N’WIDE: Half Of The 2013 Nationwide Series Last-Place Finishes Belong To TriStar’s #10
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| SOURCE: Jeff Wagoner |
The finish was Green’s fifteenth of 2013 and his fifth in the last seven races. When adding in Michael McDowell’s last-place run for the team last week at Texas, the #10 TriStar Motorsports team has now finished last in four consecutive races, in six of the last seven, and amassed a season total of sixteen, exactly half of the thirty-two races run so far this year.
It is easily the most dominant last-place season of any team in NASCAR history in a year that has seen Green break his own single-season last-place record and continue to pad his lead in the overall LASTCAR standings.
Green was 26th in the opening practice, 30th in Happy Hour, then ended up 31st in qualifying with an average speed of 129.162 mph, fourth-slowest among the twelve “go-or-go-homers” who attempted to qualify. Missing the race were 37th-fastest Morgan Shepherd, his eleventh DNQ of 2013 and second in a row, and the #92 of 41st-fastest Dexter Stacey.
Former LASTCAR record holder Derrike Cope took a turn in the ML Motorsports #70 Toyota this weekend, but crashed hard in qualifying. For the race, he ran one of his own Creation-Cope Racing Chevrolets with the “3” on the car number “73” reshaped into a “70.” Cope fell out after 104 laps with handling woes to finish 35th, narrowly missing the Bottom Five.
Green, however, pulled out after four laps, once again edging a car from The Motorsports Group for the final spot in the field. This time, it was Josh Wise in 39th behind the wheel of TMG’s #42. Blake Koch extended his streak of bottom-five finishes to four in a row in SR2 Motorsports’ #00, and TMG teammate T.J. Bell gave the team’s primary #40 its first Bottom Five of 2013 with a 37th place run. Rounding out the Bottom Five was Carl Long, driving the only Dodge in the field for Mike Harmon.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was Green’s first last-place finish in a Nationwide Series race at Phoenix since March 3, 2012, when his #10 TriStar Motorsports Toyota fell out with a vibration after he completed 3 laps of the Bashas’ Supermarkets 200.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #10-Jeff Green / 4 laps / vibration
39) #42-Josh Wise / 6 laps / electrical
38) #00-Blake Koch / 9 laps / transmission
37) #40-T.J. Bell / 13 laps / brakes
36) #74-Carl Long / 63 laps / brakes
LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (15)
2nd) Blake Koch (3)
3rd) Joey Gase, Michael McDowell (2)
4th) Tanner Berryhill, Danny Efland, Johanna Long, Eric McClure, 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 (16)
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 (24)
2nd) Chevrolet (6)
3rd) Dodge, Ford (1)
