TRUCKS: Norm Benning ties Johnny Chapman for most last-place finishes in Truck Series history

PHOTO: FS1

Norm Benning picked up the 14th last-place finish of his NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series career in Saturday’s Corrigan Oil 200 at the Michigan International Speedway when his #6 H&H Transport Chevrolet fell out with engine issues without competing any of the 105 laps.

The finish, which came in Benning’s 211th series start, was his second of the season and first since Dover, 10 races ago. In the Truck Series last-place rankings, it was the 13th for the #6, the 129th from engine trouble, and the 378th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 60th for the #6, the 1,073rd from engine trouble, and the 1,678th for Chevrolet.

The finish also tied Benning with Johnny Chapman for the most last-place finishes in Truck Series history. Chapman has held sole possession of the record since June 7, 2013, when his #38 Chevrolet, fielded by current XFINITY Series team RSS Racing, had ignition issues at Texas. On that day, Benning had just five last-place finishes in the series and none since June 10, 2011 at Texas.

Since his most recent last-place finish, the fan favorite Benning has continued to confront the same struggles faced by many small teams in the sport. He was again flagged off the track at Kansas for not meeting minimum speed, then was parked at Chicagoland after just 35 of the 150 laps. His season-best has been a 17th in the crash-marred June race in Texas, where he came home three laps down. He was closest to a lead-lap run at Pocono, where he finished 22nd, just two laps down to race winner Ross Chastain. He was again one to watch at Eldora, where he improved ten spots from his last-place run in 2018 to finish 22nd once more.

According to part-time team member Robert Taylor, Benning would run the Eldora truck at Michigan, then again on the road course in Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. A run at Bristol was unlikely due to the large entry lists common to the event. H&H Transport would remain as sponsor of his black Chevrolet.

The preliminary entry list for Michigan stood at 31 drivers for 32 spots, but the short field was averted when Jordan Anderson, whose #3 Mission Ignition Systems / Bommarito.com Chevrolet was missing for the first time this year, confirmed he was bringing his black Chevrolet to the track. The list then grew by one more when Al Niece entered the #38 Niece Equipment Chevrolet with T.J. Bell, just as he had at Pocono. Bell’s entry increased the list to 33 drivers, meaning one would fail to qualify. That was decided before qualifying ended as Daniel Sasnett, driving Jennifer Jo Cobb’s second truck, spun in Turn 1 and backed hard into the outside wall, destroying the #0 Driven2Honor.org Chevrolet. This raised concerns at the Cobb camp as, according to Chris Knight, that truck was supposed to be Cobb's primary at Bristol and Mosport.

Benning started 32nd and last when he, like Sasnett, failed to complete a qualifying lap, but secured a starting spot based on a higher rank in Owner Points. Benning would also incur a redundant tail-end penalty, likely for repairs that kept the team from taking a timed lap. He’d run just seven laps in Happy Hour after skipping the first session, and was slowest in final practice, 3.167 seconds back of the lead and a half-second off the next-slowest truck of Jennifer Jo Cobb. Benning was joined at the rear by Matt Crafton, whose ThorSport team had to change engines on his #88 Chi Chi’s / Menards Ford, then qualified 12th, and Camden Murphy, who voluntarily surrendered 25th on the grid in Joe Nemcehek’s #87 NEMCO Motorsports Chevrolet.

On the break, Benning was apparently on the track in the last spot. When the green flag dropped, Benning was shown 5.353 seconds back of the leader with 31st-place Murphy 4.021 seconds back. However, Benning never completed that first lap as his interval wasn’t updated at the end of that circuit. He would not surrender the last spot for the rest of the race. This included the improper start penalties NASCAR handed to both Tyler Ankrum and Austin Wayne Self, who only fell as far back as 30th and 31st without losing a lap. Meanwhile, Murphy climbed to 23rd in the first twelve laps before he pulled into the garage to join Benning, finishing 31st in the final running order.

Finishing 30th was Ross Chastain, who stormed to the pole and dominated Stage 1, only to be undone on pit road after Johnny Sauter and Codie Rohrbaugh made contact as Chastain left his pit stall, steering Rohrbaugh into Chastain’s right-front. Chastain returned to the track briefly, but pulled off when he struggled to maintain a competitive pace. Rounding out the Bottom Five was Cory Roper, his #04 Preferred Industrial Contractors Ford back in action for the first time in two months. Roper broke a track arm bar and backed into the wall, ending his day.

Earning a strong 9th-place finish was Ray Ciccarelli and his CMI Motorsports team. A two-time LASTCAR headliner during his time driving “start-and-park” races for Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing, Ciccarelli had been quietly putting together steady runs. Driving the former Premium Motorsports equipment under Premium’s old team number #49, Ciccarelli ran 16th in the March race at Texas and had a solid 19th-place showing at Pocono, just one lap down to the leaders. He hadn’t entered Eldora, and instead turned his attention to Michigan. The effort paid off with Ciccarelli’s first-ever top-ten finish in NASCAR national series competition.

After he was added back onto the entry list, Jordan Anderson enjoyed one of his best runs since Texas, earning stage points with a 4th-place finish in Stage 2. He was still among the leaders with just three laps to go, when he was collected in a pileup triggered by Matt Crafton’s contact with Tyler Ankrum on the restart. Anderson finished 14th.

For the second-straight week, a driver who finished last in a Truck Series race won the following round. This time, it was Austin Hill, who scored his first-ever Truck last-place finish at Eldora, then won a hotly contested race in overtime.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the fifth time the last-place finisher of the Truck Series race at Michigan failed to complete a single lap, joining Ryan McGlynn (1999), Rick Ware (2003), Chris Jones (2011), and Ryan Blaney (2013).
*This was the second last-place finish for the #6 in the Truck race at Michigan. The previous time was on August 27, 2016, when Ryan Ellis’ one-off driving Benning’s unsponsored Chevrolet ended with rear gear trouble after 1 lap of the Careers for Veterans 200.

