XFINITY: Jeff Green Scores 70th NASCAR Last-Place Finish
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| SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin' Forums |
The finish was Green’s 5th of the season, his first since Richmond, three races ago, and came in his 399th series start. It is also Green’s 70th last-place finish across NASCAR’s top three divisions - the most of all drivers. In the all-time standings, Green now stands 31 finishes ahead of second-place Joe Nemechek.
The car Green drove at Charlotte wasn’t the same #10 he carried to his previous four last-place finishes in 2015, but instead the #19 previously driven by teammate Mike Bliss. Bliss joined TriStar’s XFINITY Series team after he left Curtis Key’s program at the end of 2010. His best finish in four full seasons with TriStar has been an 8th in the July 2012 race at Daytona. While the Daytona finish came while driving TriStar’s #44, Bliss has started the majority of his TriStar races in the #19, a car which has run full races despite a frequent lack of sponsorship.
Following Bliss’ 34th-place finish at Talladega earlier this month, TriStar Motorsports welcomed back veteran Eric McClure, who had originally left to sign with JGL Racing for 2015. On May 8, after finishing no better than 17th in the Daytona opener, McClure and his #24 Reynolds Wrap Toyota rejoined TriStar at Iowa, forcing his old team to reduce its field of 6 cars to 5. The decision was apparently made to scratch Green’s #10 and to convert Bliss’ #19 into Green’s new “start-and-park” entry, leaving Bliss without a ride. The net result was a 39th-place run for the #19 at Iowa, where driver Charles Lewandoski was edged by Carl Long for the last-place finish.
Green, who during the Iowa weekend was participating in the Sprint Showdown, returned to the same Charlotte track to attempt both the Cup and XFNITY Series races. On Thursday, Green’s #30 The Motorsports Group Chevrolet was the second-slowest of the five drivers who missed the race. For Saturday’s XFINITY event, however, Green was able to rely on his Past Champion’s Provisional to make the show with a speed of 175.075 mph, bumping Derrike Cope and Mike Harmon from the field.
While Green had run 23rd and 32nd-fastest in the weekend’s two practice sessions, he still pulled behind the wall after just 2 laps on Saturday, securing the first last-place finish of the year for TriStar’s #19. He this time beat Iowa last-placers Motorsports Business Management, whose #40 Braille Battery / Grafoid Toyota was this week driven by Timmy Hill, the young driver making his first series start since Richmond.
38th place went to Jamie Dick, who on Lap 48 lost the engine on his #55 Viva Auto Group Chevrolet entering Turn 1, then spun and backed into the outside wall. 37th went to B.J. McLeod, who gave Rick Ware’s #15 BYB Extreme Fighting Series Chevrolet its fourth bottom-five finish in its last five starts. Rounding out the Bottom Five was the second Motorsports Business Management car of Carl Long, who this time ran a bright green #13 Jaret’s Angels / JDRF Dodge.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first last-place finish for the #19 in an XFINITY Series race since September 29, 2001, when Ed Berrier’s #19 Tiger Saws & Blades Chevrolet owned by Cavin Councilor was involved in a single-car crash that ended his race after 10 laps of the inaugural Mr. Goodcents 300 at the Kansas Speedway. Curiously, Jeff Green won that race - his last in the Greg Pollex-owned #10 Nestle NesQuik machine that carried Green to his 2000 series title.
*This is Green’s first last-place finish in an XFINITY Series race at Charlotte since October 11, 2013, when his unsponsored #10 TriStar Motorsports Toyota also fell out with a vibration after 2 laps of the Dollar General 300.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #19-Jeff Green / 2 laps / vibration
39) #40-Timmy Hill / 40 laps / electrical
38) #55-Jamie Dick / 45 laps / crash
37) #15-B.J. McLeod / 58 laps / fuel pump
36) #13-Carl Long / 129 laps / engine
2015 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (5)
2nd) Dexter Bean, Mike Harmon, Charles Lewandoski, Carl Long, Morgan Shepherd, Derek White (1)
2015 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) #10-TriStar Motorsports (5)
2nd) #40-Motorsports Business Management (2)
3rd) #74-Mike Harmon Racing, #19-TriStar Motorsports, #89-Shepherd Racing Ventures, #92-King Autosport (1)
2015 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (7)
2nd) Chevrolet, Dodge (2)
