TRUCKS: Early wreck at Texas knocks out championship contender Chakat Whitelion

Chakat Whitelion picked up the 3rd last place finish of hir SCRL Rainbow Dash Truck Series career in the O'Reilly 300 at the Texas Motor Speedway when hir #99 Exide Batteries Ford was eliminated in a multi-truck accident after 4 of 17 laps.

The finish, which came in hir 97th career series start, was hir first on the circuit since the Season 4 Stevens Beil / Genuine Car Parts 200 at the Flemington Speedway when hir #5 Llumar Window Films Chevrolet completed 15 of the 20 laps under power; 40 races ago. In the Truck Series's last-place rankings, it was the 39th from a crash and 5th for the #99. Across SCRL's top three series, it was the 82nd from a crash and the 6th for #99.

Whitelion, who first completed in Season 1, has been one of the most successful drivers in the series history. In hir first ever season shi would go winless, but would finish 9th in points. After choosing to skip Season 2, Whitelion would return for the next two seasons, once again going winless in Season 3 and finishing 7th in points, to scoring 3 career wins in Season 4 and finishing 10 in points. Competing for hir overall 8th SCRL Championship, Whitelion signed to drive for Roush Racing in hopes of ending Zachary Fitzwater's two year hold on the championship but her fourth ever season would start off slow by finishing a disappointing 23rd at Homestead. Whitelion would quickly rebound by winning from the pole in the next round at Phoenix before finishing 15th in the series's 100th race at Evergreen. A 11th at Mesa Marin, 17th at Martinsville would be followed by hir second win of the season at Memphis before scoring hir worst finish of the season so far, a 27th at Pikes Peak.

A 7th at I-70 would be followed by a dry spell for the usually powerful chakat as a 23rd at Bristol, a 26th at Texas, a 24th at Portland and a 29th at Watkins Glen would place hir 10th in points. A runner up to Zachary Fitzwater at the Milwaukee Mile would be followed by a 30th at Nashville, 15th at Nazareth, 28th at Michigan and back-to-back 6th place finishes at Loudon and IRP. A 3rd at Gateway followed by a 8th at Heartland Park, 16th at Richmond, 14th at Las Vegas before Whitelion would score hir season tying third win of the season in the last round at Louisville, which placed hir 2nd in points just 15 points behind Zachary Fitzwater entering Texas.

The entry list for the tenth time this season would be bumped up to 37 as Team 23 Racing made their seventh and final appearance of the season for Jamie Timber, the last being at Las Vegas. In qualifying, Max Anderson would score his first career series pole, posting a time of 28.915 seconds. Whitelion would show the speed of hir Ford around the 1.500 mile track, posting a time of 28.993 seconds, 0.078 seconds behind Anderson's time, placing hir 2nd on the starting line up. Two-time last-place finisher the #38 Menards Chevrolet of Ashton Tifft would be the last to get in on speed, posting a time of 29.195 seconds, who was 0.280 seconds behind Anderson's lap time.

On race night, Tifft would remain in the final spot for the first turn before knocking Two time last-place finisher the #45 Acxiom Ford of Matthew Hubert into the final spot with Hubert trailing for the first lap with Hubert keeping the final spot and would trail for the second lap as well before knocking the #29 Mopar Performance Dodge of Skyler Taylor into the final spot on Lap 3. Coming around to complete lap four, two-time last-place finisher the #55 Icehouse Beer Ford of Colin Dryburgh would fall back to last and just as he did, chaos would break out that would quickly end the battle for last. While battling for 6th, the #24 GMAC Financial Services Chevrolet of Alexander Rowe would come down the track in Turn 4 just as the #68 Hot Wheels Dodge of Nick Holiday was coming up the track as the two trucks would make contact, causing a multi-truck crash on the Frontstretch. Whitelion, who at this point had fallen back to ninth at the time of the wreck, would first hit two-time last-place finisher the #21 HS Die & Engineering / Softech Ford of Zachary DiLello before being hit in the driver's door by Watkins Glen last-place finisher the #83 Gwaltney / FW Siebert Construction Ford of Max Anderson with enough force that Anderson's truck nearly flipped over. Whitelion's truck would come to rest in the infield as the only truck that didn't drive away from the scene of the wreck. Whitelion would climb out of hir truck on hir own power and hir truck would be towed to the garage, not being listed as "out" until the 8th lap.

The remaining Bottom Five would finish on the same lap as the race leaders; 36th was the aforementioned #21 of Zachary DiLello, 35th was Nashville last-place finisher the #2 Team ASE Racing Ford of Dilan Ebrahimian, 34th was Milwaukee Mile last-place finisher the #87 AER Manufacturing Chevrolet of Josh Harmon and 33rd was the #83 of Max Anderson.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first time the #99 has finished last in a Truck Series race at Texas.
*This is the first time the #99 has finished last in a Truck Series race since the Season 4 GM Goodwrench Service Plus / AC Delco 300 at the Phoenix International Raceway when Darren Allen's own drive in the #99 Exide Batteries Ford was eliminated in a multi-truck accident after 2 of 32 laps; 25 races ago.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
37) #99-Chakat Whitelion / 4 laps / crash
36) #21-Zachary DiLello / 17 laps / running led 2 laps
35) #2-Dilan Ebrahimian / 17 laps / running
34) #87-Josh Harmon / 17 laps / running led 1 led
33) #83-Max Anderson / 17 laps / running

S5 SCRLASTCAR Rainbow Dash Truck Series Driver's Championship