XFINITY: For The Third Time, Jeff Green Scores Four Last-Place Finishes In A Row

SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin' Forums

Jeff Green picked up the 81st last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at the Texas Motor Speedway when his #19 Premier Barter Exchange Toyota fell out with transmission issues after he completed 4 of 204 laps.

The finish, which came in Green’s 418th series start, was his 21st of the 2015 season, his fourth in a row, and his sixth in the last eight races.  It is the second four-race last-place streak of Green’s XFINITY Series career, matching the streaks in August 2011 and July-August of this year.

As the XFINITY Series returned to action for the first time in three weeks, Green rejoined a list of 40 entrants for 40 spots in the second event of the Texas race weekend.  Green put his #19 34th in Friday’s lone practice session and remained in that spot for the race after qualifying was cancelled by rain.

During the opening 26 laps of green-flag racing, four drivers pulled behind the wall, led by Green on Lap 5.  Four laps behind him was Canadian owner-driver Mario Gosselin, who started last in his #92 Bucked Up Chevrolet while Martin Roy ran the full race in King Autosport’s #90 Gamache Truck Center / Cote Chevrolet.  38th spot went to T.J. Bell, his fourth-straight bottom-five finish in JGL Racing’s unsponsored #26 Toyota.  37th belonged to Motorsports Business Management with Josh Reaume in Derek White’s #40 Lodestar Guidance / VictoryWeekend.com Dodge - Reaume’s first XFINITY Sries start since last month at Charlotte, when he took a turn for JD Motorsports.

Rounding out the Bottom Five was the #14 Toyota, one of Green’s teammates at TriStar Motorsports.  Through the season’s first 30 races, West Virginian short tracker Cale Conley competed with limited funding for his second season on the tour, carrying logos representing the Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America.  Despite making all the races and finishing a season-best 16th, however, sponsorship woes took Conley out of this ride.  Mike Bliss, who earlier this year at Iowa was similarly excused from TriStar’s #19, found himself back with the team in a now-unsponsored #14.  Bliss ran more laps than any other driver in the Bottom Five, turning 40 in total before officially exiting with transmission issues.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marks Green’s fourth last-place finish in an XFINITY Series race at Texas, but his first in the fall race.  It is also the first time the #19 has trailed an XFINITY Series race at the track.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #19-Jeff Green / 4 laps / transmission
39) #92-Mario Gosselin / 9 laps / vibration
38) #26-T.J. Bell / 12 laps / electrical
37) #40-Josh Reaume / 14 laps / suspension
36) #14-Mike Bliss / 40 laps / transmission

2015 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (21) - 2015 CHAMPION
2nd) Dexter Bean (2)
3rd) Ryan Ellis, C.J. Faison, Mike Harmon, Blake Koch, Charles Lewandoski, Carl Long, Morgan Shepherd, Derek White (1)

2015 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) TriStar Motorsports (23)
2nd) King Autosport, Motorsports Business Management (2)
3rd) JGL Racing, Mike Harmon Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Shepherd Racing Ventures (1)

2015 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (25)
2nd) Chevrolet (3)
3rd) Dodge (2)
4th) Ford (1)