The finish came in his 11th start. In the SCRL ARCA Sportsman Series, it's the 1st for car #4 and the 8th where the car was still running. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 13th for the #4 and the 267th where the vehicle was still running.
Entering the ARCA Series's brand newest division, Russell was entering only the third ever full time series in his career, after making his debut in the SCRL NASCAR Legends Series, where he would score three career wins and drive on to win the championship, joining an exclusive list of drivers to win a championship in his debut season. Russell would then travel across the pond to compete in the SCRL Formula 3 Series, scoring a win at Hungaroring and would finish a 5th in the overall point standings. Back in the United States, Russell was quick to sign up and compete in the ARCA's third highest division, and would get off to an early start with a 7th at Toledo, before struggling to a disappointing 27th at Mansfield. A 10th at Heartland Park would begin a five race streak of finishes in the top ten; 4th at Lucas Oil, 8th at Iowa, 3rd at Rockingham and a 4th at Winchester. Russell's streak would end with a 12th at Palm Beach, 24th at I-70 before finishing 19th in the last round at the Milwaukee Mile.
In qualifying , Russell would struggle to fine much speed during his qualifying lap around the one mile dirt track, putting up a speed of 107.852mph (33.379 seconds), a full seven hundredths of a second off Andrew Olsen's pole run, which would be his first of the year. This secured Russell the 20th spot on Monday’s grid. Starting 29th and last in the race for the second race in a row was the #66 Lincoln Welders / Bojangles' Dodge of Daryl Lee, posting a time of 39.392, six seconds off of Olsen's pace after going wide in Turn 1 on his lone qualifying lap.
Lee's stay in the final spot would last for only two turns, much like it had at Milwaukee the race before, as he quickly knocked Milwaukee last-place finisher the #29 Snap-On / Whelen Chevrolet of Dilan Ebrahimian, who would trail for the first lap, before the next circuit around he knocked the #52 Fel-Pro Performance Gaskets Ford of Nitahbk into the final spot on Lap 2. Her stay in the final spot would also last only one lap when she passed the #57 Mazak Machine Tools / 3M Dodge of Terry Lee into the final spot for lap 3. Lee would also remain in last for just one circuit when he knocked Palm Beach last-place finisher the #77 Jasper / Lucas Oil Dodge of Muhammad Zain Abdullah into last on Lap 4.
Abdullah would trail in the final spot for two laps before he knocked Russell into last for the first time on Lap 6. Russell would trail for two laps himself around the one mile track before knocking the #51 Tire Kingdom / Cometic Ford of AJ Jones into the final spot before before the white flag. The two cars raced each other into Turn 1 with Jones making a move past Russell and then past I-70 last-place finisher the #46 Dollar General / Dickies Ford of Frodomar Otts in Turn 3 with Russell unable to gain any spots and would finish both behind Jones and Otts.
The remaining Bottom Five were: 26th was the #22 Raybestos / Supergard Chevrolet of Erik Sieg and 25th was the aforementioned #52 of Nitahbk.
SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #4 has finished last in the SCRL ARCA Sportsman Series as well at Springfield.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
29) #4-Christian Russell / 10 laps / running
28) #46-Frodomar Otts / 10 laps / running
27) #51-AJ Jones / 10 laps / running
26) #22-Erik Sieg / 10 laps / running
25) #52-Nitahbk / 10 laps / running
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