SEASON IN REVIEW
Bremerton, Washington driver Nick Tucker picked up his first LASTCAR Truck Series Championship in 2009, scoring three last-place finishes in seventeen starts during a twenty-five race season. Tucker won a convincing bottom-five tiebreaker over Brent Raymer 13-5.
Tucker was competing in his fourth and, to date, final Truck Series season. In twelve previous starts dating back to 2004, his best career finish came in his series debut at Martinsville on October 23, where his #48 James Western Star Sterling Dodge finished 20th in the Kroger 200. Following a handful of starts for Bob Brevak, Tucker became a “start-and-park” driver for Derrike Cope and Chris Lafferty.
In 2009, Tucker began his season with his final start for Lafferty, finishing 30th at Texas in the owner-drive’s #89 Blue Ox / Lafferty Performance Chevrolet. For the rest of his season, Tucker would park #21 Dodges for owner Dwayne Gaulding in order to fund Gaulding’s full-time truck #23 driven by Jason White. Tucker scored all three of his last-place finishes with the Gaulding team.
Tucker’s first last-place run came at Milwaukee on June 20, when his #21 Stock Car Steel & Aluminum Dodge fell out with brake problems after 3 laps of the Copart 200. The next occurred three races later at Indianapolis Raceway Park on July 24, where this time his #21 overheated 6 laps into the AAA Insurance 200. The third came ten races later at Texas on November 6, where his #21 GunBroker.com Dodge had electrical problems after 2 laps of the WinStar World Casino 350.
In the season-ending Ford 200 at Homestead on November 20, Tucker finished a Truck Series race for the first time since 2005, coming home 26th in Gaulding’s #21 Denny Hamlin Foundation Dodge. To date, it is Tucker’s last Truck Series start.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
All season in 2009, Tucker shared his #21 with eight other “start-and-park” drivers, including 2009 LASTCAR XFINITY Series Champion Johnny Chapman and 2010 LASTCAR Nationwide and 2011 LASTCAR Truck Series Champion Dennis Setzer. 2007 LASTCAR Truck Series Champion Wayne Edwards drove a third Gaulding truck, #22, in the season’s first two races at Daytona and Fontana, finishing last in the former when his GunBroker.com Dodge overheated after the opening lap of the NextEra Energy Resources 200. Edwards increased his last-place total to 13 at Bristol on August 19 when his #47 FT-11 Multi-Purpose Degreaser Chevrolet overheated after 7 laps of the O’Reilly 200. Edwards remained the all-time leader in Truck Series last-place finishes until 2013.
In 2010, Steve Urvan acquired Dwayne Gaulding’s team. In his first race as owner, driver Jason White won the pole and finished 4th in the season opener at Daytona. White remained with the team for another two seasons, ultimately becoming an owner-driver in 2012.
Canadian ARCA regular and 1997 X-1R Pro Cup Series Champion Mario Gosselin picked up his first Truck Series last-place finish at Dover on May 30 when his #72 James Carter, Attorney at Law Chevrolet crashed after 7 laps of the AAA Insurance 200. As an owner, Gosselin also gave the Truck Series its first Scottish last-place finisher when Carluke, Scotland’s John Jackson picked up the first of two last-place finishes that season at Michigan after the same #72 James Carter, Attorney at Law Chevrolet broke a shock 4 laps into the Michigan 200. Connecticut driver Michelle Theriault drove the same #72 at Iowa on September 5, becoming the first Truck Series driver to finish last on the new 0.875-mile track after a crash 2 laps into the Lucas Oil 200.
Popular owner-driver Brent Raymer picked up his first last-place finish at Kansas on April 27 when his #85 BrentRaymer.com / Cars, Trucks, & RVs Ford fell out with crash damage without completing a lap of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250.
Jennifer Jo Cobb picked up her first Truck Series last-place finish in her fourth series start at Talladega on October 31 when her #50 Boys Racing Dodge lost the engine after the opening lap of the Mountain Dew 250. The truck was owned by Canadian NASCAR veteran Trevor Boys, who finished last for the second time in his career at Las Vegas on September 26 due to a vibration after the opening lap while driving Chris Lafferty’s #89 Lafferty Performance / Blue Ox Chevrolet. The following year, Cobb became an owner-driver in the Truck Series, running #10 Fords.
ASA standout Mike Garvey picked up his first Truck Series last-place finish in his fourth series start, the Ford 200 at Homestead on November 20, driving the #38 S&W Services Chevrolet owned by Rod Sieg. Garvey made his first Truck Series starts since 1998 that season as a “start-and-park” driver for Sieg, and both driver and team would challenge for LASTCAR Truck Series Championships in the coming years.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Brent Raymer [5 B5s], Nick Tucker [13 B5s] (3)
2nd) Wayne Edwards, John Jackson, Brandon Knupp (2)
3rd) Norm Benning, Trevor Boys, Terry Cook, Chris Fontaine, Mike Garvey, Mario Gosselin, Lance Hooper, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Sean Murphy, Andy Ponstein, Clay Rogers, Shane Sieg, Michelle Theriault (1)
