XFINITY: Jeff Green One Last-Place Finish Away From Record Streak

SOURCE: Kris Branch

Jeff Green picked up the 71st last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s U.S. Cellular 250 at the Iowa Speedway when his unsponsored #19 TriStar Motorsports Toyota fell out with a vibration after he completed 3 of the race’s 260 laps.

The finish was Green’s 11th of the season and his fourth in a row.  The streak matches the all-time last-place record Green himself set in August 2011.  With another last-place finish next week at Watkins Glen, Green can become the first driver ever to finish last in five consecutive NASCAR races.  Saturday’s finish occurred in Green’s 406th series start.

At Iowa, Green did not participate in Friday’s opening practice session, but in Happy Hour was the 33rd-fastest of the 39 drivers.  He improved further to 32nd in qualifying with an average speed of 127.314 mph.

Starting 40th on Saturday night was 25-year-old Zach Bruenger, a short tracker from Illinois with three combined starts in the K&N Pro Series East and the X-1R Pro Cup Series.  Bruenger would be making his XFINITY Series debut that night driving owner Jimmy Means’ part-time second entry, the renumbered white #79.  Once again, the #79 was a last-minute addition, allowing a full field of 40 to take the green flag.

Bruenger held the 40th spot for the first three circuits until Green pulled off the track from the 30th position.  Once again, Green was the first driver to retire from the event, locking-up his fourth-straight last-place run.  Bruenger came home 38th, exiting after 20 laps with brake issues as the official cause.  In between Green and Breunger was the Braille Battery / Grafoid Dodge of 39th-place Josh Reaume, who gave Motorsports Business Management’s #40 team its ninth-straight finish of 37th or worse.  Rounding out the Bottom Five were the #89 Racing With Jesus / Barney’s Chevrolet of Morgan Shepherd, now with ten-straight runs of 36th or worse, and the #13 Chevrolet of John Jackson, the Scotsman making his first XFINITY Series start since Chicago in June.

Saturday’s race was also the 904th and final start across NASCAR’s top three divisions for popular veteran driver Kenny Wallace.  Wallace achieved his greatest successes in the XFINITY Series, racking up nine victories over 547 series starts, and was runner-up to Bobby Labonte in the 1991 XFINITY championship.  Though he finished last 12 times across NASCAR’s top three divisions, and in 1998 edged David Green for the year’s LASTCAR Cup title, just three of those 12 finishes came in the XFINITY Series.  In comparison, Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett, and Dale Earnhardt all trailed five XFINITY races each.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Jeff Green has now finished last in exactly half of the 12 XFINITY Series races run at Iowa since the track joined the circuit in 2009.
*This marks the first last-place finish for the #19 in an XFINITY Series race at Iowa.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #19-Jeff Green / 3 laps / vibration
39) #40-Josh Reaume / 19 laps / overheating
38) #79-Zach Bruenger / 20 laps / brakes
37) #89-Morgan Shepherd / 29 laps / brakes
36) #13-John Jackson / 34 laps / overheating

2015 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (11)
2nd) Dexter Bean (2)
3rd) C.J. Faison, Mike Harmon, Charles Lewandoski, Carl Long, Morgan Shepherd, Derek White (1)

2015 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) TriStar Motorsports (12)
2nd) King Autosport, Motorsports Business Management (2)
3rd) JGL Racing, Mike Harmon Racing, Shepherd Racing Ventures (1)

2015 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (14)
2nd) Chevrolet (3)
3rd) Dodge (2)