CUP: Though PRISM’s #66 Loses Title Defense, Bliss Scores Final 43rd of 2010

Mike Bliss picked up the 6th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s Ford 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway when his unsponsored #66 PRISM Motorsports Toyota fell out with electrical problems after completing 10 of the race’s 267 laps.

With still-unconfirmed rumors abound that the Phil Parsons-owned team - and defending LASTCAR Sprint Cup Owner’s Champions - would be folding up in the offseason, PRISM did not bring the #55 to the track for the second time in three races. Despite the struggles the #66 team in particular has faced in qualifying this year, Bliss put the car solidly in the 30th spot at a speed of 174.831 mph, besting six “go-or-go-homers.” LASTCAR Champion Joe Nemechek would start next to him on the inside of Row 15.

On Friday, second-ranked Michael McDowell’s #46 Whitney Motorsports entry failed to qualify for the fourth time in the last five races despite once again carrying sufficient sponsorship to run the whole race. Patrick Carpentier and the Latitude 43 Motorsports team also missed the show, and the former Roush-Fenway team ends its first season without recording a single last-place finish.

On race day, Bliss went behind the wall during the opening green flag run, followed by J.J. Yeley after Tommy Baldwin’s plain white Chevrolet stayed out to lead during the Lap 19 caution for David Reutimann’s tire failure. Although Joe Nemechek had returning sponsorship from England’s Stove Works, non-profit organization B.R.A.K.E.S., and the EAA Young Eagles youth aviation program, his #87 Toyota still went behind the wall after 29 laps. Landon Cassill’s exit in the partially-sponsored Empire Steel Buildings #64 made it four retirees in the first 35 laps.

Toyota leaves this 2010 Cup season with 28 of the year’s 36 last-place finishes. The top four teams in the Owner’s Championship rankings scored 21 of them.

Although NEMCO’s #87 has claimed the Owner’s Championship with 7 last-place finishes in 2010, not including Jeff Fuller’s 43rd-place finishes in the NEMCO #97 at Talladega and the Gatorade Duels, PRISM’s two teams earned a combined 10 last-place finishes this season. Last year, defending LASTCAR Driver’s Champion Dave Blaney scored 8 last-place finishes during a full season in PRISM’s #66.

CUP STATS AND FACTS
*It was Bliss’ first last-place finish since 2009, when his #09 Miccosukee Resorts & Gaming Dodge fell out with an engine failure 11 laps into the 2009 Pepsi 500 at Fontana. It was the Bliss’ third of three last-place finishes for Phoenix Racing that season.
*The #66 had not finished last in a Cup race at Homestead since the inaugural event in 1999, the Pennzoil 400 presented by K-Mart, where Darrell Waltrip’s Big K-Mart / Route 66 Ford left the race after 85 laps with handling woes.
*A Cup driver had not finished last due to electrical woes since the Pepsi Max 400 at Fontana, six races ago, where Jason Leffler gave PRISM Motorsports what had been its most recent last-place finish.

CUP LAPS COMPLETED STATS
*Unlike those in the Nationwide and Truck Series, this year’s group of Sprint Cup last-placers includes just 5 drivers who completed less than 10 laps: Robby Gordon in the spring Atlanta race (3 laps), Max Papis in the June Michigan race (8), Dave Blaney at Daytona in July (4), Jeff Fuller at Talladega last month (2), and Brendan Gaughan last week at Phoenix (1). Setting those five aside, Cup last-placers have completed an average of 41.1 laps. Comparing all 36, Cup last-placers completed 1292 of the 10778 laps, roughly 11.99% of the season total.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #66-Mike Bliss / 10 laps / electrical
42) #36-J.J. Yeley / 25 laps / brakes / led 1 lap
41) #87-Joe Nemechek / 29 laps / transmission
40) #64-Landon Cassill / 35 laps / vibration
39) #20-Joey Logano / 166 laps / crash

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL STANDINGS
1st) Joe Nemechek (7)
2nd) Dave Blaney, Michael McDowell (5)
3rd) Max Papis (4)
4th) Aric Almirola, Jason Leffler (2)
5th) Mike Bliss, Landon Cassill, Jeff Fuller, Robby Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Brendan Gaughan, Bobby Labonte, Johnny Sauter, Reed Sorenson, Scott Speed, J.J. Yeley (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL STANDINGS
1st) #87-NEMCO Motorsports (7)
2nd) #66-PRISM Motorsports (6)
3rd) #13-Germain Racing, #55-PRISM Motorsports (4)
4th) #36-Tommy Baldwin Racing, #09-Phoenix Racing (3)
5th) #32-Braun Racing (2)
6th) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports, #11-Joe Gibbs Racing, #46-Whitney Motorsports, #64-Gunselman Motorsports, #71-TRG Motorsports, #82-Team Red Bull, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (1)

