CUP: David Gilliland Scores First Last-Place Finish In Nearly Five Years

SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin' Forums

David Gilliland picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #38 Love’s Travel Stops Ford was involved in a single-car accident after he completed 160 of the race’s 400 laps.

The finish was Gilliland’s first of the season and his first in the series in almost five years.  This dates back to May 31, 2009, when his #71 TRG Motorsports Chevrolet fell out with power issues after 38 laps of the Autism Speaks 400 presented by Heluva Good at Dover.

That day at Dover, 179 races ago, Gilliland was driving for sports car team owner Kevin Buckler, one of many people who founded start-up Cup teams following massive team layoffs in the 2008-2009 offseason.  The layoffs came amidst the mergers and closures of several Cup teams, including Yates Racing, the team Gilliland earned following his surprising Nationwide Series win at Kentucky in 2006.  In 2010, Bobby Labonte replaced Gilliland in TRG’s #71, and after a brief foray with several other teams, Gilliland joined Front Row Motorsports.

Bob Jenkins’ Front Row team, which started making a handful of Cup starts in 2005, had survived the 2008-2009 downsizing, and with John Andretti behind the wheel of its flagship #34 completed its first full season in 2009.  The effort was aided by a second “start-and-park” team, #37, which contended for the LASTCAR Cup Series title with veteran Tony Raines.  In 2010, Gilliland would debut a third Front Row team, driving the same #38 he ran with Yates.  The #34 went to fellow journeyman driver Travis Kvapil while rookie Kevin Conway took control of the #37.

Gilliland is the only Front Row Motorsports driver to have raced for the team in every single season since 2010.  While his two best finishes with the team have come at the restrictor-plate tracks - a 3rd in the 2011 Daytona 500 and a 2nd last April at Talladega - he also earned a 12th-place finish at Sonoma in 2011, site of his other 2nd-place finish for Yates in 2008.

This season, Front Row remained at three cars, but scaled back to two following the second DNQ of Eric McClure in the #35 at Talladega.  Gilliland and teammate David Ragan both ran strong in the race only to fall out in separate incidents.  That race marked the beginning of an unfortunate streak for Gilliland, who was involved in a frightening crash with Justin Allgaier during the late stages of the race at Kansas earlier this month.  These back-to-back DNFs came right after his season-best 20th at Richmond.

At Charlotte, Gilliland avoided trouble in the Sprint Showdown during All-Star weekend to come home 11th of 23 drivers.  For the 600, he timed in 32nd of 45 cars in the opening practice, then ran 37th of 43 and 36th of 40 in Saturday’s final two sessions.  In between, he qualified 33rd for Sunday’s race with a lap averaging 188.732 mph.

The beginning of Sunday’s race ran at a grueling green-flag pace for the first 108 consecutive laps.  During this stretch, several drivers lost laps early.  43rd-place starter Blake Koch, the current LASTCAR Nationwide Series leader, made his second start of 2014 by this time driving the #32 Supportmilitary.org Ford fielded by FAS Lane Racing.  For much of the race’s first half, Koch traded 43rd with Joe Nemechek, who received funding from testosterone supplement Testoril on his #66 NEMCO / Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota.  Both were also the first to lose a lap around Lap 19.

Nemechek had just inched behind Koch for 43rd when Gilliland found trouble on Lap 165.  Himself running laps down by that point, Gilliland suffered a possible right-front tire failure and slammed the outside wall in Turn 2, causing severe damage to his Ford.  He, as well as Reed Sorenson in the #36 Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet, were both listed as “OFF” for several laps.  But by halfway, first Gilliland, then Sorenson, were officially retired.  Gilliland edged Sorenson for the spot by just two laps.

Nemechek and Koch came home 34th and 35th, respectively, as late-race attrition filled the rest of the Bottom Five.  Finishing 41st was Josh Wise, whose again-unsponsored #98 Phil Parsons Racing Chevrolet suffered nose damage in a Lap 236 pileup triggered by the spinning Marcos Ambrose off Turn 4.  The other two spots went to two Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolets.  40th-place Kurt Busch successfully completed the Indianapolis 500 that morning with a 6th-place run, but his #41 Haas Automation Made in America Chevrolet struggled in the 600, dropped a cylinder, then lost the engine after 271 laps.  Teammate Danica Patrick qualified 4th, dropped through the field in the opening run, then lost her own engine after completing just ten more laps than Busch.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first last-place finish for the #38 in a Cup Series race since August 6, 2006, when Elliott Sadler’s Snickers Ford crashed after he completed 3 laps of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.  Two races later at Michigan, Sadler would leave the #38 Yates Racing-owned team to drive for Evernham Motorsports in the #19, leaving the ride open for Gilliland.
*This is the first last-place finish for the #38 in a Cup Series race at Charlotte since October 11, 2003, when Sadler’s M&M’s Halloween Ford crashed after he completed 204 laps of the UAW-GM Quality 500.
*It’s the first for the #38 in the Coca-Cola 600 since May 26, 2002, when Kevin Leapge’s GEICO Direct Ford, owned by once-LASTCAR record holder Derrike Cope, lost an engine after 54 laps.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #38-David Gilliland / 160 laps / crash
42) #36-Reed Sorenson / 162 laps / engine
41) #98-Josh Wise / 229 laps / crash
40) #41-Kurt Busch / 271 laps / engine
39) #10-Danica Patrick / 281 laps / engine

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

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #14-Stewart-Haas Racing, #15-Michael Waltrip Racing, #33-Circle Sport, #38-Front Row Motorsports, #43-Richard Petty Motorsports, #66-Michael Waltrip Racing / NEMCO-JRR Motorsports, #77-Randy Humphrey 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) Chevrolet, Ford, Toyota (4)

N’WIDE: Tanner Berryhill’s Dodge Loses An Engine At Charlotte

SOURCE: Popular Speed

Tanner Berryhill picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s History 300 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #17 National Cash Lenders Dodge fell out with engine failure after he completed 81 of the race’s 200 laps.

It’s Berryhill’s first last-place finish of the season and his first in the series since last year at Darlington, 35 races ago.

Following the Darlington race, Berryhill and his family’s Vision Racing team ran four more races in 2013, but couldn’t quite improve upon the youngster’s career-best 28th-place finish in his series debut at Richmond.

This season, with new sponsorship from BWP Bats, Berryhill has competed in nine of the season’s eleven races, missing only the plate races at Daytona and Talladega, and falling from the latter only because of a qualifying crash that destroyed the team’s only car.  In that stretch, Berryhill has improved his series-best finish to a 25th at Las Vegas, all despite running non-factory-supported Dodges.

At Charlotte, Berryhill timed in 31st of 40 cars in the opening practice, 31st of 37 in Happy Hour, and secured the 40th and final starting spot in qualifying without completing a qualifying lap.  A tweet by Chris Knight reported Berryhill’s team couldn’t get the car through inspection in time due to the nose of the car being too narrow.

No drivers were sent home after qualifying day as LASTCAR contenders Blake Koch in TriStar’s #10 Toyota and Matt DiBenedetto in the TMG #46 both withdrew their entries prior to the weekend.  With both Ryan Ellis and Jimmy Weller without cars in Saturday’s field as well, this guaranteed a fifth different last-place finisher this Nationwide Series season.

At first, it appeared the finish would go to Chris Cockrum, who was originally slated to make his Nationwide debut driving a NEMCO #87 Ford prepared by Rick Ware racing.  Cockrum backed into the outside wall in practice, however, and it first appeared that he would withdraw.  However, on race day, Cockrum entered a #87 Chevrolet fielded by JD Motorsports and started right next to Berryhill in the final row.  After the green flag, Berryhill moved forward while Cockrum was driver to lose a lap.

In the end, Cockrum finished 35th as three drivers in Dodges retired while two others in Chevrolets lost several laps.  Berryhill dropped out with engine trouble after 81 laps, securing the last-place finish.  In 39th was the Mike Harmon-owned #74 Fryin’ Saucer Guys / 30 Days Foundation entry driven by series veteran Kevin Lepage, fourteen laps behind Berryhill, followed in 38th by Harrison Rhodes in the Voxer.com-backed JGL Racing machine, which also lost an engine.  In 37th was two-time winner Chase Elliott, who lost several laps after an early mechanical failure, while 36th went to 1990 Daytona 500 winner Derrike Cope in his #70.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first last-place finish for the #17 in a Nationwide Series race at Charlotte.
*This is the first last-place finish for Dodge in a Nationwide Series race since last July at Daytona, when Morgan Shepherd’s #89 Racing With Jesus Dodge broke a rear gear after 21 laps of the Subway Jalapeno 250.  Next week at Dover, Shepherd is expected to make his first Nationwide Series attempt of the season.
*It’s the first last-place finish for a Dodge at Charlotte since October 15, 2010, when Parker Kligerman’s #26 Dodge crashed after 3 laps of the Dollar General 300.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #17-Tanner Berryhill / 81 laps / engine
39) #74-Kevin Lepage / 95 laps / rear gear
38) #93-Harrison Rhodes / 135 laps / engine
37) #9-Chase Elliott / 174 laps / running
36) #70-Derrike Cope / 184 laps / running

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Blake Koch (5)
2nd) Jeff Green (3)
3rd) Tanner Berryhill, Ryan Ellis, Jimmy Weller (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #10-TriStar Motorsports (6)
2nd) #91-TriStar Motorsports (2)
3rd) #17-Vision Racing, #46-The Motorsports Group, #55-VIVA Motorsports / SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (8)
2nd) Chevrolet (2)
3rd) Dodge (1)

CUP: Fan Favorite Wise Survives While Logano Gets First All-Star Last-Place Finish

SOURCE: NASCAR Media

Joey Logano finished last in Saturday’s 30th NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #22 Shell / Pennzoil Ford was involved in a two-car accident after he completed 25 of the race’s 90 laps.

This is the first All-Star last-place finish for Logano and the #22 Penske Racing team.  Penske’s #2 car has three last-place runs in the event, one for each of its drivers: Rusty Wallace (2002), Kurt Busch (2006), and Brad Keselowski (2013).

Logano qualified for the All-Star Race by virtue of his win last August at Michigan.  Since then, he has become one of the series’ most consistent front runners.  He picked up five more Top Fives between his Michigan win and the end of the 2013 season, then began 2014 with six more, including a pair of wins at Texas and Richmond.  In just 11 races, he has qualified inside the Top Ten in all but three of those events, and he has led 447 laps - more than 100 laps over his season total in 2013.

Logano timed in 15th during the final practice session for the event, then once again turned in a solid qualifying performance for the 10th starting spot.

In Saturday’s race, last place belonged first to David Ragan, who started 20th in the 22-car field in his Taco Bell #34.  By the end of the first segment, that spot went to surprise Fan Vote winner Josh Wise in his #98 Dogecoin Digital Currency / Reddit.com Chevrolet.  At the start of Segment 2, Tony Stewart, who had blown his transmission in qualifying, briefly held the last spot when trouble broke out on Lap 25.

Heading into Turn 3, Segment 1 winner Kyle Busch nudged Clint Bowyer’s Toyota, causing Bowyer to wash down the track.  Kyle tried to pass down low, but was clipped by Bowyer, sending him spinning into the outside wall.  Busch slid back into traffic, and Joey Logano had nowhere to go, resulting in a crash similar to one that occurred between the same drivers last spring at Kansas.  Logano managed to roll back into the garage area, but both were done for the night.

Logano’s involvement in the wreck narrowly prevented Busch from scoring his second last-place finish in the event, joining his engine failure in 2008.  That finish remains the only time a last-place finisher of the All-Star Race ever led any laps in the same event.

Rounding out the Bottom Five were A.J. Allmendinger, who made the field with a 2nd-place finish in the Showdown only to be wrecked during a battle on the restart following the Logano / Busch crash, then Greg Biffle and Martin Truex, Jr., who both wrecked when Jeff Gordon’s car suddenly slowed in front of them leaving turns three and four.

Just as he had at Talladega, Josh Wise avoided all the night’s wrecks and brought his #98 home in 15th.  Plans are already underway to get Wise into the fall race at Talladega by way of selling uniform t-shirts.  Click this link for more details - as of this writing, the effort is 78% funded with six days to go.  Yours truly is one of the backers.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the third-consecutive last-place finish for Ford in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, joining teammate Brad Keselowski (2013) and Roush-Fenway’s Carl Edwards (2012).
*The #22 had never before finished last in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
22) #22-Joey Logano / 25 laps / crash
21) #18-Kyle Busch / 25 laps / crash / led 11 laps
20) #47-A.J. Allmendinger / 30 laps / crash
19) #16-Greg Biffle / 60 laps / crash
18) #78-Martin Truex, Jr. / 60 laps / crash

LASTCAR ALL-STAR RACE RANKINGS
1st) Carl Edwards, Kyle Petty, Greg Sacks, Rusty Wallace (2)
2nd) John Andretti, Johnny Benson, Jr., Greg Biffle, Geoffrey Bodine, Neil Bonnett, Jeff Burton, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Ricky Craven, Bobby Hamilton, Kevin Harvick, Ernie Irvan, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski, Alan Kulwicki, Bobby Labonte, Terry Labonte, Joey Logano, Ricky Rudd, Ken Schrader, Hut Stricklin, Martin Truex, Jr. (1)

CUP: David Stremme Gives #33 First Showdown Last-Place Finish Since 1996

SOURCE: TimmyHill.com

David Stremme finished last in Friday’s Sprint Showdown at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #33 Little Joe’s Autos Chevrolet fell out with a vibration after he completed 25 of the race’s 40 laps.

It is the first Sprint Showdown last-place finish for both Stremme and the #33 Circle Sport team.

Following his abrupt termination from Swan Racing just before last year’s Chase, ending a relationship that began with the team’s founding in 2011, Stremme found his way to Circle Sport racing in 2014 as one of the drivers of Joe Falk’s #33 Chevrolet.  Stremme made his season debut last month at Martinsville, where he finished 39th.  After failing to qualify at Texas, he has made steady progress in his other two starts at Darlington and Richmond, where he finished 36th and 35th, respectively.

Circle Sport came into Charlotte after a successful weekend in Talladega.  Brian Scott, whose handful of runs in the #33 use Childress equipment, won the pole for the race and co-driver Landon Cassill finished 11th in the Hillman Racing #40, officially listed as a team car to the #33.  Stremme had some success in the Sprint Showdown, finishing 3rd during his run for Penske in 2009 and 6th during his rookie season for Chip Ganassi.

However, speed proved elusive at the Charlotte track.  Stremme timed in just 22nd-fastest of the 23 entrants in practice, then qualified at the tail end of the field when his loose car put up a lap of just 177.731 mph.

At the start of Friday’s race, Blake Koch looked to be on his way to giving the #32 FAS Lane Racing team its second consecutive last-place run in the event.  Koch and his Supportmilitary.org Ford anchored the field for much of the first 20-lap segment.  However, the entire field remained on the track and on the lead lap at the halftime break.  Just after the restart, however, Stremme pulled behind the wall as the race’s only retiree.

The remainder of the Bottom Five completed the race’s entire distance.  Koch held onto 22nd, followed by Reed Sorenson’s Tommy Baldwin Racing entry in 21st, the Xxxtreme Motorsports #44 of J.J. Yeley, and the #83 of Kansas last-place finisher Ryan Truex.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first time the #33 has finished last in the Showdown since 1996, when Andy Hillenburg, driving in relief of Robert Pressley in the Skoal Chevrolet, crashed after five laps.  Hillenburg and Trevor Boys remain the only two drivers with more than one last-place finish in this event.
*This is the first last-place finish for Chevrolet in the Showdown since 2005, when Scott Riggs and his #10 Valvoline Chevrolet crashed after 2 laps.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
23) #33-David Stremme / 25 laps / vibration
22) #32-Blake Koch / 40 laps / running
21) #36-Reed Sorenson / 40 laps / running
20) #44-J.J. Yeley / 40 laps / running
19) #83-Ryan Truex / 40 laps / running

LASTCAR SPRINT SHOWDOWN RANKINGS
1st) Trevor Boys, Andy Hillenburg (2)
2nd) Geoffrey Bodine, Todd Bodine, Gary Brooks, Jeff Burton, Patrick Carpentier, Pancho Carter, Stacy Comption, Derrike Cope, Phillip Duffie, David Green, Timmy Hill, Frank Kimmel, Carl Long, Mark Martin, Jeremy Mayfield, Casey Mears, Patty Moise, Joe Nemechek, Scott Riggs, Mike Skinner, David Stremme, Bill Venturini, Jon Wood, J.J. Yeley (1)

N’WIDE: In TMG’s #46, Ryan Ellis Nips Jeff Green For Iowa Last-Place Finish

SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin' Forums

Ryan Ellis picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Sunday’s Get To Know Newton 250 at the Iowa Speedway when his unsponsored #46 The Motorsports Group Chevrolet fell out with ignition problems after he completed 3 of the race’s 250 laps.  The finish came in Ellis’ ninth series start.

A 24-year-old native of Ashburn, Virginia, Ellis made his Nationwide Series debut at Road America on June 23, 2012.  Driving for Jimmy Means Racing, he finished 39th, falling out of the race after 4 laps with ignition trouble.  His best finish in the series remains a 28th-place finish earlier this year at Las Vegas, his most recent start driving the #24 Toyota for SR2 Motorsports.

Ellis also has three Truck Series starts for Jim Rosenblum and Jennifer Jo Cobb.  His best finish in that series came earlier this year at Daytona, when he came home 18th in Rosenblum’s #28.

At Iowa, Ellis was originally slated to drive the #15 entry for Rick Ware Racing.  However, that changed when Josh Wise, the regular driver of The Motorsports Group’s primary #40, sat out this race.  Thanks to an incredible grassroots effort by Dogecoin and Reddit to both sponsor and vote in Phil Parsons Racing’s #98 Chevrolet, Wise was won the Sprint Fan Vote to make his first-ever start in Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, where he came home 15th.  Wise’s absence allowed #46 driver Matt DiBenedetto to run the #40, and freed the #46 ride for Ellis, whose #15 entry withdrew, leaving 40 drivers to qualify for 40 spots.

Ellis didn’t participate in the first three practice sessions, but timed in 35th in Happy Hour and scored the 39th starting spot in qualifying with a speed of 126.354 mph.

In Sunday’s race, Ellis pulled behind the wall under green on Lap 3, just in time to follow all-time LASTCAR leader Jeff Green into the garage.  By running behind Green, Ellis scored the last-place finish, joining Jimmy Weller as the only two drivers not running for TriStar to finish last this season.

Rounding out the Bottom Five were 38th-place finisher Mike Harmon, who started last in his Dodge, 1990 Daytona 500 winner Derrike Cope in the YOUTHEORY Chevrolet, and surprising Talladega 14th-place finisher Tommy Joe Martins in the #76 Riessen Construction Ford.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first last-place finish for the #46 since The Motorsports Group’s most recent last-place finish at Richmond, eighteen races ago, when J.J. Yeley drove the car four laps before an engine failure.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #46-Ryan Ellis / 3 laps / ignition
39) #10-Jeff Green / 3 laps / vibration
38) #74-Mike Harmon / 8 laps / electrical
37) #70-Derrike Cope / 44 laps / brakes
36) #76-Tommy Joe Martins / 63 laps / ignition

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Blake Koch (5)
2nd) Jeff Green (3)
3rd) Ryan Ellis, Jimmy Weller (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #10-TriStar Motorsports (6)
2nd) #91-TriStar Motorsports (2)
3rd) #46-The Motorsports Group, #55-VIVA Motorsports / SS Green Light Racing (1)

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

TRUCKS: Late Entry Charles Lewandoski Scores First Truck Series Last-Place Finish

SOURCE: @tonyztrains

Charles Lewandoski picked up the 1st 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 #42 Randco / Young’s Building Systems Chevrolet fell out with ignition problems after he completed 3 of the race’s 134 laps.  The finish came in Lewandoski’s third series start.

Lewandoski, a 29-year-old driver from Stafford Springs, Connecticut, made the move from the K&N Pro Series East to the Nationwide Series in 2008, finishing 41st driving for Armando Fitz at his home track in Loudon, New Hampshire.  He has made 25 other starts in the series for five other teams, most recently a three-race stint in the #10 TriStar Motorsports entry he shared with all-time LASTCAR leader Jeff Green in late 2012.  His best finish in the series remains a 21st for TriStar at Phoenix on February 26, 2011.

Prior to 2014, Lewandoski had made just one start in the Truck Series, which took place all the way back on September 19, 2009.  This start, which also came at Loudon, saw him finish 32nd in the #01 Koma Unwind / Potencia Energy Drink Dodge for Corrie Stott.  He was set to make his series return last year at Rockingham, but team owner Randy Young withdrew both he and teammate Tyler Young from the entry list.  43 trucks had originally entered the Rockingham race to compete for 36 spots.

However, this season, the Truck Series has experienced a drop in the number of entries.  Only the first two events of the year had full 36-truck fields, and only Daytona saw the only DNQ as four other teams withdrew from both that race and Martinsville.  As a result, earlier this month at Kansas saw the return of “start-and-park” teammates to Jennifer Jo Cobb (Ryan Ellis in the #0), Justin Jennings (Scott Stenzel in the #36), and Tyler Young (Lewandoski in the #42).  All three finished in the Bottom Five that day with Stenzel in the last spot.

Just 30 trucks were on the preliminary entry list for the Charlotte race, so Lewandoski joined two other drivers as late entries to participate in the event.  He ran 31st-fastest in the weekend’s only practice session, then timed in 29th at an average speed of 170.719 mph.

As in the Nationwide race on Sunday, the early laps of the Truck race saw the first two retirees pull off the track at the exact same time.  Lewandoski followed Willie Allen in the #0 Jo Cobb entry to the garage area and was credited with the last-place finish.  Rounding out the Bottom Five were ARCA driver Max Gresham in his first start for Gallagher Motorsports; Blake Koch, who was a last-minute replacement for J.J. Yeley in the #07 Thunder Exhaust Chevrolet; and Justin Jennings, who brought out the first caution for an early crash, then managed to finish the race under power.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first Truck Series last-place finish for the #42 since May 24, 2008, when Tim Cowen’s Cowen Truck Lines Ford overheated after 140 laps of the Ohio 250 at the Mansfield Motorsports Speedway.  This race, the fifth and most recent Truck race at the half-mile track, is better known for Donny Lia’s thrilling last-lap pass for the win.
*Chevrolet sweeps the first four Truck Series last-place finishes for the first time since 2008, which began with a streak of five in a row.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
33) #42-Charles Lewandoski / 3 laps / ignition
32) #0-Willie Allen / 3 laps / electrical
31) #23-Max Gresham / 13 laps / transmission
30) #07-Blake Koch / 40 laps / vibration
29) #63-Justin Jennings / 66 laps / running

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Alex Guenette, Charles Lewandoski, Scott Stenzel, Jason White (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #36-Mike Mittler, #42-Randy Young, #74-Mario Gosselin, #93-RSS Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (4)

CUP: Ryan and Martin Truex Are The First Brothers To Finish Last In The Same Cup Season Since 2006

SOURCE: motorsport.com

Ryan Truex picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Saturday’s 5-Hour Energy 400 at the Kansas Speedway when his #83 Burger King Toyota was involved in a multi-car accident after he completed 57 of the race’s 267 laps.  The finish came in Truex’s 12th series start.

Eleven different drivers and teams have finished last this season, a record now longer than 2014's streak of consecutive different Cup Series winners and polesitters.

Truex, the 22-year-old younger brother of current Furniture Row Racing driver Martin Truex, Jr., made his K&N Pro Series East debut in 2008, then won the next two consecutive championships as a development driver for both Michael Waltrip and Rob Kaufmann.  In 2010, Truex made his Nationwide Series debut for Waltrip at Gateway, the first of 35 series starts.  He scored a career-best 2nd at Dover in 2012, winning the pole and leading 43 laps before being passed by his "Buschwhacking" Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Joey Logano.  Truex also has four Truck Series starts to his credit, and earned a career-best 4th in this year’s Daytona opener while driving for Steve Turner.

Truex made his Cup debut last August at Bristol, where he timed in a surprising 18th driving the #51 James Finch-owned Chevrolet that was in the process of being transferred to current owner Harry Scott, Jr.  After two progressively better finishes at Richmond and Dover, Truex was tabbed to replace David Reutimann as driver of BK Racing’s #83 Toyotas for 2014.

BK would team Truex with fellow Nationwide Series racer Alex Bowman, and the two would become members of the largest Sprint Cup rookie class since 1994.  Despite failing to qualify for his first Daytona 500, Truex has qualified for every race since except Texas.  His best finish of the year remains a 30th at Martinsville, though he qualified 8th at Richmond when rain set the field based on practice speeds.

