Patrick Carpentier picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his career in Sunday’s rain-shortened Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #36 Tommy Baldwin Racing Toyota was involved in a single-car wreck on lap 14 of the 273-lap race.

Carpentier, the defending polesitter of the New Hampshire event, was making his return to the #36 for the first time since his last-place finish in the Pocono 500 three weeks before. On Friday, a track bar problem prevented him from competing in most of the opening practice session. Still, when rain washed out qualifying, Carpentier secured the 41st starting spot. Carpentier was hanging tough in Sunday’s race when, on lap 14, his brakes locked entering turn three, bouncing him off the outside wall and bringing out the first caution of the race. Carpentier was uninjured and, while the contact was not too severe, the #36 did not return to the track.

Carpentier is the fourth driver to finish last in a 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup point race because of a crash, the last being Dave Blaney’s early wreck in the Crown Royal Presents the Russ Friedman 400 at Richmond last month. With the second last-place finish for driver, number, and team in 2009, Carpentier now makes it a four-way tie for 2nd in the 2009 last-place standings behind overall leader Dave Blaney.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #36-Patrick Carpentier / 14 laps / crash
42) #66-Dave Blaney / 29 laps / overheating
41) #37-Tony Raines / 30 laps / electrical
40) #71-David Gilliland / 48 laps / electrical
39) #87-Joe Nemechek / 67 laps / transmission

2009 RANKINGS
1st) Dave Blaney (3)
2nd) Mike Bliss, Patrick Carpentier, David Gilliland, Tony Raines (2)
3rd) Todd Bodine, P.J. Jones, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Mark Martin, Joe Nemechek (1)