BOTTOM FIVE
32) #6-Norm Benning / 0 laps / engine
31) #87-Camden Murphy / 11 laps / vibration
30) #45-Ross Chastain / 26 laps / crash / led 23 laps / won stage 1
29) #38-T.J. Bell / 41 laps / clutch / led 1 lap
28) #04-Cory Roper / 58 laps / crash

2019 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) NEMCO Motorsports (3)
2nd) Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing, Norm Benning Racing, Young’s Motorsports (2)
3rd) Copp Motorsports, DGR-Crosley, Halmar Friesen Racing, Hattori Racing Enterprises, Niece Motorsports, Reaume Brothers Racing, ThorSport Racing (1)

2019 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (13)
2nd) Toyota (2)
3rd) Ford (1)

2019 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

PREVIEW: Smith, Aschenbach, and the Jimmy Means #53 among those returning at Michigan and Mid-Ohio

Lawson Aschenbach's eye-catching scheme for Mid-Ohio.
PHOTO: JD Motorsports with Gary Keller, @JDMotorsports01

Saturday, August 10, 2019 (10:16 A.M.)
TRUCKS Race 16 of 23
Corrigan Oil 200 at Michigan
2018 Last-Place Finisher: Timmy Hill

ENTRY LIST
As the dust settles from Eldora and the Truck Series returns to the pavement of Michigan, there are 32 drivers entered for 32 spots, meaning all will qualify. This will also mark the series’ final round of the regular season before the Round of Eight kicks off in Bristol. UPDATE: Make that 33 for 32 with one team sent home after qualifying.

RETURNING: #0-Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing
The Cobb team brings back the #0 truck for the sixth time in 2019 and first since a 29th-place finish at Pocono. Daniel Sasnett, who ran that Pocono race, is again the listed driver.

DRIVER CHANGE: #3-Jordan Anderson Racing
Jordan Anderson’s owner-driver operation wasn’t on the preliminary entry list, one week after Carson Hocevar drove in his place for a 25th-place finish, and helping Al Niece field the #38 Chevrolet for 15th-place finisher Mark Smith. Anderson did indicate by Tuesday that he will be in Saturday’s race.

DRIVER CHANGE: #8-NEMCO Motorsports
Defending LASTCAR Truck Series Champion Joe Nemechek returns to his #8 Chevrolet with sponsorship from Business Machines Company. He takes the place of Colt Gilliam, who rebounded from significant front end damage to finish 27th in Eldora.

RETURNING: #9-CR7 Motorsports
Codie Rohrbaugh rejoins the Truck Series circuit for his fifth start of 2019 and first since Kentucky, where he ran a season-best 14th. It will be Rohrbaugh’s first series start at Michigan.

RETURNING: #14-Trey Hutchins Racing
When we last saw Trey Hutchins III run his own truck, it was at Texas in June, where he collided with Spencer Boyd in a wreck down the backstretch. After running for NEMCO at Iowa, Hutchins is back in his own equipment this week.

RETURNING: #15-DGR-Crosley
Anthony Alfredo returns along with David Gilliland’s #15 team. Alfredo last ran at Pocono, where he collided with last-place finisher Stewart Friesen on the first lap of the race and ended up 31st. It will be Alfredo’s first Michigan start.

DRIVER CHANGE: #20-Young’s Motorsports
Last week in Eldora, Landon Huffman drove in place of an injured Spencer Boyd, and finished 23rd in the #20 Chevrolet. Reports indicate Boyd will be returning to the driver’s seat of the #20 this week, though the preliminary entry list had no driver listed. That news was confirmed by Wednesday as Boyd will not only return to the #20 on the Truck Series side, but will make his Cup debut with Rick Ware Racing (see below).

MISSING: #32-Reaume Brothers Racing
DRIVER CHANGE: #33-Reaume Brothers Racing
DRIVER CHANGE: #34-Reaume Brothers Racing
The Reaume Brothers again scale back from three trucks to two, leaving home the #32 run to a 30th-place finish by Devin Dodson in Eldora. As the team continues to rebuild the rear clip and clean off the dirt from the Dodson machine, they also look to build on their first top-five finish, earned by Mike Marlar with a strong 4th. Josh Reaume returns in Marlar’s place in the #33, and Jesse Iwuji runs the #34 in place of Mason Massey, 23rd in Eldora.

MISSING: #38-Niece Motorsports
The aforementioned Al Niece #38 team is not entered, one week after the partnership with Jordan Anderson yielded a 15th-place finish for newcomer Mark Smith. UPDATE: As at Pocono, the team has now been added to the entry list with T.J. Bell returning as driver.

DRIVER CHANGE: #44-Niece Motorsports
Bayley Currey rejoins the Al Niece #44 team with whom he qualified a strong 11th at Pocono, his most recent start. He takes the place of Jeffrey Abbey, who ran 20th at Eldora.

RETURNING: #49-CMI Motorsports
Ray Ciccarelli is still another driver returning after an off-week. The owner-driver ran 19th his last time out in Pocono, just three spots shy of his season-best 16th at Texas.

DRIVER CHANGE: #54-DGR-Crosley
Kyle Strickler put the #54 through its paces at Eldora, qualifying a strong 5th before leaving with an 18th-place finish. Natalie Decker resumes her rookie campaign this week, still looking to turn around a year where she’s crashed out of six of the first fifteen races.

TEAM UPDATE: #56-Hill Motorsports
While not entered this week, the Hill brothers tweeted on Wednesday that their #56 Chevrolet will return to action next week in Bristol with Timmy Hill driving.

