall in Turn 3.  Jeffrey Earnhardt ended up 36th, having hit the Turn 2 wall on Lap 392.  35th-place Matt DiBenedetto’s Lap 408 wreck appeared even harder than McMurray’s when his damaged #32 KeenParts.com / CorvetteParts.net Ford switched ends in Turn 3 and hit with the driver’s side.  Rounding out the group was Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who broke the radiator of his #88 Axalta Chevrolet in a Lap 419 pileup.

PHOTO: Legends Of NASCAR

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #1 in a Cup race at Martinsville since April 26, 1964, when Billy Wade did not start his Bud Moore-prepared Mercury during the Virginia 500.  Wade, the 1963 Rookie of the Year, scored all four of his Cup victories during the summer of 1964.  What’s more, the wins were in consecutive races, marking the first time a Cup driver had a four-race winning streak.  His final win on July 19, 1964 was the last race run at Watkins Glen before it rejoined the schedule in 1986.  Tragically, Wade lost his life at Daytona on January 5, 1965 in a crash during a Goodyear tire test.
*This was McMurray’s first last-place finish in a Cup race at Martinsville.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #1-Jamie McMurray / 105 laps / crash
37) #41-Kurt Busch / 295 laps / crash
36) #33-Jeffrey Earnhardt / 385 laps / crash
35) #32-Matt DiBenedetto / 401 laps / crash
34) #88-Dale Earnhardt, Jr, / 418 laps / crash

2017 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Circle Sport with The Motorsports Group (2)
2nd) BK Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, Rick Ware Racing (1)

2017 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (4)
2nd) Toyota (2)

2017 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

TRUCKS: Bryce Napier’s oil leak begins rough weekend for #1 in NASCAR

PHOTO: @RacingNapier

Bryce Napier picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Saturday’s Alpha Energy Solutions 250 at the Martinsville Speedway when his #1 ASAP Appliance Service Chevrolet was parked 3 laps into the 250-lap race.  The finish came in Napier’s fourth series start.

Napier is just 17 years old, but has already been racing for over a decade.  Born outside Santa Cruz, he’s raced quarter midgets to late models at tracks all across California, including the All American Speedway and Stockton 99 Speedway, the latter the site of two wins in 2014.  In 2015, Napier was part of the inaugural class for the Kulwicki Driver Development Program.  Named for his hero, the late 1992 Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki, Napier was one of just 15 finalists, including Ty Majeski.

Just last year, Napier made his Truck Series debut at Martinsville.  Driving for Jennifer Jo Cobb in the #1 Lily Trucking Chevrolet, he finished a career-best 23rd, then finished inside the Top 30 in two more starts at Bristol and Phoenix, both while driving for Jay Robinson’s Premium Motorsports.  Saturday’s return to Martinsville would be Napier’s first attempt of the 2017 season.  Sponsorship from ASAP Appliance Service (based in Napier’s home town of Scotts Valley, California) was joined by a collection of others, including Veterans Motorsports Inc., Harry’s Auto Repair, Tim Rose Construction, and First Security Services.

Napier would drive for TJL Motorsports, a new team announced on February 15, 2017.  The team splintered off from MAKE Motorsports (now Beaver Motorsports), which itself was aligned with Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing last year.  The #1 team is owned by Tracy Lowe, MAKE’s Chief Operating Officer, who is operating her own team for the first time.  While driver Tim Viens missed the cut for TJL’s debut at Daytona, the #1’s rank in Owner Points was enough to lock Mike Harmon into the field at Atlanta, and would also help Napier make the show in Martinsville.

Napier and TJL weren’t on Martinsville’s preliminary entry list, which first indicated just 32 trucks would arrive to attempt that many spots.  However, by Friday, Napier was added in the #1 along with Beaver Motorsports’ #50 with Travis Kvapil, T.J. Bell in the #45 Neice Equipment / Autry Grading Chevrolet, and Brandon Brown.  Brown’s #44 Chevrolet, fielded by Brandonbilt Motorsports and Martins Racing, wasn’t originally going to enter until a successful fan-supported push during the week.  By Friday, his white truck had a large decal on the rear deck with the Twitter handles of 680 supporters.  When Richie Wauters withdrew Korbin Forrister’s #5 Toyota, this meant that 35 trucks would now compete for a spot in the field.

