PHOTO: Reaume Brothers Racing
SEASON IN REVIEW
Redlands, California driver Josh Reaume picked up his first LASTCAR Craftsman Truck Series Championship in 2023, scoring two last-place finishes in ten races during a twenty-three race season.
Similar to the XFINITY Series, the Truck Series – which welcomed back legacy title sponsor Craftsman – saw an abnormally close LASTCAR championship that went down to the final race. In fact, for the first time since 2000, the title was decided by a bottom-ten tiebreaker. Josh Reaume, owner of Reaume Brothers Racing, came into the season with not only adversity, but near tragedy. A shop fire in January left some crew members with injuries and nearly ended their two-truck effort, which had been operating since 2018. For Daytona, Reaume joined forces with both Tim Viens at G2G Racing and soon after Kevin Cywinski at AM Racing, continuing to give up-and-coming drivers a chance to compete in NASCAR national competition.
Reaume would himself drive for less than half the full schedule – and mostly in the first half. His first last-place finish came in the year’s second round March 3rd at Las Vegas, where his unsponsored #34 Reaume Brothers Racing Chevrolet had to pull into the garage due to a transmission that kept jumping out of gear. The other didn’t come until July 29th at Richmond – 14 rounds later – where much like on the Cup side, there was very low attrition. Reaume finished that night’s race under power with the rest of the field, 11 laps down to the winner. Reaume also failed to qualify for another six races, including the series’ return to North Wilkesboro.
The year’s only other repeat last-place finisher was Keith McGee, one of Reaume’s drivers, who was originally slated to run the entire season. But after finishing last in two of his three starts – transmission issues of his own in Atlanta on March 18th, then a fuel pump issue under the lights at Charlotte on May 26th – McGee announced he would be leaving NASCAR in June to spend more time with his family in his native Alaska. As Reaume struggled to keep his operation going, taking on more driving duties in the process, McGee ultimately returned to attempt both Talladega and Phoenix, but failed to qualify both times. With McGee unable to take the title from Reaume in the season’s final race, the field opened to six one-time last-place finishers, of which only four were entered in the race: Dean Thompson, Colby Howard, Zane Smith, and Lawless Alan. In the November 3rd finale, these four finished no worse than 25th while last place was settled by an early wreck between Chris Hacker and Marco Andretti, handing Reaume the title. Hacker’s last-place run was the first for the #30 in Truck Series history – at the time, the lowest currently available number to have yet to finish last.
Spencer Davis, the defending LASTCAR Truck Series Champion, nearly joined the Phoenix challengers by finishing last at Homestead for a second-straight year on October 21st, the result of a cockpit fire on his #12 Crowe Equipment Chevrolet. What would have been Boyd’s first last-place run of the year – a year that saw him score the most Bottom Fives and Bottom Tens of any driver without a last-place run to that point – was negated after a windshield support violation disqualified Zane Smith. Smith’s 34 laps led at Homestead were the season’s only for a last-place finisher in Trucks. The next race, Boyd then joined McGee as the Phoenix finale’s only other DNQ.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
At the Circuit of the Americas on March 25th, IndyCar driver Ed Jones became NASCAR’s first starter from the United Arab Emirates when his took the wheel of Randy Young’s #20 Little Caesars Chevrolet. But he ended up the second-straight starter of Young’s #20 to finish last in the race without a single completed lap. One year after drive train issues for Sheldon Creed, Jones cut down a tire and was stranded on track. Lengthy repairs ultimately didn’t lead to his return to the track. Stephen Mallozzi had more success in his second career start at Martinsville on April 14th. While his #22 Stacking Dennys Ford finished last that night, the team managed to jump-start his failing battery in the final laps of a rain-soaked short track race where all 36 starters were still running.
The battles for last place also saw some attrition even before the race began. At Texas on April 1st, the entry list was trimmed from 36 to only 34 starters after a pair of wrecks forced the withdrawals of both Tyler Hill and Kaden Honeycutt. Honeycutt was to drive for Roper Racing, which at Kansas on September 8th suffered another practice crash with driver Spencer Davis. The crew managed to piece the truck back together, which showed visible damage on the grid. Davis turned just one lap before he pulled into the garage, out with what was listed as suspension issues.
The Roper #04 team also became the first NASCAR national series team since 1996 to finish last at North Wilkesboro on May 20th after an alternator fire stopped Johnny Sauter’s run in the #04 Carquest Ford. The series’ return to the Milwaukee Mile on August 27th saw the finish go to Wisconsin native Josh Bilicki, whose #02 Insurance King Chevrolet was the track’s first Truck Series last-placer since 2009.
One of the most bizarre last-place finishes came on May 6th in the spring Kansas race, where NASCAR’s radio traffic declared Tim Viens’ #47 Toyota “out of fuel” after he pulled into the garage after two laps. The official results listed Viens out with transmission woes.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Josh Reaume [3 B5s, 4 B10s], Keith McGee [3 B5s, 3 B10s] (2)
2nd) Lawless Alan, Josh Bilicki, Chad Chastain, Bryan Dauzat, Spencer Davis, Tanner Gray, Clay Greenfield, Chris Hacker, Colby Howard, Ed Jones, Stephen Mallozzi, Stefan Parsons, Brennan Poole, Johnny Sauter, Zane Smith, Dean Thompson, Greg Van Alst, Tim Viens, Jack Wood (1)