MISSING: #74-Lou Goss Racing
The Lou Goss team is not making the trip to Michigan following a stout 17th-place performance – on the lead lap – by Darwin Peters, Jr.

MISSING: #80-Jacob Wallace Racing
Justin Shipley isn’t entered after his 11th-place finish at Eldora.

RETURNING: #87-NEMCO Motorsports
Joe Nemechek has brought his second truck back to the track, and Camden Murphy is listed to drive. Murphy’s four previous starts in the series this year came in the NEMCO #8 with a best of 23rd at Chicagoland where he led two laps.

RETURNING: #04-Roper Racing
Welcome back Cory Roper, who hasn’t raced in the series since a season-best 9th-place finish at Texas in June. Roper will certainly be one to watch in his first-ever series start at Michigan.

MISSING: #08-Kart Idaho Racing
Not among the Michigan entrants is the new Kart Idaho team, which Tim Ward drove to a 16th-place finish at Eldora.

CUP INVADERS: None.

Saturday, August 10, 2019 (12:20 P.M.)
XFINITY Race 21 of 33
B&L Transport 170 at Mid-Ohio
2018 Last-Place Finisher: Dylan Murcott

ENTRY LIST
There are 38 drivers entered for as many spots in Mid-Ohio, meaning no drivers will miss the race.

DRIVER CHANGE: #4-JD Motorsports
Sports car racer Lawson Aschenbach rejoins the NASCAR XFINITY Series for the first time since last fall on the Roval, where he finished 21st. It will be the third different road course Aschenbach has run in the series, along with a career-best 18th-place showing at Road America in 2015. Taking over for Ross Chastain, who was eliminated in a Turn 5 Watkins Glen crash following a battle with Justin Allgaier, Aschenbach has a dizzying black-and-white paint scheme for his sponsor, the GoPro Motorplex.

TEAM UPDATE: #10-Kaulig Racing
A.J. Allmendinger comes to Mid-Ohio or his third XFINITY Series start. He looks to avoid his third consecutive disqualification after finishes of 3rd at Daytona and a runner-up at Watkins Glen.

DRIVER SWAP: #5-B.J. McLeod Motorsports
DRIVER SWAP: #78-B.J. McLeod Motorsports
Scott Heckert and Vinnie Miller trade rides this week with Miller going to the #5 and Heckert to the #78. Matt Mills, who ran the #5 up until last week at The Glen, is again not entered. Miller nearly finished last at Watkins Glen before A.J. Allmendinger’s disqualification while Heckert came home 13th.

DRIVER CHANGE: #8-JR Motorsports
Regan Smith will make his first XFINITY Series start since this same race in 2017, when he finished 28th for Joe Gibbs Racing. His ride this time is the Fire Alarm Services Chevrolet from the JR Motorsports camp, taking the place of last week’s 10th-place finisher Ryan Preece. Smith is the 2015 winner of this race, following a last-lap pass on Alex Tagliani.

MISSING: #12-Penske Racing
Ryan Blaney and the second Penske Racing Ford are not entered this week, following a 4th-place finish by Blaney at The Glen.

DRIVER CHANGE: #18-Joe Gibbs Racing
After a perplexing five weeks following XCI Racing's withdrawal from the Fourth of July race at Daytona, sponsor iK9 and driver Jeffrey Earnhardt have parted ways. The announcement on Wednesday torpedoed what would have been Earnhardt's first XFINITY start at Mid-Ohio, when he finished 28th for JD Motorsports. Instead, taking Kyle Busch's place from Watkins Glen will be IndyCar Series driver Jack Hawksworth, who will make his NASCAR debut.

NEW SPONSOR: #52-Jimmy Means Racing
David Starr will drive a black car with yellow numbers this week, carrying new sponsorship from RadAir Complete Car Care. Starr's best of four Mid-Ohio starts came two years ago, when he steered B.J. McLeod's #99 to a 17th-place finish on the lead lap.

RETURNING: #53-Jimmy Means Racing
In the past, Jimmy Means has entered a second car under a variety of numbers, most recently the #79 which we last saw at Kentucky in 2018 driven by Josh Reaume. This time, David Starr’s primary #52 will be joined by the #53, a number Means once ran as a Cup owner, but never in XFINITY. The last recorded time Means attempted to qualify that number was for the 1994 Hooters 500 at Atlanta, where Brad Teague DNQ’d. It last raced in the 1993 Southern 500 at Darlington, where Means himself pulled off the track after 11 laps. Means was edged for last place that day by Bob Schacht, the last Cup driver to be classified last due to a “did not start.” The car number hasn’t made an XFINITY Series race since August 17, 2013, when Andrew Ranger made his 17th and most recent series start, finishing 16th. No driver was yet listed for the car on the preliminary entry list. UPDATE: By Thursday, Max Tullman was announced to drive.

RETURNING: #68-Brandonbilt Motorsports
DRIVER CHANGE: #86-Brandonbilt Motorsports
News came on Tuesday that, following his debut in Iowa, Will Rodgers will run another two races for Brandonbilt Motorsports, starting this Saturday in Mid-Ohio. Rodgers will drive the primary #86 Chevrolet with sponsorship from Kelly Benefit Strategies. Brandon Brown, who ran 18th at The Glen, moves over to the returning second car, #68.

DRIVER CHANGE: #74-Mike Harmon Racing
Dan Corcoran did a respectable job as the last-minute driver named to run Mike Harmon’s #74 Chevrolet at Watkins Glen. Following mechanical issues that caused them to miss the start, Corcoran climbed his way to a 25th-place finish. As of this writing, no driver is again listed to run the #74 this week. UPDATE: Aaron Quine will be the second straight driver eyeing his NASCAR debut in Harmon's equipment this Saturday.