N’WIDE: Green, #36 Team Finish 2010 Season Two Last-Place Finishes Short of Both LASTCAR Titles After Edging Setzer Again at Homestead

Jeff Green picked up the 16th last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s Ford 300 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway when his unsponsored #36 TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet fell out with a vibration after completing 2 of the race’s 200 laps.

The finish moves Green to within eight finishes of tying all-time Nationwide Series leader Jeff Fuller and ties Green for 9th in the all-time rankings with Todd Bodine, G.C. Spencer, and Darrell Waltrip.

Green fell just short of having to use his Past Champion’s Provisional in qualifying, putting up a 33rd-fastest speed of 166.328 mph that made him the second-slowest “go-or-go-home” driver to make the race. 43rd-place starter Brian Keselowski took the final starting spot in his the #92 campaigned by LASTCAR Nationwide Series Driver’s Champion Dennis Setzer. Setzer made the field as a late-week post-entry in Keselowski’s #96 and was just able to edge Green for the 32nd spot.

When the race began, four drivers fell out in the first 19 laps, beginning with Green just over two laps into the race. Setzer came in the next lap, followed three circuits later by Richmond and Road America last-placer Kevin Lepage in the #56 and, at the 19-lap mark, by Dover last-placer David Gilliland for D’Hont-Humphrey Motorsports.

Just one year after D’Hont-Humphrey dominated the LASTCAR Nationwide Series season under the MSRP Motorsports banner, coming within one finish of NEMCO Motorsports’ single-season record of 13 last-place finishes, both the #90 and #91 have only scored a single finish each. Now, the single-season record belongs to both NEMCO and K-Automotive Motorsports, whose #26, #92, and #96 combined to earn 13 last-place finishes of their own in 2010.

Despite the #36 team running just 14 races in 2010, and not starting their year until Gateway in July, both Green and the #36 still came within two finishes of tying 2010 LASTCAR Nationwide Champions Dennis Setzer and the #92 K-Automotive team. The #36 was instrumental in not only preventing K-Automotive from breaking NEMCO’s single-season owner’s record, but also in keeping Dennis Setzer one finish behind Jeff Fuller’s single-season driver’s record of 11 last-place finishes: all five of Setzer’s most recent 42nd-place finishes since Iowa in July came when the #36 finished last.

All told, when combining Mark Smith’s #36 and all three K-Automotive Motorsports teams, these two organizations racked up 22 of the season’s 35 last-place finishes, a rate of nearly two finishes by one of those teams for every three races.

N’WIDE STATS AND FACTS
*This marked the third straight Nationwide Series race where the last-place finisher fell out because of a vibration. The only other time a vibration sent the first car behind the wall this season was back in February, when Dennis Setzer’s #96 scored driver and team’s first last-place finish of the season back at the Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas.
*Neither Green nor the #36 had ever before finished last in a Nationwide Series race at Homestead.

N’WIDE LAPS COMPLETED STATS
*Just three last-place finishers in the entire 2010 Nationwide Series season completed more than nine laps: Danny O’Quinn, Jr. at Nashville in April (33 laps), Michael Annett at Talladega (20), and Dennis Setzer at Darlington (11). Omitting these three races, a Nationwide last-placer has completed an average of just 3.16 laps. Even when all 35 are included, Nationwide last-placers have completed just 154 of the 6489 laps run this season, roughly 2.4% of the season total.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #36-Jeff Green / 2 laps / vibration
42) #96-Dennis Setzer / 3 laps / brakes
41) #56-Kevin Lepage / 6 laps / rear gear
40) #91-David Gilliland / 19 laps / vibration
39) #04-Jeremy Clements / 22 laps / crash

