The finish came in his 2nd start. In the SCRL ARCA Truck Series, it's the 1st for truck #54 and the 1st for engine issues. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 3rd for the #54 and the 49th for engine issues.
Entering Season 2 of the SCRL's ARCA Truck Series, Pearson had been competing for several seasons over various series sanctioned by the SCRL but was on a losing streak until he made his first attempt at a open wheel car signing up to drive in Season 1 of the SCRL Formula 2 Series. While he would struggle for most of the season, Pearson would finally break through by scoring his first career win in the second to last event at Adelaide. After finishing 12th in the overall championship standings, Pearson decided it was best to head back to the United States and signed on to compete in the ARCA's Truck division. Pearson's truck career would start by qualifying 9th before finishing 6th in the last round at Toledo and was looking to continue his momentum in the season's second race at Kil-Kare.
In qualifying at the 0.375 short track, Ty Dent would win the pole with a blistering 15.299 seconds with Pearson posting a time of 15.401 seconds, 0.109 behind Ty's pace, and placing Pearson 12th on the grid. Starting from the back of the pack was Sierra Albaugh in the #82 Champion Chevrolet, over four hundreds of a second behind Ty's pole winning time.
When the command was given for drivers to start their engines and begin their lone pace lap, Pearson's truck stalled in Turn 1, preventing the high line from going at the start as Pearson's truck was towed back to pit road to allow for the team to look over the truck, looking under the hood the team found that the problem was a terminal engine failure, with his truck being pushed behind the wall, being scored last having not completed a lap.
The remaining Bottom Five were: 25th was the unsponsored #18 Chevrolet of Dain Martin, 24th was the unsponsored #9 Chevrolet of Zachary Fitzwater Jr., 23rd was the #09 Burning Rubber Chevrolet of Jimmy Dawson and 22nd was the #28 ETS / Engine Rebuilders Chevrolet of Al Lagasee.
SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #54 has finished last in the SCRL ARCA Truck Series as well at Kil-Kare.
*This marked the first time a driver has not only failed to complete a lap in the ARCA Truck Series, but also the first time a driver has fallen out due to engine issues.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
26) #54-Leonard Pearson / 0 laps / engine
25) #18-Dain Martin / 25 laps / running
24) #9-Zachary Fitzwater Jr. / 25 laps / running
23) #09-Jimmy Dawson / 25 laps / running
22) #28-Al Lagasee / 25 laps / running
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