The finish occurred in his 15th career series start. In the SCRL Busch Series, it's the 1st for car #42 and the 31st for running at the finish. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 9th for the #42 and 298th for running at the finish.
Entering Season 3 of the Busch Series, Jake is still looking to make a name for himself as he had only ever complete in the SCRL Snowball Derby, a race he had finished 30th in. Jake would get a ride to drive full time in his career, Jake would make an impressive debut by finishing 6th at Daytona, 11th at Richmond, 31st at Rockingham and a 23rd at Hickory before scoring a career best runner up to Celious Wolf at Martinsville. A 6th at Darlington, 12th in the first visit to Orange County, 10th at Nashville, 18th at Langley, 6th at Milwaukee Mile, 3rd at Dover, 28th at Charlotte, 16th at South Boston before finishing 23rd in the last round at Hickory.
The entry list for the seventh time this season would have only full time drivers as the series returned to Rougemont, North Carolina in the series second of three planned stops at the 0.375 mile short track in Season 3.
In qualifying, Blaise Zebrataur won his first career busch pole with a lap time of 17.192 seconds. Jake would have a good result in qualifying, posting a time of 17.373, 0.181 seconds off Blaise's pole, placing him 9th overall. Starting last in the race would be Daytona last-place finisher the #00 Thomas Bros. Country Ham Oldsmobile of Jeremy Ickle who posted a time of 17.629 seconds, 0.437 seconds behind Blaise's pole winning time.
On race day, Ickle would remain in last for one turn before knocking the #54 Burger King Buick of Ty Dent into last and for the first three laps before Dent would knock the #11 Fast Fare / Skoal Bandit Pontiac of Al Lagasee into last on Lap 4. Al's stay in the final spot would last only two laps before knocking first Hickory last-place finisher the #07 Bob Banning Pontiac of Jeff White, who would also trail for only two laps before knocking second Hickory last-place finisher the #15 Hendrick Honda Pontiac of Chase Miller into last on Lap 9. Miller struggled on the low line of the track for the next three laps before finally getting a run and knocking Milwaukee Mile last-place finisher the #2 Kopy King Pontiac of Derek Greene into last on Lap 13. Greene would also struggle around the one grove track as he tried to make moves but was unable to for the next nine laps before finally getting around and passing Jake Thomas for last, and despite him fighting hard to gain a spot over the final laps, Thomas was unable to and would get the first last-place finish of his short career.
Rounding out the Bottom Five were: 24th was the unsponsored #1 Lindy White Racing Pontiac of David Beyers, 23rd was the aforementioned #2 of Derek Greene, 22nd was the #87 Domino's Pizza Chevrolet of Dilan Ebrahimian and 21st was South Boston last-place finisher the #19 West Hartford Tool & Die Pontiac of Finn Smith.
SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first time the #42 has finished last in a Busch Series race as well at Orange County.
*This is the first time the #42 has finished last in a Busch Series race as well at Orange County.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
25) #42-Jake Thomas / 30 laps / running
24) #1-David Beyers / 30 laps / running
23) #2-Derek Greene / 30 laps / running
22) #87-Dilan Ebrahimian / 30 laps / running
21) #19-Finn Smith / 30 laps / running
25) #42-Jake Thomas / 30 laps / running
24) #1-David Beyers / 30 laps / running
23) #2-Derek Greene / 30 laps / running
22) #87-Dilan Ebrahimian / 30 laps / running
21) #19-Finn Smith / 30 laps / running
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