TRUCKS: Garvey Clinches Second-Consecutive LASTCAR Truck Series Title at Martinsville

SOURCE: TheHotLap.com

Mike Garvey picked up the 10th last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Saturday’s Kroger 200 at the Martinsville Speedway when his #93 S&W Services Chevrolet fell out with brake problems after completing 8 of the race’s 200 laps.

The finish, Garvey’s fifth of the year and first since Lucas Oil Raceway in July, ten races ago, secured him his second-consecutive LASTCAR Truck Series Driver’s Championship. No other Truck Series driver has scored more than two last-place finishes in 2011. Garvey joins Loni Richardson (2002, 2004) as the only two Truck Series drivers with multiple LASTCAR championships and becomes the first to win consecutive titles.

Although Garvey has driven owner Shane Sieg’s #38 for much of this season, Martinsville saw him drive Sieg’s #93 for the third time in 2011 and for the first time since Bristol. In qualifying, Garvey put up the 35th-fastest speed at an average of 90.938 mph, just getting him into the 36-truck field. Missing the race were Loudon last-placer Jennifer Jo Cobb and the #99 of newcomer Charlie Vest.

Garvey’s truck was the first to go behind the wall during the opening green-flag stretch. Though nine cautions slowed the race’s pace for fifty laps, however, the only other truck to fall out of the event was the wrecked #4 of Ricky Carmichael.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was Garvey’s second-consecutive last-place finish in the Truck Series fall race at Martinsville. In the 2010 Kroger 200, Garvey’s #93 S&W Towing Chevrolet left the race after 27 laps, again with brake problems.
*This was the third time in the last four Truck Series races at Martinsville that owner Shane Sieg’s #93 has finished last. Sieg himself finished last in the spring of 2010, citing electrical problems after three laps.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #93-Mike Garvey / 8 laps / brakes
35) #4-Ricky Carmichael / 37 laps / crash
34) #07-T.J. Duke / 159 laps / running
33) #20-Johanna Long / 166 laps / running
32) #32-Blake Feese / 182 laps / running

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Garvey (5)
2nd) Norm Benning, Chris Lafferty, Brent Raymer (2)
3rd) Johnny Borneman III, James Buescher, Chris Jones, Mike Harmon, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Travis Kvapil, Johanna Long, Scott Riggs, Greg Seevers, Dennis Setzer, Brad Sweet, J.J. Yeley (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
Even though Garvey drove the #93 in place of the #38, the latter team has still claimed the 2011 LASTCAR Truck Series Owner’s Championship by virtue of its 13 bottom-five finishes. As mentioned last week, the 2nd-ranked #10, #57, and #75 teams have only five, three, and six bottom-five finishes respectively. The #93, now tied with them, has only eight.
1st) #38-Shane Sieg (4)
2nd) #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #57-Norm Benning Racing, #75-Norm Benning Racing, #93-Shane Sieg (2)
3rd) #5-Randy Moss, #20-Panhandle Motorsports, #27-Shane Sieg, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #65-Joey Sonntag, #66-Turn One Racing, #74-Mike Harmon, #87-Rick Jones, #89-Chris Lafferty, #07-SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (18)
2nd) Toyota (3)
3rd) Ford (2)