CUP: Denny Hamlin Trails First Short Cup Field Since 2001

SOURCE: Action Sports Photography, Motorsport.com

Denny Hamlin picked up the 6th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Saturday’s Quaker State 400 at the Kentucky Speedway when his #11 FedEx Office Toyota was involved in a single-car crash that ended his race after 27 of the race’s 267 laps.

The finish was Hamlin’s first of 2014 and his first in a Cup race since last August’s race at Pocono, 32 races ago.

After a miserable 2013 season ended with a much-needed win in the season finale at Homestead, Hamlin looked to 2014 for a much-needed rebound.  He then surprised many by having perhaps the strongest car throughout SpeedWeeks at Daytona, coming just one position short of becoming the first driver ever to sweep the Sprint Unlimited, Budweiser Duel, and Daytona 500 - a feat even more remarkable considering his radio wasn’t working in the frantic final stages of the 500.  He then put himself in position for a Chase berth with his first-ever win at Talladega.

However, Fontana, the scene of his critical injury last season, was once again the site of heartbreak when he was sidelined for a shard of metal in his eye, forcing him to hand the wheel over to Sam Hornish, Jr.  Combined with two finishes outside the Top 20 heading into Kentucky, Hamlin came into Saturday’s race just 13th in points.

On Friday, Hamlin was 21st-fastest in the opening practice, then jumped to 10th in Happy Hour before he made it to the final round of qualifying, securing him the 4th starting spot with an average lap of 186.374 mph.  It was Hamlin’s ninth top-ten start in seventeen races this season, a year when he’s scored two poles at Bristol and Pocono.

Saturday’s race marked the first time that fewer than 43 cars started a Cup Series event since the season finale at New Hampshire in November 2001.  That race, postponed from September due to the atrocities of 9/11, had a short field after two full-time teams folded during those two months: #27 fielded by Eel River Racing and the #96 from Cal Wells’ PPI Motorsports.  The last time too few cars showed up for a regularly-scheduled Cup race was on September 15, 1996, when 41 cars ran in a race for 42 after the withdrawal of Eric Smith’s #49 Campbell Racing Ford.  It was Smith’s seventh and final attempt to make a Cup race.

Kentucky’s situation occurred in much the same way.  On June 25, the #77 Randy Humphrey Racing team announced they would be “retooling” their team over the next month and planned to return at Indianapolis at the end of July.  With just 42 cars on the Entry List, BK Racing brought back its #93 for the first time since SpeedWeeks at Daytona, bringing the number to 43.  The car, one of Alex Bowman’s backup cars with the #93 decals from Travis Kvapil’s BK ride in 2013, was qualified and driven by Mike Bliss, who was set to make his first Cup start since last fall at Atlanta.  However, on practice day, Xxxtreme Motorsports withdrew J.J. Yeley’s #44 All City Leasing & Warehousing Chevrolet from the list, citing the same plan as Humphrey, leaving just 42 cars on the grid for Saturday.

At the start of Saturday’s race, Bliss and the #93 Dr. Pepper Toyota remained in the 42nd spot while Tony Stewart, sent to the back due to a transmission change, picked his way through the field.  Bliss was the first driver to lose a lap around Lap 15, and he and the rest of the field awaited NASCAR’s competition caution on Lap 30 in response to late-afternoon showers washing the rubber off the race track.

Seconds before the caution was to fly, Hamlin, running 3rd at the time, lost a right-front tire heading into Turn 3, sending his car hard into the outside wall.  Though Hamlin was uninjured and climbed out under his own power, his car was too damaged to return to the track, and his night was done.  Hamlin now sits 17th in points.

Mike Bliss parked the #93 under the ensuing caution, three laps behind Hamlin.  Right-front tire problems also knocked-out 40th-place Kyle Larson and 39th-place Aric Almirola, the latter having tangled with Jamie McMurray earlier in the race.  Rounding out the Bottom Five was Joe Nemechek, whose #66 Identity Ventures Racing team carried new sponsorship from male enhancement company Vydox.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first last-place finish for both Hamlin and the #11 in a Cup race at Kentucky.
*Hamlin is the fourth driver this season to start inside the Top 10 and finish last in the same race, joining Martin Truex, Jr. (Started 2nd in the Daytona 500), Clint Bowyer (3rd at Richmond), and Brian Vickers (9th at Dover).

THE BOTTOM FIVE
42) #11-Denny Hamlin / 27 laps / crash
41) #93-Mike Bliss / 30 laps / transmission
40) #42-Kyle Larson / 75 laps / crash
39) #43-Aric Almirola / 175 laps / crash
38) #66-Joe Nemechek / 239 laps / running

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Dave Blaney (2)
2nd) Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer, Landon Cassill, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., David Gilliland, Denny Hamlin, Timmy Hill, Travis Kvapil, Michael McDowell, Joe Nemechek, Morgan Shepherd, Tony Stewart, Martin Truex, Jr., Ryan Truex, Brian Vickers (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #77-Randy Humphrey Racing (2)
2nd) #11-Joe Gibbs Racing, #14-Stewart-Haas Racing, #15-Michael Waltrip Racing, #32-Go FAS Racing, #33-Circle Sport, #38-Front Row Motorsports, #40-Hillman Racing, #43-Richard Petty Motorsports, #55-Michael Waltrip Racing, #66-Michael Waltrip Racing / Identity Ventures Racing, #78-Furniture Row Racing, #83-BK Racing, #87-NEMCO-JRR Motorsports, #88-Hendrick Motorsports, #95-Leavine Family Racing (1)

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

N’WIDE: Matt DiBenedetto’s First Last-Place Finish Is Number 1400 For Chevrolet

SOURCE: Mike Neff, Frontstretch

Matt DiBenedetto picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Friday’s John R. Elliott HERO Campaign 300 at the Kentucky Speedway when his unsponsored #46 The Motorsports Group Chevrolet fell out with rear gear problems after he completed 2 of the race’s 200 laps.  The finish came in DiBenedetto’s 32nd series start.

DiBenedetto, a 22-year-old racer from Grass Valley, California, made his Nationwide Series debut at Memphis in the fall of 2009, where he started 4th and finished 14th in the #20 entry fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing.  He made six more starts with Gibbs the following season, scoring his first two top-ten finishes and a career-best 9th at Iowa.  However, DiBenedetto’s races for Gibbs went to Drew Herring and Ryan Truex for 2011, leaving him without a ride for nearly two seasons.

DiBenedetto made his return to the series at Dover, when he signed with Curtis Key to drive a “start-and-park” entry to help fund the team’s primary #40 car.  With the exception of a five-race stint for Vision Racing in mid-2013, DiBenedetto has remained with Key’s team, now known as The Motorsports Group (TMG).  TMG currently runs two cars with DiBenedetto mostly running in the #46 while Josh Wise runs the #40.

Coming into Friday’s race, DiBenedetto had driven TMG’s #40 twice in 2014, finishing 25th at Iowa and a season-best 11th for the team last week at Road America - TMG’s best finish since Mike Bliss came home 9th at Fontana in the fall of 2010.  As it turned out, DiBenedetto was just one of several great small-team stories on the day.  Tops among them was 3rd-place finisher Kevin O’Connell, who scored owner Rick Ware’s first-ever top-five finish after 279 Nationwide starts, 234 Truck Series starts, and one Cup start at Las Vegas in 2012.

With all three of NASCAR’s top series running at Kentucky, DiBenedetto again returned to the #46 while Wise climbed aboard the #40.  47 cars were originally going to battle for starting spots in the 40-car field, and while four withdrew before practice, DiBenedetto’s starting spot was still far from guaranteed.  He stepped up with the 21st-fastest speed in the opening practice, skipped Happy Hour, then sped to the 28th-fastest time in qualifying with a speed of 170.159 mph - two spots in front of Wise - earning him a spot in the field.

At the start of Friday’s race, previous LASTCAR record holder Derrike Cope held the final spot, but was passed by DiBenedetto after he pulled behind the wall, beating current LASTCAR record holder Jeff Green by two laps.  Mechanical problems sent Cope behind the wall twice before his car finally fell out with brake problems after 80 laps, leaving him 37th.  Finishing behind Cope was Tanner Berryhill in his family’s Dodge while ahead of Cope was Cup regular Matt Kenseth, who lost control off Turn 2 and crashed out of the race after 102 laps.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Although this is the second last-place finish for the #46 this season, joining Ryan Ellis’ run at Iowa, it is the first last-place finish for the number in a Nationwide Series race at Kentucky.
*DiBenedetto’s last-place finish was the 1400th for Chevrolet across all three of NASCAR’s top divisions.  Chevrolet remains second in the 2014 LASTCAR Nationwide Manufacturer’s standings, five finishes behind Toyota.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #46-Matt DiBenedetto / 2 laps / rear gear
39) #10-Jeff Green / 4 laps / vibration
38) #17-Tanner Berryhill / 53 laps / brakes
37) #70-Derrike Cope / 80 laps / ignition
36) #20-Matt Kenseth / 102 laps / crash

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Blake Koch (6)
2nd) Jeff Green (3)
3rd) Tanner Berryhill, Matt DiBenedetto, Ryan Ellis, Kevin Lepage, Tim Schendel, Jimmy Weller (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #10-TriStar Motorsports (7)
2nd) #46-The Motorsports Group, #91-TriStar Motorsports (2)
3rd) #17-Vision Racing, #55-VIVA Motorsports / SS Green Light Racing, #87-Rick Ware Racing, #93-JGL Racing (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (9)
2nd) Chevrolet (4)
3rd) Dodge (2)

TRUCKS: Ryan Ellis Scores Third-Straight Last-Place Finish For Cobb’s #0 At Kentucky

SOURCE: Twitter @ryanellisracing

Ryan Ellis picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Thursday’s UNOH 225 at the Kentucky Speedway when his #0 Grimes Irrigation & Construction Chevrolet fell out with engine problems after he completed 3 of the race’s 150 laps.

The finish was Ellis’ second of the 2014 season and his first since Texas, two races ago.  He is the first driver to finish last more than once in the series this season.

Ellis did not participate in the weekend’s opening practice, then ended up 30th out of 31 trucks in Happy Hour.  Ellis turned in a lap well ahead of Adam Edwards in Norm Benning’s second truck, renumbered from 75 to 71 since Caleb Holman was making his first start for Charlie Henderson since Martinsville.  With just 32 trucks showing up for 36 spots, Ellis secured the 32nd and final starting spot without completing a lap in qualifying.

At the start of Thursday’s race, Ellis pulled behind the wall after three laps just as the first caution of the night came out for debris.  Charles Lewandoski, making his fifth start of the season in Randy Young’s #42 Chevrolet, pulled out of the race on the following lap, followed by Adam Edwards eight laps after that.  In 29th was J.J. Yeley, making his first Truck start of the year in Bobby Dotter’s #07 Thunder Exhaust Chevrolet.  Rounding out the Bottom Five was Chase Pistone, who lost the engine on Bob Newberry’s #9 NTS Motorsports Chevrolet.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the third-consecutive Kentucky last-place finish for Jennifer Jo Cobb’s #0 team.  The previous two took place with Blake Koch in 2012 and defending LASTCAR Truck Series Champion Chris Lafferty in 2013.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
32) #0-Ryan Ellis / 3 laps / engine
31) #42-Charles Lewandoski / 4 laps / vibration
30) #71-Adam Edwards / 12 laps / rear gear
29) #07-J.J. Yeley / 24 laps / suspension
28) #9-Chase Pistone / 78 laps / engine

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Ryan Ellis (2)
2nd) Alex Guenette, Justin Jennings, Blake Koch, Charles Lewandoski, Scott Stenzel, Jason White (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #0-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #36-Mike Mittler (2)
2nd) #42-Randy Young, #63-Mike Mittler, #74-Mario Gosselin, #93-RSS Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (7)
2nd) RAM (1)

CUP / SONOMA WEEK: Landon Cassill’s Engine Expires Early At Sonoma

SOURCE: Brock Beard

Landon Cassill picked up the 4th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s Toyota / Save Mart 350 at the Sonoma Raceway when his #40 Carsforsale.com Chevrolet fell out with engine trouble after he completed 29 of the race’s 110 laps.

The finish was Cassill’s first of 2014 and his first in 75 Cup races, dating back to when his #83 Burger King Fruit Smoothies Toyota was involved in a crash after he completed one lap of the Pocono 400 on June 10, 2012.

After his release from BK Racing after the 2012 season, Landon Cassill moved to Circle Sport, a single-car team owned by Joe Falk.  Circle Sport runs the #33 for the most of the season except for the handful of races when a fourth Richard Childress team runs the number with Childress equipment.  Last year at Indianapolis, Circle Sport essentially expanded to two teams with the debut of Hillman Racing, named for Mike Hillman, whose son Mark is the crew chief for Circle Sport.  Cassill debuted the car and finished 33rd while Childress driver Austin Dillon drove the #33 to a 26th-place run.

After a sterling 12th-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500, the Hillman team’s first run with Sonoma sponsor Carsforsale.com, Cassill failed to qualify for the next two races, then qualified for the following race at Bristol only to lose the primary car in a vicious practice crash.  The team bounced back a few weeks later at Talladega, where Cassill ran with the leaders in an unsponsored #40 and finished a career-best 11th.

At Sonoma, Cassill proved elusive as both he and J.J. Yeley competed in both the Nationwide event at Road America and Sunday’s race.  Both earned top-ten finishes on Saturday while their cars were qualified by alternates.  Yeley’s #44 Phoenix Warehouses Chevrolet was qualified by K&N Pro Series West driver David Mayhew.  And after Cassill timed in 42nd in the opening practice session on Friday, Timmy Hill moved to 40th in Happy Hour, then secured the 37th starting spot Sunday with a lap of 94.012 mph.

On Sunday morning, with Cassill and Yeley back at the track with just hours to spare, I spoke with Hill, who was still on standby at the Hillman Racing hauler.  I asked him about his first Sonoma experience.

“It was really neat for me because I’ve never been to this track,” he said.  “The first time I’ve ever seen this place is this weekend.  I’ve raced in different road races in the past in Nationwide and ran a couple Grand-Am races and a few races growing up.  It’s not really my background, but it’s something I’ve done well on in the past.  It’s neat for me to come here.  This is the last track on the schedule I’ve never been to, so now I’ve been to every single racetrack."

Hill has made four Cup starts this season with a season-best finish of 36th at Pocono two weeks ago and a last-place finish at Bristol in March.

The 21-year-old Hill has made 28 Cup starts for Frank Stoddard, Rick Ware, Joe Nemechek, and the Circle Sport / Hillman Racing team.  His best career finish came at Kansas in 2012, when he finished 22nd driving Stoddard’s #32.  This year, he’s made three starts in the #33 Circle Sport Chevrolet.  I asked what his plans were for this year.

“This sport, you get a lot of support.  There’s a lot of good people in the garage.  I’ve known a lot of different people here and I take every opportunity I can get.  I haven’t been able to race too much this year, I guess five or six races so far, but it’s neat getting to come out here and run this track for the first time.  We’ve got some more deals lined up for the rest of the season.”

Before the start of Sunday’s race, Cassill and Yeley climbed back in their cars and started in the final two spots on the field due to the driver change.  Both passed road course driver Tomy Drissi in the early laps, putting Drissi’s #66 Hercules Toyota and the Identity Ventures Racing back to 43rd.  Drissi held the spot until Martin Truex, Jr.’s unscheduled stop in his #78 Furniture Row Chevrolet dropped him three-quarters of a lap behind leader A.J. Allmendinger.  Boris Said, who spun Go FAS Racing’s #32 7-11 / AmeriGas Ford in Turn 11 on Lap 4, was in 42nd.

On Lap 13, Truex caught Drissi, but both now competed for the 41st spot.  Michael McDowell, making his first start since the Coca-Cola 600, made an early pit stop for fresh tires and came out just a few carlengths in front of Allmendinger.  McDowell managed to widen the gap between he and the leader, then passed Said, who was the first to go down a lap by Lap 17.  Said was then passed by Cassill for the spot after Cassill pitted the #40 for the first time around Lap 24.

On Lap 30, Alex Kennedy, this week’s driver of the Circle Sport #33, had just taken the 43rd spot when Cassill’s #40 lost the engine in a huge plume of smoke on the frontstretch.  Cassill slowed to a stop at the Turn 1 entrance to the garage area, bringing out the first caution of the day.

“I don’t know what happened,” said the crew chief over the radio.  “But it looked big over here.”

The tow truck pushed Cassill to the garage area, and the team packed up.  By the time the race ended, their hauler had already left the track.

Finishing 42nd on Sunday was Matt Kenseth, who experienced the most vicious accident of the afternoon when contact from Dale Earnhardt, Jr. sent his #20 Dollar General Toyota head-on into the tire barriers entering the Esses.  Kenseth walked away from the accident, and though Cassill’s exit kept him from his first last-place finish since 2009, he was left with his first 42nd-place run since June 17, 2007 at Michigan.

Finishing 41st was rookie Ryan Truex, who broke the rear gear on his #83 Burger King Toyota and stopped in the Esses on Lap 62.  “I work my (expletive) off and get nothing for it,” said a dejected Truex.  He returned to the track on Lap 75 and finished under power, nineteen laps down.

Also under power was 40th-place Josh Wise, who for the third time this year carried sponsorship from Dogecoin thanks to the well-known Reddit crowdfunding effort.  Wise avoided the early-race carnage only to slow in the Esses on Lap 84.  The culprit, according to a crewman after the race, was an electrical problem with the fuel system.  Wise spent fifteen laps behind the wall, then came back to finish the race.  “We never give up,” said the crewman.  During Sunday's Tweetup, Wise said the Phil Parsons Racing team is still looking for sponsorship for much of their remaining 2014 season.

Rounding out the Bottom Five was Alex Kennedy, whose struggles with lateral grip in practice turned into a rear gear failure that stopped his #33 just six laps from the finish, making him one of only three DNFs in Sunday’s field.

Yesterday, I asked Carl Edwards what it would mean if he could give Ford its first win at the Sonoma Raceway since 2002.  He was surprised by the statistic, and said “it would mean a lot to me considering how terrible I was, when my road course career started.”  Less than a day later, he raised the ceremonial goblet in victory lane, having won ahead of a charging Jeff Gordon.

The finish was strikingly similar to the end of the 1997 event, Roush-Fenway’s most recent Cup win at Sonoma, when Mark Martin took the checkered flag when Gordon was unable to make the same Turn 11 pass stick.  In the media center, Jack Roush expressed his pride at picking up another road course win, which reminded him not only of Martin, but of his team winning its first-ever race at Sonoma with Greg Pickett during an SCCA Trans-Am race:

“We’ve really enjoyed our success road racing,” said Roush.  “Mark Martin was a good raod racer, and of course the Trans-Am in the SCCA programs we had and the IMSA programs we had before that that took us to this racetrack, it was always a lot of fun to do that.  There’s an expectation on my part.  I come out here and I tell the gys you need to get lots of toe out to get this thing t turn, and you need los of toe in in the back to get the forward bite.  There’s certain things about the racetrack that are unique, and they apply to all the cars that we’ve had here over the years.”

“So there was a lot of effort going into getting Carl to the point where he could do what he needs to do and trying to get the car what it needs to do.  The brakes did a nice job today.  The brakes are really important here.”

And the driver didn’t do half bad either.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first last-place finish for the #40 in a Cup Series race since last fall at Talladega, when Tony Raines’ turn in the Hillman Racing entry ended with engine trouble after two laps.
*It is the first last-place finish for the #40 in this event since 2002, when Sterling Marlin’s Coors Original Dodge slipped a belt and lost the engine after 19 laps of the race.  It is Cassill’s first last-place finish in the event - he came home 31st in his only other start here in 2012.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #40-Landon Cassill / 29 laps / engine
42) #20-Matt Kenseth / 74 laps / crash
41) #83-Ryan Truex / 91 laps / running
40) #98-Josh Wise / 95 laps / running
39) #33-Alex Kennedy / 104 laps / rear gear

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Dave Blaney (2)
2nd) Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer, Landon Cassill, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., David Gilliland, Timmy Hill, Travis Kvapil, Michael McDowell, Joe Nemechek, Morgan Shepherd, Tony Stewart, Martin Truex, Jr., Ryan Truex, Brian Vickers (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #77-Randy Humphrey Racing (2)
2nd) #14-Stewart-Haas Racing, #15-Michael Waltrip Racing, #32-Go FAS Racing, #33-Circle Sport, #38-Front Row Motorsports, #40-Hillman Racing, #43-Richard Petty Motorsports, #55-Michael Waltrip Racing, #66-Michael Waltrip Racing / Identity Ventures Racing, #78-Furniture Row Racing, #83-BK Racing, #87-NEMCO-JRR Motorsports, #88-Hendrick Motorsports, #95-Leavine Family Racing (1)

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

I hope you’ve enjoyed Sonoma Week here at LASTCAR.  Be sure to get your FREE copy of LASTCAR: The First Year-By-Year Chronicle of Last-Place Finishers in the NASCAR Cup Series (1949-2013).  Click here and enter promo code HG74S to download yours today!  But hurry - this promotion ends Monday!

N’WIDE: Kevin Lepage Finishes Last At Rain-Soaked Road America

SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin' Forums

Kevin Lepage picked up the 13th last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s wild Gardner Denver 200 at Road America when his unsponsored #93 JGL Racing Dodge broke the rear gear without completing a lap of the 53-lap race.

The finish was Lepage’s first of 2014 and his first in a Nationwide Series race since Charlotte in the spring of 2012, 69 races ago.  It is also Lepage’s second last-place finish in this event, joining his early exit in the inaugural race in 2010.

Lepage, a series veteran, was set to make his 345th Nationwide Series start on Saturday and his ninth of 2014.  The 52-year-old driver’s best finish of the season came with JD Motorsports, with whom he finished 19th at Darlington.  For Road America, Lepage would make his first start of the year for Gregg Mixon in the unsponsored #93 JGL Racing Dodge.  The team’s best finish of the year was a 16th with J.J. Yeley at Texas.  Yeley, pulling double-duty with the Cup race in Sonoma, drove the second JGL entry, #28, with sponsorship from Texas 28 Spirits Stage.

Just 37 cars were on the preliminary entry list, but 38 showed up at the track with the addition of a second Jimmy Means entry, #79, last seen at Fontana, this time driven by Michigan last-placer Tim Schendel.  Schendel qualified 32nd while Lepage timed in 37th, one of four drivers to not complete a qualifying lap on Saturday.  Lepage was 31st in the weekend’s only practice session.

Rain wreaked havoc with the entire race weekend.  During the early-race chaos, Lepage did not complete the opening lap and ended up with the last-place finish.  Both Schendel and LASTCAR record holder Jeff Green pulled out after the opening lap to take the next two spots.  Rounding out the Bottom Five were Carl Long in Rick Ware’s #15 and Ryan Ellis, driving in place of Matt DiBenedetto in the #46 The Motorsports Group entry.  With Josh Wise in Sonoma, DiBenedetto took a turn in TMG’s primary #40 and came home 11th.

DiBenedetto was one of many surprises in the final running order.  Not only had Brendan Gaughan scored his first Nationwide Series win in his 98th start, holding off a rallying Alex Tagliani who went from 23rd to 2nd in just two laps, but Ware’s second car driven by Corvette factory driver Kevin O’Connell nearly pulled the upset before finishing 3rd.  J.J. Yeley, Lepage’s teammate, finished a season-best 5th, his second top-ten finish of the year.  Road ringer Andy Lally gave the #55 its best finish since an 18th at Charlotte with a 7th-place run, and Landon Cassill finished 8th for his third top-ten finish of the year.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first last-place finish for the #93 in a Nationwide Series race since February 23, 2002, when Bill Hoff’s Pro-Mech USA Pontiac suffered a vibration after 4 laps of the 1-866RBCTerm.com 200 at Rockingham.
*This is the first time two consecutive Nationwide Series races had last-place finishers who did not complete a lap since July of 2005, when Shane Hall broke the rear end on his #28 Jay Robinson, Inc. Ford at Gateway, then Bryan Reffner lost the rear gear of his #67 Panasonic Dodge at Gateway.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #93-Kevin Lepage / 0 laps / rear gear
37) #79-Tim Schendel / 1 lap / water pump
36) #10-Jeff Green / 1 lap / vibration
35) #15-Carl Long / 2 laps / rear hub
34) #46-Ryan Ellis / 2 laps / ignition

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Blake Koch (6)
2nd) Jeff Green (3)
3rd) Tanner Berryhill, Ryan Ellis, Kevin Lepage, Tim Schendel, Jimmy Weller (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #10-TriStar Motorsports (7)
2nd) #91-TriStar Motorsports (2)
3rd) #17-Vision Racing, #46-The Motorsports Group, #55-VIVA Motorsports / SS Green Light Racing, #87-Rick Ware Racing, #93-JGL Racing (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (9)
2nd) Chevrolet (3)
3rd) Dodge (2)