TRUCKS: Broken oil pump bracket results in first Truck Series last-place finish for Kris Wright
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Bill McAnally Racing, @BMR_NASCAR
Kris Wright picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career in Saturday’s Race to Stop Suicide 200 at the Kansas Speedway when his #81 Warranty Solutions Chevrolet fell out with an oil pump issue after he completed 9 of 134 laps.
The finish came in Wright’s 69th series start. In the Truck Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 4th from the oil pump, the 9th for the #81, and the 472nd for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 22nd from the oil pump, the 28th for the #81, and the 2,064th for Chevrolet. With a combined four bottom-five finishes and 11 in the Bottom Ten, this first finish of the season also launches Wright into second in the 2026 LASTCAR Truck Series standings with just five races left to go.
While Wright has been the subject of controversy for some of his on-track performances in stock car racing, this marks the first time he’s been the subject of a last-place article in the Truck Series. Wright first made the jump from sports cars to ARCA and the Truck Series in 2020, where his family’s sponsor F.N.B. Corporation has been the frequent backer of his rides with such teams as Niece Motorsports and Young’s Motorsports. Two years ago, Wright completed his first full season in ARCA for Bill Venturini and finished 3rd in the point standings, but remained winless. Last year on the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series tour, he drove for Our Motorsports until the team shut down at midseason. He’s now run more Truck Series races this season than in any of his six previous years, this time piloting the #81 for the McAnally-Hilgemann Racing team. His season-best showing came at Naval Base Coronado this past June, where he came home 13th.
Wright was one of 36 drivers entered for Saturday’s race, and all would qualify after both practice and qualifying were cancelled by rain. Originally scheduled to roll off 9th in the qualifying order, he would line up 28th on the starting grid. Wright’s truck welcomed a returning Warranty Solutions as sponsor, his backer at Loudon, and the passenger side name rail bore the name of cancer survivor Charles Donoho.
Securing the 36th and final starting spot was Caleb Costner, who brought his team back to the Truck Series for the first time since they failed to qualify at Richmond. This time, the decklid of his #93 Chevrolet carried the names of supporters through his “One Team – Fan Driven” program. While there were no reports of tail-end penalties, and Bristol race winner Jake Garcia was allowed to return to the outside-pole in his #98 Quanta / Curb Records Ford after a safety-related stop during the pace laps, Costner crossed the stripe in 33rd spot, 2.631 seconds back of the lead, ahead of three trucks.
The next two trucks behind Costner just happened to have swapped drivers during the week due to scheduling conflicts with their full-time drivers. In 34th was Toni Breidinger in the #26 Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers Chevrolet, who was to start 17th as Dawson Sutton competed in a super late model race at Five Flags Speedway, but showed 2.762 seconds back of the lead. In 35th ran Josh Reaume in the #33 Levrack Ford, who was to start 32nd while Frankie Muniz was competing in a GT4 race at Barber Motorsports Park, and was now 2.803 behind the leader.
Crossing the stripe 36th and last was Stephen Mallozzi, was slated to start 23rd in Team Reaume’s #2 Aerial Titans Ford. Instead, he took the green flag 3.389 seconds back of the lead, about a half-second back of Reaume’s #33, who was originally to his outside in the last row. Mallozzi was off to a slow start, and by the end of Lap 1 had already fallen 7.357 seconds back of the lead, nearly four seconds behind the next truck in line. Further ahead, Daniel Dye had first lined up 35th in the #20 Champion Containers Chevrolet and after the shuffling of the order, was now making moves toward the Top 20. But on Lap 2, NASCAR reported Dye needed to come to pit road for a radio issue. Radio traffic on Dye’s channel seemed to indicate the team couldn’t hear Dye. It’s possible that Dye couldn’t hear NASCAR officials or his spotter, even as his spotter called for him to pit while trying to navigate him through traffic.
On Lap 3, Mallozzi remained in last place, 10.889 seconds back of the lead, and now five seconds behind 35th-place running Costner. By Lap 4, that gap increased to nearly six seconds, Mallozzi crossing the stripe 16.297 back of the lead to Costner’s 9.783. That time by, NASCAR gave the order to wave the black flag with white cross to Dye, which would stop scoring of his #20. But this too failed to get Dye to pit road, and NASCAR didn’t stop scoring him as he climbed to the 25th spot. On Lap 6, the last spot was still held by Mallozzi, 18.597 seconds back of the lead, with 35th-place Costner 11.951 behind. On Lap 8, Mallozzi climbed past Costner, who came down pit road with a fender pushed in on one of his tires. The crew pulled it away and sent Costner back onto the track on Lap 11, now shown three laps down in last place. By then, Dye’s crew worked out an arrangement to have his radio fixed when the first caution fell, so the #20 continued to be scored.
