The finish came in his 19th career series start. In the SCRL Grand National Series, it's the 1st for car #59 and the 1st for header issues. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 6th for the #59 and 25th for header issues.
Fitzwater at this moment in his career is a future first ballot Hall of Famer whenever the SCRL decides to make one, with Fitzwater picking up a total of 14 career wins at the time of the posting of this article, and is a four time reigning champion in the SCRL, with two coming in back-to-back seasons in the SCRL Rainbow Dash Truck Series. However, Fitzwater is still finding his way in the SCRL's highest series, as in the inaugural season, Fitzwater would join late in the season, making his debut at Hamburg and finishing 14th but would win in his very next start at Martinsville and would go on to finish 42nd in points. After competing part-time, Fitzwater would return for the second season in a row in a full time ride for a chance to win his 5th overall championship. Fitzwater would finish 11th at Daytona Beach, 26th at Charlotte, 39th at Langhorne, 6th at Martinsville, 23rd at Canfield, 21st at Vernon, 12th at Dayton, 23rd at Monroe, before scoring back-to-back runner up finishes at the second Charlotte event and Hillsborough. A 10th at the second Dayton event, 3rd at Hamburg, 41st at Darlington before finishing 17th in the last round at Langhorne.
The entry list for the sixth time this season would be the full 42 car field with both full and part-time drivers racing.
In qualifying, Nathan Ormond would score his first career pole with a time of 22.546 seconds. Fitzwater would struggle around the 0.625 mile track, posting a time of 23.044, 0.498 seconds off Ormond's time, placing Fitzwater 22nd. Starting last in the race was summer Charlotte last-place finisher the #3 Ford of Chris Henry, who posted a time of 23.289, 0.743 seconds behind Ormond's pole winning time.
On race day just as the field began their lone pace lap, Fitzwater's car would stall at the start as the other drivers drove past him. Fitzwater would be towed back to the pits as his crew looked it over as the field took the green flag. Fitzwater's crew would look under the hood and found that the header was broken beyond repair, and so the car was listed as "out" by the 3rd circuit.
Rounding out the Bottom Five were drivers who finished on the same lap as the race leaders: 41st was the #36 Mercury of Byron Bell, 40th was the #88 Ford of Brian Fields, 39th was the #87 Griffin Motors / Darlington Intl. Raceway Oldsmobile of Doug Hart and 38th was the #65 Ford of Brandon Mayhew.
SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #59 has finished last in a Grand National Series race as well at North Wilkesboro.
*This marked the first time a driver has trailed due to "header" issues in the Grand National Series.
*This is the first time a driver has failed to complete a lap in the Grand National Series since the Southern 500 at the Darlington Raceway when Brent Davison's #97 Mercury was involved in a single-car crash without completing any of the 40 laps; 2 races ago.
*This was the first time the #59 has finished last in a Grand National Series race as well at North Wilkesboro.
*This marked the first time a driver has trailed due to "header" issues in the Grand National Series.
*This is the first time a driver has failed to complete a lap in the Grand National Series since the Southern 500 at the Darlington Raceway when Brent Davison's #97 Mercury was involved in a single-car crash without completing any of the 40 laps; 2 races ago.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
42) #59-Zachary Fitzwater / 0 laps / header
41) #36-Byron Bell / 40 laps / running
40) #88-Brian Fields / 40 laps / running
39) #87-Doug Hart / 40 laps / running
38) #65-Brandon Mayhew / 40 laps / running
42) #59-Zachary Fitzwater / 0 laps / header
41) #36-Byron Bell / 40 laps / running
40) #88-Brian Fields / 40 laps / running
39) #87-Doug Hart / 40 laps / running
38) #65-Brandon Mayhew / 40 laps / running
No comments:
Post a Comment