Sunday, December 4, 2022

CUP: Brent James trails for the first time in his short SCRL career at Monroe County



Brent James picked up the 1st last place finish of his SCRL Grand National Series career in Sunday's Race 18 at the Monroe County Fairgrounds when his #89 Plymouth completed all 20 laps under power.

The finish came in his 18th career series start. In the SCRL Grand National Series, it's the 1st for car #89 and the 30th for running at the finish. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 3rd for the #89 and 351st for running at the finish.

Coming into Season 3 of the SCRL's highest division, James is a rookie in the SCRL, having never competed in a series before signing up to complete on a full time schedule. James's SCRL career started with an impressive 10th at Beach & Road Course, 18th at Charlotte, 37th at Lakeview before scoring a career best 2nd at Carrell. A 14th at Hillsborough, before scoring another runner up finish at Arizona State, 23rd at North Wilkesboro, 4th at Martinsville, 17th at Canfield, 15th at Columbus, 14th at Columbia, 9th at Dayton, 10th at the second Carrel event, 3rd at Grand Rapids, 17th at Bainbridge, 29th at Heidelberg before finishing 11th in the last round at Asheville-Weaverville.

The entry list for the 13th time this season would be filled with only the full-time drivers.

In qualifying, Ty Westner would score his first pole of his career with a time of 24.291 seconds. James would struggle in qualifying, posting a time of 24.660, 0.369 seconds off Westner's time, placing him 17th on the grid. Securing the 22nd and final starting spot was the #69 of Chakat Duskwatcher, who posted a time of 24.838, 0.547 seconds off Westner's time.

When the race started, Duskwatcher would trail for the first two turns before knocking two-time last-place finisher the #120 Hudson of Brian Grigsby into last, with Grigsby trailing for the first three laps before knocking the #59 Buesink Police Special Ford of Cole O’Ash into last on Lap 4. Despite a caution coming out on Lap 6, O'Ash would remain in last place, even when the green flag came back out, O'Ash would struggle to make any moves before finally knocking Canfield last-place finisher the #50 Mercury of Christian Russel into last on Lap 17. Russel's stay in last was brief as he would knock Columbus last-place finisher the #51 Cherokee Garage Oldsmobile of Austin Abilene into last on Lap 18. Abilene would trail for the next two laps before on the final lap, he would pass Brent James on the backstretch and would beat James to the line, giving James the final position on the last lap.

The remaining Bottom Five were: 21st was the #59 of Cole O'Ash, 20th was the #51 of Austin Abilene, 19th was Asheville-Weaverville last-place finisher the #58 Kaiser of Brent Davison and 18th was the #50 of Christian Russel.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first time the #89 has finished last in a Cup race as well at Monroe County.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
22) #89-Brent James / 20 laps / running
21) #59-Cole O'Ash / 20 laps / running
20) #51-Austin Abilene / 20 laps / running
19) #58-Brent Davison / 20 laps / running
18) #50-Christian Russel / 20 laps / running

S3 SCRLASTCAR Grand National Series Driver's Championship


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