N’WIDE: Blake Koch Extends 2014 LASTCAR Lead At Indianapolis

SOURCE: @TriStarRaceTeam - Twitter

Blake Koch picked up the 11th last-place finish of his NASCAR Nationwide Series career in Saturday’s Lilly Diabetes 250 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when his #10 M&W Logistics Toyota fell out with a vibration after he completed 2 of the race’s 100 laps.

The finish was Koch’s series-leading seventh of the 2014 season and his first since Dover, seven races ago.  With fourteen races to go, Koch now holds a four-finish lead over teammate Jeff Green in the 2014 LASTCAR Nationwide Series standings.

Since Dover, Koch had made two more starts in TriStar’s fully-funded #44, which he drove to a season-best 19th last month at Kentucky.  He also finished next-to-last in the two most recent races at Loudon and Chicago, where he was edged by Matt DiBenedetto and Kevin Lepage.  For Indianapolis, David Starr returned to drive the #44.  Koch climbed back in the “start-and-park” #10, which this time carried sponsorship from M&W Logistics, Koch’s sponsor with SR2 Motorsports last season.

Koch didn’t participate in the opening practice session, then put up the 36th-fastest time in Happy Hour.  He secured the 40th and final starting spot with a lap of 169.898 mph.  In the race, Koch pulled behind the wall after two laps, followed a lap later by Matt DiBenedetto, back in The Motorsports Group’s #46 after giving the team’s #40 a 34th-place run at Chicago.

Finishing 38th was Jamie Dick in the #55 Viva Auto Group / Fonius Chevrolet, his worst finish since a 34th at Fontana.  37th went to Carl Long, whose #72 James Carter Attorney / CrashClaimsR.Us Chevrolet was a post-entry that showed up to the track on Friday.  Despite the late entry, Long managed to secure the 34th starting spot, bumping from the field both Chicago last-placer Kevin Lepage and Tommy Joe Martins, who was looking to make his first start since Road America.  Rounding out the Bottom Five was Koch’s teammate Eric McClure in the #14 Hefty Ultimate / Reynolds Wrap Toyota.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the second-consecutive last-place finish for the #10 in the Nationwide Series race at Indianapolis.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #10-Blake Koch / 2 laps / vibration
39) #46-Matt DiBenedetto / 3 laps / vibration
38) #55-Jamie Dick / 14 laps / clutch
37) #72-Carl Long / 19 laps / suspension
36) #14-Eric McClure / 44 laps / steering

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Blake Koch (7)
2nd) Jeff Green (3)
3rd) Matt DiBenedetto, Kevin Lepage (2)
4th) Tanner Berryhill, Ryan Ellis, Robert Richardson, Jr., Tim Schendel, Jimmy Weller (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #10-TriStar Motorsports (8)
2nd) #46-The Motorsports Group (3)
3rd) #91-TriStar Motorsports (2)
4th) #17-Vision Racing, #23-R3 Motorsports, #55-VIVA Motorsports / SS Green Light Racing, #74-Mike Harmon Racing, #87-Rick Ware Racing, #93-JGL Racing (1)

LASTCAR N'WIDE SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (10)
2nd) Chevrolet (6)
3rd) Dodge (3)