SEASON IN REVIEW
Johnson City, Tennessee driver Brad Teague picked up his second LASTCAR Busch Series Grand National Division Championship in 2002, scoring three last-place finishes in nineteen starts during a thirty-four race season. Teague defeated 1999 LASTCAR Truck Series Champion Phil Bonifield in a bottom-five tiebreaker 10-4.
For the second-straight year, Teague drove for three different teams. Eleven of Teague’s nineteen starts came with owner Jimmy Means in his #52 Means Facing Ford. Another seven starts came in the #77 Ford, which changed ownership from Tony Hall to Joe Reilly the previous season. His best finish of the year came with a third team, the #0 Broadway Motors Chevrolet owned by Johnny Davis. Teague finished 24th in the Kroger 200 at Indianapolis Raceway Park on August 3.
All eleven of Teague’s DNFs in 2002 came in his eleven starts for Means Racing, producing another three last-place finishes in his unsponsored #52 Fords. The first came at Bristol on March 23, where the engine let go after 17 laps of the Channellock 250. The next came thirteen races later at Daytona on July 5, where this time the car overheated after 5 laps of the Stacker 2 / GNC Live Well 250. The third came fifteen races later in the penultimate race of the season at Phoenix, where the brakes failed after the opening lap of the Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 on November 9.
In all, Means Racing scored six last-place finishes in the 2002 season, including two of runner-up Phil Bonifield’s three last-place finishes earned that same season. The team made eighteen races that year and didn’t finish any of them, finishing no better than Teague’s 38th-place run after a crash at Nazareth on May 18. The team also failed to finish fourteen of its fifteen starts during Teague’s title run in 2001. The two seasons would begin an era of “start-and-park” teams in the Busch Series Grand National Division that would see several last-place records fall in the coming decade.
Teague’s 241st and final Busch Series Grand National Division start came at Bristol on August 21, 2015. Driving for Derek White, Teague drove the #13 Automated Building Systems / JD Metals Toyota from last on the grid to 26th.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
Matt Kenseth already claimed the 2000 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year by the time his first Busch Series Grand National Division last-place finish came at Las Vegas in 2002. During Race 3 of a four-race stint, Kenseth lost the engine on his #17 Jani-King Ford 13 laps into the March 2 running of the Sam’s Town 300. Kenseth would not finish last in the Cup Series until the end of his championship year at Homestead in 2003, and not again until Las Vegas in 2009.
Todd Bodine finished 7th or better in the Busch Series Grand National Division standings seven times from 1991 through 2000, and though he scored the next-to-last of his fifteen series wins at Kentucky in 2002, he also scored his first last-place finish at Dover. Taking over the #92 Excedrin Chevrolet piloted by future five-time Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson the year before, Bodine crashed two laps into the September 21 running of the MBNA All-American Heroes 200. Bodine’s final series win came in dramatic style at Darlington the next year after he tangled with Jamie McMurray off the final corner. Bodine currently runs full-time in the Truck Series.
David Reutimann finished his brief rookie season at Homestead driving the #88 Publix Chevrolet in the Ford 300 at Homestead. Reutimann finished last for the first time that day, pulling out after seven laps with a busted oil pump. Reutimann was driving a second team for Joe Nemechek which Jeff Fuller drove in two restrictor-plate races earlier that season. The next year, Fuller would run more races in the #88, setting the stage for an unprecedented three-year run in the LASTCAR standings.
During practice for the Food City 250 at Bristol, Mike Harmon suffered a terrifying crash reminiscent of Michael Waltrip’s in 1990. Harmon’s #44 Chevrolet struck a loose crossover gate and was ripped in half before being struck by the passing car of Johnny Sauter. Amazingly, neither Harmon nor Sauter were injured in the wreck. Harmon was able to start the race in Larry Gunselman’s backup car, but since the car was set up for restrictor-plate tracks, Harmon parked after two laps and finished last with handling woes.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Phil Bonifield [4 B5s], Brad Teague [10 B5s] (3)
2nd) Christian Elder (2)
3rd) Stanton Barrett, Johnny Benson, Jr., Todd Bodine, Joe Buford, Jeff Burton, Kerry Earnhardt, Christian Fittipaldi, Kevin Grubb, Larry Gunselman, Mark Harmon, Bill Hoff, Eric Jones, Kevin Lepage, Matt Kenseth, Stuart Kirby, Brent Moore, Brad Mueller, Joe Nemechek, Hank Parker, Jr., David Reutimann, Josh Richeson, Dan Shaver, Gus Wasson, Brian Weber, Jason White, Scott Wimmer (1)
