SEASON IN REVIEW
Owensboro, Kentucky driver Jeff Green picked up his second LASTCAR Nationwide Series Championship in 2011, scoring ten last-place finishes in twenty-nine starts during a thirty-four race season.
Green joined TriStar Motorsports late in the 2010 season as the team’s “start-and-park” driver to fund the team’s primary car driven by fellow Jason Keller, who finished a distant 2nd to Green in the 2000 NASCAR Nationwide Series Championship. In the most dramatic rally in LASTCAR history, Green scored eight last-place finishes in the final fourteen races, just two finishes short of unseating Dennis Setzer as the LASTCAR champion.
In 2011, with the Nationwide Series’ next-generation car now being run full-time, TriStar expanded to three cars with Mike Bliss in the #19 and Eric McClure in the #14. While Bliss and McClure finished 12th and 19th in the series points and ran the full distance each race, Green remained on “start-and-park” duty, this time in a plain black Chevrolet #44. Green ended up qualifying for all but one of the thirty races he attempted - the season finale at Homestead. He also equaled Setzer’s mark of ten last-place finishes, and set two new records of his own.
Green’s first two finishes of the season came in consecutive races. The first was at Texas on April 8, when his #44 fell out with a vibration after 2 laps of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300, followed a week later at Talladega on April 16 with a vibration after the opening lap of the Aaron’s 312. The third finish came six races later at Charlotte, where still another vibration was to blame for his #44 Tri-Star Motorsports / Pro Motor Engines Chevrolet leaving after 4 laps of the Top Gear 300, and Green had sponsorship from East Central Floridian View and #HURT at Daytona on July 1 when another vibration ended his Subway Jalapeno 250 after 3 laps.
Green did not finish last again for another five races, but when he did, he became the first NASCAR driver in any of the top three divisions to finish last in four consecutive races, upping his season total to eight. The streak began at Iowa, scene of his first last-place run for TriStar in 2010, where on August 6, a vibration ended his day after 3 laps of the U.S. Cellular 250. One week later in Watkins Glen on August 13, Green lost the brakes after the opening lap of the Zippo 200 at the Glen, followed a week later by another first-lap brake problem at Montreal in the NAPA Auto Parts 200 on August 20. The record-setting fourth came at Bristol on August 26, where he started last and finished there due to a vibration after 4 laps of the Food City 250. The streak ended a week later at Atlanta when Johnny Chapman, the 2009 LASTCAR Nationwide Champion, finished last for owner Rick Ware while Green finished 37th.
Green’s final two finishes of the season came in the fall at Dover and Charlotte. The former was the OneMain Financial 200 on October 1 where a vibration ended his day after 3 laps, and the latter was the Dollar General 300 Miles of Courage, where a vibration also stopped him after 3 laps. The Dover finish was the 25th of Green’s Nationwide Series career, allowing him to take the all-time Nationwide Series last-place lead from three-time LASTCAR Nationwide Champion Jeff Fuller.
At season’s end, Green failed to finish all 29 of his races, still second to Fuller’s mark of 30 in 2004, and he earned an average finish of 39.9. Green’s first two LASTCAR titles in 1996 and 2011 are the farthest apart of any Nationwide Series driver. At season’s end, Green was set to return to TriStar in 2012, and once again, Green would prove hard to beat for the LASTCAR title.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
Another driver helping out a Nationwide Series regular in 2011 was Brett Rowe, who drove a second Faith Motorsports entry for 2007 LASTCAR Nationwide Series Champion Morgan Shepherd. Rowe, who finished 9th in the 2006 ARCA Series standings, made eight races in 2011 driving a #55 Imperial Bedding Company Chevrolet, finishing last in his final three starts at Iowa, Chicago, and Road America due to brake failures. Rowe no longer attempted races after a DNQ at Montreal. Shepherd wrecked his primary car at Phoenix, and he was forced to park his backup in the season finale at Homestead on November 19, finishing last for the first time since 2008.
The year 2011 was a difficult season for longtime owner Curtis Key, who had fielded cars in the series for nine seasons dating back to 1993. When both Mike Bliss and Jeff Green, the team’s drivers for much of 2010, moved to TriStar, 2009 driver Scott Wimmer returned, but finished no better than 12th at Talladega on April 16. With sponsorship drying up, for Iowa on May 22, Key replaced Wimmer with Charles Lewandoski, added a second car #46 for Tim Andrews, and had both cars park. At Michigan on June 18 came another start-and-park entry, #42, followed by a third #47 car at Loudon on July 16. Despite their numbers, the Key cars finished last just four times in 2011, all of them with the #47. But when the team rebranded itself as The Motorsports Group in 2012, their four white Chevrolets became weekly last-place challengers to Jeff Green.
The “start-and-park” controversy received the most attention at Bristol on March 19 when Jennifer Jo Cobb, then driver of the #79 2nd Chance Motorsports Ford, refused to start the car she qualified after she was told she was going to park the car in the Scotts EZ Seed 300. The car remained in last place without completing a single lap until they tabbed Chris Lawson, the race’s only DNQ, to run the car for four laps and park it. Kelly Bires was credited with his second career last-place finish when he parked his #25 Team Rensi Motorsports Ford after two laps with handling woes. Cobb was released from the #79 team and eventually drove for her own team. Ironically, Cobb wrecked her primary car in practice at the Lucas Oil Raceway (Indianapolis Raceway Park), then parked her backup #13 Lilly Trucking Ford after 2 laps of the Kroger 200, citing handling problems. Three Key Motorsports cars parked immediately afterward.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Jeff Green (10)
2nd) Brett Rowe (3)
3rd) Kelly Bires, Johnny Chapman, Dennis Setzer (2)
4th) T.J. Bell, Matt Carter, Kevin Conway, Marc Davis, Matt Frahm, Mike Harmon, James Hylton, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Brian Keselowski, Blake Koch, Justin Marks, Morgan Shepherd, Scott Speed, Scott Wimmer, J.J. Yeley (1)
