TRUCKS: Alex Guenette Scores First NASCAR Last-Place Finish

SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin' Forums

Alex Guenette picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career in Sunday’s Kroger 250 at the Martinsville Speedway when his #74 Motos Illimitees Chevrolet fell out with a broken oil pump after he completed 32 of the race’s 256 laps.  The finish came in Guenette’s second series start.

Guenette, a 17-year-old Canadian driver from Terrebonne, Quebec, turned heads with a solid 10th-place showing in the 2013 championship for the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, including a runner-up finish to Scott Steckly at the Autodrome St. Eustache.  With the Truck Series making its first trip to Canada in last August’s race at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Guenette scored a ride with Rod Sieg’s team.  He qualified 14th out of 30 drivers, but ended up 25th with a busted oil line.

Martinsville would be Guenette’s next attempt, and his first with his Canadian Tire Series sponsor Motos Illimitees on his Chevrolet.  Guenette would this time be driving the #74 entry owned by Mario Gosselin, a Chevrolet with the 2013 body still on the truck.

Guenette timed in 26th in the opening session, then improved to 11th-fastest out of 34, five spots ahead of eventual race winner Matt Crafton.  Saturday’s qualifying was rained out along with the race, and when Ted Minor withdrew his #12, along with both RSS Racing trucks, the 36 remaining made up the starting lineup.  Guenette earned the 24th starting spot.

The green flag flew on Sunday afternoon, and Jennifer Jo Cobb’s #10 Dodge was the first to lose a lap on Lap 10.  Jo Cobb got her lap back when Norm Benning’s spin brought out the yellow a few laps later.  Benning’s #57 Chevrolet held the final spot until Guenette pulled behind the wall on Lap 25.  Though he would return to the race to run seven additional laps, fuel pump issues then ended the Canadian’s race for good.

Rounding out the Bottom Five were local driver Raymond Terczak, Jr., who spun early in the race, then eventually fell out of his Truck Series debut with brake troubles, and Josh Williams making his 2014 debut in the #66 Southwest Florida Cable Construction Ford.  Bryan Silas and Spencer Gallagher were involved in a grinding Lap 122 crash when Gallagher’s #23 Allegiant Air Chevrolet was dumped by Caleb Holman entering Turn 1, sending him into the path of Silas’ #99 Bell Trucks America Chevrolet.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first last-place finish for the #74 in a Truck Series race since this same event in 2012, when Rick Crawford lost the brakes on Harmon’s Chevrolet after six laps.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #74-Alex Guenette / 32 laps / fuel pump
35) #56-Raymond Terczak, Jr. / 52 laps / brakes
34) #66-Josh Williams / 82 laps / brakes
33) #99-Bryan Silas / 120 laps / crash
32) #23-Spencer Gallagher / 122 laps / crash

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Alex Guenette, Jason White (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #74-Mario Gosselin, #93-RSS Racing (1)

LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (2)