CUP: Scott Speed’s Schedule Expands, But Charlotte Race Still Ends Early

SOURCE: Getty Images

Scott Speed picked up the 6th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #95 Leavine Family Racing Ford fell out with transmission trouble after he completed 39 of the race’s 400 laps.

The finish was Speed’s first of 2013 and his first in a Cup race since last June at Dover, 35 races ago, when his Go Green Racing-owned #79 Team Kyle / Koma Unwind Ford was involved in an early crash.  It was also the first for the Leavine Family Racing team and the #95 since the Richmond race four rounds earlier, when Speed fell out of the race with electrical problems after 19 laps.

Speed’s 2013 has already been a series of highs and lows.  After he qualified for the LFR team’s first-ever Daytona 500, he acquired sponsorship from Dish Network and led briefly during a late pit exchange in the race itself.  The car’s bright red-and-blue paint job, often confused with the character Lightning McQueen from the movie “Cars,” then turned to a flat black for the next few races.  Eager to find sponsorship, the team had Speed’s car carry a skull-and-crossbones on the hood of his Ford with the message “Surrender The Sponsor” printed on it.  After four DNFs in the black car, weapon company Tracking Point “surrendered” with B&D Electric to fund his run at the team’s home track in Texas.  Unfortunately, it was there the team suffered its only DNQ of the season, and they skipped the next two races.

In the team’s return at Talladega, Speed turned in the team’s first-ever top-ten finish.  Speed came home 9th in the wild all-day affair that was the Aaron’s 499, just short of the California driver’s career-best 5th in the 2009 running.  With a healthy $107,115 payday at Talladega, the team expanded its commitment to running more races with Speed in 2013.  However, the team exited early at Darlington, finishing 41st after 77 laps, and the team still lacked sponsorship at Charlotte.  They did, however, acquire extra testing time with two-time and defending LASTCAR Cup Champion Michael McDowell driving the car to a 14th-place finish in the Sprint Showdown.

Speed qualified 37th in Sunday’s field at an average speed of 188.659 mph, good enough to bump Mike Bliss and the #19 Humphrey-Smith Motorsports team out of their first race since Martinsville.  In the race itself, Speed’s car, carrying an American flag on the hood, pulled behind the wall in the opening laps, followed eleven circuits late by Michael McDowell, back in his #98 Hyde Park Storage Suites Ford.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first last-place finish for Speed and the #95 in a Cup Series race at Charlotte.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #95-Scott Speed / 39 laps / transmission
42) #98-Michael McDowell / 50 laps / brakes
41) #87-Joe Nemechek / 213 laps / electrical
40) #93-Travis Kvapil / 253 laps / crash
39) #88-Dale Earnhardt, Jr. / 256 laps / engine

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Bliss (4)
2nd) Michael McDowell (3)
3rd) Trevor Bayne, Dave Blaney, Joe Nemechek, Scott Riggs, Scott Speed (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #19-Humphrey-Smith Motorsports (4)
2nd) #98-Phil Parsons Racing (3)
3rd) #7-Tommy Baldwin Racing, #21-Wood Brothers Racing, #44-Xxxtreme Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports, #95-Leavine Family Racing (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Ford (6)
2nd) Toyota (5)
3rd) Chevrolet (1)

N’WIDE: Robert Richardson, Jr. Scores First Nationwide Last-Place Finish For #23 Since 2007

SOURCE: ESPN, NASCAR Media

Robert Richardson, Jr. picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s History 300 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #23 Willbros Group Chevrolet was involved in a three-car accident after he completed 45 of the race’s 200 laps.  The finish came in Richardson’s 115th series start.

Richardson, the 2006 LASTCAR Truck Series Champion, is competing in his seventh Nationwide season.  Since 2008, he has competed for R3 Motorsports, a family-owned team whose distinctive #23 cars have become a fixture in the garage area.  Though Richardson has yet to compete in a full season, the team briefly expanded into the Sprint Cup Series last year.  That season, the team competed mostly as a “start-and-park” operation with Scott Riggs behind the will, the exception being Richardson’s appearances in two restrictor-plate races.  This past February, R3's collected funds paid dividends when Richardson earned a career-best 9th-place finish in the wild season opener in Daytona.  Since then, however, he has finished no better than a 20th at Talladega.