DRIVER CHANGE: #90-DGM Racing
Another road course specialist was revealed by Thursday with former American LeMans Series and Pirelli World Challenge driver Chris Dyson running the Gosselin car with sponsorship from the family's Thetford Corporation. It will be Dyson's NASCAR debut. Alex Labbe had originally been entered in the car.

DRIVER CHANGE: #99-B.J. McLeod Motorsports
Ohio native Patrick Gallagher will make his NASCAR debut this week, taking the place of Cody Ware, who ran 21st at Watkins Glen. Gallagher has been racing sports cars in both SCCA and IMSA competition since his teens, and competed in an Acura Sports Car Challenge race at the Mid-Ohio course back in May.

CUP INVADERS: None.

Sunday, August 11, 2019
CUP Race 23 of 36
Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan
2018 Last-Place Finisher: Corey LaJoie

ENTRY LIST
There are 38 drivers entered for Sunday’s return of the Cup Series to Michigan, one more entry than last week but still the fifth short field in a row and 18th in 23 races.

SPONSOR UPDATE: #13-Germain Racing
Ty Dillon will sport a new look this week as K&L Ready Mix sponsors his #13 Chevrolet.

RETURNING: #27-Premium Motorsports
Quin Houff looks to make his 14th Cup start of the season, and his first ever in Premium’s #27 Chevrolet, a car we last saw at Pocono where Reed Sorenson ran 32nd. At Michigan in June, Houff ran 32nd in the Spire Motorsports #77 Chevrolet.

DRIVER CHANGE: #51-Rick Ware Racing
B.J. McLeod takes over for Cody Ware, who endured through transmission issues to finish 33rd at Watkins Glen. McLeod finished 33rd with the team his last time out in Pocono.

DRIVER CHANGE: #52-Rick Ware Racing
Austin Theriault’s debut in Loudon has become a part-time campaign in 2019 as he is again listed to drive the #52 Ford for a third time in the last four races. Theriault takes over for Josh Bilicki, 32nd at Watkins Glen. Bilicki will instead continue to run RSS Racing’s #93 Chevrolet in the XFINITY race at Mid-Ohio.

RETURNING: #53-Rick Ware Racing
Rick Ware has also entered his “open” third team, last seen at Pocono two weeks ago where Bilicki finished 35th after the driveshaft failed late in the race. No driver was listed, however, and Bilicki was set to run XFINITY in Mid-Ohio. The announcement then came Wednesday as Spencer Boyd will return from injury to make his Cup Series debut, running double-duty with the Truck Series.

DRIVER CHANGE: #77-Spire Motorsports
Garrett Smithley returns to the Cup Series for the first time since June’s race at Michigan, where he ran a season-best 30th in Premium Motorsports’ #15 Chevrolet. This time around, he takes the place of Watkins Glen last-placer Reed Sorenson in the #77 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports. Victory Lane Quick Oil Change, Smithley’s sponsor for many recent Michigan races, will sponsor the effort.

MISSING: #96-Gaunt Brothers Racing
Parker Kligerman is not entered along with the Gaunt Brothers team following their 26th-place finish at Watkins Glen.

LASTCAR STAT OF THE WEEK
Today in LASTCAR history (August 8, 1998): Wayne Anderson picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career in the Stevens Beil Genuine Car Parts 200 at Flemington when his #84 Porter-Cable Power Tools Ford was collected in a wreck with Barry Bodine and Jack Sprague after 8 laps. Years later on September 18, 2005, Anderson would make his lone Cup Series start at Loudon, where he would finish last in the #75 Rinaldi Air Conditioning Dodge following engine trouble after 16 laps.

CUP: Speeding penalties and power steering issues make Reed Sorenson’s day a long one in Watkins Glen

Sorenson returns from the garage area after repairs.
PHOTO: Mike Raphael, @Mike_motorsport

Reed Sorenson picked up the 17th last-place finish of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Go Bowling at the Glen at Watkins Glen International when his unsponsored #77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet fell out with steering issues after 65 of 90 laps.

The finish, which came in Sorenson’s 317th series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup race since April 21, 2018 at Talladega, 49 races ago. In the Cup Series last-place rankings, it was the 22nd for steering issues, the 33rd for the #77, and the 769th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 27th for steering issues, the 46th for the #77, and the 1,677th for Chevrolet.

This year, Sorenson has continued to drive for Premium Motorsports, both under Jay Robinson’s effort and their partners, the #77 of Spire Motorsports. His first start of the year came in Las Vegas with Spire, finishing 36th in a car sponsored by The Mirage hotel and resort. He then began a partial season in Premium’s #27 Chevrolet, an “open” car entered at a variety of tracks, including Talladega, Kansas, Sonoma, and Loudon. His best run of the year came at Talladega, where he finished on the lead lap in 18th.

Watkins Glen would see Sorenson drive the #77 for the first time since Vegas, and the #27 not entered as it had during a 35th-place showing in Sonoma. While Justin Haley scored the team an upset victory in the rain-shortened Coke Zero Sugar 400 just last month, the team has continued to struggle for sponsorship, and has run no better than 31st since the day with Quin Houff driving. The team carried no primary sponsorship for The Glen and had very few contingency decals.

The car also struggled for speed. Sorenson didn’t participate in either practice session, and instead Justin Haley shook the car down for three laps in Happy Hour, turning in the slowest laps of the 34 who participated. When Sorenson took over the controls again for qualifying, he was again the slowest, turning in a lap of just 115.640mph (1 minute, 16.271 seconds), nearly seven seconds off the pole and nearly three off 36th-place qualifier Josh Bilicki in Rick Ware Racing’s #52 Token 4 Token Chevrolet.

