PHOTO: GMS Racing, LLC
SEASON IN REVIEW
Loomis, California driver Jack Wood picked up his first LASTCAR Truck Series Championship in 2021, scoring two last-place finishes in twelve starts during a twenty-two race season.
Wood was competing in his first season – a part-time campaign for GMS Racing, which would ultimately lead to a full-time deal with the team in 2022. The ARCA Menards Series West driver – not to be confused with the famous Wood Brothers of Stuart, Virginia – finished 11th in the 2019 standings, and drove a GMS entry in the 2021 opener at Phoenix. He then ran some races in ARCA’s national touring series, taking top-ten finishes in Daytona, Kanas, and Charlotte.
When sponsorship issues caused Raphael Lessard to part ways with GMS early in the 2021 season, the opportunity came for Wood to make some Truck starts. In just his third start, he qualified outside-pole at Nashville and came home 11th, a run he improved on with a 10th in Gateway.
Wood would not have been in contention for the LASTCAR Championship had the season not been unusually competitive. Wood’s first last-place finish came June 26 in the season’s 13th race at Pocono, where a stack-up on the initial start turned him into the wall, damaging his #24 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet. At the time, he was the 13th different last-place finisher in the Truck Series season, and defending champion Norm Benning led the standings by just two Bottom Fives over fellow independent Cory Roper. No NASCAR season in any of the sport’s top three series had ever seen different last-place finishers in every race run.
With only three races left in the season, there had still yet to be a single repeat last-place finisher. Coming into the October 2 race at Talladega, which would already play a role in setting the Championship 4 for Phoenix, Jennifer Jo Cobb now led the standings in a virtual stalemate with Benning: both Cobb and Benning had six Bottom Fives and eleven Bottom Tens, and Cobb’s tiebreaker amounted to little more than her making more starts than Benning. But it was this same Talladega race where Wood’s #24 Azalea Gynecology Chevrolet lost an engine after just 23 laps, making him the first repeat last-place finisher since Josh Reaume took the final two rounds in 2020.
When Wood failed to lock-up the title at Martinsville on October 30 – which went to teammate Chase Purdy in the #23 Bama Buggies Chevrolet – Purdy became one of eight drivers who could take the title from Wood by finishing last at Phoenix. Joining Purdy, Cobb, and Benning were Chandler Smith, Cory Roper, Ryan Truex, Tyler Ankrum, and Tate Fogleman – the latter the surprising winner of the Talladega race where Wood had finished last. But a freak mechanical issue in the rear of Lawless Alan’s #45 AutoParkIt.com Chevrolet ended Phoenix’s last-place battle after only 11 laps, handing Wood the title despite his limited schedule.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
Wood was also one of the thirteen drivers who scored their first career last-place finishes in the Truck Series in 2021. Three of these were his GMS Racing teammates – Zane Smith (February 19 at the Daytona Infield Road Course, where he took last from Jason White in overtime), Tyler Ankrum (March 29 in the inaugural Bristol Dirt Race), and Chase Purdy (October 30 at Martinsville). Defending series champion Sheldon Creed also nearly joined the list at Texas on June 12 when his #2 LiftKits4Less.com Chevrolet wrecked in the early laps, but Ross Chastain’s disqualification for an illegal throttle body caused the spot to change hands.
Niece Motorsports finished last seven times in 2021. The finishes were distributed among three of Niece’s four entries – one for the #40 of Ryan Truex (whose run at Richmond at April 17 was his first last-place finish since 2016), and three each for the #44 and #45, which each had multiple drivers. Only the #42 avoided a last-place finish, and driver Carson Hocevar nearly made the Championship 4 after narrowly missing out on his first series win multiple times. Among the last-place finishers for Niece was James Buescher, who in the Daytona opener on February 12 was involved in a crash coming to the starting line in the #44 FHE FracLock Chevrolet, handing him his first last-place finish since 2011.
Other returning drivers also found early trouble in 2021. At Kansas on May 1, Ryan Reed scored his first-ever last-place finish in 176 combined Cup, XFINITY, and Truck Series starts after the steering failed on CMI Motorsports’ #49 Frontline Wraps Toyota. The new Rackley-W.A.R. team was handed last-place finishes for two returning series standouts – Timothy Peters’ steering failure at Charlotte in a backup #25 Rackley Roofing Chevrolet was his first in last-place run in the series since 2007, and ultimately led to him parting ways with the team. William Byron ran a second Rackley entry at Nashville on June 18 resulted in a blown engine on his #27 Cruisin’ Sports / Rackley Roofing Chevrolet, his first last-place run in a Truck since 2016.
Cameron Lawrence’s Truck Series debut at the Circuit of the Americas – site of Wood’s series debut - saw him qualify 7th in Josh Reaume’s #33 Impact Health Chevrolet. Mechanical issues and crash damage dropped him down in the order, and he finished the race under power, but with the crew still working on the truck on pit road.
In qualifying for the Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix on November 5, LASTCAR.info joined as sponsor of Norm Benning’s #6 Chevrolet, a truck prepared in Niece Motorsports’ shop. The truck, which carried the LASTCAR logo on the passenger-side b-post, failed to qualify after turning in the slowest time during the session.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Jack Wood (2)
2nd) Lawless Alan, Morgan Alexander, Tyler Ankrum, Norm Benning, James Buescher, William Byron, Ross Chastain, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Conor Daly, Tate Fogleman, Chris Hacker, Cameron Lawrence, Josh Reaume, Timothy Peters, Chase Purdy, Ryan Reed, Cory Roper, Chandler Smith, Zane Smith, Ryan Truex (1)
