Adam Karlson picked up the 1st last place finish of his SCRL ARCA Truck Series career in the Season 1 Naked Chicken Chips 200 Presented by Taco Bell at the Rockingham Speedway when his #51 Exxon Chevrolet fell out with camshaft problems after completing 4 of the 20 laps.
The finish came in his 11th career series start.
Karlson was one of several drivers making their SCRL debuts in the ARCA division's newest series and was looking to make a name for himself with dreams of hopefully one day competing in the main ARCA Series. Karlson, as every other driver, made his debut at the home of ARCA, the Toledo Speedway, starting a disappointing 21st but would work his way through the field and finished an impressive 8th in his first ever appearance in league history. With his first race behind him, Karlson was looking to continue to impress and he would do just that, finishing 6th in the very next race at Mesa Marin before struggling for the first time all season to a 13th place finish at Dover. Unknown to Karlson but Dover would begin a five race stretch of finishing outside the Top 10 as finishes of 25th at Bowman Gray, 13th at Gateway, 24th at Eldora and 25th at Oxford Plains would affectively end his championship hopes after seven races in. A 9th at Lanier would give Karlson his first Top 10 since Mesa Marin but he would once again struggle with a 21st at Winchester before finishing 20th in the series second trip to Toledo in the last round.
In qualifying, Karlson would win his first career series pole, posting a time of 23.232 seconds. Starting last in the race was the #54 Mansfield Welding Service Chevrolet of Mike Pearson, who posted the slowest time of 23.458, 0.226 seconds behind Karlson's pole winning time.
On race day, Pearson would trail for the first two turns before chaos would break out as the #88 unsponsored Chevrolet of Davis Sylvester went wide in Turn 2 and smacked the wall and came down the track, hitting the #05 Little Mountain Insurance Ford of Toot Braunsteain and sending both trucks down the track and into the inside wall as well as collecting the #26 Coyote Entertainment Chevrolet of Isaac Nicholls as Sylvester would trail for the first lap and would keep control of the final spot as the field traveled around the one mile track behind the pace truck before suddenly Karlson, who had led all three laps at the time, started to smoke coming down the backstretch. Karlson would pull to the inside of the track reporting to his crew that something had broke in his truck, as he pulled onto pit road and behind the wall. Karlson's crew would look over the truck for a few minutes before discovering the camshaft had broken, with the truck being listed as "out" on Lap 7.
The next two spots would be filled just a lap after Karlson's truck was retired as Mike Pearson and the #50 Corona Extra / Goosebumps Ford of Jimmy Potter would be involved in the race's second caution on the frontstretch, ending their day after eight laps and being scored 25th and 24th.
Finishing 23rd would be the #9 unsponsored Chevrolet of Laura Delano, who would suffer a fuel pump issue with five laps to go while running in 6th and would pull onto pit road and then behind the wall, her truck being retired just a few seconds later.
Rounding out the Bottom Five in 22nd was two-time last-place finisher the #72 Big Blue Dodge of Lowden Clear, who was the only truck running to not finish on the same lap as the race leaders.
Karlson would finish 14th in the season finale at Airborne and would finish 25th overall in the standings as Season 1 of the ARCA Truck Series would be the lone series he would compete as he hasn't competed in a SCRL race since.
SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first time the #51 had finished last at Rockingham.
*This was the first time a driver has trailed the field in a ARCA Truck Series race due to "camshaft" problems.
*This was the first time the #51 had finished last at Rockingham.
*This was the first time a driver has trailed the field in a ARCA Truck Series race due to "camshaft" problems.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
26) #51-Adam Karlson / 4 laps / camshaft led 3 laps
25) #54-Mike Pearson / 8 laps / crash
24) #50-Jimmy Potter / 8 laps / crash
23) #9-Laura Delano / 15 laps / fuel pump
22) #72-Lowen Clear / 19 laps / running
26) #51-Adam Karlson / 4 laps / camshaft led 3 laps
25) #54-Mike Pearson / 8 laps / crash
24) #50-Jimmy Potter / 8 laps / crash
23) #9-Laura Delano / 15 laps / fuel pump
22) #72-Lowen Clear / 19 laps / running
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