Napier ranked 33rd of the 34 drivers to run in Friday’s opening practice, then secured the 29th starting spot on Owner Points, having put up a lap of 89.587mph.  Bumper from the field were Austin Wayne Self, who purchased Martins Motorsports’ spot in the Martinsville field last year, owner-driver Norm Benning in his #6 Houston Roll Pipe / Diamond G Inspection Chevrolet, and Jennifer Jo Cobb’s entry, which she this week handed to Chuck Buchanan, Jr.  Buchanan, who in three previous unsuccessful attempts fielded his own Spring Drug-sponsored entry, did not complete a lap in qualifying, and will once again have to wait for his series debut.

Starting last on Saturday was Jordan Anderson, who like Brandon Brown had a fan-supported story of his own.  Just weeks after a devastating wreck at Atlanta totaled Rick Ware’s only truck, the team got the #12 Lucas Oil Chevrolet back from the chassis shop on Thursday.  In just over 24 hours, the team fashioned a front and rear clip onto the machine, brought it to Martinsville, and made the cut with a lap of 86.092mph.  By race day, Anderson was joined by Justin Haley, Travis Kvapil, Donnie Levister, and Napier, all sent to the rear for unapproved adjustments.

As it turned out, the TJL team continued to struggle with the #1 truck.  During the pace laps, Napier made an unscheduled stop, then returned to the track just in time for the green.  He held the last spot the first time by, passed Anderson for 32nd on Lap 2, but soon after noticed smoke in the cockpit.  NASCAR issued the black flag, forcing Napier to pit road.  The caution flew on Lap 4 as he entered the pits, smoke pouring from the windows.  In the pits, the crew discovered an oil leak which they couldn’t fix in time to return to the track.  Although this leak actually caused him to fall out of competition, the official results – perhaps because of the black flag – list the reason as “parked.”

Anderson exited the race 21 laps later, citing brake trouble on the rebuilt #12.  Behind him in 30th came Donnie Levister.  Like Chuck Buchanan, Jr., Levister had been entered in five races previous and was now locked-in driving D.J. Copp’s #83 Frontline Designs Chevrolet.  Brake issues eliminated Levister from the field just short of the halfway mark, 86 laps before the engine let go on Travis Kvapil’s #50 Motorsports Safety Group Chevrolet.  Rounding out the Bottom Five was John Hunter Nemechek, who lost 24 laps with recurring engine troubles on his #8 D.A.B. Constructors Chevrolet.

For more on Bryce Napier, check out his website here: http://www.brycenapierracing.com/

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the second-consecutive last-place finish for the #1 in a Truck Series race at Martinsville.  Last fall, when Jennifer Jo Cobb fielded the #1 Hurricane Master Garage Doors / Liftmaster Chevrolet, driver Josh White was eliminated in a crash after 45 laps of the Texas Roadhouse 200.
*This marked just the second time a Truck Series driver was classified last with “parked” as the official listed cause.  The other time also occurred at Martinsville.  On April 9, 2005, Casey Kingsland, making his series debut, was parked after 104 laps of the Kroger 250 after his #24 Speed Zone Energy Drink Dodge brought out three of the race’s first six cautions.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
32) #1-Bryce Napier / 3 laps / parked
31) #12-Jordan Anderson / 24 laps / brakes
30) #83-Donnie Levister / 100 laps / brakes
29) #50-Travis Kvapil / 186 laps / engine
28) #8-John Hunter Nemechek / 226 laps / running

2017 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Copp Motorsports, MDM Motorsports, TJL Motorsports (1)

2017 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (3)

2017 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP