TRUCKS: Clayton Green scores rare last-place finish last used in 1997
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Peter Stratta, @peterstratta
Clayton Green picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career in Friday’s eero 250 at the Richmond Raceway when his unsponsored #2 Reaume Brothers Racing Ford fell out with mechanical issues after 2 of 250 laps.
The finish came in Green’s fifth series start. In the Truck Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 6th for the #2, the 10th from mechanical issues, and the 136th for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 13th for mechanical problems, the 42nd for the #2, and the 1,072nd for Ford.
Friday saw the second-generation racer from Marble Falls, Texas make his second start of the season, his first since a 30th-place showing at Pocono, in his second part-time season in the series. According to his website, Green impressed his fellow racers since he was six, advancing from go-karts to Bandeleros and Legend Cars. He became the youngest to win the National Outlaw Championship and was only 12 when fellow drivers at the Texas Motor Speedway voted him Driver of the Year. Now in Pro Late Models, Green made his Truck Series debut last year for Roper Racing, taking 34th at North Wilkesboro. He’s since then driven part-time for Reaume Brothers Racing.
For Richmond, Green joined teammates Stephen Mallozzi (#22) and Frankie Muniz (#33) in three unsponsored trucks. Muniz, the team’s lone full-timer, carried a decal on the hood showing the team’s pit crew at work, promoting both his fundraiser for Victory Junction and the team’s new all-access documentary “Welcome to Reaume” on their YouTube channel. While Muniz ran 30 laps to rank 31st in practice, both Green and Mallozzi ran just one lap each, ranking 33rd and 35th, respectively. Mallozzi qualified on speed in 31st, but Green didn’t turn a lap.
Clayton Green (far right) helping the team push his truck onto the grid. (PHOTO: Max N, @racingfan83)
Still, following the mid-week withdrawals of both Norm Benning in the #6 and the #91 of Jack Wood, injured in his wreck last week at Watkins Glen, all three Reaume trucks qualified for the race. Green ended up ranking 34th on the starting grid ahead of 35th and last place Giovanni Ruggiero, who also didn’t turn a qualifying lap after issues with the rear end of his #17 First Auto Group Toyota. Ruggiero incurred a redundant tail-end penalty for his team’s unapproved adjustments and crossed the stripe 3.95 seconds back of the lead, though now in 33rd. By the time the field came off Turn 4, Mallozzi and Green had also dropped to the back and trailed the field by about seven truck-lengths back of Ruggiero, taking over the final two spots. Ruggiero recovered admirably, finishing in 6th spot. The night’s top-finishing rookie came just 39 points short of a Playoff spot.
Green pulls his truck into the garage just past Gio Ruggiero’s pit stall. (PHOTO: Max N, @racingfan83)
By the end of Lap 1, Ruggiero had dropped Green to last, 7.103 seconds back of the lead. On Lap 3, Green was 8.6 seconds back of the lead with Mallozzi just ahead of him in 34th, 8.36 seconds back. Green then pulled onto pit road, leaving Mallozzi in 34th the last car on track, 10.1 seconds back of the lead. Instead of continuing down to his pit stall, Stall 24, just past pit entrance, he entered the garage just past Ruggiero’s pits at Stall 36. Mallozzi then pulled down pit road after five laps, and unlike his teammate pulled into his pits at Stall 27, just before the line. Mallozzi then went back around the track and used the same garage entrance as Green.
Mallozzi on pit road just before he came back around to enter the garage. (PHOTO: Max W, @racingfan83)
This occurred at the same time as Daniel Hemric’s #19 NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet plummeted from 10th on the grid to 32nd on Lap 7, citing an issue with the right-front of his truck. He too was soon in the garage area, where the crew spent the rest of Stage 1 completing repairs. He returned to the track, where he ultimately finished under power, 64 laps down. Muniz also lost time, reportedly leaking the rear gear oil on the track that led to a dominant Ty Majeski spinning along with teammate Matt Crafton on Lap 200. Muniz returned to the track, but continued smoking, so he pulled down pit road, then into the garage, done for the night. NASCAR’s results didn’t show a classification for his truck, but he was done for the night, our of the race due to the rear gear issues. Rounding out the Bottom Five was Dawson Sutton, who pulled his #26 Rackley Roofing Chevrolet to the entrance of pit road after an electrical fire in the cockpit. His team completed repairs, allowing him to finish 27 laps down.
Frankie Muniz in the night’s last surviving Reaume truck. (PHOTO: Max N, @racingfan83)
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Green is the first Truck Series driver to be classified last due to “mechanical” issues since March 16, 1997, when Lonnie Rush, Jr.’s #53 Purolator PureOne Filters Chevrolet fell out after 3 laps of the Florida Dodge Dealers 400k at Homestead – the same race that saw Kenny Irwin, Jr. score his first of two career victories.
*This marked the first last-place run for the #2 in a Truck Series race at Richmond.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
35) #2-Clayton Green / 2 laps / mechanical
34) #22-Stephen Mallozzi / 5 laps / mechanical
33) #19-Daniel Hemric / 186 laps / running
32) #33-Franke Muniz / 208 laps / rear gear
31) #26-Dawson Sutton / 223 laps / running
2025 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Reaume Brothers Racing (7)
2nd) Norm Benning Racing (3)
3rd) Front Row Motorsports (2)
4th) FDNY Racing, Freedom Racing Enterprises, Halmar Friesen Racing, Henderson Motorsports, Niece Motorsports, Spire Motorsports (1)
2025 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Ford (9)
2nd) Chevrolet (8)
3rd) Toyota (1)
2025 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