Richardson endured a difficult start to his Saturday in Charlotte when he wrecked on his qualifying lap, forcing the team to roll out the backup.  Locked-in on Owner Points, he still was guaranteed the 39th starting spot in the 40-car field.  Richardson thus had to move behind 40th-place starter Steven Wallace on race day.  Wallace made his first Nationwide start of the season after the withdrawal of the qualified #10 driven by three-time LASTCAR Nationwide Champion Jeff Green.  Joining Green among the DNQs were LASTCAR rival J.J. Yeley in The Motorsports Group’s “start-and-park” #42, Bryan Silas, Matt DiBenedetto, and Darlington last-placer Tanner Berryhill.

Early in the race, it appeared that last place would go to Jason White in Jason Sciavicco’s #24 JW Demolition Toyota.  White pulled behind the wall in the early laps, indicating the possibility that he would earn his first Nationwide last-place finish since driving the #34 Rent-A-Wreck Chevrolet at Nashville in 2002.  However, White returned to the track around the time Richardson spun off the nose of Reed Sorenson entering the quad-oval and tangled with Johanna Long.  Both drivers were uninjured.  While Long returned to the track to finish 45 laps down, Richardson did not, leaving him in the last spot.  White eventually fell out past the halfway mark.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first last-place finish for the #23 in a Nationwide Series race since 2007, when defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion Brad Keselowski lost the engine on his #23 Oklahoma Centennial Chevrolet lost the engine after six laps of the O’Reilly 300.  As of this writing, this finish for owner Keith Coleman remains Keselowski’s most recent last-place finish in a NASCAR points race.
*This was R3 Motorsports’ first last-place finish in a Nationwide Series race.  Last year in the Cup Series, R3 scored three last-place finishes with driver Scott Riggs.
*This was Richardson’s fifth last-place finish across NASCAR’s top three divisions.  The other four came in the Truck Series during his LASTCAR title year in 2006.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #23-Robert Richardson, Jr. / 45 laps / crash
39) #24-Jason White / 110 laps / suspension
38) #16-Chris Buescher / 134 laps / running
37) #40-Reed Sorenson / 146 laps / engine
36) #70-Johanna Long / 155 laps / running

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (4)
2nd) Tanner Berryhill, Joey Gase, Johanna Long, Eric McClure, Michael McDowell, Robert Richardson, Jr. (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #10-TriStar Motorsports (4)
2nd) #14-TriStar Motorsports, #17-Vision Racing, #23-R3 Motorsports, #27-SR2 Motorsports, #52-Jimmy Means Racing, #70-ML Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (8)
2nd) Chevrolet (2)

CUP: Brad Keselowski Gives The Blue Deuce Its Third All-Star Last-Place Finish

SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin'

Brad Keselowski finished last in Saturday’s running of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #2 Miller Lite Ford fell out with transmission trouble after he completed 2 of the race’s 90 laps.

Keselowski, the defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion, had a strong start to 2013, finishing out of the top ten just once in the first eight races of the year.  However, following a 33rd-place finish at Richmond last month, he has since struggled to finishes of 15th and 32nd.  Nevertheless, he remains 7th in points going into next week’s Coca-Cola 600, a race his Penske Racing team won with Kurt Busch in 2010.

At Charlotte, Keselowski raced in a special paint scheme that covered his Ford in fan-submitted photos.  He qualified 12th in the car during a session in which several drivers slid out of their pit box during the mandatory stop.  On race night, he was running in a thick pack of traffic just in the early laps when something in the drive train shattered entering turn three, causing him to fall off the pace.  After limping around the track for a lap, he pulled behind the wall and out of the race.

As of this writing, Keselowski has still yet to finish last in any of his 136 career Cup Series points races.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was Keselowski’s first last-place finish in the NASCAR All-Star Race.
*This was the third last-place finish for owner Roger Penske’s #2 Miller Lite machine in the All-Star Race.  In 2002, Rusty Wallace’s Ford crashed after 14 laps, and in 2006, Kurt Busch lost the engine on his Dodge after 33 laps.
*Keselowski is the first All-Star last-place finisher to fall out with transmission trouble since 1994, when Terry Labonte’s #5 Kellogg’s Chevrolet broke after 36 laps.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
22) #2-Brad Keselowski / 2 laps / transmission
21) #55-Mark Martin / 87 laps / crash
20) #10-Danica Patrick / 90 laps / running
19) #34-David Ragan / 90 laps / running
18) #15-Clint Bowyer / 90 laps / running / led 11 laps

CUP: Timmy Hill Trails Field In Sprint Showdown Debut

SOURCE: Debbie Ross, Skirts and Scuffs

Timmy Hill finished last in Saturday’s running of the Sprint Showdown at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #32 OXY Water Ford fell out with overheating trouble after he completed 6 of the race’s 40 laps.