It was also around Lap 11 when Wright lost power on the backstretch and came down pit road, dropping from 31st to 34th, and then losing a lap. By Lap 13, Wright had pulled into his pit stall – Stall No. 40, the second stall after pit entrance off Turn 4 – where the crew first reported the oil pump belt had come loose. Then came a correction – the oil pump’s bracket had broken, causing the pump itself to come loose. “The oil pump bracket broke, are you kidding?!” exclaimed a member of the team. On Lap 14, just as a now three-lap down Wright took last from Costner while a now 34th-place Mallozzi went a lap down on track, the team pushed Wright behind the wall for repairs. On Lap 18, Wright’s crew reported, “We’re done,” then said this again on Lap 20. NASCAR’s official in the garage first attempted to report Wright was out on Lap 40, but this was delayed after Cole Butcher’s #13 Atlantic Tilt Load Ford cut down a left-front tire and limped down pit road. The report then went through on Lap 42, and was repeated a few seconds later.
During Wright’s issues, the opening laps of the race remained chaotic. On Lap 17, just before Wright’s crew declared they were done for the day, Leland Honeyman, Jr. made an unscheduled stop in his #62 DPR Construction Toyota, dropping him a lap down into 34th behind a now 33rd-place Mallozzi. Then on Lap 21, Josh Reaume then had an issue on his #33 when he dropped off the pace, NASCAR telling him to stay on the apron as he made it to pit road. Reaume went a lap down on Lap 22, when he took 33rd from Mallozzi, then dropped behind Honeyman on Lap 23. Reaume’s crew discussed a possible electrical issue, but said his battery hadn’t come loose. He returned to the track on Lap 25, now four laps down in 35th, only to immediately receive a penalty for too many crew members over the wall. Reaume lost a sixth lap just as Stage 1 ended, his #33 running the low lane as stage winner Kaden Honeycutt tried to lap Mini Tyrrell. Reaume would ultimately pull behind the wall on Lap 52 for extensive adjustments, then returned to the track by Lap 58, now 15 laps down. His first completed lap after these adjustments came in at 425.389 seconds, or just over seven minutes. The rest of the race would be a shake-down run for the upcoming round in Charlotte, and Reaume reported he wanted another half-inch of foam added to the right side of his headrest for that race.
Reaume finished the race in the 33rd spot. Between he and last-place Wright were 35th-place Costner, who spun off Turn 4 and ended up losing the nose of his Chevrolet after it was ripped free in the soaked infield grass. Taking 34th was Landen Lewis, whose #45 Motorsports Auctions / J.F. Electric Chevrolet spun down the backstretch and nosed into the inside wall, knocking him out of the event. Rounding out the Bottom Five was Connor Hall, whose #4 Niece Products Kansas / Circle B Diecast Chevrolet twice spun at the entrance to Turn 3 in the early laps, recovered to reach the Top Ten, then bounced off the outside wall in Turn 1, forcing an unscheduled stop.
Dye rebounds from early issues; Leitz earns first career Top Ten
Daniel Dye, who had climbed to 16th in Stage 1, finally got his radio repaired under the Stage 1 caution on Lap 33, when he also received two rounds down on the right-side track bar for a loose condition. This dropped Dye back to 27th, where he pointed out he’d been using the same helmet all year and didn’t understand why the radio malfunctioned. The team took responsibility and said they’d address it with their interior specialist. During his second climb through the field, Dye was then involved during the last caution before the lengthy red flag at the start of Stage 3, his #20 sent spinning toward the inside wall. Dye avoided contact, stayed out on old tires to lead in the closing laps, and recovered to ultimately finish 15th.
Earning a strong run on Saturday night was Nick Leitz, who in just his 12th series start, and after a rough outing last week in Bristol, rebounded with his first career top-ten finish with a new high mark of 7th place in his #1 Precision Measurements, Inc. Toyota. Leitz’ previous career-best was his 11th-place showing, also with TRICON Garage, in this year’s season opener in Daytona.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first Truck Series last-place finish due to the oil pump since June 23, 2017, when J.J. Yeley’s unsponsored #57 Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet fell out after three laps around Iowa. It’s the first time the reason was the cause for a Truck Series last-place finisher’s exit at Kansas.
*This was the first last-place finish for the #81 in a Truck Series race in just over a year, dating back to September 20, 2025, and Connor Mosack’s crash after 1 lap at Loudon.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #81-Kris Wright / 9 laps / oil pump
35) #93-Caleb Costner / 86 laps /crash
34) #45-Landen Lewis / 114 laps / crash
33) #33-Josh Reaume / 119 laps / running
32) #4-Connor Hall / 128 laps / running
2026 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Team Reaume (5)
2nd) Niece Motorsports (4)
3rd) Halmar Friesen Racing, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, ThorSport Racing (2)
4th) Freedom Racing Enterprises, Front Row Motorsports, Kaulig RAM Racing, Motorsports Business Management, Rackley-W.A.R. (1)
2026 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Ford (9)
2nd) Chevrolet (8)
3rd) Toyota (2)
4th) RAM (1)
2026 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