At Kansas, Truex timed in 36th in the opening practice, 34th in Happy Hour, then improved to 31st in qualifying with an average speed of 190.665 mph.

In Saturday’s race, Truex remained near the tail end of the pack, though 43rd originally belonged to last-place starter Joe Nemechek, who missed driver introductions.  Landon Cassill, fresh off a strong 11th-place showing at Talladega and a sponsor extension for his #40 Carsforsale.com Chevrolet, briefly held 43rd on Lap 6, then surrendered it to Josh Wise and the Phil Parsons Racing #98 on Lap 11.  Wise then became the first of many cars to lose a lap to leader Kevin Harvick.

Pit stops shook up the last-place battle, dropping Paul Menard, then Alex Bowman to the spot before the first caution for the night fell for Clint Bowyer’s spin on Lap 48.  Then, not long after the restart, David Ragan broke loose off the fourth corner - directly in front of Truex’s #83.  Unable to avoid a collision, the two cars hit, then bounced into Cassill’s #40, sending all three into the grass.  Cassill, running behind Truex and Ragan at the time of the accident, held 43rd until he returned to the track around Lap 150.  Truex, whose car was damaged much worse, never returned to the race, and fell to 43rd at that time.

Cassill made just six more laps before he pulled out of the race for good.  Finishing 41st was J.J. Yeley, whose brightly-colored #44 Phoenix Warehouse Chevrolet has lost engines in both its starts in 2014.  In 40th was Timmy Hill, making his first start since his own last-place run at Bristol in March, driving Circle Sport’s #33.  David Ragan narrowly averted a Bottom Five finish when he ran just a few laps more than Jamie McMurray, who scored his second DNF of the year with a hard, fiery crash while running 3rd on Lap 149.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Ryan and his brother Martin, the Daytona 500 last-placer, are the first brothers to finish last in the same Cup Series season since 2006, when both Terry and Bobby Labonte and Elliott and Hermie Sadler all trailed at least one race each.
*This is the first last-place finish for both BK Racing and the #83 since last August at Watkins Glen, 26 races ago, when David Reutimann’s Burger King / Dr. Pepper Toyota lost the engine after he completed 4 laps of the Cheez-It 355.  Neither team nor number had ever finished last in a Cup race at Kansas.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #83-Ryan Truex / 57 laps / crash
42) #40-Landon Cassill / 63 laps / crash
41) #44-J.J. Yeley / 136 laps / engine
40) #33-Timmy Hill / 137 laps / engine
39) #1-Jamie McMurray / 149 laps / crash

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Aric Almirola, Dave Blaney, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Timmy Hill, Michael McDowell, Joe Nemechek, Morgan Shepherd, Tony Stewart, Martin Truex, Jr., Ryan Truex (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #14-Stewart-Haas Racing, #15-Michael Waltrip Racing, #33-Circle Sport, #43-Richard Petty Motorsports, #66-Michael Waltrip Racing / NEMCO-JRR Motorsports, #77-Randy Humphrey 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) Chevrolet, Toyota (4)
2nd) Ford (3)

TRUCKS: Scott Stenzel Scores First Last-Place Finish Seconds Before Multi-Truck Wreck at Kansas

SOURCE: Twitter @ScottStenzel

Scott Stenzel picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Friday’s SFP 250 at the Kansas Speedway when his #36 Mittler Bros. Machine & Tool Chevrolet fell out with electrical problems after he failed to complete a lap of the 167-lap race.  The finish came in Stenzel’s fourth series start.

Stenzel, the 33-year-old founder of an advertising and marketing company, has been making his way from go-karts and dirt tracks into the elite divisions of stock car racing.  He’s made a pair of starts in ARCA, finishing 7th in his series debut at Talladega, and finished 21st at Loudon running the K&N Pro Series East.  Stenzel made the move to the Truck Series in 2012, where he finished 23rd in his series debut at Kansas.

Then, as on Friday, Stenzel would drove for Mike Mittler, the only owner whose trucks have qualified for at least one race in every Truck Series season since 1995.  In a combined 169 starts over that time, several Cup drivers cut their teeth in Mittler’s trucks including Jamie McMurray, Regan Smith, Justin Allgaier, Brad Keselowski, and Carl Edwards, who scored Mittler’s only top-ten finish with an 8th at the Kansas track on July 6, 2002.  Edwards also earned one of Mittler’s fourteen previous last-place finishes in the series, which came at Las Vegas later that year.

Friday, Stenzel drove a second entry for Mittler, a #36 that was making its season debut alongside teammate Justin Jennings in the #63.  Stenzel did not participate in the opening practice, but came in 28th of 29 drivers in the second session.  Just 31 trucks showed up to qualify, so Stenzel made the field along with everyone else, scoring the 31st starting spot without posting a qualifying speed.

