TRUCKS: Electrical issue halts Ben Maier’s run at Lime Rock Park
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
Maier’s truck back in the garage area during the race. (PHOTO: Niece Motorsports, @NieceMotorsport)
Ben Maier picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career in Saturday’s LiUNA 150 at Lime Rock Park when his #42 Executive Chevrolet-sponsored Chevrolet fell out with electrical issues after 33 of 100 laps.
The finish came in Maier’s fourth series start. In the Truck Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 8th for the #42, the 44th for electrical issues, and the 469th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 46th for the #42, the 146th from electrical woes, and the 2,052nd for Chevrolet.
Though just 17 years old, the Maryland-born Maier already has a diverse racing resume. He’s already competed in both Robby Gordon’s Stadium Super Trucks and Travis Pastrana’s NitroCross. He also won last year’s championship in the CARS Pro Late Model Tour as a rookie, where he showed such consistency that he won both titles without winning a single race. That year saw him make his Truck Series debut at Lime Rock Park, where he tapped into his experience in Trans Am, and finished 18th for Young’s Motorsports. He’s since run 25th on the Charlotte “Roval,” then most recently finished a career-best 11th this past spring at St. Petersburg.
Maier’s most recent start came driving for Al Niece at Niece Motorsports, where he piloted the team’s part-time #4 Chevrolet. For his return to Lime Rock, he would drive the #42, the Niece entry that very nearly won the most recent round at Naval Base Coronado before Tyler Reif missed the final chicane on the last lap, handing the win to Layne Riggs. He carried sponsorship from Executive Chevrolet, a local dealership based in Wallingford, Connecticut. The dealer backed his debut at the track last year, and would this time promote the dealer’s free maintenance program with slogan “The Executive Chevrolet Edge.”
Maier on track. (PHOTO: Cole Custer Fan on Discord)
This first Truck Series race in nearly a month saw Maier as one of only 33 drivers making the trip to Connecticut. In opening practice, he ranked 18th with a best lap of 55.623 seconds (95.658mph). He was ranked 14th to take time in qualifying as part of Group 1, and he ranked 7th in Round 1A with a speed of 54.462 seconds (97.697mph). This placed him 15th on the grid for Saturday’s race.
Securing the 33rd and final starting spot was Colin Braun, who was unable to make it to the track in time to qualify his #25 RAM-sponsored RAM, leaving him the only driver without a completed lap in the session. Braun incurred a redundant tail-end penalty for unapproved adjustments, joined by Ben Rhodes for adjustments on his own #99 Farm Paint Ford.
When the race started, both Braun and Rhodes dropped to last place 32nd-place starter Josh Reaume in the #22 Dr. Sheffield’s Naturals Ford. By the end of Lap 1, he was 19.234 seconds back of the lead, about 1.5 seconds behind teammate Frankie Muniz in the #33 Priority Tire Ford. By Lap 6, Reaume’s deficit had grown to 30.575 seconds back of the lead, a full four seconds behind Muniz. On Lap 8, when Braun had climbed his way to 27th, Reaume was 39.126 seconds back of the lead while Muniz had climbed to 31st past first-timer Graham Doyle, who after running wide at Turn 1 in opening practice fell to 32nd in the #5 DEX / Sharp Toyota. On Lap 10, Reaume was now 43.539 seconds back of the lead and ten seconds behind Doyle while 31st-place Muniz was tracking down 30th-place Wesley Slimp in the #62 HNTB Toyota. On Lap 13, Reaume was now 55.536 seconds back of the lead, more than 13 seconds behind Doyle, and by Lap 15 was the first driver to be lapped.
Maier’s lengthy stop at the end of Stage 1. (PHOTO: Ben A, @Ben_A_09)
On Lap 17, 32nd-place Doyle had caught 31st-place Muniz, but Muniz held him off, maintaining a half-second advantage the next time by. Both were then lapped by the leaders by Lap 20, joined by Slimp, who overdrove a corner and had to slam into reverse to get pointed the right direction. This dropped Slimp to 32nd. Reaume lost a second lap by Lap 27 as the leaders continued to work their way through traffic. By Lap 31, when the caution fell to end Stage 1, Braun was the last truck on the lead lap in 25th, and Reaume remained last, two lap down.
