TRUCKS: Monster Mile proves unforgiving in Dystany Spurlock’s NASCAR debut
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Jeff Gluck, @jeff_gluck
Dystany Spurlock picked up the 1st last-place finish of her NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career in Friday’s Ecosave 200 at the Dover Motor Speedway when her #69 Foxxtecca Ford crashed after she completed 36 of 200 laps.
The finish came in Spurlock’s series debut. Among the Truck Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 1st for the #69, the 146th for Ford, and the 208th from a crash. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 10th for the #69, the 1,094th for Ford, and the 1,456th from a crash.
A SAG-AFTRA member who has appeared in commercials, and a fashion-forward young woman who at one point raced in a pink suit with an integrated corset, Spurlock brings her unique style to the world of stock car racing. She grew up competing in motorcycle drag racing, where she’s graduated to the NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Class, and has worked as both a flight attendant and truck driver from her native Virginia. She’s now moved to North Carolina and teamed up with Carl Long at Motorsports Business Management (MBM).
Less than two months ago, Spurlock finished an impressive 7th in her ARCA East debut at Hickory, then in her ARCA Menards Series debut in Kansas overcame a late-race spin to finish 10th. Just last week, she planned to run double-duty with the Craftsman Truck Series at Watkins Glen, harkening back to her graduation from the Skip Barber Racing School, where she raced in Formula 4. Unfortunately, mechanical issues left her 29th in the ARCA race, and despite gaining seven full seconds from practice to qualifying, she fell short of making her Truck Series debut.
This and more has been chronicled in a multi-part YouTube series by her sponsor Foxxtecca, a Michigan-based initiative looking to encourage “talent from underrepresented backgrounds to enter and excel in the rapidly evolving fields of the mobility industry.”
MBM then turned their attention to Friday’s race at Dover, site of team owner Long’s Cup debut in the year 2000, where he also encountered a wreck in the opening laps. This time around, Spurlock would be assured of her own debut as exactly 36 trucks arrived to contest as many starting spots, so no teams would be sent home. However, NASCAR’s current rules penalize teams practice time for failing the first round of inspection in consecutive races. Since MBM failed three consecutive races, Spurlock was held 20 minutes at the start of practice at Dover. When she was released, she ranked 32nd with a best lap of 23.975 seconds (150.156mph). Despite being the first driver to take time in qualifying, she picked up another two-tenths on her timed lap at 23.721 seconds (151.764mph), good enough for 34th on the starting grid.
Securing the 36th and final starting spot was ARCA part-timer Caleb Costner, whose fans pitched in to help him secure a set of tires for his #93 Piedmont Outfitters / Realtree Chevrolet. He’d be joined at the tail end of the field by 13th-place qualifier Stewart Friesen, who received unapproved adjustments on his #52 Halmar International Toyota. When the green flag dropped, Friesen was 35th across the stripe, 3.428 seconds back of the lead, to last-place Costner showing 3.627.
Natalie Decker makes her pass-through penalty after her start violation. (PHOTO: Matt Miller, @MGMiller17)
By the end of Lap 1, Costner remained in the 36th spot, 5.777 seconds back of the lead, then 9.328 back on Lap 4, when he was just under a second behind the new 35th-place truck Watkins Glen last-place finisher Natalie Decker in the #22 Nico’s Bagels & Brunch Ford. That gap stabilized though Lap 6, when Costner was 12.753 seconds back of the lead. But Decker had a new issue – a penalty for pulling out of line on the start, forcing her to come in for a pass-through. Costner’s team learned of her penalty and warned their driver to watch for her slowing onto pit road, which she did on Lap 7. “That’s fucking bullshit,” said Decker on the radio as her crew repeatedly warned her to watch her speed. By Lap 9, Costner dropped her to last place, and by Lap 11, she was two laps down. Back on track, both the now 35th-place Costner and Spurlock in 34th lost a lap to the leader. Decker lost a third lap to race leader Kyle Busch on Lap 20, and by Lap 21, there were just 30 trucks on the lead lap.
