TRUCKS: Jones Edges Setzer at Texas, LASTCAR Truck Series Championship Goes To Phoenix

SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin'

Chris Jones picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Friday’s WinStar World Casino 350 at the Texas Motor Speedway when his unsponsored #38 RSS Racing Chevrolet fell out with a vibration after he completed 3 of the race’s 147 laps.

The finish was Jones’ first of the 2012 season, his first since last year at Michigan, thirty-one races ago. He also extended the #38 team’s lead in the 2012 LASTCAR Owner’s Championship to two finishes with two races to go. The team’s most recent last-place finish came with current LASTCAR leader Dennis Setzer at Iowa, five races ago.

Jones qualified 28th for the race at an average speed of 173.105 mph, ranking him eighth among the thirteen "go-or-go-homers" who attempted to qualify. The race was Jones’ thirteenth start of the 2012 season, a year in which he has driven both Ken Smith’s #07 as well as three different teams for RSS Racing.

Jones’ was the first truck to fall out of the race, edging teammate and current 2012 LASTCAR Truck Series leader Dennis Setzer by three laps. As a result, the LASTCAR Truck Series championship will remain unsettled heading to Phoenix, where the eleven one-time last-placers in 2012 will face possible elimination.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the second-consecutive last-place finish for the #38 in this race. Last year, Mike Garvey fell out after five laps with clutch problems, his sixth last-place finish of his second-consecutive LASTCAR Truck Series championship.
*Jones was the first Truck Series driver to finish last at Texas due to a vibration since 2003, when Wayne Edwards’ #25 Lane Automotive Chevrolet fell out after the opening lap of the O’Reilly 400k, following Lance Hooper’s Fasscore Motorsports Ford to the garage area.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #38-Chris Jones / 3 laps / vibration
35) #93-Dennis Setzer / 6 laps / vibration
34) #74-Scott Riggs / 8 laps / rear gear
33) #25-B.J. McLeod / 9 laps / brakes
32) #27-Stephen Leicht / 15 laps / brakes

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Dennis Setzer (3)
2nd) Johnny Chapman, Clay Greenfield, Brandon Knupp (2)
3rd) T.J. Bell, Jeb Burton, Rick Crawford, Grant Enfinger, Chris Fontaine, Chris Jones, Blake Koch, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Jason Leffler, Brennan Newberry, Scott Riggs (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #38-RSS Racing (4)
2nd) #0-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #27-Hillman Racing (2)
3rd) #5-Wauters Motorsports, #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #14-Bob Newberry, #18-Kyle Busch Motorsports, #25-Hillman Racing, #60-Turn One Racing, #68-Clay Greenfield Motorsports, #84-Chris Fontaine, #86-Clay Greenfield Motorsports, #74-Mike Harmon, #00-Rick Lind, #07-Ken Smith (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (12)
2nd) Ford, RAM (3)
3rd) Toyota (2)