ARCA Midget: Juniper Skunktaur becomes the first driver to drop out of a Midget Series race at Kil-Kare

Juniper Skunktaur picked up the 1st last place finish of his SCRL ARCA Midget Series career in the Season 1 Naturally Fresh 100 at the Kil-Kare Speedway when his #8 was involved in a multi-car crash after 5 of the 25 laps.

The finish came in his 5th start. In the SCRL ARCA Midget Series, it's the 1st for car #8 and the 1st from a crash. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 19th for the #8 and the 247th from a crash. 

Entering Season 1 of the SCRL ARCA Midget Series, Juniper was making history as he became the eight "taur" to compete in a SCRL sanctioned race, while also becoming the first ever Skunktaur to compete as well. Juniper would impress in his debut, by finishing 4th at Toledo, before improving on his finish by finishing 3rd at Salem, before finishing 8th at Flat Rock before finishing 6th in the last round at Devil's Bowl.

For the first time ever in the SCRL ARCA Midget Series, drivers visited the site of the 0.375 short track in Xenia, Ohio, as well as the first time ever in league history drivers would race at the track. In qualifying, Juniper posted a time of 16.657 seconds, 0.338 seconds behind pole sitter Chakat Silverpaw, while qualifying last was the #36 of Eugene Underwood, a full half second behind Silverpaw's lap time.

On race day, Underwood would trail for the first three laps around the quarter mile track before knocking the #19 Servan Sarihan into the final spot on Lap 4, but his stay would be brief as he knocked the #16 Daniel Hunter entered Turn 2 when seconds later his brother, the #21 of John Hunter went to hard into the turn, sliding up the track, sending both into the outside wall with both cars almost flipping over before sliding back down the track in front of a pack of cars with the #23 of Jeremy Hawkins being the first car, while Juniper tried to avoid the crash and ran right into John's car, with enough force that it ended Juniper's night.

The remaining Bottom Five drivers would finish on the same lap as the race leaders: 19th was the #23 of Jeremy Hawkins, 18th was the #16 of Daniel Hunter, 17th was the #90 of Christian Vargas and 16th was the #11 of Keri Benjamin.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #8 has finished last in the SCRL ARCA Midget Series as well at Kil-Kare.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
20) #8-Juniper Skunktaur / 5 laps / crash
19) #23-Jeremy Hawkins / 25 laps / running
18) #16-Daniel Hunter / 25 laps / running
17) #90-Christian Vargas / 25 laps / running
16) #11-Keri Benjamin / 25 laps / running