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— Martin Roberg (@RobergRacing) July 11, 2026
The caution also marked the first round of non-competitive pit stops, during which Maier’s #42 was one of the first trucks to park in his stall, Stall No. 16, just short of the starting line. He arrived in his stall not under power, and the crew tried to diagnose the issue. Meanwhile, Reaume pitted with his two teammates on the other end of pit road, staged nose-to-tail in Stalls 31-33 at pit entrance. After the stops, Maier had dropped to the final truck on the lead lap in 26th, then by Lap 33 had fallen to 32nd, one lap down. Maier attempted to return to the track, but lost fuel pressure and stalled, requiring a push truck. He returned to pit road for additional repairs, dropping him to last behind Reaume on Lap 34. By the Lap 36 restart, Maier’s last completed lap was clocked at 867.591 seconds, or about 14 minutes and 30 seconds. FS1 listed him off the track by Lap 38. Maier appeared to return to the track around Lap 55, his last completed lap now shown at 1,012.695 seconds (just under 17 minutes). But he soon returned to the garage, where the Niece team tweeted he was out with a wiring issue.
Majeski’s truck towed to the garage after his hard Turn 1 crash. (PHOTO: Matt Miller, @MGMiller17)
Maier’s last completed lap pulled him from 12 to 11 laps behind 32nd-place finisher Ty Majeski, who was running a solid 6th when his #88 Denali Aire / Menards Ford lost brake pressure going into Turn 1, causing him to slam head-on into the tires. Majeski was checked and released from the infield care center, but the nose of his truck was destroyed and smeared with mud caused by recent storms in the area. Ben Rhodes took 31st when he suffered right-front damage during a pileup on the Lap 51 restart triggered by Landen Lewis and Connor Mosack. Chandler Smith broke an axle seal in the right-rear of his #38 SEM Ford and tried to continue running, even with a threat of fire as fluid got on his brake calipers. He ended up losing laps for repairs and returned, only to stall on track soon after he climbed past Rhodes into 30th. Rounding out the Bottom Five was the #1 ShopTRICON.com Toyota of Thomas Annunziata. Annunziata also received damage in the Lap 51 pileup, but charged up to 2nd, only to suffer a catastrophic engine fire under caution as he neared pit entrance. He climbed out quickly, one day after he won his second-straight ARCA race at the track, and was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation.
Out of the chaos, several drivers earn strong runs in Lime Rock Park
Parker Kligerman, who happens to be a part-owner of the Lime Rock track, came home 4th in Spire Motorsports’ #77 Delaware Life Chevrolet, marking his first top-five finish in nearly four years, dating back to September 15, 2022 at Bristol. Andres Perez de Lara finished a career-best 7th for the third time in his career and for the first time since St. Petersburg, this time in Niece’s #44 DQS Solutions & Staffing Chevrolet. After rolling off in the last spot and spinning out in the closing stages, Colin Braun recovered to finish in the 10th spot, one place ahead of current 2026 LASTCAR leader Cole Butcher, who had a career day leading 11 laps before he dropped to 11th at the checkered flag – just one spot short of a career-best for the driver of the #13 Atlantic Tilt Load Ford.
Further back, Jackson Lee earned a career-best 13th in Team Reaume’s #2 California Closets Browning Chapman Ford, blowing away his previous mark of 26th at Watkins Glen earlier this year, and earning it in only his fourth series start. Wesley Slimp’s recovery from a spin in oil from Corey LaJoie’s truck yielded a 16th-place finish, his best since a 12th at Watkins Glen last year. IndyCar sophomore Louis Foster nearly finished in the Top Ten before he was spun on the final lap, dropping to 21st in Spencer Boyd’s #76 Droplight Chevrolet. His bad luck was Graham Doyle’s benefit, as the sports car driver finished 19th in his series debut.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #42 in a Truck Series race since two months ago in Nashville, where Tyler Reif’s #42 crashed after 55 laps. The number had never before finished last in a Truck Series race at Lime Rock Park, nor any other Truck Series road course race.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
33) #42-Ben Maier / 33 laps / electrical
32) #88-Ty Majeski / 44 laps / crash
31) #99-Ben Rhodes / 50 laps / crash
30) #38-Chandler Smith / 56 laps / driveshaft
29) #1-Thomas Annunziata / 79 laps / engine (fire)
2026 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Niece Motorsports, Team Reaume (3)
2nd) ThorSport Racing (2)
3rd) Front Row Motorsports, Halmar Friesen Racing, Kaulig RAM Racing, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, Motorsports Business Management, Rackley-W.A.R. (1)
2026 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Ford (7)
2nd) Chevrolet (5)
3rd) RAM, Toyota (1)
2026 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
