TRUCKS: Garvey First Repeat Truck Series Last-Placer; Rosenblum Team Makes The Show

Mike Garvey picked up the 7th 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 #38 S&W Services Chevrolet fell out with transmission problems after completing 4 of the race’s 134 laps.

Garvey now stands alone as 5th in the all-time Truck Series last-place standings, six finishes behind series leader Wayne Edwards with 13.

In qualifying, Garvey timed in 34th at a speed of 168.982 mph, enough to best three other “go-or-go-home” trucks including Daytona last-placer Norm Benning, whose #57 was the only truck sent home. Before the first of a record 10 cautions flew on Lap 9, Garvey’s truck had already pulled behind the wall five laps earlier.

LASTCAR EXTRA: ROSENBLUM TEAM MAKES THE SHOW

Finishing 33rd after a hard crash was Wes Burton, who gave owner Jim Rosenblum his first Truck Series start since Andy Lally timed in 20th last fall at Talladega. Burton’s qualifying run was enough to give the FDNY Racing team its eighth start in the last six seasons, rebounding from a DNQ in the Charlotte race last spring. Burton and the #28 FDNY Chevrolet started last in the field at a speed of 165.022 mph, edging Norm Benning for the final spot by just under two tenths of a second.

Rosenblum has fielded entries in NASCAR as far back as 1983, when he put Cup driver Jocko Maggiacomo into the field for the 1983 Mason-Dixon 500 at Dover. Maggiacomo drove in the majority of Rosenblum’s 27 Cup starts - 11 in all - with a best finish of 24th in the 1987 Summer 500 at Pocono. In a tragic twist, when the team returned to Pocono the following June, Rosenblum’s #63 Chevrolet finished last, destroyed in a terrifying first-lap crash with Bobby Allison that ended Allison’s racing career. Six more drivers would race for Rosenblum until the team’s final Cup race was run in 1993.

Rosenblum’s current Truck Series team debuted during the series’ inaugural season in 1995, during which his #51 Chevrolets made 12 races with driver Kerry Teague. Teague finished a season-best 13th at both Tucson and Bristol. The following spring, driver T.J. Clark gave Rosenblum his team’s best finish to date, a 12th at Phoenix in 1996. As of now, Rosenblum’s team has qualified for 38 races in the Truck Series.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Garvey is the first repeat last-place finisher in the 2011 Truck Series season. He was also the first driver to repeat last year when he finished last in consecutive races at Charlotte and Texas.
*This is Garvey’s second consecutive last-place finish in this event: his #93 S&W Services Chevrolet fell out 9 laps into the 2010 North Carolina Education Lottery 200 with engine trouble.
*Garvey is the first Truck Series driver to finish last due to transmission trouble since 2010, when Johanna Long’s #20 Panhandle Grading & Paving Toyota fell out on the opening lap of the 2010 Smith’s 350 at Las Vegas.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #38-Mike Garvey / 4 laps / transmission
35) #7-Miguel Paludo / 25 laps / engine
34) #07-J.J. Yeley / 40 laps / axle
33) #28-Wes Burton / 43 laps / crash
32) #17-Timothy Peters / 62 laps / crash

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Garvey (2)
2nd) Norm Benning, James Buescher, Travis Kvapil, Chris Lafferty, Brad Sweet (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #38-Shane Sieg (2)
2nd) #5-Randy Moss, #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #57-Norm Benning Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Garvey’s is the fifth consecutive Chevrolet to finish last in the series. Out of the seven races run so far this season, Travis Kvapil’s Toyota at Phoenix is the only non-Chevrolet to finish last.
1st) Chevrolet (6)
2nd) Toyota (1)