BUSCH: James Stabilito only retiree in caution filled race at Richmond

James Stabilito picked up the 1st last place finish of his SCRL Wrangler Jeans Busch Grand National Series career in Wednesday's Eastern 150 at the Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway when his #98 Levi Garrett Pontiac was involved in a multi-car crash after 35 of the 50 laps.

The finish came in his 2nd career series start. Entering Season 2 of the Busch Series, Stabilito had found limited success, scoring only one win in his entire career, when he drove the #99 Exide Batteries Ford to victory lane at the Stevens Beil / Genuine Parts 200 at the Flemington Speedway, in which he led every single lap from the pole. Making his Busch Series debut at Daytona one week ago, Stabilito would lead his first ever lap on his way to finishing 10th.

On race day, Stabilito would roll off the field in 6th, as he and the team had high hopes for their chances of returning to victory lane. Starting last was the #90 unsponsored Pontiac of Matt Bowyer, who, like Stabilito, was making his second career series start. Bowyer would trail the field the first few turns before defending champion the #28 Skoal Bandit Pontiac of Jack Lagasee would take over the last position and would hold it until lap 16 when the #32 Pet Dairy Pontiac of Ying Canario would make a pit stop during a caution period and she would hold onto last until Daytona last place-finisher the #63 Ashby Sheet Metal & Machine Pontiac of Maria Valera would take last on the 21st lap and if she didn't pass anyone, she would become the first driver to finish last in back-to-back races since Kyle Mests trailed the field at Charlotte and Asheville one season ago.

However Valera would knock the #17 Aladdin Industries Pontiac of Sammy Sabre Jr. to last on the 22nd lap as he would trail the field for two laps before handing the spot back to Ying Canario on Lap 24 as she would keep the position until the #62 1 Stop Food Store Pontiac of Marcos Yepez would take last on the 28th lap before he passed the #89 Plessinger Racing Pontiac of Toby Fox to last on the 29th Lap as no one had yet to retire from the race despite several big wrecks. However on the 34th lap, Stablito had fallen back to the 8th spot and was racing hard with the #19 Gardiner's Auto Parts of Nick Kennedy when Kennedy spun out Stabilito right in front of the rest of the field as drivers tried their best to avoid, but the #7 Mello Yello Oldsmobile of Matt Hamill had no where to go and slammed into the passenger side of the car with enough force that Stablito flipped over two times before landing on all four wheels. 

Amazingly Stabilito was able to keep the car running, but drove around back to the pits and into the garage, his day done and his car officially listed as "out" on the 40th lap, just as the green came back out and would be the only driver to retire from the race.

The Bottom Five were filled by drivers who all were one lap behind race winner Samet Ozkan: 32nd went to Season 1 fall Bristol winner the #8 TGR Enterprises Pontiac of Eli Bright, 31st went to Season 1 season finale Martinsville race winner the #00 Thomas Brothers Country Ham Oldsmobile of Riley Spurlytube, 30th went to the #22 A.G. Dillard Pontiac of Danyal Gitirokh and rounding out the bottom five in 29th was the #95 Metro Pontiac of Sebastian Torres, who led one lap earlier in the race, but lost a lap when he suffered a flat tire just a few laps after Stablito's wreck.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first time the #98 has finished last in a Busch race as well as at Richmond.
*This is Stabilito's second last-place finish in the SCRL, his previous coming in the SCRL Rainbow Dash Truck Series Season 3 race at the Colorado National Speedway when he was involved in a single truck wreck in the Colorado 250 By Snap-On Tools after 7 of the 25 laps.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
33) #98-James Stabilito / 35 laps / crash
32) #8-Eli Bright / 49 laps / running
31) #00-Riley Spurlytube / 49 laps / running
30) #22-Danyal Gitirokh / 49 laps / running
29) #95-Sebastian Torres / 49 laps / running led 1 lap

Busch: Early "big one" gives Maria Valera her first last-place finish in series debut at Daytona

Maria Valera picked up the 1st last place finish of her SCRL Wrangler Jeans Busch Grand National Series career in Thursday's Goody's 300 at the Daytona International Speedway when her #63 Ashby Sheet Metal & Machine Pontiac was involved in a multi-car crash after 1 of the 20 laps.

