CUP: Broken Suspension just three laps into Dayton race gives AJ Jones his second last-place finish of the season

AJ Jones picked up the 2nd last place finish of his SCRL Grand National Series career in Race 11 at the Dayton Speedway when his #91 Plymouth fell out with suspension problems after completing 3 of the 20 laps.

The finish, which came in his 11th career series start, was his first on the circuit since Race 8 at the Monroe County Fairgrounds when he completed all 20 laps under power; 3 races ago. In the SCRL Grand National Series, it's the 2nd for car #91 and the 1st for suspension issues. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 2nd for the #91 and 2nd for suspension issues.

After trailing for the first time in his cup series at Monroe, Jones would pick it up in the next round at Charlotte, as Jones would finish 9th before Jones would be caught up in the late race wreck at Hillsborough that took out Marcus Saatchi.

The entry list for the eighth time this season would be only the part-time drivers, as the track wasn't big enough to fit all the full and part-time drivers.

In qualifying, Nick Kennedy would score his third career pole with a time of 18.786 seconds. Jones would have a decent qualifying lap, posting a time of 18.921, while only 0.135 seconds off Kennedy's time, it would place Jones in 15th. Starting last in the race was the #15 of Joe Jefferson, who posted a time of 19.230, 0.444 seconds behind Kennedy's pole winning time.

On race day, Joe would trail for only two laps before knocking spring Dayton last-place finisher the #2 Cadillac of Tyler Mills into last, as Mills would trail for the first lap around the half mile track before knocking Joe back to last the very next lap. As the field entered Turn 1, AJ, who had gained one spot since the start, began to slow and would pull to the inside of the track, stalling in Turn 2, surprisingly a caution wouldn't fly as he was well off the racing surface. Jones's car would be pushed to the garage by officials where the team would look over the car before the car would be listed as "out" by the seventh lap.

Rounding out the Bottom Five were drivers who finished on the same lap as the race leaders; 29th was the aforementioned #2 of Tyler Mills, 28th was the #43 Buick of Christian Russel, 27th was the #15 of Joe Jefferson and 26th was the #64 of Randy Mayhew.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #91 has finished last in a Grand National Series race at Dayton.
*This is the first time a driver has trailed due to "suspension" issues in a Grand National Series race.
*The only other time a driver has trailed a field in the SCRL due to "suspension" issues was in the Season 1 SCRL Sun Energy Whelen Euro Elite 2 Round 5 at Hockenheimring when Zina Al-Samarai's #37 Knauf Ford fell out with suspension problems after completing 7 of the 9 laps.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
30) #91-AJ Jones / 3 laps / suspension
29) #2-Tyler Mills / 20 laps / running
28) #43-Christian Russel / 20 laps / running
27) #15-Joe Jefferson / 20 laps / running
26) #64-Randy Mayhew / 20 laps / running