The 20-year-old Hill has made ten starts in Cup Series points races, including five this year.  All of his starts in 2013 have come behind the wheel of the #32 fielded by FAS Lane Racing.  FAS Lane was founded by the reorganized Latitude 43 Motorsports in 2011, forming a new team both owned and crew chiefed by Frank “Frankie” Stoddard.

Hill’s 2013 debut at Fontana in March was marred by a sudden loss of fluid exiting turn two, causing several of the leaders to slip into the outside wall.  Since then, Hill has still neverfinish last, but has finished no better than 33rd.  He is still looking to improve on his career-best 22nd he earned at Kansas last fall.

Hill qualified 20th for Saturday’s 23-car race at an average speed of 185.861 mph.  He fell out during the first 20-lap segment, followed nine laps later by the #44 No Label Watches Ford of Scott Riggs.  Riggs was making his first Cup start of any kind since Martinsville, and rumors of Xxtreme Motorsports replacing Riggs with Mike Bliss for the moment appear to be untrue.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was Hill’s first last-place finish in the Sprint Showdown.  He was the first driver to finish last in his Showdown debut since 2008, when open-wheel star Patrick Carpentier crashed his #10 Valvoline Dodge after two laps.
*This was the first time a last-place finisher in the Showdown fell out with “overheating” as the listed cause.
*This was the first last-place finish in the Showdown for car #32.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
23) #32-Timmy Hill / 6 laps / overheating
22) #44-Scott Riggs / 15 laps / vibration
21) #7-Dave Blaney / 24 laps / brakes
20) #36-J.J. Yeley / 27 laps / overheating
19) #52-Brian Keselowski / 36 laps / running

TRUCKS: Chris Jones Moves To Fifth In LASTCAR Truck Series Rankings

SOURCE: Wikimedia Commons

Chris Jones picked up the 6th last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Friday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #93 RSS Racing Chevrolet fell out with clutch problems after he completed 4 of the race’s 134 laps.

The finish was Jones’ first of the season and his first in a Truck Series race since last fall at Texas, seven races ago.  Jones is now tied with Rick Crawford, Mike Hurlbert, and Butch Miller for fifth in the all-time LASTCAR Truck Series rankings.  Only five other drivers have scored more last-place finishes in series history.

Jones was making his third start of the year in the #93 fielded by owner Rod Sieg’s RSS Racing, the team that won the last three LASTCAR Truck Series titles with drivers Mike Garvey and Dennis Setzer.  His previous two finishes were a pair of 34th-place runs: he crashed late in the race at Rockingham, then parked at Kansas.

At Charlotte, Jones qualified 29th at an average speed of 175.798 mph, ranking him seventh among the thirteen “go-or-go-homers” on the entry list.  Jones pulled behind the wall during the opening green-flag run, edging German Quiroga by five laps.

Failing to qualify for Friday’s race were owner-drivers Norm Benning and Jennifer Jo Cobb.  Cobb, the last-place finisher at Martinsville, was the victim of a bizarre theft on May 11 when her hauler, containing $279,000 of equipment, was stolen from her shop in Mooresville, North Carolina.  One of the suspects was Rockingham last-placer Mike Harmon, who was arrested on Wednesday, then released on a $10,000 bond.  Harmon qualified for Friday’s race in the #84 Chevrolet he shares with owner Chris Fontaine, and he finished 24th.  Cobb, driving a loaned truck from another team, withdrew after engine trouble.

Jones, Cobb, and Harmon join Scott Riggs and Scott Saunders as the only Truck Series last-place finishers so far in 2013.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first last-place finish for the #93 in a Truck race at Charlotte since 2010, when Mike Garvey lost the engine on his #93 S&W Services Chevrolet after nine laps of the North Carolina Education Lottery 200.
*This was Jones’ first last-place finish at Charlotte, and the first time a truck finished last at Charlotte with clutch trouble as the listed cause.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #93-Chris Jones / 4 laps / clutch
35) #77-German Quiroga / 9 laps / crash
34) #99-Bryan Silas / 13 laps / crash
33) #75-Caleb Holman / 20 laps / crash
32) #18-Joey Coulter / 90 laps / running

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Harmon, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chris Jones, Scott Riggs, Scott Saunders (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #0-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #84-Chris Fontaine, #92-Ricky Benton, #93-RSS Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet, RAM (2)
2nd) Ford (1)