Brent Davison picked up the 2nd last place finish of his SCRL Grand National Series career in the Southern 500 at the Darlington Raceway when his #97 Mercury was involved in a single-car crash without completing any of the 40 laps.
The finish, which came in his 13th career series start, was his first on the circuit since Race 12 at the Hamburg Speedway when he completed all 20 laps under power; 1 race ago. In the SCRL Grand National Series, it's the 2nd for car #97 and the 8th from a crash. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 6th for the #97 and 285th from a crash.
After trailing for the first time in his SCRL career at Hamburg, Davison and his team would make the long travel from New York to South Carolina for the first ever 500 mile race scheduled at the 1.250 mile superspeedway at the Darlington Raceway for the inaugural Southern 500.
The entry list for the fourth time this season would be the full 42 car field with both full and part-time drivers racing.
In qualifying, Christian Vargas would write his name in the history books as the first ever driver to win a pole award at Darlington with a time of 38.215 seconds. Davison would struggle after the fast high banked track, posting a time of 39.116, a full 0.901 seconds off Vargas's time, placing Davison 39th, the worst qualifying attempt all season long. Starting last in the race was the #89 Ford of Austin Hiller, who was the only driver to not take a lap during qualifying and thus would start in the finish position.
On race day, Hiller would trail for the first turn before knocking the #88 Ford of Brian Fields into last, but his stay in the final spot would be brief as summer Charlotte last-place finisher the #3 Ford of Chris Henry would be spun out after making contact from Hillsborough last-place finisher the #100 Ford of Marcus Saatchi. At the time entering Turn 3, Davison was still in 39th as he tried to pass the #22 Parks Novelty Oldsmobile of Sage Griffin, but Davison would slide up the track and actually his car went through Griffin's car before impaling the guardrail, bringing out the first of five cautions for the day, his day over without completing a lap.
It would be another five laps before any more spots would be filled in the Bottom Five as Daytona Beach last-place finisher the #44 Daytona Motors Cadillac of Chase Miller would be bumped from behind by the #20 Oldsmobile of Kaitlyn Coyne, sending Miller up the track and into the path of the #59 Lincoln of Zachary Fitzwater, starting a wreck that would collect ten cars with Fitzwater flipping over twice, as the wreck would also knock out the #65 Ford of Brandon Mayhew and the aforementioned #89 of Austin Hiller.
Rounding out the Bottom Five in 38th was two time last-place finisher the #91 Plymouth of AJ Jones, who would be caught up in a in a "Big One" that broke out in Turn 4 that collected twenty cars.
SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #97 has finished last in a Grand National Series race at Darlington.
*This is only the third time in the Grand National Series that a driver has failed to complete a lap; the last time is happened was in the Season 1 Race 7 at the Heidelberg Raceway when the #78 of Clyde Sparks suffered engine issues and failed to complete any of the 25 laps; 14 races ago.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
42) #97-Brent Davison / 0 laps / crash
41) #59-Zachary Fitzwater / 6 laps / crash
40) #65-Brandon Mayhew / 6 laps / crash
39) #89-Austin Hiller / 7 laps / crash
38) #91-AJ Jones / 10 laps / crash
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