On race day, Sorenson rolled off in last and was to be joined by Ryan Blaney, whose 19th-place #12 PPG Ford was sent to the rear for unapproved adjustments. Blaney never started in the back, however, as the first pace lap saw 34th-place Landon Cassill make an unscheduled stop in his #00 StarCom Fiber Chevrolet. Cassill rejoined the tail end of the field, and would start next to Sorenson when the green flag dropped.

When the green flag dropped, Sorenson and Cassill raced side-by-side into Turn 1 with Cassill getting the drive off. From there, Sorenson gradually lost touch with Cassill and the rest of the pack, dropping 20 seconds off the lead on Lap 3. On Lap 9, he was so far back that he was negotiating the Inner Loop while race leader Chase Elliott was at the stripe. On Lap 18, Elliott caught Sorenson entering the Inner Loop and put him a lap down. Sorenson took the wave-around at the end of Stage 1, but he didn’t pass the pace car until the backstretch, leaving him 21.1 seconds back of the lead on the restart.

On Lap 27, Parker Kligerman made an unscheduled stop for fresh tires after his #96 TRD 40th Anniversary Toyota spun off the nose of Daniel Suarez in the Inner loop. Sorenson passed Kligerman while he was on pit road, but Kligerman’s fresh tires allowed him to pass him back by Lap 30.

Sorenson running by himself late in Sunday's race.
PHOTO: Rob Fini, @roadrunnerdrumr

Back in last place, Sorenson was then told that, during his own green-flag stop, he’d sped down pit road and would have to serve a pass-through. The driver was surprised, saying he hadn’t triggered a red light during the stop. Sorenson served his penalty on Lap 31, but was caught speeding again in Sections 13 and 14, forcing him to come in a gain on Lap 33. But this time, he drove through too many pit stalls, incurring a third straight penalty. The moment Sorenson was told this, his power steering pump failed exiting the Inner Loop, blowing a plume of white smoke from the left-front wheel. Instead of serving the penalty, Sorenson pulled straight to the garage. “Did it all at once,” said the driver. “It didn’t leak out – it blew up.”

On Lap 44, the Spire crew had fixed the power steering issue and re-filled the fluid. Sorenson fired the engine and returned to the track, stopping for a moment at the garage exit before he hit pit road. He was now 14 laps down, and he and the other 36 starters were still running.

As the race wore on, a few other drivers found trouble. On Lap 53, Daniel Hemric pulled the #8 Caterpillar Chevrolet down pit road for extensive repairs on the rear of his car from backing into the Inner Loop fence. Hemric just managed to clear the Crash Clock, at one point needing to gain eight-tenths to reach minimum speed, but lost four laps in the process, dropping him to 36th. Worse still, the #8 was still smoking, and it took more work by the Childress crew to fix the problem.

Sorenson, meanwhile, remained 14 laps down and on the track in the final laps. If he was still running with 10 laps to go, he would secure last place no matter what anyone else did. But with just 12 laps to go, another challenger entered the battle. The #47 Kroger Chevrolet of rookie Ryan Preece pulled into the garage area around Lap 74. The crew pulled the rear tires off and examined the underside of the car with a flash light. Mike Raphael indicated this was due to a broken axle, which happened too late for the team to return to the track. This put Preece in position for his first Cup Series last-place finish. If Sorenson stayed on the track without losing another lap, he would pass Preece for 36th with just two laps to go.

But by Lap 82, with just eight laps to go, Sorenson had pulled into the garage a second time, and this time was done for the day. The car was shown “unavailable” on RaceView soon after. Sorenson had halved his deficit to Preece, closing to within seven laps, but would advance no further. Preece took home 36th followed by Hemric in 35th.

Finishing 34th was Corey LaJoie, who donated a month of his salary to promote his favorite charity, Samaritan’s Feet. More than $100,000 was raised and hundreds of names were hand-written onto his black #32 Ford. But the car dropped a cylinder in the late stages, and ultimately pulled off the track with engine trouble.

Rounding out the Bottom Five was Cody Ware, back in a Cup Series car for the first time since Sonoma. His new-look #51 Jacob Companies Chevrolet encountered transmission issues, according to the team, but managed to make it to the finish without third gear.

Turning heads again on Sunday was Matt DiBenedetto, who has now finished in the Top 10 in every other race since his career-best 4th-place showing at Sonoma. This time, he drove the #95 Procore Toyota to a 6th-place run, moving both driver and team ever closer to a possible first victory.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for car #77 in a Cup Series race at Watkins Glen.
*This was also the first time a Cup Series last-place finisher fell out at Watkins Glen due to steering issues. The reason out was most recently the cause of a last-place finish on February 25, 2018, when Gray Gaulding’s #23 EarthWater Toyota fell out after 99 laps of the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
37) #77-Reed Sorenson / 65 laps / steering
36) #47-Ryan Preece / 72 laps / rear gear
35) #8-Daniel Hemric / 84 laps / running
34) #32-Corey LaJoie / 85 laps / engine
33) #51-Cody Ware / 89 laps / running

2019 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Rick Ware Racing (6)
2nd) Front Row Motorsports, Stewart-Haas Racing (3)
3rd) Chip Ganassi Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Spire Motorsports (2)
4th) Germain Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Motorsports Business Management (1)

2019 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (13)
2nd) Ford (7)
3rd) Toyota (2)

2019 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

XFINITY: A.J. Allmendinger, Kaulig Racing last by disqualification for the second time in a month

PHOTO: New Covenant Motorsports, @newcovenantms

A.J. Allmendinger picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Zippo 200 at the Glen at Watkins Glen International when his #10 Death Wish Coffee Chevrolet finished 2nd, completing all 82 laps, but was disqualified for illegal rear height.

The finish, which came in Allmendinger’s 13th series start, was his second of the season and first since Daytona, four races ago, where he was also disqualified. In the XFINITY Series last-place rankings, this was the 8th by disqualification, the 72nd for the #10, and the 531st for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, this was the 31st from disqualification, the 125th for the #10, and the 1,676th for Chevrolet.

