SOURCE: Rubbin's Racin' Forums, FS1

Josh Wise picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s ToyotaCare 250 at the Richmond International Raceway when his unsponsored #93 RSS Racing Chevrolet fell out with transmission issues after 7 of 149 laps.

The finish, which came in Wise’s 146th series start, was his second of the season and first since Texas, two races ago.

Edged by 17 laps for his second-straight last-place finish at Bristol by Matt DiBenedetto, Wise returned to the second RSS Racing entry for Richmond, again as a team driver to Ryan Sieg.  This set the preliminary entry list at 41 entries - until TriStar switched Jeff Green from their #10 to the #14 previously driven by J.J. Yeley, temporarily placed Matt DiBenedetto back in the #10, then withdrew the #10 altogether.  This meant that Wise would be guaranteed a starting spot in both the heat races and the main event even before time trials.

Wise impressed with a 14th-fastest lap in the lone practice session, but when qualifying was rained-out, he remained 19th on the grid for the 20-car Heat Race #2.  Wise pulled off the track after 8 laps, securing him the 40th and final spot for the main event.  In this, too, he exited in the early stages, pulling behind the wall after 7 laps to secure the last-place finish.

Finishing 39th was Morgan Shepherd, who bounced back from three consecutive DNQs to make the show in his #89 Racing With Jesus / Courtney Construction Chevrolet.  Shepherd pulled off the track after 12 laps with suspension issues.  38th went to the #40 Motorsports Business Management Dodge of Carl Long, who in four XFINITY starts this season has finished in every position inside the Bottom Five except 40th.  37th went to Jeff Green, who made it more than half distance in TriStar’s #14 before brake issues ended his day.  Rounding out the group was Mike Harmon, whose tangle with Erik Jones on Lap 127 damaged Harmon’s black unsponsored #74 Dodge.

Ryan Sieg, Wise’s RSS Racing teammate, finished 21st and slipped just one position to 12th in the point standings.  Wise went on to finish 39th in Sunday’s Cup race driving The Motorsports Group’s #30 Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet.  He finished on the same lap as last-place finisher Reed Sorenson’s #55 ChampionMachinery.com Chevrolet (LINK), but was denied his second last-place sweep of 2016.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first last-place finish for both Wise and the #93 in an XFINITY Series race at Richmond.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #93-Josh Wise / 7 laps / transmission
39) #89-Morgan Shepherd / 12 laps / suspension
38) #40-Carl Long / 17 laps / brakes
37) #14-Jeff Green / 104 laps / brakes
36) #74-Mike Harmon / 123 laps / crash

2016 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jeff Green (3)
2nd) Matt DiBenedetto, Josh Wise (2)
3rd) Ryan Preece (1)

2016 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) TriStar Motorsports (5)
2nd) RSS Racing (2)
3rd) JD Motorsports (1)

2016 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Toyota (5)
2nd) Chevrolet (3)