BUSCH: Flat tire late at South Boston gives Celious Wolf his first last-place finish of his Busch career; gives #47 it's first last-place finish in over two years

Celious Wolf picked up the 1st last place finish of his SCRL Busch Grand National Series career in Thursday's Miller 300 at the South Boston Speedway when his #47 Randolph Hope Insurance Pontiac completed 28 of the 30 laps under power.

The finish occurred in his 10th career series start. In the SCRL Busch Series, it's the 2nd for car #47 and the 37th for running at the finish. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 8th for the #47 and 304th for running at the finish.

Entering Season 3 of the Busch Series, Wolf had found success in his SCRL career, having picked up three career wins and was still looking to make a name for himself. In his first attempt in the Busch Series, Wolf signed on to complete part-time, with 17 races on his schedule with plans of going full time in Season 4. Wolf's Busch career got off to a decent start, finishing 15th in his debut, before choosing to skip the next round at Richmond before coming back to finish 4th at Rockingham. After choosing to skip Hickory, Wolf started 4th at Martinsville and would lead 43 of the event's 50 laps to score his first busch series win. A disappointing 27th at Darlington would send the team back to their race shop in North Carolina to work on the car, choosing to skip the next three rounds at Orange County, Nashville and Langley, before coming back to finish 15th at the Milwaukee Mile. A 14th at Dover, a 7th at Charlotte and a 17th at South Boston showed that the team was working in the right direction, but they still decided it was best to sit out the next two rounds at Hickory and Orange County. A return trip to South Boston gave Wolf a 8th place finish, followed by another two race break at Orange County and Hickory, a 4th place at IRP before the team again skipped the season's second event at Langley.

The entry list for the 11th time this season would have both full and part-time drivers racing against each other as the series traveled to South Boston, Virginia in the series third and final planned stop at the 0.357 mile short track in Season 3.

In qualifying, Nick Kennedy would score his second straight busch pole at South Boston with a lap time of 16.414 seconds. Wolf would struggle in qualifying, posting a time of 16.640, 0.226 seconds off Nick's pole, placing him 19th overall. Starting last in the race was Charlotte last-place finisher the #17 Hodgdon Pontiac of Chakat Lightingblaze who posted a time of 16.815 seconds, 0.401 seconds behind Lightingblaze's pole winning time.

On race day, Chakat Lightingblaze would trail for the first lap before knocking the the #8 Wrangler Jeans Pontiac of Cassie Dent, Dent would trail for one lap before knocking the #54 Burger King Buick of Ty Dent into last on Lap 3, with Ty remaining in last for only one lap as well before knocking second Orange County last-place finisher the #42 Benefit Development Pontiac of Jake Thomas back to last on Lap 4. Thomas would remain in last for only one lap before knocking current SCRLASTCAR Championship leader the #28 Skoal Bandit Pontiac of Jack Lagasee to last on Lap 5. Jack was determined to not pick up his third straight last place finish and knocked Darlington last-place finisher the #6 Mason Day Paving / Valvoline Oldsmobile of Chris Kyle into last on Lap 6.

Kyle would trail for two laps before knocking the #32 Econo Lodge / Budweiser Pontiac of Riley Spurlytube into last on Lap 8, as Spurlytube would trail for two laps as well before knocking Lightingblaze back to last on Lap 10, a position shi would hold for two laps as well before shi passed the #24 Komfort Koach / Budweiser Ford of Michael Brown into last on Lap 12. Brown would remain in last for two laps as well, knocking two time last-place finisher the #48 Williford Prod. Builders Pontiac of Matt McIntyre into last on Lap 14. McIntyre was determined to not get back into the battle for last as the very next lap he knocked the #16 Big Orange Market Pontiac of Juniper Skunktaur into last on Lap 15. Juni would trail for two laps until he knocked third Hickory last-place finisher the #12 unsponsored Ellis Racing Pontiac of Tyler Mills into last on Lap 17. Mills would trail for two laps to keep the trend going before he knocked the #71 Taylor Togs / Maxie's Vending Pontiac of Muhammad Zain Abdullah into last on Lap 19. Abdullah would trail for one lap before knocking the #53 of John Smith into the final spot, a position he was holding when the battle for last came to an end.

While running in 10th, Wolf turned sharply to the inside of the track off Turn 2, going slow down the backstretch, reporting of a flat left rear tire, before stalling in Turn 3, bringing out the race's lone caution. Wolf's car would be ran into the #71 of Abdullah, causing both drivers to go a lap down, with Abdullah going on to finish 38th, before Wolf's car was moved to pit road. Wolf would lose another lap under caution before being sent back out onto the track, and despite fresh tires on his car, Wolf would trail for the remaining laps.

Finish 39th was Rockingham last-place finisher the #21 Chattanooga Chew Pontiac of Derrick Edison, who suffered a flat tire himself just before the white flag and would lose a lap.

Rounding out the Bottom Five were: 37th was the aforementioned #12 of Tyler Mills and 36th was the #16 of Juniper Skunktaur.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first time the #47 has finished last in a Busch Series race at South Boston.
*This is the first time the #47 has trailed a Busch Series race since the Season 1 Eastern 150 at the Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway when Jesse Turner's #47 unsponsored Pontiac was involved in a multi-car crash after 8 of the 50 laps; 83 races ago.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #47-Celious Wolf / 28 laps / running
39) #21-Derrick Edison / 29 laps / running
38) #71-Muhammad Zain Abdullah / 29 laps / running
37) #12-Tyler Mills / 30 laps / running
36) #16-Juniper Skunktaur / 30 laps / running