CUP: Sergeant Young trails for the third time in his career at Columbia

Sergeant Young picked up the 3rd last place finish of his SCRL Grand National Series career in Thursday's Race 25 at the Columbia Speedway when his #81 Oldsmobile completed 19 of the 20 laps under power.

The finish, which came in his 25th career series start, was his first on the circuit since Race 15 at the Bainbridge Speedway when he completed 14 of the 15 laps under power; 10 races ago. In the SCRL Grand National Series, it's the 3rd for car #81 and the 36th for running at the finish. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 7th for the #81 and 357th for running at the finish.

After trailing at Bainbridge, Young would rebound in the next two races at Heidelberg and Asheville-Weaverville, finishing 14th in both events before finishing 14th at Monroe County. Non-points finishes of 16th at Altamont-Schenectady and 35th at Detriot would be followed by back-to-back 7th place finishes at Fort Miami and Morristown, a 5th at Air Base before struggling to a disappointing 23rd in the last round at Darlington.

The entry list for the 18th time this season would be filled with just the part-time drivers, the first time since Air Base Speedway, two races ago.

In qualifying, Chris Tuckett would score his first career pole, with a time of 20.920 seconds. Young would impress in qualifying around the bumpy half mile track, posting a time of 21.084, 0.164 off Tuckett's pole time, placing placing Young 3rd on the grid. Securing the 22nd and final starting spot was the #42 Petty Special Plymouth of Ty Westner, who posted a time of 21.294, 0.374 seconds off Tuckett's time.

Sergeant Young heads to pit road on the first lap.

When the race started, Young would remain in third place as the field excited Turn 2, he could feel something was wrong with his car, reporting to his team of a possible oil leak, as he would turn the car to the inside of the track and onto pit road, taking last as a result. As the field looked under the hood, the team found there wasn't much they could do under green, so they sent their driver back out onto the track, one lap behind once he returned to the racing surface. Hoping that a caution would come out, Young would drive around the track, but unfortunately for the team, the yellow never came, with Young trailing as the only car a lap down when the checkered flag waved.

The remaining Bottom Five would finish on the same lap as the race leaders: 21st was the #4 Blevins Motor Co. Studebaker of Austin Line, 20th was Canfield last-place finisher the #50 Mercury of Christian Russel, 19th was the aforementioned #42 of Ty Westner and 18th was two-time last-place finisher the #69 Oldsmobile of Chakat Duskwatcher.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first time the #81 has finished last in a Cup race at Columbia.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
22) #81-Sergeant Young / 19 laps / running
21) #4-Austin Line / 20 laps / running
20) #50-Christian Russel / 20 laps / running
19) #42-Ty Westner / 20 laps / running
18) #69-Chakat Duskwatcher / 20 laps / running

S3 SCRLASTCAR Grand National Series Driver's Championship

CUP: Broken header gives pole sitter Chris Kyle his first career last-place finish; trails for the 13th time in his SCRL career

Chris Kyle picked up the 1st last place finish of his SCRL Grand National Series career in Wednesday's Southern 500 at the Darlington Raceway when his #22 Ford fell out with header problems after completing 23 of the 40 laps.

The finish came in his 43rd career series start. In the SCRL Grand National Series, it's the 1st for car #22 and the 2nd for header issues. Across all the series in the SCRL, it's the 18th for the #22 and 26th for header issues.

Kyle is a first ballot Hall of Famer when he finally hangs up his goggles, having scored 12 career wins in his career but his career highlight is winning the SCRL Tim Hortons Canadian Series Championship in his own country, but he had yet to make a name for himself in the SCRL's highest division under the NASCAR umbrella. With no wins in the Rainbow Dash Truck Series and two wins in the SCRL Busch Grand National Series, Kyle is still looking to join an exclusive club of winning in all three major series. Already having one season under his belt, where he scored 3 Top 5's and 5 Top 10's, Kyle was looking to improve on his points finish of 20th one season ago.

Kyle's second season started off on a rocky note, not scoring any points in the first four races as finishes of 23rd at Daytona Beach, 13th at Charlotte, 16th at Lakeview and a 17th at Carrell would be followed by a 9th at Hillsborough. A 12th at Arizona State would be followed by a 10th at North Wilkesboro, 17th at Martinsville, 21st at Canfield, 9th at Columbus and a 7th at Columbia before scoring his best finish of the season, a 2nd at Dayton. A 5th at the return trip to Carrell would be followed by a 13th at Grand Rapids, 18th at Bainbridge, 25th at Heidelberg, 5th at Asheville-Weaverville, 8th at Monroe County, 6th at Altamont-Schenectady, 3rd at Detroit, 14th at Fort Miami, 21st at Morristown before finishing 9th in the last round at Air Base Speedway.

The entry list for the 7th time this season would be filled with both full time and part-time drivers, the first time since Michigan State Fairgrounds, four races ago, a race which part-time driver Abby Russel would win, the second race in a row a part-time had won against the full time drivers.

In qualifying, Kyle would score his third pole of the season, with a time of 37.023 seconds. Securing the 42nd and final starting spot was Hillsborough last-place finisher the #83 Dantone Racing Stable Ford of James Blaiser, who, along with the #30 Plymouth of Jeremiah Weaver, did not post a time in qualifying.

When the race started, Blaiser would remain in the final spot for the first two turns before the race's lone caution came out when second Carrell last-place finisher the #77 Oldsmobile of McKenzie Dell was spun out while battle for sixth with the #41.5 Eanes Motor Co. Oldsmobile of Nick Holiday, with Dell trailing for the first lap. As the race remained under caution, Dell would remain in last-place throughout the entire caution period, but when the green flag waved, Dell would quickly rebound and knocked the #4 Blevins Motor Co. Studebaker of Austin Line into last on Lap 6. Line would trail the field for two laps before knocking Jeremiah Weaver into last on Lap 9. Weaver would struggle around the one groove 1.250 mile superspeedway, trailing for the next five laps before knocking Dell back to last once again on Lap 15. Dell would trail for three more laps before knocking Weaver back into last on Lap 19, a position he would hold for the next three laps.

After leading nine laps earlier, Kyle had fallen back to third and was running there on Lap 22 when entering Turn 3 his car started to smoke heavily, with Kyle pulling to the inside of the track and onto pit road. Kyle would make it to his pit stall with his team looking under the hood for three laps as their car dropped back to last, before pushing it before the wall, done for the day and listed as "out" on Lap 26.

The remaining Bottom Five would finish on the same lap as the race leaders: 41st was Columbus last-place finisher the #51 Cherokee Garage Oldsmobile of Austin Abilene, 40th was the #42 Petty Special Plymouth of Ty Westner, 39th was the aforementioned #30 of Jeremiah Weaver and 38th was three time last-place finisher the #120 Hudson of Brian Grigsby.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first time the #22 has finished last in a Cup race as well at Darlington.
*The last time a driver trailed the field due to "header" issues was in the Season 2 Wilkes 200 at the North Wilkesboro Speedway when his Zachary Fitzwater's #59 Lincoln fell out with header issues without completing any of the 40 laps; 28 races ago.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
42) #22-Chris Kyle / 23 laps / header led 9 laps
41) #51-Austin Abilene / 40 laps / running
40) #42-Ty Westner / 40 laps / running
39) #30-Jeremiah Weaver / 40 laps / running
38) #120-Brian Grigsby / 40 laps / running

S3 SCRLASTCAR Grand National Series Driver's Championship