Vinnie Miller picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen International when his #78 Pit Viper Chevrolet failed to complete any of the 82 laps due to an ignition issue.

The finish, which came in Miller’s 54th series start, was his first since last November’s season finale at Homestead, 20 races ago. In the XFINITY Series last-place rankings, it was the 6th for the #78, the 42nd from ignition troubles, and the 531st for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 34th for the #78, the 111th from ignition trouble, and the 1,676th for Chevrolet.

When we last saw Allmendinger drive an XFINITY Series car, he was one of a record three entries fielded by Matthew Kaulig in the July race at Daytona. The trio of himself, Ross Chastain, and Justin Haley swept the top three finishing positions – until 3rd-place Allmendinger was disqualified in post-race inspection. He would rejoin the team at Watkins Glen, again running the #10 Chevrolet, but this time with sponsorship from Death Wish Coffee, Daniel Hemric’s sponsor in this race two years ago, and again with Ty Dillon in the Cup race at Dover in 2016. Allmendinger looked to improve on a runner-up finish in this race last year, when he was driving for GMS Racing. The Kaulig team was also eager for a return to victory lane following the passing of Haley's crew chief Nick Harrison just two weeks ago in Loudon.

Starting 37th and last on the grid was Vinnie Miller in the #78 Pit Viper Sunglasses Chevrolet. Miller started the weekend 33rd of 34 drivers in opening practice, outpacing J.J. Yeley’s apparently canceled lap turned at just 25.232mph (5 minutes, 49.558 seconds), then didn’t turn a lap in Happy Hour. Miller hoped to turn things around at Watkins Glen after a hard crash in this race last year, when he nosed hard into the Turn 1 tire barriers. But trouble found him once again, this time in qualifying. Heading into the Esses, Miller’s car erupted in smoke from a ruptured oil cooler, then nosed hard into the outside wall.

Vinnie Miller's #78 with a JR Motorsports nose, before the race.
PHOTO: Spencer Gogol, @SpencerGogol

While still guaranteed a starting spot due to a short entry list of 37 drivers, Miller would have to start last as the only driver to not complete a timed lap. According to Spencer Gogol, the team acquired a nose from Justin Allgaier’s JR Motorsports entry. Both Miller and Matt Mills, serving as spotter while Scott Heckert drove his #5, peeled off the corn stickers along the base of the front valence, but the nose would remain the same bright red as Allgaier’s car for the race. Matt Toasty caught video of the #78 with its new nose re-fired in the garage, though still spewing white smoke from the engine.

Photos from Mike Raphael showed both Miller and 35th-place starter Chad Finchum, driving a new yellow-and-blue paint scheme on Motorsports Business Management’s #13 Toyota, needed a push down pit road after the command to start engines. While Finchum’s car fired, Miller’s apparently did not, and he would miss the start of the race. Just before the green, Miller was joined in the garage by the Mike Harmon-owned #74 Chevrolet, shown 24.624 seconds back of the lead as the race started. Harmon was not driving the car, and had not named a driver until late in the week, when Canadian racer Dan Corcoran was selected to make his first NASCAR start.

Miller getting a push after the command to fire engines.
PHOTO: Mike Raphael, @Mike_motorsport

For a moment, it appeared that Saturday would mark the first time since February 17, 1990 that the bottom two finishers were classified as a “did not start” (DNS). That day, Morgan Shepherd was classified last after he wrecked his car in practice, becoming the first DNS in series history. Next-to-last-place finisher Kirk Bryant was also listed as a DNS for reasons unknown.

That soon changed, as on Lap 4, the Harmon crew was testing the radio while working to get Corcoran back on the track. The engine fired on Lap 7, just as B.J. McLeod pulled the #15 JD Motorsports Chevrolet into the garage, saying the brake pedal was going to the floor. McLeod was immediately joined by J.J. Yeley in RSS Racing’s #38 Chevrolet. McLeod eventually returned after checking the rotors and bleeding the brakes, and joined Corcoran in climbing out of the Bottom Five. Yeley did not return to action, and was joined soon by Joey Gase, whose #35 Toyota stalled exiting Turn 1, drawing the caution.

By the time Finchum joined Gase in the garage, the caution fell for Ross Chastain, whose #4 Buckle Up New York Chevrolet clobbered the tire barrier in Turn 5. Chastain had been bumped by Justin Allgaier, who Chastain turned in the same spot laps earlier. This put Chastain behind Finchum in the final running order.

Out on the track, A.J. Allmendinger led 24 laps, including a victory in Stage 2. With seven to go, he was holding onto a large lead, thanks in part to an incredible save by Christopher Bell, who spun his #20 Rheem Toyota in the Esses in front of the entire field, but managed to keep going. This same incident, however, breathed new life into Austin Cindric, whose #22 MoneyLion Ford jumped to 2nd place on fresh tires. Cindric chased down Allmendinger and the two traded shoves into the braking zones before Cindric took the lead for good with two laps to go. Allmendinger finished a close second, and I deleted this original closing paragraph from this article:

Taking the checkers on Saturday was A.J. Allmendinger, who bounced back from a disqualification that classified him last in the July race at Daytona to score a victory at the scene of his lone Cup triumph in 2014.

It also appeared that Vinnie Miller had scored the second-straight last-place run at Watkins Glen for B.J. McLeod’s #78 team, a car driven last year by Tommy Joe Martins (who on Saturday made his first race for Motorsports Business Management). It was also going to be the fifth time the last-place finisher of the XFINITY race at Watkins Glen failed to complete a single lap, joining Elton Sawyer (1992), Brian Weber (2001), Chris Cook (2008), and Mike Wallace (2013).