The finish came in her 1st career series start. Entering Season 2 of the Busch Series, Valera had limited success in the SCRL, having gone win less until the previous series, where she won at Heartland Park Topeka in the SCRL Rainbow Dash Truck Series, along the way to finishing 20th in points. Throughout her entire career, Valera had only trailed the field one time, when nine races after having scored her breakout victory, Valera was involved in a multi-truck crash at Fontana as she was looking forward to starting her busch series career off on a high note.

On race day, Valera would roll off the field in 36th while starting last was the #04 unsponsored Pontiac of Gatlin Downey, who was also making his busch series debut. Downey would trail the field the first three turns before chaos broke out in Turn 4 when the #22 Miller High Life Pontiac of Danyal Gitirokh turned the #21 Chattanooga Chew Pontiac of Christian Vargas which caused a "big one" to break out as multiple cars would be involved as the #63 of Maria Valera would try and slam on the brakes, but wasn't able to in time as she hit Vargas's car, damaging both cars and knocking Valera out of the race by the next lap.

Finishing 40th was the #89 Plessinger Racing Pontiac of Toby Fox, who was also involved in the multi-car crash and would retire on the same lap as Valera, 39th went to the #2 Smith-Davis Tire Pontiac of Gustavo Arocha who would complete one more lap before retiring as well, 38th went to the #87 Jarvis Racing Chevrolet of Joe Jefferson who broke a Camshaft while seconds later the #19 Gardiner's Auto Parts Pontiac of Nick Kennedy's engine blew up, filling up the bottom five by the start of the fourth lap.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first time the #63 has finished last at Daytona.
*This is the first time the #63 has trailed a Busch race since April 29, 2017, when James Barker was involved in a single car crash after completing 1 of 40 laps of the Season 1 Miller Time 300 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, 3 races ago.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
41) #63-Maria Valera / 1 lap / crash
40) #89-Toby Fox / 1 lap / crash
39) #2-Gustavo Arocha / 2 laps / crash
38) #87-Joe Jefferson / 3 laps / camshaft
37) #19-Nick Kennedy / 3 laps / engine

Reason Out Rankings (S1-present)

Reason Out Rankings (S1-present)

Last Update: January 18, 2018
(list excludes non-points races)

CUP SERIES
(3) crash, running

(1) engine, tire

Busch Series

(13) running

(10) crash

(3) camshaft

(2) header 

(1) tire

TRUCK SERIES
(26) crash
(19) running

(9) engine

(8) camshaft

(1) clutch, did not start, disqualified, gearbox, header, ignition, tire, transmission

LEGENDS SERIES
(49) unknown

(12) crash 

(5) engine

(4) running

(3) did not start, header

(2) camshaft

(1) clutch, electrical, valve

ARCA SERIES
(21) crash

(10) running

(3) header

(2) gearbox, tire

(1) camshaft, engine, piston, valve

F1

(12) crash

(5) running

(2) piston

(1) clutch

Formula E
(4) crash

(3) running

(2) engine

(1) clutch, piston, valve

IndyCar Series
(2) running

Canada
(8) crash

(3) running

(1) camshaft, gearbox, tire

Mexico Series
(10) running

(3) crash

(1) camshaft, disqualified

EAST Series
(13) crash

(5) engine

(2) camshaft, running

(1) tire

WEST Series
(11) crash

(2) camshaft, running

IROC SERIES
(13) running

(7) crash

(2) header, piston

(1) tire

ASA SERIES
(17) crash

(7) running

(3) engine

(1) camshaft, gearbox, tire

ARCA TRUCK SERIES
(7) running

(4) crash

(1) camshaft

WHELEN SERIES
(1) crash, running

V8 SERIES

(6) crash

(2) clutch, running

(1) camshaft, engine, fuel pump, tire, valve

RALLYCAR SERIES
(11) crash

(1) camshaft, engine, header, running

ALL SERIES

(171) crash

(108) running

(49) unknown

(28) engine

(24) camshaft

(12) header

(10) tire

(6) clutch, piston

(5) gearbox

(4) did not start, valve

(2) disqualified

(1) electrical, fuel pump, ignition, transmission

Car Number Rankings (S1-present)

