Thursday, November 28, 2019

Throwback BUSCH: Grayson Acevedo last in LCQ at Caraway

Grayson Acevedo picked up the 1st last place finish of his SCRL Wrangler Jeans Busch Grand National Series career in the Season 1 Budweiser 200 at the Caraway Speedway when his #02 unsponsored Pontiac completed all 10 laps under power.

The finish came in his 8th start. 

Entering Season 1 of the Busch Series, Acevedo had already proven he belonged by scoring multiple wins in several series. In his debut, Acevedo finished 11th at Daytona, 29th at Richmond, 32nd at Bristol, 40th at Martinsville, 38th at Darlington, a career best runner up finish at Hickory before finishing 11th in the last round at South Boston.

Due to the Caraway track not being big enough to fit all forty two cars, the field was split into two parts, the first twenty six drivers would race in the main event while the remaining 16 drivers raced in a LCQ(Last Chance Qualifier) to see who would advance. 

Acevedo would roll off the starting grid 9th while the Richmond last-place finisher the #47 unsponsored Pontiac of Jesse Turner started last, and in a caution free, but eventful race, Acevedo would find himself on the outside, dropping back to last around the halfway mark and scoring the last place spot.

The remaining Bottom Five were: 41st was Bristol last-place finisher the #70 unsponsored Pontiac of Todd Kennedy, 40th was the #88 unsponsored Pontiac of Keith Stevens, 39th was the #4 Connie Mining Tire Pontiac of AJ Jones and finishing 38th was South Boston last-place finisher the #00 Thomas Brothers Country Ham Oldsmobile of Dinkdrinker.

Grayson would never find victory lane in the SCRL Busch Series, but had scored 8 career wins in his entire career. He continues to compete in select SCRL series from time to time.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #02 had finished last in the busch series as well as at Caraway.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
42) #02-Grayson Acevedo / 10 laps / running
41) #70-Todd Kennedy / 10 laps / running
40) #88-Keith Stevens / 10 laps / running
39) #4-AJ Jones / 10 laps / running
38) #00-Dinkdrinker / 10 laps / running

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Throwback LEGENDS: hunter2224 gets first last place-finish in rare caution free race Talladega

hunter2224 picked up the 1st last place finish of his ONL NASCAR Legends Series career in the Season 1 Alabama 500 at the Alabama International Motor Speedway when his #22 unsponsored Dodge completed all 18 laps under power.

The finish came in his 7th career start. 

hunter2224 was one of the last drivers to sign up for the first ever series that the then ONL ran. In his series debut, he finished 17th at Riverside and a finish of 8th at Richmond Fairgrounds two races would be his career best until the very next event at Atlanta, hunter would score a runnerup finish, while another two races late, he scored his worst finish of his career at Bristol, finishing next to last and a lap down.

On race day, hunter2224 would roll off starting in 10th while starting last was two time-last place finisher the #64 Woodfield Ford of dragonboy. Much like many races of the early year of the then ONL, details of the races have been lost to time and only the race winners and results are known, and by the end of the final lap, hunter had fallen back to last, and the first last-place finish was his.

The Remaining Bottom Five finished on the same lap as the race leaders; 19th was the #4 Mills Plumbing Dodge of Sicarius, 18th was Atecom, 17th was Bristol last-place finisher the #06 Warren Fox Dodge of bigdaddy RCN and finishing 16th was the debuting #98 Jim Robbins Co. Ford of Chris Kyle.

Talladega would be hunter2224's only last-place finish of his career, while four races later, he would pick up what would be his lone ONL pole as well as his lone win, at Martinsville. However with a great high a greater low would come, as just two races later, hunter's career came to an end, after finishing 4th at Riverside, hunter was released from his ride for failure to comment and has not competed in a SCRL race since.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #22 had finished last in a Legends race as well as at Talladega.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
20) #22-hunter2224 / 18 laps / running
19) #4-Sicarius / 18 laps / running
18) Atecom / 18 laps / running
17) #06-bigdaddy RCN / 18 laps / running
16) #98-Chris Kyle / 18 laps / running

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Throwback IndyCar: Cole Nixey caught up in second straight wreck at Indianapolis; wins SCRLASTCAR Championship

Cole Nixey picked up the 2nd last place finish of his SCRL IZOD IndyCar Series career in the Season 1 Race 1 at the Phoenix International Raceway when his #38 Service Central was involved in a multi-car crash after 5 of the 16 laps.

