Dave Blaney picked up the 16th last-place finish of his Sprint Cup career in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #66 PRISM Motorsports Toyota fell out with transmission problems after completing 25 of the race’s 400 laps.

Blaney was the fastest “go-or-go-home” car in Thursday’s qualifying session, securing the 17th starting spot with a speed of 184.932 mph. It was his best qualifying run since he started 3rd at Bristol in March. After skipping Happy Hour, Blaney started Sunday’s 600-mile contest, but pulled behind the wall under green 25 laps into the race. Teammate Michael McDowell followed suit nine laps later while previous last-place leader Joe Nemechek went behind the wall on lap 46, 21 laps after Blaney.

The finish again moved Blaney and the #66 team into a tie with Joe Nemechek and his #87 for the current lead in both the 2010 Sprint Cup driver and team LASTCAR rankings. Blaney has also climbed into sole possession of 6th in the all-time LASTCAR rankings, five finishes away from Nemechek in 5th.

STATS AND FACTS
*The race marked Blaney’s first last-place finish in a Cup race at Charlotte. Blaney does have a last-place finish at Charlotte in the Nationwide Series, the 1998 Carquest Auto Parts 300.
*It’s the first time the #66 had finished last in a Cup race at Charlotte since Darrell Waltrip lost his engine 32 laps into the 1999 Coca-Cola 600.
*It’s the first time a driver finished last in a Cup race at Charlotte due to transmission problems since Joe Frasson fell out 70 laps into the 1974 World 600.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #66-Dave Blaney / 25 laps / transmission
42) #55-Michael McDowell / 34 laps / brakes
41) #36-Johnny Sauter / 37 laps / transmission
40) #64-Todd Bodine / 41 laps / transmission
39) #87-Joe Nemechek / 46 laps / overheating

CUP DRIVER RANKINGS
1st) Dave Blaney, Joe Nemechek (3)
2nd) Aric Almirola, Michael McDowell (2)
3rd) Robby Gordon, Johnny Sauter, Reed Sorenson (1)

CUP TEAM RANKINGS
1st) #66-PRISM Motorsports, #87-NEMCO Motorsports (3)
2nd) #55-PRISM Motorsports, #09-Phoenix Racing (2)
3rd) #7-Robby Gordon Motorsports, #32-Braun Racing, #36-Tommy Baldwin Racing (1)