SEASON IN REVIEW
Johnson City, Tennessee driver Brad Teague scored his first LASTCAR Busch Series Grand National Division Championship in 2001, scoring three last-place finishes in sixteen starts during a thirty-three race season.
Teague was competing in his sixteenth season on the Busch Series Grand National Division tour. He ran in both Cup and Busch in 1982, then alternated between both series through 1994, when he made his 44th and final Cup Series start for 1988 LASTCAR Cup Champion Jimmy Means - a 27th in the Goody’s 500 at Martinsville in the #52 Means Racing Ford. Martinsville was also the scene of his only Busch Series Grand National Division win on March 27, 1987 during the Miller 500. Teague ran the full season that year in Charlie Henderson’s #75 Food Country USA Chevrolets and Pontiacs and finished a career-best 7th in points.
After a seventeen-race season in 1988, Teague ran no more than six Busch Series Grand National Division races over seven seasons between 1989 through 1999, then skipped the 2000 season altogether. In 2001, the 53-year-old Teague ran a patchwork season for three different teams. Two of them were familiar ones. At Bristol on March 24, Teague rejoined Charlie Henderson to drive the #75 Food Country USA car once again, finishing 32nd due to a crash. Five more races came with former Cup owner Jimmy Means in his #52 Fords, and Means was also the crew chief for his remaining ten starts in the #77 Fords owned by Tony Hall.
Unfortunately, Teague failed to finish all sixteen of his starts in 2001 - the first LASTCAR Busch Series Grand National Division Champion to accomplish this - resulting in an average finish of 38.6 with three last-place finishes.
Teague’s first two last-place runs of the year came in Means’ unsponsored #52 Fords in back-to-back races. On March 10, Teague broke the transmission after eight laps of the Aaron’s 312 at Atlanta. One week later in Darlington on March 17, the car overheated after eight laps of the SunCom 200. The third finish came in the #77 PRW Racing Ford at Memphis on October 13, when his shock broke after 17 laps of the Sam’s Town 250.
Teague returned to run for three teams again in 2002 and became the second-straight driver to score back-to-back LASTCAR Busch Series Grand National Division titles.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
Future two-time Daytona 500 Champion Michael Waltrip picked up his first Busch Series Grand National Division last-place finish in 2001 at Charlotte on May 26 when his #99 Aaron’s Chevrolet suffered ignition failure after he completed 2 laps of the Carquest Auto Parts 200. The finish came in Waltrip’s 154th series start in a Busch Series Grand National Division career that extended back to 1988.
One year after his NASCAR Truck Series Championship, Greg Biffle finished 4th in the Busch Series Grand National Division points for 2001 with five wins. He also scored his first last-place finish in the series at Michigan on August 18 when his #60 Grainger Ford was taken out in a three-car crash after 5 laps of the NAPAonline.com 250. The following year, Biffle would win the NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division title and move to Cup in 2003, where he won his first race at Daytona in July.
Tim Sauter became the latest NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division driver to finish last due to a disqualification in the June 16 running of the Outback Steakhouse 300. Sauter’s #61 Stoops Freightliner Chevrolet finished 30th after a late-race crash, but was sent to the rear when the car was found to have unapproved roll bars. The team, XPress Motorsports, was docked points, issued a $30,000 fine, and crew chief Dave Fuge was suspended indefinitely. Owner Steve Coulter shut down XPress’ Busch team, then moved to the Truck Series. The team immediately rebounded by winning the next two Truck Series titles with Mike Bliss and Travis Kvapil in 2002 and 2003 before closing its doors again after the 2004 season.
Ed Berrier retook the LASTCAR Busch Series Grand National Division last-place record by finishing last in his 250th and final Busch Series Grand National Division start. The race was the inaugural Mr. Goodcents 300 at the new Kansas Speedway on September 29, where Berrier’s #19 Tiger Saws Blades Chevrolet crashed after 10 laps.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Brad Teague (3)
2nd) Bill Hoff (2)
3rd) Blaise Alexander, Ken Alexander, Lyndon Amick, Brad Baker, Ed Berrier, Joe Bessey, Greg Biffle, Dave Blaney, Tom Carey, Jr., Mike Chase, Joe Cooksey, Christian Elder, Tina Gordon, Mark Green, Mike Harmon, Lance Hooper, Marty Houston, Ashton Lewis, Jerry McCart, Shawna Robinson, Tim Sauter, Elton Sawyer, Rodney Sawyers, Mark Voigt, Kenny Wallace, Michael Waltrip, Brian Weber, Drew White (1)