Car Number Rankings (S1-present)

Last Update: January 18, 2018
(list excludes non-points races)

CUP SERIES

(2) #1

(1) #8, #13, #24, #78, #99, #108
(0) #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #00, #01, #10, #11, #14, #17, #18, #21, #23, #25, #28, #40, #41, #43, #44, #46, #51, #58, #77, #90, #91, #92, #96, #120, #155, #181, #190, #213

BUSCH SERIES

(4) #88
(3) #00, #12
(2) #02, #39, #63, #70
(1) #01, #09, #4, #6, #7, #22, #37, #47, #50, #75, #82
(0) #1, #2, #04, #05, #07, #10, #11, #14, #15, #16, #19, #21, #23, #24, #27, #28, #29, #32, #33, #34, #41, #62, #79, #99

TRUCK SERIES

(4) #61
(3) #4, #10, #24, #31, #77, #83
(2) #2, #7, #22, #32, #58, #62, #84, #94, #99
(1) #04, #06, #08, #1, #3, #8, #9, #13, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #23, #25, #26, #28, #30, #35, #42, #43, #55, #66, #80, #86, #88
(0) #5, #6, #01, #02, #07, #11, #12, #20, #21, #27, #29, #33, #34, #38, #52, #53, #54, #64, #65, #74, #75, #76, #81, #87, #90, #98

LEGENDS SERIES
(49) unknown
(3) #00, #72, #98
(2) #5, #6, #21, #24, #30, #43
(1) #2, #8, #04, #10, #17, #32, #34, #45, #51, #57, #71

ARCA Series
(3) #16, #66, #69
(2) #9, #02, #15, #22, #28, #30, #32, #92, #99
(1) #1, #5, #6, #8, #09, #10, #20, #25, #44, #48, #52, #55, #68, #74, #77, #80

F1
(4) #19
(3) #22
(2) #21
(1) #2, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #12, #14, #17, #18, #23

FORMULA E
(3) #44
(2) #3, #21
(1) #5, #7, #19, #20, #94

INDYCAR Series
(2) #38
(1) #7, #25, #81

CANADA SERIES
(2) #3, #66
(1) #00, #01, #04, #07, #21, #42, #48, #82, #84, #89

MEXICO SERIES
(3) #28
(2) #2, #11, #31, #58
(1) #3, #15, #20, #88

EAST SERIES
(3) #47
(2) #1, #32, #50, #71
(1) #2, #6, #7, #07, #10, #20, #26, #31, #37, #39, #62, #70

WEST SERIES
(3) #6
(2) #17
(1) #2, #14, #18, #24, #36, #47, #52, #54, #55, #88

IROC Series
(6) #10
(4) #5, #7, #8
(3) #11
(2) #9
(1) #3, #6

ASA Series
(3) #75
(2) #6, #14, #43, #46, #66, #67, #85
(1) #1, #00, #10, #21, #22, #25, #27, #30, #37, #43, #59, #71, #81, #99

ARCA TRUCK SERIES
(4) #20
(2) #72 
(1) #8, #26, #30, #51, #77, #81

WHELEN SERIES
(1) #16, #81

V8 SERIES
(2) #44, #22
(1) #3, #05, #18, #21, #24, #25, #34, #51, #55, #88, #021

RALLYCAR SERIES
(3) #4, #50
(1) #5, #21, #25, #29, #49, #92, #96, #98, #99

ALL SERIES
(49) unknown
(13) #10
(12) #6
(10) #5, #7, #8, #21, #22
(8) #2, #00, #20, #24, #66, #88
(7) #1, #3, #30, #32, #99
(6) #4, #19, #25, #28, #31, #43, #44, #50
(5) #9, #11, #17, #47, #72, #77
(4) #02, #12, #14, #15, #16, #18, #55, #58, #61, #71, #75, #81, #98
(3) #04, #18, #26, #37, #39, #51, #62, #69, #70, #83, #84, #92, #94
(2) #01, #07, #09, #13, #23, #34, #38, #42, #46, #48, #52, #63, #67, #80, #82, #85
(1) #05, #06, #08, #27, #29, #35, #36, #45, #49, #54, #57, #59, #68, #74, #78, #86, #89, #96, #108, #021