TRUCKS: Sixteen Years After His Father Became The First Truck Series Last-Placer, Johnny Borneman III Follows Suit At Las Vegas

SOURCE: Rubbins-Racin

Johnny Borneman III picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Saturday’s Smith’s 350 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #75 Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet fell out with handling problems after completing the first of the race’s 146 laps. The finish came in Borneman III’s second series start and his first since driving his father’s #81 truck at Texas in 2003.

His father, John Borneman, who also made two career Truck Series starts, was the series’ first last-place finisher in a points race: his #8 MJ Soffe Chevrolet left the 1995 Copper World Classic at Phoenix after 22 laps with handling woes.

At Vegas, Borneman III was tabbed to drive Norm Benning’s #75 “start-and-park” entry in its sixth race of the 2011 campaign. He was likely signed to drive the truck at the 1.5-mile track as the Borneman family hails from nearby California. A veteran of twelve seasons in the K&N West Series, Borneman III has also made twenty Nationwide Series starts, scoring an emotional career-best fifth-place finish for his family’s team at Talladega last year (click here for the post race interview at 4:08).

With just 34 trucks showing up to compete in Las Vegas, Borneman III was able to secure the final starting spot with a speed of 153.118 mph, more than 23 mph slower than polesitter and race winner Ron Hornaday’s lap of 176.056 mph. After the opening lap of the race, Borneman III pulled behind the wall and out of the race.

Joining Borneman III in the bottom five positions was 31st-place Wayne Edwards, still the all-time LASTCAR leader in the Truck Series with 13 last-place finishes. Edwards was making his first start of 2011 driving the #0 - the same number he drove during part of his 2007 LASTCAR Truck Series championship. Saturday at Vegas, his #0 was a second Jennifer Jo Cobb-owned Ford.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Although this is Borneman III’s first last-place finish in the Truck Series, he has two Nationwide finishes at the Auto Club Speedway of Southern California, his home track. The first came in the 2007 Camping World 300, where his #44 Super Series Chevrolet fell out with engine problems after two laps. The second was in the 2010 Stater Brothers 300, six races before his breakout performance at Talladega, when his #83 Twisted X Boots / Red Line Oil Ford lost the transmission after two laps.
*This is the #75 team’s second last-place finish in 2011. The first came in the team’s debut at Iowa, where ARCA veteran Greg Seevers fell out of the race after three laps with overheating problems. Seevers was also the series’ most recent first-time last-place finisher.
*The #75 had never before finished last in a Truck Series race at Las Vegas.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
34) #75-Johnny Borneman III / 1 lap / handling
33) #27-Chris Jones / 6 laps / brakes
32) #65-Lance Fenton / 7 laps / engine
31) #0-Wayne Edwards / 8 laps / transmission
30) #38-Mike Garvey / 8 laps / electrical

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Mike Garvey (4)
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 (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #38-Shane Sieg (4)
2nd) #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #57-Norm Benning Racing, #75-Norm Benning Racing (2)
3rd) #5-Randy Moss, #20-Panhandle Motorsports, #27-Shane Sieg, #31-Turner Motorsports, #32-Turner Motorsports, #65-Joey Sonntag, #74-Mike Harmon, #87-Rick Jones, #89-Chris Lafferty, #93-Shane Sieg, #07-SS Green Light Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (16)
2nd) Toyota (3)
3rd) Ford (2)