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL STANDINGS
1st) Dennis Setzer (10)
2nd) Jeff Green (8)
3rd) Mark Green, Kevin Lepage (2)
4th) Willie Allen, Michael Annett, Johnny Borneman III, Matt Carter, Johnny Chapman, David Gilliland, Kevin Hamlin, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Brian Keselowski, Parker Kligerman, Justin Marks, Danny O'Quinn, Jr., Chrissy Wallace (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL STANDINGS
1st) #92-K-Automotive Motorsports (11)
2nd) #36-Mark Smith (9)
3rd) #15-Germain Racing, #26-K-Automotive Motorsports, #27-Curb Motorsports, #41-Rick Ware, #43-Curb Motorsports, #49-Jay Robinson, Inc., #56-John McNelly, #70-Mary Louise Miller, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #83-John Borneman, Jr., #90-D'Hont Humphrey Motorsports, #91-D'Hont Humphrey Motorsports, #96-K-Automotive Motorsports, #04-Johnny Davis Motorsports, #05-Wayne Day (1)

TRUCKS: Sieg Claims 2010 Owner’s Title For His #93 Team After Early Exit at Homestead

Shane Sieg picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Friday’s Ford 200 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway when his #93 S&W Towing Chevrolet fell out with electrical problems after completing 8 of the race’s 134 laps.

In doing so, Sieg claimed the 2010 LASTCAR Owner’s Championship for his #93 team by tying Team Gill Racing’s #95 with six finishes apiece, breaking the tie with 18 bottom-five finishes to Gill’s 11. Part-time driver Mike Garvey clinched the Driver’s Championship at Texas, two races ago.

Garvey was initially listed as driver of the #93 at Homestead, but it was Sieg who qualified the truck 33rd in the field at a speed of 159.419 mph. Team Gill Racing never entered its #95. During the opening green flag run, Sieg pulled behind the wall as one of only three trucks that failed to finish the race. 35th-place Mario Gosselin lost the engine after 45 laps while Talladega last-placer John Jackson, in Gosselin’s team truck, was involved in a very hard crash at pit entrance on Lap 112.

TRUCK STATS AND FACTS
*The finish was Sieg’s second of the 2010 season, joining his 36th-place run in the Kroger 250 at Martinsville back in April. That race, where Sieg went behind the wall after 3 laps in the #93, was also the last time a Truck Series last-placer fell out with electrical problems.
*This marked the third straight year that Chevrolet finished last in the Truck Series finale at Homestead, joining Mike Garvey and Kevin Lepage.
*The #93 had never before finished last in a Truck Series race at Homestead.

LAPS COMPLETED STATS
*Just three Truck Series last-placers completed more than 9 laps in the 2010 season: G.R. Smith at Nashville (27 laps), Jason White at Bristol (28) and Mike Garvey at Martinsville (27). Omitting these three, the average last-place finisher has completed 3.91 laps. When all 25 are considered, the Truck Series last-placers of 2010 have combined to complete 168 of the season’s 3884 laps, roughly 4.3% of the season total.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #93-Shane Sieg / 8 laps / electrical
35) #12-Mario Gosselin / 45 laps / engine
34) #72-John Jackson / 108 laps / crash
33) #6-Derek White / 128 laps / running
32) #57-Norm Benning / 129 laps / running

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL STANDINGS
1st) Mike Garvey (4)
2nd) Tim Andrews, Carl Long, Johanna Long, Shane Sieg, J.C. Stout (2)
3rd) Landon Cassill, Johnny Chapman, Mike Harmon, John Jackson, Chris Jones, Narain Karthikeyan, Chris Lafferty, Butch Miller, Dillon Oliver, G.R. Smith, Jason White (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL STANDINGS
1st) #93-Shane Sieg, #95-Danny Gill (6)
3rd) #20-Donald Long, #72-Mario Gosselin, #89-Chris Lafferty (2)
4th) #16-Rick Ware, #23-Steve Urvan, #50-Mark Beaver, #60-Jeff Wyler, #87-Rick Jones, #98-Duke Thorson, #07-Ken Smith (1)

CUP: Gaughan Gets First 43rd In Cup Return At Phoenix; Nemechek Claims 2nd LASTCAR Title After #87, #46 Fail To Qualify

Brendan Gaughan picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at the Phoenix International Raceway when his #71 South Point Hotel and Casino Chevrolet was involved in a single-car accident on Lap 2 of the 312-lap race. The finish came in Gaughan’s 37th series start.

It’s been a difficult 2010 season for TRG Motorsports. Bad luck and only sporatic sponsorship from TaxSlayer.com culminated in 2000 Cup Champion Bobby Labonte leaving the team at mid-season with only a handful of one-off appearances by the Texan since then. With drivers Mike Bliss, Andy Lally, and Landon Cassill aboard, the team was forced to park its #71 Chevrolets early in nearly a dozen races, most recently at Fontana last month, where Lally came home 36th.

