N’WIDE: Jeff Green Scores 60th NASCAR Last-Place Finish
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| SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin' Forums |
The finish was Green’s second of 2014 and his first since the season opener at Daytona, two races ago. TriStar Motorsports extends its last-place streak to eight consecutive races, including all three run so far this year. It is also Green’s 60th last-place finish across all three of NASCAR’s top divisions, a mark reached in just 653 combined starts over 25 years. Curiously, 653 is the number of Cup starts the late J.D. McDuffie made over 28 years when he set his record of 32 Cup Series last-place finishes.
After a one-week hiatus where teammate Blake Koch put the #10 in the 39th and final spot at Phoenix, Green returned at Las Vegas, where he was guaranteed a starting spot as one of 40 cars on the entry list. Green timed in 26th in the opening practice, 28th in the second, and in qualifying timed in 32nd at an average speed of 173.371 mph.
Green was the third-slowest of the eleven “go-or-go-homers” in the field. Ranked behind him were Tommy Joe Martins and Matt DiBenedetto, who joined Green in the Bottom Five, five laps ahead of him, when all three pulled behind the wall in the early laps. Josh Wise, DiBenedetto’s teammate at The Motorsports Group, fell out after 82 laps, followed after the halfway point by Joey Gase in Jimmy Means’ #52.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first-ever last-place finish for both Green and the #10 in a Nationwide race at Las Vegas.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #10-Jeff Green / 3 laps / vibration
39) #76-Tommy Joe Martins / 8 laps / rear gear
38) #46-Matt DiBenedetto / 8 laps / electrical
37) #40-Josh Wise / 82 laps / suspension
36) #52-Joey Gase / 133 laps / engine
LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (2)
2nd) Blake Koch (1)
LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #10-TriStar Motorsports (2)
2nd) #91-TriStar Motorsports (1)
LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (3)
