TRUCKS: Mason Mingus Finishes Last In NASCAR Debut
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| SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin' Forums |
Mingus becomes the fourth Truck Series driver to finish last in his series debut in 2013, joining Scott Saunders, Jeff Babcock, and Ricky Ehrgott.
Mingus, just eighteen years old, has made thirty-four starts in the ARCA Racing Series. Though winless in that division, he was this year’s runner-up in points behind Frank Kimmel with an average finish of 7.5.
With the ARCA season wrapped up two weeks ago in Kansas, Mingus and owner Kevin Cywinski turned their attention to the Truck Series. Cywinski himself made forty-six starts in the series from 1997 through 1999. In his final season, he scored a pair of top-five finishes at Martinsville and Bristol while driving the #31 Auto Trim Design Ford for another part-time racer, Bob Brevak. Mingus would make his Truck Series debut at Talladega, bringing with him ARCA sponsorship from the 811 safe digging campaign.
Mingus qualified an impressive 12th for the race at an average speed of 174.541 mph, making him the fastest of the thirteen “go-or-go-homers” who attempted to qualify. It was a huge improvement from his 31st-fastest time in the final practice session. Missing the race were Danny Efland, who finished last in the Nationwide Series at Dover, and Jennifer Jo Cobb in her #10 Dodge RAM.
At the start of the race, Mingus was still running with the leaders when he started leaking oil after only two laps. The leak grew worse, bad enough for him to pull onto pit road during the opening green-flag run. He pulled behind the wall after only five laps, done for the day. His oil brought out the first yellow on Lap 9.
Twenty-two laps behind Mingus in 35th was Chris Jones, who stayed out to lead Lap 21 during a round of caution-flag pit stops, then parked his #93 RSS Racing Chevrolet. Rounding out the Bottom Five were three trucks involved in a pileup on Lap 67: the Ken Smith-owned #07 Advanced Communications Group Toyota of Chris Cockrum, the #82 Empire Racing Ford of fellow ARCA driver Sean Corr, and Brennan Newberry in the #24 Qore-24 Chevrolet.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first last-place finish for the #35 in a Truck Series race at Talladega. It’s also the first time the number finished last in this series since February 18, 2000 - the day of the inaugural Daytona 250 at Daytona. Finishing last that day was David Starr, whose #35 Unified Office Network Chevrolet lost the engine after ten laps. This race is much better known for the violent multi-truck accident that severely injured Geoffrey Bodine.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #35-Mason Mingus / 5 laps / oil leak
35) #93-Chris Jones / 27 laps / overheating / led 1 lap
34) #07-Chris Cockrum / 65 laps / crash
33) #82-Sean Corr / 65 laps / crash
32) #24-Brennan Newberry / 65 laps / crash
LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chris Lafferty (5)
2nd) Chris Jones (3)
3rd) Johnny Chapman (2)
4th) Jeff Babcock, Ryan Blaney, Ricky Ehrgott, Mike Harmon, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Mason Mingus, Scott Riggs, Scott Saunders (1)
LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #0-Jennifer Jo Cobb (6)
2nd) #93-RSS Racing (3)
3rd) #38-RSS Racing, #84-Chris Fontaine (2)
4th) #10-Jennifer Jo Cobb, #29-Brad Keselowski, #35-Kevin Cywinski, #81-Bobby Dotter, #92-Ricky Benton (1)
LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (11)
2nd) Ford (4)
3rd) RAM (2)
4th) Toyota (1)
