PHOTO: CIA Stock Photo
SEASON IN REVIEW
Abingdon, Virginia driver Caleb Roark picked up his first LASTCAR Truck Series Championship in 2014, scoring three last-place finishes in ten starts during a twenty-two race season. Roark won the title in a bottom-five tiebreaker with Justin Jennings by following-up Jennings’ last-place run in the penultimate race at Phoenix with his own at Homestead. It was the closest LASTCAR Truck Series championship since 2000, when Ryan McGlynn prevailed in a bottom-ten tiebreaker over Phil Bonifield.
Roark was competing in his fourth season in the series. He made his Truck Series debut at Martinsville on April 2, 2011, driving the #07 Boys & Girls Club of Kingsport Chevrolet for veteran owner Ken Smith. As of this writing, his 19th-place finish that afternoon remains his career-best. Over the next two seasons, Roark continued to drive Smith’s #07 on a part-time basis, ultimately leading to his first 1.5-mile track starts at Chicago in 2011 and Las Vegas in 2013.
For 2014, Roark teamed up with Jennifer Jo Cobb, who owned the previous season’s LASTCAR Truck Series Championship #0 team which Chris Lafferty took to six last-place finishes. Cobb, still running her team’s primary #10, brought back the #0 in the season’s third round at Kansas with Ryan Ellis behind the wheel. Ellis shared the ride with Roark and Willie Allen for the first eight rounds of the season with Ellis claiming the team’s first two last-place runs of the year at Texas on June 6 and Kentucky on June 26. Ellis was the first repeat last-placer of the 2014 season, breaking a seven-way tie.
Following the Kentucky race, Roark would drive Cobb’s #0 for the remainder of the season, a year that did not have a clear frontrunner. Roark scored two last-place finishes to match Ellis: the first came at Michigan on August 16 when the rear gear let go on his #0 Grimes Irrigation & Construction Chevrolet and the second two weeks later at Bowmanville on August 31 after an opening-lap clutch issue on his RAM. However, with two races to go, both Ellis and Roark were now in a six-way tie for the lead with Mike Harmon, Justin Jennings, 2014 LASTCAR Nationwide Champion Blake Koch, and Charles Lewandoski. However, only Roark and Jennings were in contention for the title on bottom-five finishes: Roark had 9 over Jennings’ 8, Lewandoski’s 7, Ellis’ 5, Koch’s 4, and Harmon’s 2.
Heading into the next round at Phoenix on November 7, Roark was on the preliminary entry list, but the team withdrew before practice, preventing Roark from locking-up the title. In the race itself, Justin Jennings rear-ended two other trucks in a green-flag pileup, leaving Jennings last for the tie-breaking third time in 2014. Now ahead of Roark by one last-place finish and two bottom-ten finishes (11-9), but tied in Bottom Fives (9 each), Homestead promised to be a one-race shootout between the two drivers.
With Roark unable to best Jennings in bottom-ten finishes, Roark could only claim the title if he finished last at Homestead and Jennings did not finish inside the Bottom Five. If that specific scenario occurred, Roark would claim the title on a bottom-five tiebreaker, 10-9, making the bottom-ten tiebreaker irrelevant. If Roark finished last while Jennings finished in the Bottom Five, both would still have the same number of Bottom Fives (10 each) and Jennings would prevail on a bottom-ten tiebreaker, 12-10. And if Roark failed to finish last, Jennings would win the title outright without need of a tiebreaker.
Then, on the evening of November 14, the first of these scenarios occurred.
Roark, driving the re-numbered #0 Grimes Irrigation / Best Western Mesa Chevrolet that Cobb fielded the previous week at Phoenix, fell out with a vibration after 5 laps, securing the Homestead last-place finish. Jennings managed to finish 22nd, ten spots outside the Bottom Five, thus locking up Roark’s championship in dramatic fashion.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
Three short track drivers finished last in their Truck Series debuts in 2014. K&N Pro Series West driver Tommy Regan trailed the field at Iowa on July 11 when his #45 JD2 Shark Welding / American Tactical Chevrolet had ignition problems on the very first lap. Dirt tracker Mike Affarano’s #03 Won-N-Done Automotive Car Products Chevrolet overheated after 93 laps at Eldora on July 24. Modified star Bryan Dauzat had suspension issues on the #28 O.B. Builders Door & Trim / FDNY Racing Chevrolet after 4 laps at Bristol on August 21.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Justin Jennings [9 B5s], Caleb Roark [10 B5s] (3)
2nd) Ryan Ellis, Mike Harmon, Blake Koch, Charles Lewandoski, Caleb Roark (2)
3rd) Mike Affarano, T.J. Bell, Bryan Dauzat, Alex Guenette, Ted Minor, Tommy Regan, Scott Stenzel, Jason White (1)
