N’WIDE: Danny Efland Scores First Last-Place Finish Since 2008

SOURCE: Jeff Wagoner

Danny Efland picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s 5-Hour Energy 200 at the Dover International Speedway when his #50 Defiant Whisky Chevrolet fell out with a vibration after he completed 4 of the race’s 200 laps.

The finish was Efland’s first of 2013 and his first in a Nationwide Series race since May 24, 2008 when his #0 Shred 360 / Lori Morgan, LLC Chevrolet was involved in a single-car crash after three laps of the Carquest Auto Parts 300 in Charlotte.

Efland, a 24-year-old racer from Irmo, South Carolina, is competing in his sixth Nationwide Series season.  His best finish in 63 career starts was a pair of 13th-place finishes in both Daytona races in 2012.  Both times, Efland drove the #4 Chevrolet fielded by longtime car owner Johnny Davis.  The majority of Efland’s starts have come with Davis’ JD Motorsports team, but he’s also raced for Go Green Racing, Corrie Stott, Jimmy Means, Mike Harmon, and his own family-owned team.

This year, Efland began the season with Davis, coming home 25th at Daytona in the #4 Flex Seal Chevrolet.  Following two starts in Mike Harmon’s #74 Chevrolet, Efland moved to the Mark Beaver-owned #50 team.  Earlier this year, Beaver fielded a #50 Chevrolet that gave Efland his best career Truck Series finish in ten starts - a 20th at Charlotte.  Beaver had also entered cars in the last two Nationwide Series seasons with drivers T.J. Bell and David Starr.  Bell gave the team it’s best finish to date, again at Charlotte, when he came home 23rd in the fall of 2011.

Efland and Beaver made their 2013 debut at Iowa in August, where he came home 34th.  Following a 35th-place finish at Atlanta, Efland failed to qualify for the team’s next two attempts at Richmond and Kentucky.  However, with just 39 cars entered at Dover, Efland was guaranteed his sixth start of the year.  He secured the 32nd starting spot with an average speed of 144.329 mph.

Four laps into the opening green-flag run, Efland pulled behind the wall, edging Josh Wise in The Motorsports Group’s #42 by three laps.  Rounding out the Bottom Five were Chase Miller in the Rick Ware-prepared #15 Chevrolet, J.J. Yeley, Wise’s teammate, in TMG’s #46, and 2013 LASTCAR Nationwide Series champion Jeff Green.  Green now has five races left to score a record-breaking 13th last-place finish in 2013.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first last-place finish for the #50 in a Nationwide Series race since last fall at Texas, when T.J. Bell fell out with engine trouble after one lap of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge.  Bell was driving Mark Beaver’s #50 Gulf Coast Loss Prevention Chevrolet.  The number had never before finished last in a Nationwide Series race at Dover.
*This was Efland’s first last-place finish in a Nationwide Series race at Dover.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
39) #50-Danny Efland / 4 laps / vibration
38) #42-Josh Wise / 7 laps / transmission
37) #15-Chase Miller / 8 laps / handling
36) #46-J.J. Yeley / 9 laps / overheating
35) #10-Jeff Green / 13 laps / vibration

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (12)
2nd) Blake Koch (3)
3rd) Joey Gase (2)
4th) Tanner Berryhill, Danny Efland, Johanna Long, Eric McClure, Michael McDowell, Robert Richardson, Jr., Morgan Shepherd, Dexter Stacey, Mike Wallace, Josh Wise, J.J. Yeley (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #10-TriStar Motorsports (12)
2nd) #00-SR2 Motorsports (3)
3rd) #52-Jimmy Means Racing (2)
4th) #14-TriStar Motorsports, #17-Vision Racing, #23-R3 Motorsports, #27-SR2 Motorsports, #42-The Motorsports Group, #46-The Motorsports Group, #50-Mark Beaver, #70-ML Motorsports, #89-Shepherd Racing Ventures, #92-KH Motorsports, #01-JD Motorsports (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (20)
2nd) Chevrolet (6)
3rd) Dodge, Ford (1)