IROC: Tony Newman trails in caution free race at Michigan; title battle set for Indy

Tony Newman picked up the 1st last place finish of his SCRL IROC Series career in Race 3 of IROC VIII at the Michigan International Speedway when his #11 completed all 20 laps under power.

The finish came in his 3rd career start. In the SCRL IROC Series, it's the 5th for car #11 and the 17th for running at the finish. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 15th for the #11 and 320th for running at the finish.

Tony is a well established driver in the SCRL, having picked up seven career wins and has one championship in his career, that coming in the SCRL Sun Energy Whelen Euro Elite 1 division. Newman was chosen 11th overall in the IROC Series drawing, his first ever shot at racing in the International Race of Champions. Newman would be caught up in a late race wreck at Daytona and would finish 11th before finishing 4th in the last round at Talladega.

On race day, Newman would start 6th after the field's line up would be the inverted points standings, which meant that the #8 of Nick Kennedy would be starting in the final spot. Kennedy would trail for the lap around the two mile track before he would knock the #6 of Riley Spurlytube, who would trail for the second Lap. Spurlytube would trail for one lap before knocking Daytona last-place finisher the #10 of Colin Dryburgh into last on Lap 3. Dryburgh would trail for one lap himself before knocking the #3 of Jay Barker into last on Lap 4 before knocking the #9 of Christian Russel into last on Lap 5. Russel would trail for two laps before knocking the #12 of Richard Torres into last on Lap 7. Torres would trail for one lap before knocking the #4 of Chakat Whitelion into last on Lap 8, with Kennedy falling back to last on Lap 9, the #1 of Al Lagasee back to last on Lap 10, Russel to last on Lap 11, Barker to last on Lap 12 before Newman would fall back to last for the first time on Lap 13. Torres would reclaim last on Lap 14, but would knock Riley Spurlytube to last on Lap 15, the #7 of Muhammad Zain Abdullah into last on Lap 16, Lagasee back to last on Lap 17 before knocking Barker back to last on Lap 18. As the field took the white flag, Barker was still trailing in last before Barker would make a move and knocked Newman back to last in Turn 3 and would trail for the next two turns unable to make any moves.

The remaining Bottom Five were: 11th was the aforementioned #3 of Jay Barker, 10th was the #12 of Richard Torres, 9th was Talladega last-place finisher of the #2 of Sebastian Dent and 8th was the #6 of Riley Spurlytube.

Heading into the season finale at Indy, five drivers still have a chance of being the SCRLASTCAR Champion. Currently Tony Newman trails the field by virtue of having one more Bottom Ten finish over Sebastian Dent and Colin Dryburgh. While Jay Barker and Riley Spurlytube still have a chance to win the championship despite having no last place-finishes of the season. Here are the championship scenarios going into Indy; If Tony Newman finishes last at Indy he will win the championship outright, if Sebastian Dent or Colin Dryburgh finishes last and Newman doesn't finish in the Bottom Five, they will win the championship. If Jay Barker or Riley Spurlytube finishes last, Newman, Dent and Dryburgh must finish outside oif the Bottom Five in order for them to win the championship.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first time the #11 has finished last in a IROC race at Michigan.
*The last time the #11 has finished last in a IROC race was in IROC VII at Talladega Superspeedway when Brian Fox was involved in a two-car accident without completing any of the 19 laps; 3 races ago.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
12) #11-Tony Nemwan / 20 laps / running
11) #3-Jay Barker / 20 laps / running led 2 laps
10) #12-Richard Torres / 20 laps / running
9) #2-Sebastian Dent / 20 laps / running led 2 laps
8) #6-Riley Spurlytube / 20 laps / running