Thursday, January 6, 2022

Throwback ARCA: Early crash at Nashville Superspeedway gives Tayon Kennedy the 2nd and final last-place finish of his ARCA career



Tayon Kennedy picked up the 2nd last place finish of his SCRL Lucas Oil ARCA Racing Series career in the Season 1 Toyota 150 at the Nashville Superspeedway when his #02 Southwest Florida Cable Construction Ford was involved in a multi-car crash after 3 of the 23 laps.

The finish, which came in his 15th career start, was his first on the circuit since the Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 200 at the Lucas Oil Raceway when he fell out with gearbox problems after completing 1 of the 20 laps; 2 races ago.

After having trailed for the first time earlier in the season at Lucas Oil Raceway, Tayon's team would rebound in the very next event at Pocono, starting 33rd and finishing a decent 17th place at the Tricky Triangle as the ARCA teams loaded up their equipment and drove down to Nashville, Tennessee for the series first ever trip to the Nashville Superspeedway.

On race day, Tayon rolled off starting in the 2nd spot, the best starting position of his career, while starting in the final spot was the #45 Richard Petty Driving Experience Dodge of Josh Nixey as the first two laps around the 1.333 mile track would be action packed before Kennedy would struggle going into Turn 1 and smacked the wall as a wreck before him in Turn 2 happened before Kennedy was trying to past it before running into the back of the unsponsored #3 Brevak Racing Dodge, hitting Handley so hard that it nearly sent him for a flip, while Kennedy's car was destroyed, stalled on the Backstretch, done for the night in disappointment after starting on the front row.

Finishing 40th was the #15 RaceHard.com / Accelerade Toyota of Riley Spurlytube who would be involved in another crash that happened seconds after Kennedy's crash in Turn 3 as he ran into the back of Atlanta last-place finisher the #09 Hudson Performance Drivelines Dodge of Richard Torres with enough damage that Spurlytube's car and would pull behind the wall the next circuit.

39th was the #55 unsponsored Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet of Jay Jefferson, who would be knocked out of the race when another multi-car crash broke out on the Frontstretch with Jefferson running into NJMP last-place finisher the #8 UNOH / Dodge Motorsports Dodge of Chakat Whitelion. Jefferson would drive around for another lap before pulling behind the wall, the car listed as "out" on Lap 12.

Rounding out the Bottom Five were: 38th was the aforementioned #8 of Chakat Whitelion and 37th was the unsponsored #34 Darrell Basham Racing Chevrolet of Ciaden Irene, who would both be involved in a Lap 15 crash, with Whitelion being two laps down at that point and would both be knocked out of the race.

Tayon's ARCA career would only last four more races as he would finish a disappointing 39th at Kansas and would finish 19th in the overall point standings. Tayon would be one of the many drivers who spent time in the SCRL for several series, but never once visited victory lane, and he hasn't competed in a SCRL race in several years.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #02 had finished last in a ARCA Series race at Nashville.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
41) #02-Tayon Kennedy / 3 laps / crash
40) #15-Riley Spurlytube / 4 laps / crash
39) #55-Jay Jefferson / 9 laps / crash
38) #8-Chakat Whitelion / 13 laps / crash
37) #34-Caiden Irene / 15 laps / crash

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