In Friday’s race, Stenzel pulled behind the wall with electrical problems as the listed issue.  At the exact same time, Ron Hornaday spun exiting Turn 4, triggering a multi-truck accident that involved Timothy Peters, German Quiroga, and Spencer Gallagher.  Gallagher’s #23 Allegiant Travel Chevrolet received the most severe damage, and his night was done as well.

The two trucks finishing ahead of Gallagher were two more team trucks like Stenzel’s: Charles Lewandoski made his first Truck Series start since 2009 driving the #42, a team truck to Tyler Young’s #02, and Ryan Ellis brought back the #0, the LASTCAR-contending teammate to Jennifer Jo Cobb’s #10.  Rounding out the Bottom Five was 4th-place starter Brian Ickler, who suffered crash damage in the night’s second caution after 9 laps.

For more on Scott Stenzel, check out his website and follow him on Twitter @ScottStenzel.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is just the second last-place finish by the #36 in a points-paying Truck Series race.  The only other finish was earned by Lonnie Cox, who on May 25, 1996 lost the engine on his #36 DuPont Thompson PBE Chevrolet after 64 laps of the NAPA 200 at the Tucson Raceway Park in Arizona.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
31) #36-Scott Stenzel / 0 laps / electrical
30) #23-Spencer Gallagher / 0 laps / crash
29) #42-Charles Lewandoski / 3 laps / vibration
28) #0-Ryan Ellis / 8 laps / vibration
27) #7-Brian Ickler / 9 laps / crash

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Alex Guenette, Scott Stenzel, Jason White (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #36-Mike Mittler, #74-Mario Gosselin, #93-RSS Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (3)

CUP: Tony Stewart Scores First Last-Place Finish Since 2008

SOURCE: NASCAR Media

Tony Stewart picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at the Talladega Superspeedway when his #14 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet was involved in a multi-car crash after he completed 136 of the race’s 188 laps.

The finish was Stewart’s first of the 2014 season and his first in a Sprint Cup race since March 2, 2008 - 223 races ago - when his #20 Home Depot Toyota crashed after 107 laps of the UAW-Dodge 400 at Las Vegas.  Three of Stewart’s Cup Series last-place finishes have now come in restrictor-plate races - Sunday’s joins the 2002 and 2007 runnings of the Daytona 500.  The fifth finish came at Fontana in 2006.

In those 223 races since his most recent last-place finish, Stewart, the three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion, has prevailed over many challenges.  He founded Stewart-Haas Racing in 2009, gave the team its first race that season, then the team’s first championship in dramatic fashion two years later.  He suffered serious injuries in a sprint car crash last August, then returned this February to a newly-expanded four-car operation whose two brand-new teams have already won this year with Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch.

Coming into Talladega, Stewart has fought for consistency while balancing his duties as owner.  Last month at Texas, he claimed his first pole since 2012 and finished 10th, one of his four top-ten finises in the first nine races.  With the lion’s share of his 48 Cup Series wins taking place after the month of May, it was not unusual that Stewart came to Talladega without a win so far this season.  But Stewart’s last-place finish was a surprise.

Stewart qualified 12th for Sunday’s race, having made his way into the final qualifying round.  Left without a drafting partner for that final five-minute session, he managed a lap of only 188.958 mph, more than a second off the pace of 11th-place Jeff Gordon.  He was 31st-fastest in the opening practice and 3rd out of the 27 who took part in Happy Hour.

Most importantly, as Sunday’s race began, Stewart kept his nose clean while running mid-pack.  Such could not be said of Brad Keselowski, who on Lap 14 took the 43rd spot from Kyle Busch when he crossed the nose of Danica Patrick during a bid for the lead in Turn 1.  Keselowski managed to avoid contact with the wall and other cars, but a sliced radiator hose required repairs that left him six laps down.

When Keselowski returned to the track, he was one of only two cars not on the lead lap.  The other was Jamie McMurray, who had damaged his splitter driving through the grass to avoid Keselowski’s spinning car.  Both held the final two positions all the way until Lap 138, when Keselowski broke loose while running among the leaders in Turn 4, triggering a fourteen-car pileup.

As Keselowski spun up the track, rookie drivers Cole Whitt and Brian Scott veered left, directly into the path of Tony Stewart.  All three cars collided and slid into the inside wall.  No drivers were injured, but Stewart, Scott, and Trevor Bayne were all done for the day due to crash damage.  Stewart, who crossed the stripe last of that group, slipped to 42nd with Scott and Bayne right in front of him.

When Keselowski managed to return to the track, Stewart dropped to 43rd.  Keselowski ended up 38th.  He has yet to finish last in any of his 171 Sprint Cup starts.  McMurray, the beneficiary of six “Lucky Dogs,” got all but one of his laps back for a 29th-place run.

Rounding out the Bottom Five were David Gilliland, last April’s runner-up finisher, who lost the engine on his #38 Love’s Travel Stop Ford after 150 laps, and the lapped machine of Jeff Gordon, also involved in the Lap 138 wreck.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first last-place finish for the #14 in a NASCAR Cup Series race since June 24, 2007, when Sterling Marlin’s #14 Wiley X Chevrolet lost the engine after he completed 12 laps of the Toyota / Save Mart 350 at the Sonoma Raceway.
*This is just the second last-place finish for Stewart-Haas Racing, joining last October’s finish by Danica Patrick after her first-lap crash at Kansas.
*This is Stewart’s first last-place finish in a NASCAR race at Talladega.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #14-Tony Stewart / 136 laps / crash
42) #33-Brian Scott / 136 laps / crash
41) #21-Trevor Bayne / 136 laps / crash / led 6 laps
40) #38-David Gililand / 150 laps / engine / led 1 lap
39) #24-Jeff Gordon / 156 laps / running / led 1 lap

LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Aric Almirola, Dave Blaney, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Timmy Hill, Michael McDowell, Joe Nemechek, Morgan Shepherd, Tony Stewart, Martin Truex, Jr. (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #14-Stewart-Haas Racing, #15-Michael Waltrip Racing, #33-Circle Sport, #43-Richard Petty Motorsports, #66-Michael Waltrip Racing / NEMCO-JRR Motorsports, #77-Randy Humphrey Racing, #78-Furniture Row Racing, #87-NEMCO-JRR Motorsports, #88-Hendrick Motorsports, #95-Leavine Family Racing (1)

LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (4)
2nd) Ford, Toyota (3)

N’WIDE: Koch Finishes Last, But Several Nationwide Series Underdogs Steal The Show At Talladega

SOURCE: TriStar Motorsports Twitter

Blake Koch picked up the 9th last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s Aaron’s 312 at the Talladega Superspeedway when his #10 Heroes Behind the Camo / SupportMilitary.org Toyota fell out with a vibration after he completed 1 of the race’s 117 laps.

The finish was Koch’s fifth of the 2014 season and his first since Darlington, two races ago.  Koch, who has finished last in three of the previous four Nationwide races, now has a two-finish lead on TriStar Motorsports teammate Jeff Green in the LASTCAR Championship.

Koch and Green both entered and qualified for Saturday’s race, securing the 14th and 25th starting spots, respectively.  Koch, 33rd-fastest in the opening practice, improved to 14th of 29 drivers in Happy Hour, then in qualifying narrowly missed the cut for the run for the pole with a speed of 185.830 mph.  Even more impressive was TriStar’s LASTCAR rival Matt DiBenedetto, who was third-fastest in the opening round of qualifying in his #46 for The Motorsports Group.

DiBenedetto settled for the 23rd starting spot, and at the start of Saturday’s race, was again just a couple laps short of finishing last.  Koch exited the race after the opening lap, followed by DiBenedetto and Green.  Rounding out the Bottom Five were Carl Long, whose JGL Racing Dodge fell nearly thirty seconds behind the 36th-place car before he pulled behind the wall, and Bobby Gerhart, who nearly took the victory in that morning’s 200-mile ARCA race.

Restrictor-plate racing has always had its share of surprises, and Saturday was no exception:

David Starr, who at Daytona drove Koch’s #10 to a 25th-place finish, jumped into TriStar’s #44, led five laps in the closing stages, and came home 9th.  It was Starr’s first Top Ten in the series - and the first for a TriStar car this season.

David Ragan drove Fred Biagi’s #98 to a 5th-place finish, the first Top Five for a Biagi-owned car since July 2, 2004, when the team scored its most recent win with Mike Wallace at Daytona.

Joe Nemechek bounced back from his DNQ for Sunday’s Cup race by finishing 6th in his #87.  It was Nemechek’s first top-ten finish in the series since an 8th at Richmond on September 7, 2012.

The day before his impressive 11th-place finish for Circle Sport and Hillman Racing in the Cup race, Landon Cassill earned an 8th-place finish in Johnny Davis’ #01 Flex Seal Chevrolet.  It was Cassill’s best finish in the series since his career-best 3rd-place run at Daytona on February 19, 2011.

Gregg Mixon and Jimmy Means have been fielding Nationwide Series teams since 2001, and Saturday saw both teams score their best-ever finish in the series.  J.J. Yeley brought home Mixon’s unsponsored #28 Dodge in the 7th spot, Yeley’s best finish since coming home 2nd to David Gilliland at Kentucky in 2006.  Joey Gase scored an 11th-place run in Means’ #52 Donate Life Chevrolet, beating the team’s previous best of 14th set by Donnie Neunberger at Talladega in 2008.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the second-straight last-place finish for TriStar’s #10 in this event, joining Jeff Green’s run last year.  It is Koch’s first last-place finish in a Nationwide race at Talladega.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #10-Blake Koch / 1 lap / vibration
39) #46-Matt DiBenedetto / 3 laps / vibration
38) #91-Jeff Green / 4 laps / vibration
37) #93-Carl Long / 14 laps / electrical
36) #85-Bobby Gerhart / 31 laps / engine

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Blake Koch (5)
2nd) Jeff Green (3)
3rd) Jimmy Weller (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #10-TriStar Motorsports (6)
2nd) #91-TriStar Motorsports (2)
3rd) #55-VIVA Motorsports / SS Green Light Racing (1)

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