N’WIDE: Chase Miller Gets His First Last-Place Finish Since 2009

SOURCE: NASCAR Media

Chase Miller picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Sunday’s Pioneer Hi-Bred 250 at the Iowa Speedway when his #46 Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet fell out with handling problems after two of the race’s 250 laps.

The finish was Miller’s first of the 2012 season and his first in the Nationwide Series since the 2009 Copart 300 at Fontana, 85 races ago. In that race, Miller’s #47 ConstructionJobs.com Toyota owned by JTG-Daugherty Racing fell out with brake problems after three laps.

Last weekend at Iowa, Miller timed in 35th at a speed of 127.386 mph, ranking him seventh among the thirteen "go-or-go-homers" who all made the field from the 43-car entry list. When the race began, Miller was the first behind the wall, followed by teammate Tim Schendel in the #47. Kevin Lepage, taking a turn in Jeff Green’s #10 TriStar Motorsports entry, came home 41st. Miller, Schendel, and Lepage were three of eight drivers who fell out in the opening seven laps, including 39th-place Michael Guerity, who was making his Nationwide Series debut in Rick Ware’s #75.

Jeff Green, still filling in for a recovering Eric McClure, brought out the first caution of the race when his #14 crashed on Lap 74, leaving him 32nd. Green was uninjured.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first last-place finish for the #46 in the Nationwide Series since 2001, when Ashton Lewis’ Hills Brothers Coffee Chevrolet fell out in a crash after 13 laps of the Sam’s Club Presents the Hills Brothers Coffee 300 at Chicagoland. That race saw the first and, as of this writing, only Nationwide Series win for Jimmie Johnson.
*The last time a Nationwide Series driver finished last due to handling woes was in 2011, when Jennifer Jo Cobb’s #13 Lilly Trucking of Virginia Ford fell out 2 laps into last summer’s Kroger 200 Benefitting Riley Hospital for Children at Lucas Oil Raceway.
*This was the second last-place finish for The Motorsports Group in 2012, joining the 43rd-place run of Josh Wise back at Bristol in the #42.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #46-Chase Miller / 2 laps / handling
42) #47-Tim Schendel / 3 laps / overheating
41) #10-Kevin Lepage / 3 laps / vibration
40) #15-Blake Koch / 3 laps / vibration
39) #75-Michael Guerity / 4 laps / brakes

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (5)
2nd) Ryan Blaney, Mike Harmon, Kevin Lepage, Chase Miller, Josh Wise (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #10-TriStar Motorsports (5)
2nd) #36-Tommy Baldwin Racing, #42-The Motorsports Group, #46-The Motorsports Group, #52-Means Racing, #74-Mike Harmon (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet, Toyota (5)