As the team sank to 35th in Owner Points, however, the team has attracted just enough sponsorship to run these final races with returning drivers like Hermie Sadler and Chad McCumbee taking the controls. With the 36th-ranked Front Row Motorsports #38 team falling from Top 35 contention in recent weeks, TRG brought on Brendan Gaughan for Sunday’s Phoenix race with his family’s casino business footing the bill for another full-race run.

Locked-into the field on points, Gaughan did not have to worry about his struggles in qualifying and placed the #71 back in 41st spot at a speed of 132.197 mph. The race would be Gaughan’s first Sprint Cup start since the 2004 Ford 400 at Homestead, where he concluded his rookie season, and his first time in a Cup machine at all since he relieved Mike Bliss in the 2005 Pocono 500. Unfortunately, Gaughan would not be able to discover what his #71 could do.

Just after the first lap of Sunday’s race was completed, Gaughan’s right-front tire exploded entering turn one, sending the #71 hard into the outside wall. The Truck Series veteran was unhurt, but the car was wounded so badly that it could not negotiate the Phoenix track’s doglegged backstretch and had to drive through the dirt instead. Repairs proved impossible for the TRG team and the group was forced to call it a day. 42nd-place Brad Keselowski faced a similar fate less than 60 laps later when his right-front tire also failed in turn one, ending his day.

CUP STATS AND FACTS
*Although this was Gaughan’s first last-place finish in Cup competition, he has three other last-place runs in his 162-race Camping World Truck Series career: an early crash in the 2005 O’Reilly 200 presented by Valvoline MaxLife at Bristol, an engine failure in the 2006 racetickets.com 200 at Fontana, and another crash after the opening lap of the 2007 AAA Insurance 200. All three of these finishes came while driving his family-owned #77 Dodge.
*Gaughan is also the third driver to finish last in a Cup race at Phoenix after completing just the opening lap: Kenny Wallace, in Team III Racing’s unsponsored #24 Pontiac, had steering problems in his Cup debut at the 1991 Pyroil 500K. The next year, Rick Carelli quit the 1992 Pyroil 500K, parking his unsponsored #37 Marshall Chesrown Chevrolet following injuries sustained in a grinding Southwest Tour Series crash the previous day.
*No Cup driver has finished last after completing just the opening lap since 2007, when J.J. Yeley’s #18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet was involved in a multi-car accident in the 2007 Samsung 500 at Texas.
*The #71 and Kevin Buckler’s Cup team scored their most recent last-place finish in 2009, when Bobby Labonte was involved in a multi-car accident six laps into the 2009 Price Chopper 400 at Kansas.
*The #71 had never before finished last in a Cup race at Phoenix.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #71-Brendan Gaughan / 1 lap / crash
42) #12-Brad Keselowski / 58 laps / crash
41) #81-Terry Labonte / 190 laps / electrical
40) #64-Landon Cassill / 191 laps / rear gear
39) #55-Mike Bliss / 193 laps / overheating

2010 LASTCAR SPRINT CUP DRIVER’S CHAMPION: JOE NEMECHEK
Joe Nemechek clinched his second career LASTCAR Sprint Cup Driver’s Championship at Phoenix. Ironically, but he did so without even starting Sunday’s race. As reported last week, Nemechek needed one more bottom-five finish to clinch the Driver’s Championship as he had just two more bottom-five finishes than second-ranked Michael McDowell. Both drivers attempted to qualify for the Phoenix race last Friday with Nemechek in his self-owned #87 England’s Stove Works Toyota and McDowell in Dusty Whitney’s #46 Super Pawn Chevrolet.

However, both drivers failed to qualify for the race as two of the three teams that missed the show. McDowell turned in the slowest lap time of all and was the first car knocked-out of the field. With two cars left to qualify, Nemechek was on the bubble behind Jason Leffler in PRISM Motorsports’ #66. This allowed J.J. Yeley, in Latitude 43 Motorsports’ #26, to bump Nemechek out of the race, and Casey Mears’ #13 GEICO Toyota bumped-out Leffler.

Thus, with one race remaining in the season, McDowell is now mathematically unable to tie Nemechek for the most last-place finishes in 2010, giving Nemechek the title. Nemechek’s previous LASTCAR title run came in 2008, when he scored three last-place finishes in his final season driving Furniture Row Racing’s #78. The Florida driver clinched that championship on a “bottom-five” tiebreaker, besting A.J. Allmendinger’s 6 with his season total of 9.

