LEGENDS: Late tire problem at Thompson gives Jimmy Sampson the first last-place finish of his career

Jimmy Sampson picked up the 1st last place finish of his SCRL NASCAR Legends Series career in the Season 4 Thompson Speedway 200 at the Thompson Speedway when his #00 Thomas Brothers Country Ham Chevrolet finished under power after 19 of the 20 laps.

The finish came in his 14th start. In the SCRL NASCAR Legends Series, it's the 5th for car #00 and the 42nd for running at the finish. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 11th for the #00 and the 196th for running at the finish.

Sampson is a complete rookie in the SCRL, having not completed a lap before signing up for the longest active series in the SCRL. Despite having no previous experience in the SCRL, Sampson impressed in his debut, by finishing 9th at the twisting road course at Riverside. After finishing 12th at Ontario and a 9th at Richmond before the team would struggle the next 5 races with a best finish of 15th at Talladega before finishing 11th at North Wilkesboro. A 10th at Darlington, a 27th at Charlotte, 33rd at Martinsville, 36th at Michigan, 30th in the return trip to Riverside before finishing 29th at Greenville-Pickens in the last round.

On race day, Sampson rolled off starting in 39th while starting last was the #29 unsponsored Chevrolet of Marko Tellez, a spot that Tellez would hold for the first two laps before passing the #64 Woodfield Ford of Josh Nixey on Lap 3. Nixey would remain in the final spot for only one lap before he passed Tellez the very next lap, before swapping last again as Nixey fell back to last for the second time on Lap 5. Nixey would remain in last for the next three laps when Greenville-Pickens last-place finisher the #13 unsponsored Chevrolet of Leroy Jones made contact with the #21 60 Minute Cleaners Mercury Cyclone of Bryan McKayson, sending Jones for a spin in Turn 1, and falling to the final spot.

Jones would suffer some damage after being hit by Richmond last-place finisher the #98 Jim Robbins Co. Ford of Chris Kyle and was forced to pit during the caution to repair the damage. When the green flag came back out, Jones trailed the field and struggled to keep up and appeared to become the first driver to finish last twice in Season 4. With five laps to go, Sampson, who had worked his way up to the 35th spot, began to slow coming off Turn 2 and quickly pulled to the apron and then onto pit road, as the driver was reporting a flat left front tire. While the team was able to put on only left side tires, Sampson had fallen a lap down, getting back out on track and unable to gain any spots over the final four laps, was the lone driver to not finish on the lead lap.

Rounding out the Bottom Five was: 41st was the #34 unsponsored Ford of Al Lagasee, 40th was the aforementioned #64 of Josh Nixey, 39th was the #13 of Leroy Jones and 38th was Atlanta last-place finisher the #25 unsponsored Plymouth of TJ Dent.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first SCRL NASCAR Legends Series last-place finish for the #00 at Thompson.
*This is the first time the #00 has trailed an SCRL NASCAR Legends Series field since the Season 3 World 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when Dinkdrinker fell out with engine problems without completing any of the 40 laps; 32 races ago.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
42) #00-Jimmy Sampson / 19 laps / running
41) #34-Al Lagasee / 20 laps / running
40) #64-Josh Nixey / 20 laps / running
39) #13-Leroy Jones / 20 laps / running
38) #25-TJ Dent / 20 laps / running