The finish occurred in his 27th career series start. In the Truck Series, it's the 1st for the #87 and the 36th from a crash. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 4th for the #87 and 269th from a crash.
Ben entered the fourth ever season of the Truck Series having found success previous by scoring one win in his career, but he had never himself drove a truck before this season, but would sign to drive for NEMCO Motorsports for at least one season on a full-time ride schedule. Ben finished 10th at Walt Disney in his Truck Series debut, before scoring a 3rd at Homestead, 8th at Phoenix, 20th at Portland, 16th at Evergreen, 28th at I-70, 32nd at Watkins Glen, 22nd at Texas, 31st at Bristol, 15th at Milwaukee Mile, 25th at Nazareth, 15th at Fontana, 33rd at Pikes Peak, 9th at IRP, 10th at Loudon, 27th at Flemington, 18th at Nashville, 6th at Heartland Park, 14th at Louisville, 7th at Richmond, 24th at Memphis before in his 22nd career start, Ben would score his first Truck Series win at Gateway. After scoring his first career Truck win, Crouch would finish 17th at Martinsville, 29th at Sears Point, 21st at Mesa Marin before finishing 15th in the last round at Phoenix.
The entry list, for the 17th time this season, and second in a row, would be 37 trucks. Jay Jefferson would collect his second career series pole in qualifying, his first since Evergreen Speedway, by posting a time of 32.161 seconds, while Crouch would fair well in qualifying, posting a time of 32.252 seconds, 0.091 seconds behind Jefferson's pole winning time, placing Crouch in 10th position. Posting the slowest time during qualifying was Nashville last-place finisher the unsponsored #60 Addington Racing Chevrolet of Christian Russell, who was 0.227 seconds behind Jefferson's lap time.
On race day, Russell would trail for only the first two turns before knocking Fontana last-place finisher the #2 Team ASE Racing Ford of Monika Flores into last. Flores would trail for the first two laps around the 1.5 mile track before she would knock two time last-place finisher the #88 PBA Tour Chevrolet of Carlos Rodriguez would fall back into last on Lap 3. The next time by the unsponsored #09 Greenfield Racing Dodge of Season 3 Champion Zachary Fitzwater would fall back to last on Lap 4, but his stay wouldn't be for long as the next circuit by he would knock the #16 NAPA Brakes Chevrolet of Chris Kyle into last on Lap 5. Kyle would trail for the next two laps before he would knock Homestead last-place finisher the #24 GMAC Financial Services Chevrolet of Nathan Ormond into last on Lap 7. Next time by I-70 last-place finisher the #43 Cummins Engines Dodge of Marcus Saatchi would fall back to last on Lap 8, as Saatchi would trail the field for the next three laps till Lap 12 when he knocked Rodriguez back to last. Carlos's stay was once again only one lap as the next time by the start/finish line, the battle for last would come to an end as a multi-truck crash would break out.
Contact between the #15 Acxiom Ford of Colby Harris and Flores would cause Flores to come down the track and into Crouch, causing Crouch to slide up the track right into the path of the #28 Federated Auto Parts Ford of Jack Lagasee, causing Crouch's truck to flip over and lands on his roof, sliding across the start/finish line with Flores last on Lap 13. Crouch's truck had to be flipped over before the driver climbed out of the truck uninjured, but his truck was done for the day, as well as Ormond's, who was able to limb around the track and crossed the line before pulling behind the wall.
Finishing 35th was the #16 of Chris Kyle, who suffered a flat tire just before the field started the Green, White, Checkered and would fall one lap down behind the race leaders, but was able to finish the race under power.
The remaining Bottom Five would finish on the same lap as the race leaders; 34th was the aforementioned #2 of Monika Flores and 33rd was the #4 All American Museum Dodge of Daniel Bouchard.
By virtue of Crouch finishing last, Joshua Rush would lock up the SCRLASTCAR Championship on the strength of two last-place finishes at Milwaukee and Nazareth. It is Rush's first ever SCRLASTCAR Championship in his career.
The Season 4 SCRL Rainbow Dash Truck Series Championship went to Zachary Fitzwater, the second straight the driver, and fourth overall in his career, and the first for his team owner, Dick Greenfield. Fitzwater had no last-place finish in the season, with his worst finish of the seaosn being a 35th - coming at Gateway. Congratulations to Fitzwater and the Greenfield Racing team for having a great year and making history in the SCRL.
SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first time the #87 has finished last in a Truck Series race as well at Las Vegas.
*This is the first time the #87 has finished last in a Truck Series race as well at Las Vegas.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
37) #87-Ben Crouch / 13 laps / crash
36) #24-Nathan Ormond / 14 laps / crash
35) #16-Chris Kyle / 18 laps / running
34) #2-Monika Flores / 19 laps / running
33) #4-Daniel Bouchard / 19 laps / running
37) #87-Ben Crouch / 13 laps / crash
36) #24-Nathan Ormond / 14 laps / crash
35) #16-Chris Kyle / 18 laps / running
34) #2-Monika Flores / 19 laps / running
33) #4-Daniel Bouchard / 19 laps / running
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