The finish occurred in his 27th career series start, was his first on the circuit since January 17, 2018 in the Season 3 Carquest Auto Parts 420K at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway when he fell out with engine problems without completing any of the 27 laps, 1 race ago. In the Truck Series, it's the 2nd for truck #3 and the 27th from a crash. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 19th for the #3 and 260th from a crash.
Ever since trailing in the truck's finale, Ozkan would could to compete in series as he would score a win in the next series, winning at Richmond Fairgrounds in the SCRL Wrangler Jeans Busch Grand National Series, in the SCRL Icebreakers Whelen Series at Waterford and in the Formula 3 Series at Monza, before finishing a disappointing 32nd in the SCRL Lucas Oil ARCA Racing Series with no wins on the season. Entering just his second full time season in the Truck Series, Ozkan would sign a contract to race for the same team and drive the same truck he had a season before, Richard Childress Racing and the iconic #3 truck painted in the same paint scheme that Dale Earnhardt drove in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series that same year in 1998, the same year Earnhardt won his lone Daytona 500.
The entry list for the final race at Martinsville was a field of 30 trucks as only the full time drivers would have a chance to race, while throughout the season there would be a possible chance with a field as big as 40 trucks. Ozkan would return to the sight of his truck series debut just one season earlier, a track he finished 21st at. This would also be the final truck race held at the three turned "Mickyard", with the track being run close by the Walt Disney World theme park, the park couldn't handle the space to hold both events, and so the truck race would be cut from the schedule after one final race.
For the first time in Truck Series history, qualifying would determine the starting field, and Ozkan would struggle to find any speed, posting a time of 29.572 seconds, almost a full second slower then Christian Russell who scored his first career league and series pole. However was the #70 unsponsored Buford Racing Ford of Brock Beard, writer and owner of LASTCAR, would be the one who would start last, struggling during his qualifying lap and almost spinning out, but would complete his lap, four seconds behind Russell's time.
On race day, Brock would trail for the first two turns in his first career start, but his stay in the final spot ended as in Turn 3 the first of four cautions came out in Turn 3 as a multi-truck spin broke out, with the #5 Llumar Window Films Chevrolet of Chakat Whitelion being held up by the spin and would be last across the start/finish line. Shi would remain in last for the next lap as during pitstops shi would get out in front of pit stops and would knock the #6 RE/MAX International Chevrolet of Dilan Ebrahimian, a position he would hold for two laps before knocking Whitelion back down to last on Lap 6 when chaos would break out on the Frontstretch.
While battling for 6th, the unsponsored #60 Addington Racing Chevrolet of Christian Russell smacked the Turn 3 wall and came across the track of the #75 Spears Manufacturing Chevrolet of Joshua Rush, which would set of a chain reaction as a "Big One" would break out on the Frontstretch, forcing the officials to red flag the event. Ozkan was running around the back of the pack as the crash started and with the track blocked he had no where to go and slammed hard into the back of the #98 Hastings Premium Filters Ford of Al Lagasee, nearly sending Lagasee over another truck while the #10 A & G Coal Chevrolet of Celious Wolf would hit Russell's spinning truck and then be hit by the #7 Purvis Brothers Ford of Chakat Lightingblaze sending Wolf for a spin while Lightingblaze would be turned to the inside wall and hit it head on. With the red flag out, Ozkan, Wolf and Lagasee would all drive their trucks around before pulling behind the wall, being scored as "out" by the 9th lap, while Ozkan being scored last since he was behind the others when the crash began.
Rounding out the Bottom Five Lightingblaze and Rush, who both drove around for another lap after the crash and one more lap when the red flag lifted before pulling behind the wall, both scored having completed one more lap then Ozkan, Lagasee and Wolf.
SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first time the #3 has finished last at Walt Disney.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
30) #3-Samet Ozkan / 6 laps / crash
29) #98-Al Lagasee / 6 laps / crash
28) #10-Celious Wolf / 6 laps / crash
27) #7-Chakat Lightingblaze / 7 laps / crash
26) #75-Joshua Rush / 7 laps / crash
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