TRUCKS: NASCAR’s strict enforcement of minimum speed at Pocono leads to last-place battle between Bryan Dauzat and Norm Benning
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
Dauzat and Benning on pit road early at Pocono. (PHOTO: Matt Miller, @MGMiller17)
Bryan Dauzat picked up the 4th last-place finish of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career in Friday’s MillerTech Battery 200 at the Pocono Raceway when his #28 O.B. Builders / FDNY Chevrolet was flagged off the track for failing to meet minimum speed after 9 of 80 laps.
The finish, which came in Dauzat’s 23rd series start, was his first of the season and first since September 30, 2023 at Talladega, 39 races ago. In the Truck Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 7th for the #28, the 7th for running too slow, and the 461st for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 11th for running too slow, the 44th for the #28, and the 1,996th for Chevrolet.
The Pocono track is team owner Jim Rosenblum’s home track, where he’s entered both race cars and trucks dating back to the 1980s. This week proved particularly significant as the team’s veteran crew chief Bob Rahilly, once co-owner of RahMoc Enterprises, returned to action for the first time since he suffered third-degree burns when his home burned down in January. The Pocono entry list showed just 35 drivers for 36 spots, meaning driver Bryan Dauzat would qualify for the race after he missed the cut in their only previous attempt in 2025, the season opener in Daytona.
Pocono also marked an uptick in small teams. The entry list included Motorsports Business Management’s unsponsored white #69 Ford, making its first start of the year with Tyler Tomassi. It also marked Mike Harmon’s return to Truck Series ownership for the first time in seven years with Dawson Cram in the #74 Toyota. Cram drove the same powder blue truck Armani Williams raced for G2G Racing at Homestead in late 2023, which still carried Williams’ sponsorship from BlueSprig on the rear decklid. The truck also had Harmon’s backer Realty.com on the hood, then quarter-panel backing from ShirtAndSigns.com, JS Clothing Co., and Mattos.
In practice, Dauzat ranked 33rd of 35 drivers with a lap of 61.239 seconds (146.965mph), then qualified 32nd – highest to be ranked on Owner Points – with a slightly slower lap of 61.601 seconds (143.768mph).
Securing the 35th and final starting spot was Dawson Sutton, whose #26 Rackley Roofing Chevrolet brushed the wall in Turn 1, causing damage to the right-front that kept him from attempting a qualifying lap. Sutton incurred a redundant tail-end penalty for repairs along with 33rd-place Clayton Green, who blew a right-front tire trying to qualify his #22 Vyper / Levrack Ford. Green still completed his lap, which came in slowest of all completed that session at just 80.143 seconds (112.299mph). Ben Rhodes also didn’t turn a lap in qualifying due to adjustments needed on his #99 Campers Inn RV Ford, which would line up 34th, but didn’t incur a tail-end penalty. Nor did 14th-place Grant Enfinger, whose #9 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet lost power in practice.
Dauzat did incur a tail-end penalty of his own for unapproved adjustments, and when the green flag dropped had taken over the 35th spot from Sutton, 4.252 seconds back of the lead. By the start of Lap 2, that gap grew to 9.816 seconds. On Lap 3, Dauzat’s deficit had doubled to 18.025 seconds. His was now one of three trucks that now trailed 32nd-place Toni Breidinger’s #5 Sunoco 94 Octane Toyota by over three seconds. In 34th was Norm Benning in his #6 MDIA Inc. Chevrolet, 14.714 behind, then 33rd-place Dawson Cram’s #74, 12.657 back, with 32nd-place Breidinger trailing the leader by 9.639. On Lap 4, Dauzat was 25.616 behind the leader, then 33.537 on Lap 5 and 40.775 on Lap 6. Through it all, Benning and Dauzat remained about three seconds apart in the battle for last place.
It was on Lap 6 that NASCAR posted both Benning and Dauzat for failing to meet minimum speed, which was set at a 61.42-second lap time. On Lap 7, both drivers lost a lap as they pulled down pit road for adjustments. Each elected to receive repairs on pit road rather than going to the garage. Dauzat returned to the track first on Lap 8, the crew telling him to hold the bottom lane as the leaders whistled past, putting him a second lap down. Benning remained in his stall for loner, asking how far off the pace he was running. On Lap 9, Benning lost a third lap on pit road, moving him to last place behind Dauzat. The issue was a faulty plug wire which Benning recommended the crew tape up. “I’ve got a plug wire that keeps biting me,” said a crew member. Benning remained in the pits on Lap 10, now four laps down, and the crew told him to re-fire the engine, sending Benning back onto the track.