But after post-race inspection, however, Allmendinger was again a story – his #10 had been disqualified for illegal rear end height. It was Allmendinger’s second-straight disqualification in as many starts, and dropped him to last place. This also bumped Chad Finchum out of the Bottom Five, but still handed Miller his first Bottom Five of 2019.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Allmendinger is the first driver to be disqualified from two NASCAR national touring races in the same season since David Pearson, who during the 1968 Cup Series campaign was classified last at the (Birmingham) Fairgrounds Raceway on June 8, then again at the Beltsville (Maryland) Speedway on September 13.
*This was also the first time the #10 was classified last in an XFINITY Series race at Watkins Glen.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
37) #10-A.J. Allmendinger / 82 laps / disqualified / led 24 laps / won stage 2
36) #78-Vinnie Miller / 0 laps / ignition
35) #38-J.J. Yeley / 6 laps / overheating
34) #35-Joey Gase / 9 laps / transmission
33) #4-Ross Chastain / 19 laps / crash

2019 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Motorsports Business Management (6)
2nd) RSS Racing (5)
3rd) DGM Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, Kaulig Racing (2)
4th) B.J. McLeod Motorsports, JD Motorsports, Rick Ware Racing (1)

2019 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (12)
2nd) Toyota (8)

2019 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

TRUCKS: Austin Hill handed first career last-place finish after Eldora “yard sale”

PHOTO: @Hattori_Racing

Austin Hill picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series career in Thursday’s Eldora Dirt Derby at the Eldora Speedway when his #16 United Rentals Toyota fell out due to crash damage after he completed 79 of the night’s 150 laps.

The finish came in Hill’s 66th series start. In the Truck Series last-place rankings, it was the 5th for the #16, the 34th for Toyota, and the 153rd from a crash. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 35th for the #16, the 319th for Toyota, and the 1,189th from a crash.

Hill has been active in the Truck Series since late 2014, when he ran 26th in his series debut at Martinsville for Ricky Benton Racing. Two years later, his family fielded a truck of its own, yielding what was then a career-best 12th-place finish in Atlanta, just his seventh series start. The team was then absorbed into Young’s Motorsports, and by 2018 became a full-time effort. After years of running with limited sponsorship, United Rentals signed on for the first part of the season. He finished 9th at Martinsville, 8th in Mosport, then a first top-five finish that November in Texas.

Hill’s solid 2018 season earned him a new ride with Hattori Racing Enterprises, the defending Truck Series Champions. Brett Moffitt had carried the #16 Toyota team to an improbable title that year, capitalizing on six wins, many of which decided in the final laps. Hill and his United Rentals sponsorship was brought on in place of Moffitt, who was bumped over to GMS Racing’s #24 team. At Daytona, their first race together, Hill scored his first career Truck Series victory, outlasting the field in a crash-marred 111-lap endurance race that locked the team into their second Playoffs in a row.

Since Daytona, Hill has earned three poles and two more top-five finishes, but has struggled to find consistency. Heading into Eldora, he’d been bitten by two straight early-race mechanical issues – a blown engine at Kentucky that placed him 31st, and a burned clutch at Pocono that left him 30th. Another mechanical issue during qualifying prevented Hill from putting Hattori’s team into the XFINITY race at Daytona earlier that month. Hill was also the victim of an on-track scuffle with Johnny Sauter at Iowa. When Hill bumped Sauter into a spin in the final laps, Sauter retaliated by wrecking the #16, leading NASCAR to park Sauter. Hill managed to finish just 12th that day, the last truck on the lead lap.

While the HRE team has historically run some very colorful paint schemes in the past, Hill’s #16 at Eldora was one of many plain white-painted machines in the field. The truck ran 19th in opening practice and 14th in Happy Hour. With no single-truck qualifying for this first time in this race’s history, the Heat Races would be set by combining these practice times. This put Hill 4th on the grid for Heat Race 4. Hill maintained that 4th position in the 10-lap heat, won by Thursday’s eventual race winner Stewart Friesen, thus avoiding the Last Chance Qualifier. Hill would line up 19th for the 150-lap main event.

Thursday also marked the first time the Dirt Derby had exactly 32 trucks for as many spots, meaning no teams were sent home after the Last Chance Qualifier. The LCQ went to Tyler Ankrum, while Norm Benning edged Mason Massey for the runner-up spot, securing them 26th and 27th on the grid. While positions 28 through 32 were to be set based on Owner Points, the 32nd spot ended up with Austin Wayne Self, who was the only driver to fail to finish any of the Heats. Self’s #22 Go Texan / AM Technical Solutions Chevrolet struggled in Heat Race 1, then spun out twice in the LCQ with the second spin costing him a lap to Ankrum. He pulled behind the wall on Lap 8, and was shown out of his truck with the steering wheel on the roof.

When the green flag fell for the main event, Self made quick work of 31st-place starter Devin Dodson, who was also sent to the LCQ after he spun out in Heat Race 3. Dodson’s white #32 Chevrolet, one of three entries from Reaume Brothers Racing, was 5.392 seconds back of the leader at the start, then 8.146 seconds back at the end of Lap 1. Two circuits later, he passed another driver making his series debut – former TJL Racing crew chief Darwin Peters, Jr. Peters was tabbed to drive the #74 J.R. Peters Roadside Auto Chevrolet fielded by Lou Goss, the same Lou Goss who acquired Mike Harmon’s truck and ran it briefly in Gateway. Peters then caught and re-passed Dodson on Lap 8, at which point the #32 was shown two laps down, likely due to an unscheduled pit stop.