The finish, which came in his 2nd career start, was his first on the circuit since the Dura-Lube 200 at the Phoenix International Raceway when he was involved in a multi-car crash after 1 of the 32 laps, 1 race ago

After trailing the field at Phoenix, Cole was in a battle with Luke Rainey over the SCRLASTCAR award, and if someone else finished last, it would be a three way-tie, with Nixey scoring the championship by having the worst finish of the three.

On race day, Nixey would roll off starting in the final spot for the second race in a row as the first five laps around the two and half mile track would be rather calm, but it all came to a end in the blink of an eye. While racing for 4th, the #7 McAfee / Bing of Brian Fox made contact with the #14 ABC Supply Co. of Tony Newman coming down the backstretch as Fox would spin out with drivers trying to swerve and miss, but the #84 A.J. Foyt Enterprises of Chakat Whitelion was not so lucky as shi slammed into Fox's car, sending him up into the air at almost a hundred feet. While Fox was up in the air, his car came back down at the same second the #6 TrueCar of Colin Dryburgh and the #38 of Nixey was passing to the inside as Fox's car slammed down hard on both Dryburgh and Nixey's car, destroying all three vehicles with the #28 DHL / Sun Drop Citrus Soda slamming into the pile of cars as well. While Fox took a huge hit, the driver was incredibly not injured from the crash, able to walk from the infield care center.

For Nixey, his first IndyCar Season was a disappointing, with only a best finish of 34th at Walt Disney the only "high point" of the season, and would easily lock up the Season 1 SCRLASTCAR Championship for the IndyCar Series on the strength of two last-place finishes.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #38 had finished last in the IndyCar Series as well at Indy.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #38-Cole Nixey / 5 laps / crash
35) #6-Colin Dryburgh / 5 laps / crash
34) #84-Chakat Whitelion / 5 laps / crash
33) #28-Dinkdrinker / 6 laps / crash
32) #7-Brian Fox / 6 laps / crash

Thursday, November 7, 2019

Throwback Formula E: Early crash gives Cally Joetta the first last-place finish of her career at Hockenheimring

Cally Joetta picked up the 1st last place finish of her SCRL Formula E Series career in the Season 1 Germany ePrix at Hockenheimring when her #21 Haas F1 Team was involved in a single-car accident after 1 of 7 laps.

The finish came in her 3rd career start. 

Joetta was one of several new rookies who signed up to complete in the Formula's then lowest division in a attempt to build a career up to complete in the main Formula Series. In her debut, Joetta finished 13th at Mexico City while finishing 4th in the last round at the two mile Kyalami road course in Africa.

On race day, Joetta would roll off starting 2nd while starting in the final spot was the #22 McLaren-Honda F1 Team of Cam Nixey, a spot he would hold for the first five turns until the battle for last ended quickly. While trying to pass Kyalami last-place finisher the #3 Red Bull Racing of Eli Bright for the lead, Joetta lost control of her car as she wheel hopped and spun off track, making impact with the tire barrier in the esses, bring out the first caution. Joetta would slowly limp her way back to the start/finish line to complete the first lap before pulling into the garage seconds later, before the car would be retired shortly before the race went back racing.

Finishing 21st was the #6 Mercedes of Ryan Pritchard who would also spin out in the same esses on the 4th lap, his car destroyed and limped back to the garage and the car was retired around the same time the #11 Sahara Force India F1 Team of Tommy Hudson pulled into the garage just shortly before the field took the white flag due to a broken header.

Rounding out the Bottom Five was 19th the #8 Haas F1 Team of Matt Johnson and 18th was Mexico City last-place finisher the #20 Renault Sport F1 Team of Gavyn Moore.

Joetta would never taste the joy of victory lane, but she would score two 3rd place finishes at Monaco and Long Beach, finishing last at CTMP in her final start and would finish 13th in points. She hasn't competed in a SCRL race since.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first SCRL Formula E Series last-place finish for the #21 as well at Hockenheimring.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
22) #21-Cally Joetta / 1 lap / crash
21) #6-Ryan Pritchard / 4 laps / crash
20) #11-Tommy Hudson / 6 laps / header
19) #8-Matt Johnson / 7 laps / running
18) #20-Gavyn Moore / 7 laps / running