N’WIDE: Bell Scores His First Last-Place Finish of 2012 Nationwide Season

SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin'

T.J. Bell picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at the Texas Motor Speedway when his #50 Gulf Coast Loss Prevention Chevrolet fell out with an engine problem after he completed 1 of the race’s 200 laps.

The finish was Bell’s first of the 2012 season, his first since last fall at Chicagoland, thirty-eight races ago. That race was also the most recent Nationwide Series last-place finish for the #50.

Bell qualified in the 43rd for the race an average speed of 172.761 mph, edging The Motorsports Group’s Chase Miller in the #46 for the final starting spot. The race would be the #50 team’s twenty-fourth start in thirty-one races this season and their first since the team’s three-race stint with David Starr ended at Kentucky. Bell’s best finish of the season was 24th, which came both at Dover and the season-opening race at Daytona.

In the race itself, Bell fell out after the first lap, edging two more The Motorsports Group cars, driven by Josh Wise and J.J. Yeley, by five and six laps, for the 43rd spot.

In Saturday’s race, Mike Bliss drove for his third different TriStar Motorsports team in 2012, this time taking a turn in the #10 that racked up 14 of the season’s first 31 last-place finishes. Carrying his sponsorship from Bandit Chippers, Bliss scored an 18th-place finish, the best result for the #10 this year.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first last-place finish for the #50 in a Nationwide Series race at Texas.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #50-T.J. Bell / 1 lap / engine
42) #42-Josh Wise / 6 laps / electrical
41) #47-J.J. Yeley / 7 laps / brakes
40) #86-Kevin Lepage / 20 laps / transmission
39) #75-Timmy Hill / 22 laps / vibration

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (12)
2nd) Chase Miller (3)
3rd) Mike Harmon, Kevin Lepage, Charles Lewandoski (2)
4th) Tim Andrews, T.J. Bell, Ryan Blaney, Angela Cope, Joey Gase, Stephen Leicht, Danica Patrick, Tony Raines, Scott Speed, Josh Wise (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #10-TriStar Motorsports (14)
2nd) #46-The Motorsports Group (3)
3rd) #47-The Motorsports Group, #52-Means Racing, #74-Mike Harmon (2)
4th) #7-JR Motorsports, #36-Tommy Baldwin Racing, #42-The Motorsports Group, #50-Mark Beaver, #70-ML Motorsports, #91-TriStar Motorsports, #00-Jason Sciavicco, #08-Randy Hill Racing (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (16)
2nd) Chevrolet (14)
3rd) Ford (1)