On Lap 29, Dodson passed another driver who was struggling early. Jake Griffin finished 4th in the 2016 race at Eldora for Red Horse Racing, and was back at the track driving for Mike Affarano, the last-place finisher in 2014. Griffin gave the #03 ClayneCrawfordFoundation.org Chevrolet a strong run in Heat Race 3, challenging Todd Gilliland’s Kyle Busch Motorsports entry for 2nd before a late-race caution dropped him back to 4th. While trying to pick his way through traffic, Griffin cut down a right-front tire and spun, forcing him to limp onto pit road. He lost at least two laps in the process, which eventually dropped him beneath Dodson in the rankings. Griffin did manage to re-pass Dodson with four to go in Stage 1, dropping the #32 back to last place.

The next part of the race saw several big teams suddenly struggle. First was Brett Moffitt, whose #24 Arlon Graphics Chevrolet came in for an extended stop due to an overheating issue. As the team hooked up the cool-down machine, the #24 lost two laps, dropping him down to 30th. He returned to action by Lap 63, when a large pileup unfolded in Turn 1. Heading into the corner, Christian Eckes spun his #51 Mobil 1 Toyota and slid into the outside groove. This trapped a long line of traffic that had already committed to the high lane, triggering a multi-truck accident. It was this accident that brought Hill into last-place contention. Caught in the middle of the pack, Hill suffered extensive damage to the right-front corner of his Toyota, forcing an extended stay on pit road. While Griffin retook last place from Dodson on Lap 65, it was Hill who took it from Griffin on Lap 74.

Immediately after this came Harrison Burton, in still another Kyle Busch Motorsports truck with struggles of its own. Burton’s #18 Safelite Auto Glass Toyota came down pit road, and the crew looked under the hood as the driver complained of a possible belt coming loose. The repairs dropped Burton to last on Lap 78. Like Hill, Burton had yet to finish last in any of his 29 Truck Series starts. By the end of Stage 2, the gap between Burton and Hill had widened to 12 laps, and it appeared that Burton would take the spot from Hill. But by Lap 96, Burton was back on the track and closing the gap on Hill, who was still off the track. The interval was between six and eight laps by then – the range due to scoring issues on the NASCAR app’s leaderboard – and on Lap 103, Burton finally dropped Hill to last place. As it turned out, Hill was the only driver to fail to finish the main event.

Burton would climb no further, taking 31st with 30th-place Dodson on the same lap as 29th-place Moffitt. Moffit and Dodson earned their first Bottom Fives of 2019. Rounding out the Bottom Five was Gus Dean, who was eight laps down in the #12 OverkillRV.com Chevrolet.

Winning the race was Stewart Friesen, who saw a streak of his own finally end with his first career victory in his 63rd series start. The victory, where he led 57 laps, came following six career runner-up finishes and two last-place finishes, most recently the last round at Pocono just five days prior, where he wrecked in the first turn.

Darwin Peters, Jr. finished a solid 17th in the Lou Goss #74.
PHOTO: Justin Orminski, @AM1520Justin

Mike Marlar came home 4th in his first career Truck Series start, giving Reaume Brothers Racing their first top-five finish in 51 combined starts. Marlar’s #33 Chevrolet had originally been scheduled to be sponsored by Marathon Oil, his backer in the Dirt Modified ranks, but NASCAR forced the team to remove those decals due to a conflict with Sunoco as the sport’s official fuel supplier (although Marathon backed Cup cars for Joe Auer and Petty Enterprises from 2004 through 2008, the first five years of Sunoco’s partnership). Coming on board was Smithfield Homes, Chad Finchum’s backer in the XFINITY Series, which Marlar gave a fine showing on Thursday.

Tyler Dippel returned to the site of his own Cup debut last year and equaled his career-best 8th-place finish earlier this year in Texas in the Randy Young-owned #02 Lobas Productions / Jersey Filmmaker Chevrolet. After the checkered flag fell, however, Dippel and Ben Rhodes banged fenders over their late-race battle, then nearly came to blows in the garage area.

Justin Shipley’s fourth consecutive start in the Dirt Derby with Jacob Wallace Racing yielded a career-best 11th-placce finish, his first run better than 25th. Shipley did this after a herculean effort by the team after his #80 Roger’s Ford was seriously damaged when it ran over an errant chunk of lead during practice, then pulled an incredible move to avoid a spinning Ross Chastain late in the race.

Three more dirt track specialists yielded impressive finishes in their first-ever Truck Series starts. Mark Smith finished 15th in Al Niece’s #38 Chevrolet, a team that just last week was a last-minute entry to fill the field at Pocono. Tim Ward and the new Kart Idaho team made the most of their test in Iowa, hanging onto the lead lap for much of the night and finishing 16th in the #08 Country AF Radio Toyota. Perhaps most impressive was Darwin Peters, Jr., who after losing a lap in his heat race and briefly holding last in the main earned the final Lucky Dog with 12 laps to go and kept it, finishing 17th in the former Harmon truck.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #16 in a NASCAR national touring series’ dirt track race since April 1, 1951, when Cliff Woodson’s Oldsmobile crashed out of a Cup race on the Charlotte dirt track. Interestingly, the #16 wouldn’t finish last in another Cup race until 1969, when Don Schissler trailed the inaugural event at Talladega.
*Hill’s was the first Toyota to finish last in the Eldora Dirt Derby.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
32) #16-Austin Hill / 79 laps / crash
31) #18-Harrison Burton / 127 laps / running
30) #32-Devin Dodson / 141 laps / running
29) #24-Brett Moffitt / 141 laps / running
28) #12-Gus Dean / 142 laps / running

2019 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) NEMCO Motorsports (3)
2nd) Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing, Young’s Motorsports (2)
3rd) Copp Motorsports, DGR-Crosley, Halmar Friesen Racing, Hattori Racing Enterprises, Niece Motorsports, Norm Benning Racing, Reaume Brothers Racing, ThorSport Racing (1)

2019 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (12)
2nd) Toyota (2)
3rd) Ford (1)

2019 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP