Preliminary Entry List Storylines: Indianapolis and Eldora

PHOTO: @BobbyPierce32

CUP SERIES
Brantley Gilbert Big Machine Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis

For the eighth time in 2017, there will be a full field this Sunday, and for just the third time this season, one car will be sent home after qualifying.

Returning this week are two teams with very different partial schedules.  Motorsports Business Management returns for the first time since Kentucky, and for the first time since Kansas, team owner Carl Long is the listed driver.  Long has never started the Brickyard 400, and his two previous entries in 2000 and 2005 were both withdrawn.  Joining MBM is Tommy Baldwin Racing, which we last saw earlier this month at Daytona.  In place of plate driver Elliott Sadler is their intermediate driver J.J. Yeley, who has six Brickyard starts with a best finish of 28th in 2008.

Gray Gaulding confirmed on Twitter last week that his two-race stretch for Premium Motorsports has been extended into this Sunday’s race, and he will again pilot the #55 Toyota.  This time, his car will be sponsored by Low T Centers, which has backed both of Premium’s cars for much of the season.  Joining Gaulding this week is XFINITY regular Joey Gase, whose turn in the #15 Chevrolet will raise awareness for brain aneurysms through The Lisa Colagrossi Foundation.

For the second time this month, B.J. McLeod will run double-duty at Indy, where in the big show he will again campaign Rick Ware Racing’s #51 Chevrolet.  It is as of this writing unclear who the team’s sponsor will be, or if he will again run the former Clemson University car without the college’s decals, as he did at Kentucky.

For the third time in four races, BK Racing will again run Corey LaJoie in the #23 Toyota and Ryan Sieg in the #83.  The duo struggled last week at Loudon, both running two laps down and finishing 31st and 32nd.  Both are expected to make their first Brickyard 400 starts.

Give a call to Matt DiBenedetto, who last week earned a season-best 16th starting spot at Loudon.  The run equaled his career-best at the same track last year for BK Racing.  Unfortunately, the finish was also nearly identical – 30th on Sunday, up just one from 31st in 2016.

Looking for a much-needed turnaround is Cole Whitt, whose TriStar Motorsports #72 Chevrolet has had five engine failures in the last eight races, including the last three races in a row.  The Brickyard’s long straightaways will be one of the biggest tests for TriStar’s engine department.  Whitt’s best finish in three Brickyard 400s was a 29th last year for Premium Motorsports.  Curiously, TriStar has made just one start before in this race – a last-place “start-and-park” effort by Mike Bliss in 2012.  Their rookie driver Loy Allen, Jr. was among the 43 drivers who failed to qualify for the 1994 inaugural.

XFINITY SERIES
Lily Diabetes 250 at Indianapolis

Last week at Loudon, Motorsports Business Management’s late entry of John Jackson in the #72 Chevrolet prevented the series’ first short field of 2017.  This week, Jackson is not on the list as, following the withdrawal of Biagi DenBeste Racing’s #98 for Casey Mears, there are exactly 40 cars for 40 spots.  Among those locked-in will be Morgan Shepherd in his #89 and Reed Sorenson in JD Motorsports’ #15, which made its first “start-and-park” effort last week in Loudon.

Missing from this week’s list is Martins Motorsports’ #45 Diamond Gusset Jeans Chevrolet, which was earlier this year slated to return this weekend.  Tommy Joe Martins tweeted Monday that he will continue to drive for B.J. McLeod Motorsports for as long as he’ll have him.  Sure enough, he is again driving the #78 on Saturday alongside McLeod in the #8 and the #99 Striping Technologies Chevrolet of David Starr.  McLeod confirmed last week that the #99 is owned by his team and is operated by Bobby Dotter of SS Green Light Racing.

TRUCK SERIES
Eldora Dirt Derby 150 at Eldora

Tomorrow night, 34 drivers will wage war in the lone dirt track event on the schedule.

Norm Benning, the lead story of the 2013 inaugural for his thrilling battle in the Last Chance Qualifier, looks to make his first start in the event since his track-best 19th in 2015.  For the first time, Benning will field two trucks in this race, bringing out the #57 that has run a handful of races this summer.  As of this writing, there is no listed driver for this second truck, which earlier this year was driven by Tommy Regan, J.J. Yeley, and B.J. McLeod.  Before he heads to Indy, Yeley will drive D.J. Copp’s #83 Fr8Auctions.com Chevrolet.

Two more teams are currently listed without drivers.  The first is Jennifer Jo Cobb Racing’s flagship #10 Driven2Honor.org Chevrolet (Korbin Forrister is already listed in Cobb’s second truck, the #0).  Cobb made her way into the last two main events at Eldora, finishing 27th in 2015 and 26th last year.  The other entry without a driver is Bryan Hill’s #20 Young’s Building Systems Chevrolet, the team Tyler Young drove for in Iowa.

For the first time this year, both Stewart Friesen and his Stewart-Friesen Racing return to familiar territory.  The veteran dirt-tracker made his series debut here last year, finishing 28th.  But there’s a large number of other dirt track stars with eyes on victory.

Making his own series debut is sprint car racer Max Johnston, who brings sponsorship from Brandt Agriculture to Randy Young’s #02 Chevrolet.  2016 Southern Sportmod Champion Jeffrey Abbey will do the same, the Texan switching from his late model to Al Niece’s #45 Black Riffle Coffee Company Chevrolet.  USAC wingless sprint racer Chris Windom, fresh off a win in Pennsylvania’s Eastern Storm, climbs through the window of MB Motorsports’ #36 Chevrolet.  Windom will have a good teammate to take notes from: Bobby Pierce – so close to winning the last two Eldora races from the pole – will once again pilot the cherry-red #63 Gotta Race Chevrolet.  Unlike the last two years, Pierce’s truck will carry the current 2017 Chevrolet sheet metal.

Also returning are four-time track champion J.R. Heffner, looking to improve on his track-best 4th-place start and 15th-place finish last year, and late model racer Justin Shipley, who will again drive Tracy Wallace’s #80 Ford.  XFINITY Series part-timer Brandon Hightower will return to his late model roots when he drives in place of Jordan Anderson in the #1 TJL Racing Chevrolet.  So will NASCAR legend Ken Schrader, who this year takes a turn in Bolen Motorsports’ #66 Chevrolet, a team which last year with Anderson were determined to get their truck into the main event.  Then, of course, there’s west coast sprint car star Rico Abreu, who returns to the Truck Series and ThorSport Racing for the first time this year in the #89 Curb Records Toyota.

CUP: Tumultuous week for Erik Jones ends with #77’s first last-place run at Loudon in 20 years

PHOTO: @NASCAR

Erik Jones picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Overton’s 301 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway when his #77 5-hour Energy Toyota was involved in a single-car accident after 40 of 301 laps.

The finish, which came in Jones’ 22nd series start, was his second of the season and his first since Richmond, 10 races ago.

The rookie driver came into Loudon as perhaps the week’s biggest story.  On Tuesday, following Matt Kenseth’s announcement that he would no longer drive for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2018, Jones was tabbed as his replacement.  The long-speculated rumor came following a stretch of strong performances in Furniture Row Racing’s new second team.  He scored a career-best 3rd at the difficult Pocono Raceway, a 7th in the Coca-Cola 600, and back-to-back Top 10s at Daytona and Kentucky.  He also remained active on the XFINITY side, scoring two straight wins at Texas and Bristol.  Still, heading into Loudon, he sat just 14th in Cup points, having scored four DNFs – including his last-place run at Richmond – all due to crashes.

Jones had a fast piece at Loudon, starting the weekend with the 9th-fastest lap.  Later that day, he busted his way through all three rounds of qualifying, ranking 2nd in the first round, 3d in the next, then 7th in the final.  When polesitter Kyle Larson’s time was disallowed for an unapproved rear decklid fin, Jones moved up to 6th on the grid – his second-best starting spot of the season behind a 5th at Charlotte.  Sitting out Saturday’s XFINITY race, Jones ran 6th in that day’s morning practice before settling for 10th in Happy Hour.

Starting last was the aforementioned Larson, who for the second-straight week would have to claw his way through the entire field.  While no other drivers were sent to the rear before the start, three cars actually moved behind Larson just before the green flag.  As the tail end of the field worked its way through Turn 4, 35th-place starter Reed Sorenson in the #15 Premium Motorsports Chevrolet, 36th-place Ryan Sieg in the #83 BK Racing Graphics Toyota, and 37th-place Jeffrey Earnhardt in the #33 Hulu Chevrolet all dropped back and were lined up two-by-two behind Larson as they headed down the front straightaway.  At the stripe, it was Earnhardt’s #33 which already took the green in last, but by Turn 1 he had caught and passed the #51 Prevagen / CNC Swiss Chevrolet of Josh Bilicki.

Bilicki, who made his Cup debut for Ware last month at Sonoma, was on Tuesday tabbed to drive the car once more.  Unfortunately, the car faced a litany of problems from the very start.  On top of a serious handling issue that made the car push through the middle of the corners, forcing several manual track bar adjustments, the #51 overheated almost from the very start, spraying water from the overflow.  On Lap 3, however, Bilicki was surprised to see he had passed the #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, whose driver Jimmie Johnson was handed a pass-through penalty for beating polesitter Martin Truex, Jr. to the stripe at the start.  Johnson re-passed Bilicki for 38th on Lap 12, taking it at the stripe with a pass to the inside, and on the 20th circuit, Bilicki became the first driver to lose a lap.

A miscommunication between driver and crew caused Bilicki to accidentally miss coming to pit road under the competition caution on Lap 37.  On Lap 39, the team decided to keep the #51 on the track, putting their driver back on the lead lap with the other wave-around cars.  Meanwhile, trouble broke out on pit road among the lead-lap cars.  Erik Jones finished his stop and tried to merge back in line, preserving his spot in the Top 10.  Unfortunately, there came a logjam caused by the side-by-side cars of Denny Hamlin and Kasey Kahne.  Suddenly three-wide with the two drivers, Jones made contact with Kahne, causing damage to his right-front fender.  The crew’s decision to keep Jones on track had disastrous results.

On the Lap 41 restart, a tire let go on the #77, sending Jones’ Toyota into the outside wall at a sharp angle.  The car smashed the barrier heavily with the right-front, lifting the car off the ground before it came to a stop.  While Jones was uninjured and walked away from the wreck, his car was totaled, done for the afternoon.  The car was towed back to the garage through the Turn 3 entrance to the infield, pulled down parallel to the backstretch, then turned into the garage.

In a curious twist, it was contact with Kahne which also triggered his previous last-place finish at Richmond.

38th went to Cole Whitt, who lost the engine on his black #72 TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet for the third-straight week and the fifth time in eight races.  37th went to Joey Logano, whose playoff chances took a major hit when the rear track bar came loose on Lap 174, forcing 31 laps of repairs.  Logano’s #22 Pennzoil / Shell Ford returned to the track on Lap 206, made a quick stop for fuel, and finished the race under power.  Bilicki’s overheating #51 made it home 11 laps down in 36th, thanks to a frantic stop under the Lap 90 caution where the team nearly lost a second lap.  Five circuits ahead of them in 35th came Gray Gaulding in his second of two runs driving the #55 #CheckIt4Andretti Toyota.  Gaulding’s Twitter now indicates that he will also be racing next week at Indianapolis.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place for the #77 in a Cup Series race at Loudon since September 14, 1997, when Robert Pressley’s #77 Jasper Engines / Federal Mogul Ford was involved in a single-car accident after 185 of 300 laps of the CMT 300.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
39) #77-Erik Jones / 40 laps / crash
38) #72-Cole Whitt / 66 laps / engine
37) #22-Joey Logano / 269 laps / running
36) #51-Josh Bilicki / 290 laps / running
35) #55-Gray Gaulding / 295 laps / running

2017 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Circle Sport with The Motorsports Group (4)
2nd) BK Racing, Furniture Row Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Roush-Fenway Racing (2)
3rd) Chip Ganassi Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, JTG-Daugherty Racing, Premium Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing (1)

2017 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (10)
2nd) Toyota (6)
3rd) Ford (3)

2017 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

XFINITY: John Jackson’s late entry keeps field full as #72 gets first last-place finish since 2007

PHOTO: @MBMMotorsports

John Jackson picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Overton’s 200 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #72 Motorsports Business Management Chevrolet fell out with a vibration after 4 of 200 laps.

The finish, which came in Jackson’s 23rd series start, was his first of the season and his first in an XFINITY Series race since last summer at Iowa, 31 races ago.

Jackson wasn’t originally scheduled to compete at Loudon, but the entry list presented an opportunity.  Just 39 drivers made the preliminary entry list, threatening the first short field of the 2017 XFINITY Series season.  By Friday, however, Motorsports Business Management rolled a third car off their hauler to join the #13 OCR Gaz Bar Chevrolet of Carl Long and Timmy Hill’s #40 CrashClaimsR.us Dodge.  It was a second Dodge without sponsorship, #72.

The #72 is a remnant of a race team owned by Florida attorney James Carter, who fielded the entry part-time from 2011 through 2014.  Both John Jackson and Carl Long were among the drivers who made the team’s 16 appearances, all but one ending with an “start-and-park” effort.  It was Jackson who brought the #72 home under power for the only time at Atlanta on September 3, 2011, when his was the last car to finish under power in 31st.

By all accounts, Carter’s team has since been absorbed into MBM (the CrashClaimsR.us sponsorship now on MBM’s #40 links to Carter’s website), and the team has since been brought out to help fill fields.  Long first entered the car himself last September at Darlington, where Obaika Racing withdrew their #77 Chevrolet for a field of 39.  Jackson returned to the #72 Chevrolet that day and finished 39th, one lap ahead of last-place finisher Matt DiBenedetto.  Two other times that year, the #72 missed the cut – a withdrawal at Iowa and a DNQ at Kentucky.  Loudon would mark the team’s first 2017 entry since it was withdrawn earlier this year at Fontana.

Jackson didn’t participate in either of Friday’s practices, then turned in a qualifying lap of just 112.726mph – more than 4.3 seconds off the pole speed of 129.353mph set by race winner Kyle Busch.  This put Jackson 40th and last on the grid – one spot behind the backup car of Dylan Lupton, who wrecked his #24 Nut Up Toyota off Turn 2 during the first round of qualifying.  After four laps, Jackson pulled behind the wall, first out of the race.

39th went to Reed Sorenson, who finally put JD Motorsports’ fourth team - #15 – into the race after back-to-back withdrawals.  The team turned out to be a “start-and-park” entry similar to Jackson’s, exiting the event after 7 laps with brake issues as the listed cause.  The rest of the Bottom Five were filled with other LASTCAR contenders: 38th went to Jeff Green, whose championship leading #93 Chevrolet for RSS Racing carried sponsorship from HangNOut.com.  Morgan Shepherd finished 37th in his #89 Racing With Jesus / VisoneRV.com, out with suspension issues.  Rounding out the group was MBM’s #13 with Carl Long, whose day was done with electrical issues.

Next week at Indianapolis, MBM will be pulling double-duty as, in addition to their XFINITY Series efforts, the #66 Chevrolet returns to the Cup Series after a one-week hiatus.  The team has also unveiled its Darlington throwback entry for the Southern 500, which commemorates both Darrell Waltrip’s 2000 Victory Tour and Carl Long’s role in it.  When Waltrip failed to qualify for his final Coca-Cola 600, it was Long who let Waltrip drive his #85 Ford, foregoing his own Cup debut in the process.  Waltrip, who with brother Michael sponsored the #66 earlier this year, has been making a push on Twitter for someone to sponsor #66 this September.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #72 in an XFINITY Series race since November 10, 2007, when D.J. Kennington’s #72 Northern Provincial Pipe Lines Dodge for MacDonald Motorsports crashed after 7 laps of the Arizona Travel 200 at Phoenix.  The number hadn’t finished last in an XFINITY Series race at Loudon since June 30, 2007, when Randy MacDonald’s turn in the same car ended with handling issues after 12 laps of the Camping World 200 Presented by RVs.com.
*Jackson’s last-place finish is the first for a Dodge in the series since Chris Cook had suspension issues last August at Watkins Glen.  It’s the first last-place run for a non-Chevrolet this season – Ford and Toyota have yet to finish last in a 2017 XFINITY Series race.

2017 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) RSS Racing (10)
2nd) B.J. McLeod Motorsports, Kaulig Racing, King Autosport, Motorsports Business Management, Richard Childress Racing, Shepherd Racing Ventures, SS Green Light Racing (1)

2017 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (16)
2nd) Dodge (1)

2017 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

7/11/93: First Cup Series last-place finish at Loudon and most recent for car #65 both belong to Jerry O’Neil

O'Neil's Oldsmobile in 1992
PHOTO: Source Unknown

On July 11, 1993, Jerry O’Neil picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Winston Cup Series career in the Slick 50 300 at the New Hampshire International Speedway when his unsponsored #65 Aroneck Racing Chevrolet was involved in a multi-car accident after 9 of 300 laps.

The finish, which came in O’Neil’s 15th series start, was his first of the season and his first in a Cup Series points race since June 17, 1990, when his #53 Aroneck Racing Oldsmobile broke a crank after 22 laps of the Miller Genuine Draft 500 at Pocono.

Born in Auburn, New York, O’Neil started out in the Super Modified ranks and Top Fuel drags before he eyed a move to stock cars.  His first Cup attempt came on March 5, 1989, when he entered a red-and-black Chevrolet Monte Carlo.  The car was owned by Alan Aroneck, O’Neil’s crew chief from his drag racing days, who would go on to become the Chairman of the Board for Material Recovery Services, Inc.  Driving car #53, O’Neil qualified 33rd in the 42-car field and finished 28th, 16 laps down to race winner Rusty Wallace.

O’Neil and Aroneck attempted another six races that year, qualifying for both Charlotte races and the fall return to Rockingham, and also ran 28th out of 30 in his first Winston Open All-Star qualifying race at Charlotte.  His best run of the year came a week later in the Coca-Cola 600, where he ran 26th.

Late in the 1989 season, O’Neil upgraded to an all-white Oldsmobile Cutlass, and the following year brought it to Florida for his first attempt at the Daytona 500.  Despite a 21st-place finish in his Twin 125-mile qualifier, he made the cut for the 500, securing the 39th spot in the 42-car field.  At the start, his was one of the first cars to be passed by polesitter Ken Schrader, whose #25 Kodiak Chevrolet had been sent to the back after a last-lap wreck in his 125 sent him to a backup car.  In the end, Schrader lost an engine and finished 40th while O’Neil grabbed 31st.

It was during the 1990 season that O’Neil made his first Cup start at his home track, Watkins Glen International.  Driving the #2 Nice ‘n Easy Pontiac for longtime owner-driver D.K. Ulrich, O’Neil started 35th and worked his way up to 26th, tying his career-best run at Charlotte the year before.  After missing the cut at The Glen in his own car in 1991, O’Neil then gave Ulrich a ride in a second Arnoeck Oldsmobile at Dover in 1992.  Ulrich parked the #85 after 21 laps in what turned out to be the Californian’s 273rd and final Cup start.

It was in 1992 that O’Neil made his most starts of any season, qualifying for six of his nine attempts.  He improved his career-best finish at Pocono on June 14, where he ran 21st, 12 laps down, in what became Alan Kulwicki’s final Cup Series win.  The #65 picked up sponsorship from Wheels Discount Auto that summer, and he carried the brand to a 25th-place finish in the rain-shortened Watkins Glen event, then 29th that fall at Charlotte.  His best run of the year came in the first night running of the Winston Open, where he ran 14th in the 25-car field.

That same ’92 season, O’Neil branched out into ARCA, running double-duty at both Pocono races, the season finale at Atlanta, and the stand-alone race at Texas World Speedway.  He finished a strong 5th in the Texas event, his first race in a Chevrolet, and followed Mickey Gibbs, Roy Payne, polesitter Loy Allen, Jr., and West Series regular John Krebs to the finish line.  He also earned a lead-lap finish at Pocono in July, besting Frank Kimmel and Bobby Bowsher, among others.  A career-best 3rd came in O’Neil’s next ARCA appearance at Pocono, where this time he trailed only race winner Bob Schacht and runner-up Jimmy Horton.

Heading into the summer of 1993, O’Neil had yet to make a single Cup race.  He was the second-slowest of nine DNQs for the Winston 500 at Talladega, the third slowest of seven for the Coca-Cola 600, and the 13th slowest of an incredible 20 for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona.  Fortunately, just 41 drivers were set to attempt the 40-car grid for the following week’s Slick 50 300, the first Cup Series race at the New Hampshire International Speedway.  In qualifying, O’Neil secured the 36th starting spot, more than enough to bump the Henley Gray / Jimmy Means effort of Clay Young in the #62 Ford.  This time, O’Neil’s white Chevrolet was painted black, similar to his old Top Fuel dragster “Down and Dirty.”

Means himself started last in the 40-car field in the black #52 Hurley Limo Ford.  Ahead of him inside the Top 20 were two Busch Series regulars making their Cup debuts, each with experience on the Loudon track since it joined their circuit in 1990.  Joe Nemechek entered his own #87 Chevrolet with sponsorship from Dentyne and started 15th.  And starting 6th in the #0 TIC Financial Ford, Jeff Burton gave car owner Fil Martocci (of FILMAR Racing) his own first Cup start in a Ford that Mark Martin raced earlier that year at North Wilkesboro.

