The finish occurred in his 7th career series start. In the SCRL Busch Series, it's the 1st for car #48 and the 26th for running at the finish. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 8th for the #48 and 293rd for running at the finish.
Entering the third season of the Busch Series, McIntyre is still looking to make a name for himself in the SCRL, making his first ever start in the SCRL Chili Bowl before joining the CART Series, a season which he would fail to visit victory lane and would finish 33rd in points overall. When it came time for the Busch Series, McIntyre would once again sign on to drive full time in hopes of having better luck, he started off poorly by qualifying last at Daytona and would finish a disappointing 26th after being caught up in the race's second "Big One". McIntyre's season would continue to be disappointing with a 22nd at Richmond and a 37th at Rockingham would be followed by his first ever Top 5 in the SCRL a 5th at Hickory, followed by a 28th at Martinsville and a 23rd at Darlington in the last round.
The entry list for Orange County would be back down to the usual 25 cars of the full time drivers, with the part time drivers not scheduled to return for another three races at the Milwaukee Mile.
In qualifying, Al Lagasee would score the second pole in a role for the Lagasse family after Jack had won in the last round at Darlington, the first time in his Busch Series career with a lap time of 17.042 seconds. McIntyre would struggle in qualifying around the 0.375 mile track, posting a time of 17.418, 0.376 seconds off Lagasee's pole, placing him 15th overall. Posting the slowest time in qualifying was the #42 Benefit Development Pontiac of Jake Thomas, who posted a time of 17.504 seconds, 0.462 seconds behind Lagasee's pole winning time.
On race day, Thomas would trail for only the first turn before passing the #24 Komfort Koach / Budweiser Ford of Michael Brown, as Brown would trail for the first three laps around the track before knocking the #8 Wrangler Jeans Pontiac of Cassie Dent into last on Lap 4. Dent would struggle for the next few laps, before finally passing and putting McIntyre into last for the first time on Lap 10. McIntyre would himself struggle around the track to even stay with the pack as he would fall at one point a full second behind the closest car, but finally on Lap 24 he knocked the unsponsored #97 Hill Racing Pontiac of Blaine Hayes. Hayes would trail for two laps before passing McIntyre back on Lap 26, but McIntyre would fight back and passed Hayes back on Lap 27, with Hayes looking to fight back over the next three laps to prevent himself from finishing last for the first time in his short career, and when the field began it's final lap, Hayes got a run on the outside, passing McIntyre in Turn 1 and held off McIntyre by less then a car length to give McIntyre only his second ever last-place finish of his career.
Rounding out the Bottom Five were; 24th the aforementioned #97 of Blaine Hayes, 23rd was the #14 Banner House Handbags Pontiac of Christian Russel, 22nd was the #88 Service Specialties Pontiac of Rohan Marmot and 21st was the #24 of Michael Brown.
SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first time the #48 has finished last in a Busch Series race as well at Orange County.
*The only other time McIntyre has traield an SCRL race was in the Season 1 SCRL CART Series Trenton Twin Indy #2 at the Trenton Speedway when his #33 Purina entry fell out with engine issues without completing any of the 10 laps.
*This is the first time the #48 has finished last in a Busch Series race as well at Orange County.
*The only other time McIntyre has traield an SCRL race was in the Season 1 SCRL CART Series Trenton Twin Indy #2 at the Trenton Speedway when his #33 Purina entry fell out with engine issues without completing any of the 10 laps.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
25) #48-Matt McIntyre / 30 laps / running
24) #97-Blaine Hayes / 30 laps / running
23) #14-Christian Russel / 30 laps / running
22) #88-Rohan Marmot / 30 laps / running
21) #24-Michael Brown / 30 laps / running
25) #48-Matt McIntyre / 30 laps / running
24) #97-Blaine Hayes / 30 laps / running
23) #14-Christian Russel / 30 laps / running
22) #88-Rohan Marmot / 30 laps / running
21) #24-Michael Brown / 30 laps / running
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