ARCA: Flat tire, then big crash, makes Samet Ozkan trail flag to flag at Charlotte

Samet Ozkan picked up the 1st last place finish of his SCRL Lucas Oil ARCA Racing Series career in the Season 3 General Tire 150 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #77 Barbera's Autoland Dodge was involved in a multi-car crash after 1 of the 40 laps.

The finish came in his 6th start. In the SCRL Lucas Oil ARCA Racing Series, it's the 2nd for car #77 and the 23rd from a crash. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 9th for the #77 and the 251st from a crash. 

Entering Season 3 of the SCRL Lucas Oil ARCA Racing Series, Ozkan had found success in other SCRL series, having visited victory lane three times in his career, and was looking to bring back success into the ARCA's main series. Ozkan finished a disappointing 29th in his debut at Daytona, 23rd at Atlanta, 16th at Nashville, 10th at Salem before leading his first ever lap in the series before finishing 19th in the crash filled race at Talladega in the last round.

In qualifying, Alexander Rowe scored his first career series pole with a time of 28.228 seconds with Ozkan posting a time of 28.307 seconds, 0.079 behind Rowe's pole run, placing Ozkan 26th on the grid. Starting last was the #7 Advanced Mobile Power Systems Chevrolet of Alex Jones, 0.114 seconds off Rowe's pole sitting time.

Samet Ozkan heads down pit road.

Just seconds after the field rolled off pit road, Ozkan pulled to the inside of the track, just like what Jack Lagasee had done in the last round at Talladega. Ozkan would follow the pace car down pit road and into his stall, but thankfully for him it was only a flat tire, with his team sending him back out onto the track just after the field had completed their first lap. While getting up to speed, pole sitter Rowe had fallen back outside the Top 10 when he made contact with the unsponsored #6 Eddie Sharp Racing Chevrolet of Colin Dryburgh, sending Rowe into the outside wall, causing the car to flip over onto it's side.

Behind Rowe's car, the rest of the pack came flying in without slowing down, the perfect example of "lack of ARCA brakes" as a multi-car crash would break out, with Rowe flipping ten times before landing on all four wheels. Ozkan would slow up and avoid getting involved in the crash, but seconds later the race leader, the unsponsored #54 Kurzejewski Motorsports Dodge of Arina McShane entered Turn 1 at full speed and slammed into the back of Ozkan's car, destroying it and setting off another small wreck in Turn 1. Ozkan would limp back around and pulled behind the wall, having been scored only competing one lap.

The remaining Bottom Five would be involved in the event's first Big One as well as the wreck in Turn 1; 39th was Salem race winner the unsponsored #17 Roulo Brothers Racing Ford of Marcus Saatchi, 38th was the #11 Hudson Perf/ Drivelines / Warrick Tubing Dodge of Tony Newman, 37th was the #42 Crosley Radio Dodge of Sebastian Torres and 36th was the aforementioned #62 of Alexander Rowe.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #77 has finished last in a ARCA Series race at Charlotte.
*The only other time the #77 has trailed an ARCA field was in the Season 1 International Motorsports Hall of Fame 250 at the Talladega Superspeedway when John Racer's unsponsored #77 Cunningham Motorsports Dodge fell out with valve problems after completing 3 of the 19 laps; 41 races ago.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #77-Samet Ozkan / 1 lap / crash
39) #17-Marcus Saatchi / 2 lap / crash
38) #11-Tony Newman / 2 lap / crash
37) #42-Sebastian Torres / 2 laps / crash
36) #62-Alexander Rowe / 3 laps / crash