Daniel Hemric coasts into the garage area. (PHOTO: Matt Miller, @MGMiller17)
“Get her pumped up,” said someone on Decker’s radio on Lap 24. “She needs to be motivated.” Three laps later, as Costner lost a second lap in 35th, Decker’s spotter told her a truck ahead of her had dropped off the pace. This was the #19 CRC Brakleen Chevrolet of Daniel Hemric, who lost power and coasted onto pit road. On Lap 28, NASCAR now warned Decker to pick up her speed, risking a minimum speed violation for a second-straight race. As Decker’s team relayed the message, Hemric pulled behind the wall, then were told to push his truck uphill into the garage area. On Lap 32, when Hemric took last from Decker, he relayed that the fuel pressure “just went to 30 then it went to 15 then it shut off.” By Lap 39, Hemric’s crew pushed the truck near the Goodyear hauler. At the time, they were 11 laps down with 35th-place Decker and 34th-place Costner both showing four laps down.
Then on Lap 40, Spurlock was in a tight battle between Andres Perez de Lara in the #44 Precision de Mexico Chevrolet and Cole Butcher in the #13 Atlantic Tiltload Ford. Coming off the corner, her Ford snapped loose, which she attributed to the disrupted air between the three trucks. She appeared to save it for a moment, but it hooked to the right again and slammed the wall entering Turn 3, then rolled down and hit the inside wall. Spurlock walked away without serious injury.
On Lap 43, Spurlock’s truck was towed behind the wall, now six laps down and ten laps ahead of last-place Hemric. Hemric’s crew was still hard at work, the driver relaying information from his gauges. The team had narrowed their issue to either a fuel pump or the fuel cell, and acknowledged that they were running low on fuel when he lost power. On Lap 45, Hemric re-fired the engine, then on Lap 50 returned to the track a full 22 laps down, his last lap completed at 998.881 seconds (just under 17 minutes). After a stop under the continuing caution to end Stage 1, Hemric narrowed the gap to Spurlock, who he dropped to last place on Lap 60. A few laps later, Costner, who was reporting a vibration, pulled his #93 behind the wall. And by Lap 88, NASCAR declared both Spurlock and Costner out of the race, taking 36th and 35th. NASCAR declared Spurlock out by “DVP,” but the results showed “crash.”
Caleb Costner rolls into the garage area. (PHOTO: Matt Miller, @MGMiller17)
Hemric ended up climbing to 30th by the checkered flag. Taking the 34th spot was Decker, who continued to struggle to reach minimum speed through the first two stages. Not long after a pit road speeding penalty on Lap 73, she pulled behind the wall with 81 laps completed, flagged for running too slow for a second-straight event. Frustrated and emotional over the radio since her Lap 1 penalty, Decker said she no longer wanted to run in the Truck Series and wanted to return to the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. Dover had been the completion of Decker’s two-race deal with Nico’s as sponsor, but during the same radio traffic, plans were already coming together for another driver to run the #22 in Nashville.
Cole Butcher, the Texas last-place finisher, took the 33rd spot after he bounced off the outside wall after leading three laps under the Stage 1 caution. Rounding out the Bottom Five was Luke Baldwin, whose #2 Mohawk Northeast Inc. Ford broke loose off Turn 4, backed into the outside wall, then and smashed hard into the inside wall just past the pit entrance.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #69 in a Truck Series race. Curiously, the race finished with Kyle Busch scoring his 69th career Truck Series win.
*Coming into this race, the #69 had only a combined nine last-place finishes across NASCAR’s three national touring series, making it the least common currently available number among last-place finishers. With Spurlock’s run, it is now tied with the #65 for that mark at 10 apiece.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #69-Dystany Spurlock / 36 laps / crash
35) #93-Caleb Costner / 53 laps / vibration
34) #22-Natalie Decker / 81 laps / too slow
33) #13-Cole Butcher / 84 laps / crash / led 3 laps
32) #2-Luke Baldwin / 116 laps / crash
2026 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Team Reaume, ThorSport Racing (2)
2nd) Front Row Motorsports, Halmar Friesen Racing, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing, Motorsports Business Management, Niece Motorsports (1)
2026 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Ford (6)
2nd) Chevrolet (2)
3rd) Toyota (1)
2026 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