Heading into Turn 1 on Lap 2, Burton was trying to clear Ken Schrader for 4th when the two made contact, sending both cars into a lazy spin.  While Schrader managed to escape into the grass, Burton crossed the path of Ernie Irvan’s #4 Kodak Chevrolet.  The two collided, causing damage to Burton’s left-front and Irvan’s right-front.  Morgan Shepherd also suffered damage to the nose of the Wood Brothers’ #21 Citgo Ford.  Schrader was still on pit road for the Lap 6 restart, the crew working on the right-front of his car.  He returned to the track one lap down, only to be involved in the second caution of the day.

On Lap 10, a multi-car wreck unfolded off Turn 4, pinning Phil Parsons’ #41 Manheim Auto Auctions Chevrolet in the outside wall and sending Schrader’s #25 spinning down the track.  Through the cloud of smoke, O’Neil was collected by Michael Waltrip’s #30 Pennzoil Pontiac, and both cars slammed into the inside wall.  Waltrip managed to drive back to pit road, and Schrader crossed the line before abandoning his car in the infield.  But Parsons and O’Neil were done for the day.  O’Neil, who was running behind Parsons before the crash, was thus credited with the last-place finish.  Schrader lost an engine and secured 38th.  Burton crashed a second time on Lap 90, putting his #0 behind the wall.  Rounding out the Bottom Five was Nemechek, who broke a rocker arm on his #87.

O’Neil ran 18th in his final ARCA start during the following week’s return to Pocono, a weekend whose events were overshadowed by the death of Davey Allison.  His final Cup start came three months later on October 10, during the Mello Yello 500 at Charlotte.  This time, he qualified 32nd in the 42-car field, well ahead of eight drivers sent home after time trials.  Among the DNQs were Dave Marcis and current Truck Series competitor Norm Benning.  O’Neil finished 34th in the race out with a drop in oil pressure just 23 laps short of the finish.

With sponsorship from the X-1R Corporation and another team alliance, this time with Phil Barkdoll, O’Neil attempted three more Cup fields into the first part of the 1994 season, including the inaugural Brickyard 400, but made none of those races.  His only green flag that year came in his fifth and final Winston Open appearance, where his Chevrolet finished on the lead lap, 20th out of 36 starters.  With that, his final points race in 1993 marked the 97th and most recent Cup Series start for car #65, the least-used number currently available to Cup teams.

But the story doesn’t end there.  When the O’Neil family moved from New York to Mooresville, North Carolina to pursue their Cup effort, Jerry’s son Brandon looked to get into racing himself.  He started racing quarter midgets and dirt go-karts, then worked on his father’s Hooters Pro Cup team when Jerry made a pair of starts in 1998 and 1999.  Brandon has since racked up victories in both New York and North Carolina, and can now be seen driving his father’s #65 on his Dirt Late Model.  For more on Brandon and the O’Neil team, check out his website here.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This remains the fourth and most recent last-place finish for car #65 in a Cup Series points race.  The only other instances were Tommie Crozier’s run at Pocono in 1989, and two finishes by Allan Harley in 1962 (one each at Bristol and Asheville-Weaverville Speedway).

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #65-Jerry O’Neil / 9 laps / crash
39) #41-Phil Parsons / 9 laps / crash
38) #25-Ken Schrader / 14 laps / engine
37) #0-Jeff Burton / 86 laps / crash
36) #87-Joe Nemechek / 119 laps / rocker arm

SOURCES
*1993 Slick 50 300 at New Hampshire, TNN (posted on YouTube by BigTNASCAR)
*Brandon O’Neil Official Website, oneilmotorsports.com
*Draglist.com
*Racing-reference.info

Preliminary Entry List Storylines: Loudon

PHOTO: @HMediaUS

CUP SERIES
Overton’s 301 at New Hampshire

For the first time since Sonoma and the 13th time in 2017, there aren’t enough cars to fill this Sunday’s 40-car field.  Motorsports Business Management, fresh off a 31st-place finish for Timmy Hill at Kentucky, has not entered its #66 Chevrolet this weekend, leaving the grid at 39 cars – the shortest Cup field to ever take the green in its 24 years on the circuit.