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Joe Nemechek (7)
2nd) Dave Blaney, Michael McDowell (5)
3rd) Max Papis (4)
4th) Aric Almirola, Jason Leffler (2)
5th) Landon Cassill, Jeff Fuller, Robby Gordon, Denny Hamlin, Brendan Gaughan, Bobby Labonte, Johnny Sauter, Reed Sorenson, Scott Speed, J.J. Yeley (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #87-NEMCO Motorsports (7)
2nd) #66-PRISM Motorsports (5)
3rd) #13-Germain Racing, #55-PRISM Motorsports (4)
4th) #36-Tommy Baldwin Racing, #09-Phoenix Racing (3)
5th) #32-Braun Racing (2)
6th) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports, #11-Joe Gibbs Racing, #46-Whitney Motorsports, #64-Gunselman Motorsports, #71-TRG Motorsports, #82-Team Red Bull, #97-NEMCO Motorsports (1)

N’WIDE: Green Bests 2010 Champion Setzer After Early Vibration At Phoenix

Jeff Green picked up the 15th last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s Wypall 200 Powered by Kimberly-Clark at the Phoenix International Raceway when his unsponsored #36 Tri-Star Motorsports Chevrolet fell out with a vibration after completing 2 of the race’s 200 laps.

The finish moved Green into sole possession of 10th in the all-time LASTCAR standings and closed him within nine finishes of Jeff Fuller for the all-time Nationwide Series lead.

Green rebounded from his DNQ at Texas last week to qualify a solid 21st for Saturday’s race, ranking him fourth among the “go-or-go-home” teams that made the field. Of the six teams that failed to qualify, the only one with a last-place finish in 2010 was the #82 MacDonald Motorsports entry, driven this time by Chase Miller.

As has been the case for much of this season’s second half, Green and 2010 LASTCAR Nationwide Series Champion Dennis Setzer finished solidly in the bottom five. This time, Green edged Setzer by a single lap during the opening green-flag run to lock up his seventh finish of the 2010 season. Setzer’s owner, Brian Keselowski, followed Setzer to the garage and came home 41st in his #26.

Next week in the Homestead finale, Green will again be in Mark Smith’s #36, but Brian Keselowski will drive in place of Setzer in the Owner’s Championship-winning #92. K-Automotive’s #26 will instead be driven by Sam Hornish, Jr. with an eye at a full race run, thanks to sponsorship from Alliance.

N’WIDE STATS AND FACTS
*Neither Jeff Green, nor the #36, had ever before finished last in a Nationwide Series race at Phoenix.
*It’s the third time a vibration caused a driver to finish last in a Nationwide Series race at Phoenix: the previous two were Tracy Hines’ unsponsored #14 Fitz-Bradshaw Racing Dodge in the 2006 Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 and Danny O’Quinn, Jr.’s unsponsored #35 Team Rensi Motorsports Ford in the 2008 Hefty Odor Block 200.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #36-Jeff Green / 2 laps / vibration
42) #92-Dennis Setzer / 3 laps / vibration
41) #26-Brian Keselowski / 3 laps / oil pressure
40) #34-Charles Lewandoski / 15 laps / transmission
39) #91-David Gilliland / 20 laps / electrical

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Dennis Setzer (10)
2nd) Jeff Green (7)
3rd) Mark Green, Kevin Lepage (2)
4th) Willie Allen, Michael Annett, Johnny Borneman III, Matt Carter, Johnny Chapman, David Gilliland, Kevin Hamlin, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Brian Keselowski, Parker Kligerman, Justin Marks, Danny O'Quinn, Jr., Chrissy Wallace (1)

LASTCAR N’WIDE SERIES DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #92-K-Automotive Motorsports (11)
2nd) #36-Mark Smith (8)
3rd) #15-Germain Racing, #26-K-Automotive Motorsports, #27-Curb Motorsports, #41-Rick Ware, #43-Curb Motorsports, #49-Jay Robinson, Inc., #56-John McNelly, #70-Mary Louise Miller, #82-MacDonald Motorsports, #83-John Borneman, Jr., #90-D'Hont Humphrey Motorsports, #91-D'Hont Humphrey Motorsports, #96-K-Automotive Motorsports, #04-Johnny Davis Motorsports, #05-Wayne Day (1)