ARCA Midget: Dave Benjamin trails in caution free race at Columbus

Dave Benjamin picked up the 2nd last place finish of his SCRL ARCA Midget Series career in Saturday's Season 1 Columbus 100 at the Columbus Motor Speedway when his #76 completed all 30 laps under power.

The finish, which came in his 8th career series start, was his first on the circuit since the Toledo 100 at the Toledo Speedway when he completed all 20 laps under power, 7 races ago. In the SCRL ARCA Midget Series, it's the 2nd for car #76 and the 6th where the car was still running. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 3rd for the #76 and the 250th where the car was still running. 

After having finished last in the series first ever race at Toledo, Benjamin finished 8th at Salem, a disappointing 19th at Flat Rock, 17th at Devil's Bowl, 6th at Kil-Kare, a runner up finish to Taylor Dent at the Indianapolis Speedrome, before scoring his first career win in the series first ever event on the dirt at the Santa Fe Speedway.

In qualifying, Chakat Lightingblaze scored hir first career series pole with a time of 16.335 seconds with Benjamin posting a time of 16.814 seconds, 0.479 behind Lightingblaze's pole run, placing Benjamin 18th on the grid. Starting last was the #5 of Michael Collins, 0.647 seconds off Lightingblaze's pole sitting time.

On race day, Collins would remain in last for the first turn before knocking the #11 of Keri Benjamin into the final spot and the first lap, before Keri would knock Collins back into last on Lap 2, a position Collins would hold for the next seven circuits, before he knocked the #90 of Christian Vargas into last on Lap 10. Vargas would trail himself for the next eight laps before making a move, knocking Dave into last for the first time on Lap 27.

Dave would trail for the next six laps, struggling to keep up as the leaders were only two seconds away from lapping them, Dave made a move on Vargas on Lap 28, the two cars battling side by side for the last two laps, until Vargas finally surged past on the backstretch, with Dave falling to last on the last lap.

The remaining Bottom Five drivers were: 19th was the aforementioned #90 of Christian Vargas, 18th was the #5 of Michael Collins, 17th was the #36 of Eugene Underwood and 16th was the #11 of Keri Benjamin.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #76 has finished last at Columbus.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
20) #76-Dave Benjamin / 30 laps / running
19) #90-Christian Vargas / 30 laps / running
18) #5-Michael Collins / 30 laps / running
17) #36-Eugene Underwood / 30 laps / running
16) #11-Keri Benjamin / 30 laps / running