On Lap 11, NASCAR said Dauzat had still failed to meet minimum speed. Since he’d already been given a chance to make adjustments, this meant the #28 team was done for the day. After missing the first garage entrance, Dauzat pulled behind the wall on Lap 12, just as Dawson Cram lost a lap in 33rd. The next time by, Cram made an unscheduled stop of his own, though the team asserted it wasn’t for failing to meet minimum speed. Cram had trouble re-firing the engine and needed a push to return to the track. On Lap 13, Cram was two laps down with the retired Dauzat still 34th, four laps down, and Benning running in last, six down.
On Lap 16, Benning caught Dauzat, both six laps down, and Benning then dropped Dauzat to last on Lap 17. But Benning was now worried he was dumping fuel, and the truck felt like it was “falling on its face” off Turn 2. As the team prepared to go to the garage for additional repairs, Cram’s truck finally refired, and he returned to the track five laps down, still in 33rd, and found his spot in line. On Lap 18, Benning asked where he needed to pull into the garage, and was directed back to the XFINITY garage. At the time, he was one lap ahead of last-place Dauzat, and a NASCAR official told the crew they could return to the track after repairs.
Norms truck pulling it to the garage.
— Anthony Liquori (@DaleJr_Fan9585) June 20, 2025
Done for the day @LASTCARonBROCK pic.twitter.com/7aNksHWGck
Benning believed the issue could be fixed by adjusting some bolts, calling for a 5/8ths open end wrench and a flat-head screwdriver. Of particular concern was a brass screw. “There’s a brass screw,” Benning directed as the team removed their helmets to get to work. “Do not drop it – do not let it get away from you.” But during this discussion, another NASCAR official told Benning he was out of the race. The crew then sought out the main official in the garage, who on Lap 23 told them they were out of the race by NASCAR rules, which allowed only one attempt at repairs after receiving the black flag. Benning bemoaned the earlier attempt to get repairs on pit road, believing he should have gone to the garage. Curiously, that may have also been the wrong decision back at Rockingham, where he was also denied a chance to make repairs after he pulled up to his hauler.
Cram only made it to 32nd by the finish, pulling into the garage a second time on Lap 32 for a persistent clutch issue that put him six laps down. He returned again on Lap 48, but didn’t earn the “Lucky Dog” under the caution for a multi-truck accident in Turn 2 as he was still in the garage when the yellow came out. Cram pulled into the garage once more in the closing laps, still 14 laps short of catching 31st-place Conner Jones, whose #44 Bill’s Appliance Center Chevrolet was collected in the previous caution.
Interestingly, NASCAR first declared 33rd-place Dennison and 34th-place Benning out on Lap 36. Dauzat, Cram, and 29th-place Dawson Sutton, whose “Crash Clock” expired on pit road, were all declared out on Lap 63, followed a moment later by 30th-place Green and 31st-place Jones.
Tyler Tomassi finished 24th in Carl Long’s #69 Ford, the next-to-last truck on the lead lap.
Mosack picks up best finish of 2025
Connor Mosack had a fast lap going in qualifying before a slip dropped him to 12th on the starting grid. He then piloted his #81 NAPA Nightvision Chevrolet to a 6th-place finish, marking only his second top-ten finish of the 2025 season and his new best run of the year. It also happens to be the second-best finish of Mosack’s Truck Series career, trailing only his 3rd-place showing last fall in Homestead.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first Truck Series last-place finisher at Pocono to be flagged off the track for running below minimum speed.
*Dauzat completed the second-most laps of any Truck Series last-place finisher at Pocono. The record of 12 laps was set by Todd Bodine in 2022.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
35) #28-Bryan Dauzat / 9 laps / too slow
34) #6-Norm Benning / 10 laps / too slow
33) #2-Cody Dennison / 18 laps / crash
32) #74-Dawson Cram / 33 laps / clutch
31) #44-Conner Jones / 47 laps / crash
2025 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Reaume Brothers Racing (5)
2nd) Norm Benning Racing (3)
3rd) Front Row Motorsports (2)
4th) FDNY Racing, Freedom Racing Enterprises, Henderson Motorsports, Niece Motorsports (1)
2025 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet, Ford (7)
2025 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