Pending the outcome of today’s test at Charlotte, New Hampshire will be the scene of Aric Almirola’s return to Cup Series competition since his brutal accident at Kansas two months ago.  Though he finished last here in September 2015, that finish remains Almirola’s only DNF at Loudon, where his best finish at the track was a 5th in 2013.  Despite a last-lap wreck with Matt Kenseth, Darrell Wallace, Jr. performed admirably in his fourth Cup start at Kentucky, finishing a season-best 11th.

The other team with the driver “to be announced” is Rick Ware Racing.  Last week, the Ware team selected B.J. McLeod to make his first Cup start since 2015, resulting in a 32nd-place finish.  Although not confirmed, McLeod could potentially drive again as he made his Cup debut at Loudon for Circle Sport and will be at the speedway for Saturday’s XFINITY Series race.

Give a call to Premium Motorsports, who as reported here on Saturday, averted a near disaster that would have prevented them from completing a single lap of the race, ultimately finishing 35th.  Gray Gaulding will again be piloting the #55 Toyota in the second race of his two-race deal – as of this writing, the team’s driver for Indianapolis and onward has yet to be announced.  Teammate Reed Sorenson quietly finished 28th Saturday in Premium’s #15, the best finish by that car since its season-best 25th at Kansas.

A pair of blown tires put Joey Gase out of the race last week, and he won’t be back in BK Racing’s #23 Toyota until next month at Bristol.  In the meantime, the team has returned to its Coke Zero 400 lineup with Corey LaJoie in the #23 and Ryan Sieg in the #83.  Sieg finished 27th last Saturday, one spot short of his season-best 26th at his Dover debut.  LaJoie returns to the scene of his own Cup debut for Randy Humphrey Racing in 2014, when he finished 41st in the #77 Fochler Veterans Law / Valor4Vets.com Ford.

It’s been a rough summer for TriStar Motorsports as driver Cole Whitt has failed to finish five of his last seven starts, four of them due to blown engines.  His best finish at Loudon in five previous starts was a 24th two years ago for Front Row Motorsports.  It will be just the fourth Cup Series entry at Loudon for team owner Mark Smith, whose three finishes were 32nd (Greg Sacks in the 1993 inaugural), 42nd (Reed Sorenson in 2012), and 43rd (Mike Bliss in 2013).

XFINITY SERIES
Overton’s 200 at New Hampshire

For the first time this season, there aren’t enough XFINITY Series teams to fill the 40-car field.  Just 39 drivers will take the green flag, the shortest field for the series at this track since 38 lined up on May 12, 2001 (and last-place finisher Mark Green did not start).

Among the missing are Quin Houff for Precision Performance Motorsports in the #46 Chevrolet, the Biagi DenBeste Racing #98 for Casey Mears, and Ben Kennedy’s GMS Racing #96 (Kennedy will instead drive Richard Childress Racing’s #2 Richmond / Menards Chevrolet in place of Paul Menard).  There are also two fewer Cup Series interlopers with the omission of both Ryan Blaney (#12 for Penske Racing) and Kevin Harvick (#41 for Stewart-Haas Racing).  Unfortunately for the rest of the field, they will still have to deal with Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Ty Dillon, and Kyle Larson.

Also pulling double-duty is Reed Sorenson, who this week takes his turn in JD Motorsports’ #15.  Though this car has been withdrawn every time it has been entered (both at Daytona and Kentucky), this week’s short field will likely keep it in the show.  Best of the Johnny Davis team last Saturday in Kentucky was Ross Chastain, who finished 20th ahead of Garrett Smithley (26th) and Harrison Rhodes (28th), the first race where all three finished under power since Michigan.

Welcome back Tommy Joe Martins, who will drive B.J. McLeod’s #78 Chevrolet for the first time since his breakthrough 11th-place finish at Iowa.  Reports indicate that Martins may again attempt to field his ow #45 Diamond Gusset Jeans Chevrolet next week in Indianapolis.  Joining Martins on the return from Iowa is Dylan Lupton, who finished 15th that night in JGL Racing’s #24 Nut Up Toyota.

Also returning this week is Martin Roy, who we last saw finish 32nd at Talladega.  Roy returns to Mario Gosselin’s #90 Cote / Gamache Truck Center Chevrolet and looks to improve on his season-best 25th at Fontana.  King Autosport's second entry, #92, remains missing in action since Josh Williams’ crash at Daytona.

TRUCK SERIES
Next Race: Aspen Dental 150 at Eldora
Wednesday, July 19, 2017