ARCA WEST: Four-car crash leads to Joanides’ first last-place finish since 2004

SCREENSHOT: FloRacing

by Ben Schneider

LASTCAR.info Staff Writer

Nick Joanides finished last for the 2nd time in his ARCA Menards Series West career in Saturday’s NAPA Auto Parts 150 at Irwindale Speedway when his No. 77 Jan’s / King Style / Old Taco Toyota crashed out of the race after completing 94 of 150 laps.

The finish came in Joanides’ 20th career West Series start.

Joanides’ first career last-place finish came in his series debut with Puskarich Racing in 2004, finishing 29th at Fontana after a crash sidelined him 10 laps into the 100-lap race. After running part-time in the West Series 2004 and 2005, Joanides enjoyed the best season of his racing career in 2009, winning a total of 17 races across Late Model and Super Late Model Showdown events. He also won the California state championship in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series while placing third in the national standings. Joanides attempted to qualify for a Nationwide Series race at Memphis in 2009, though his Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet failed to make the race.

In 2018, Joanides returned to the West Series with Joe Nava’s Performance P-1 Motorsports team, where a fourth-place finish at All American Speedway in Roseville set a new career-best for him in the series. After only competing at Irwindale in 2019 and 2021, Joanides made six starts in 2022 with a best finish of 10th at Roseville. Saturday’s race at Irwindale marked his first start of the 2023 season.

A total of 18 cars appeared on the initial entry list, but due to the withdrawals of Ryan Roulette and Jalen Mack, only 16 started in the race. Joanides’ qualifying time of 19.595 seconds saw him place 15th on the grid, ahead of only Bobby Hillis Jr.’s No. 27 First Impressions Press Chevrolet. Hillis also brought up the rear in practice with a time of 20.262, but was able to improve slightly in qualifying to run a 19.858.

Due to a lack of “start-and-park” entries, the race’s first retirements did not come until a four-car accident on a Lap 97 restart. R.J. Smotherman got into the back of David Smith, which sent Smith spinning into Eric Nascimento. Joanides was unable to slow in time to avoid hitting the back of Smotherman and received further damage due to additional contact with Nascimento. Of the four involved in the crash, Smith was the only driver able to continue and finish the race under power. Nascimento’s younger brother, Ethan Nascimento, completed 109 laps before retiring with a mechanical issue. Rounding out the Bottom Five was Jake Bollman, making his West Series debut for High Point Racing.

At the front of the field, Bollman’s teammate, Trevor Huddleston, qualified on pole and led the first 72 laps. The race then became a battle between Landen Lewis and Sean Hingorani for the win. After swapping the lead back and forth a few times, Hingorani retook the lead for good from Lewis on Lap 134 to score his first West Series win in only his sixth career start.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

16) #77-Nick Joanides / 94 laps / crash

15) #46-R.J. Smotherman / 94 laps / crash

14) #4-Eric Nascimento / 96 laps / transmission

13) #04-Ethan Nascimento / 109 laps / mechanical

12) #55-Jake Bollman / 111 laps / crash

2023 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Ford, Toyota (1)

2023 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST OWNERS CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Fast Track Racing, Performance P-1 Motorsports (1)

2023 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP

INDYCAR: Sato’s first race with Ganassi ends with early crash at Texas

SCREENSHOT: ESPN en Star Plus / @helinhodepre via Twitter

by William Soquet

LASTCAR.info Staff Writer

Takuma Sato finished last for the 17th time in his NTT IndyCar Series career in Sunday’s PPG 375 at Texas Motor Speedway when his #11 Niterra Honda crashed out after completing 46 of the race’s 250 laps.

The finish came in Sato’s 216th career start, and was his first since Toronto last year, nine races ago. In IndyCar Series history, it was the 200th due to a crash, the seventh for the #11, and the 213th for Honda.

Since Sato’s early crash at Toronto, he picked up two more top-ten finishes in the back half of 2022. After a disappointing first race of the Iowa doubleheader, he rebounded to finish 10th in the second one. Additionally, he had his best weekend of the year at Gateway, qualifying eighth and finishing fifth. Despite that, a tough overall season left him 19th in the standings, and most expected Sato to head into the sunset after a long and successful IndyCar career.

But then, Chip Ganassi Racing found themselves in need of a driver. After two years of IndyCar competition, Jimmie Johnson headed for retirement – that is, until he bought a stake in a NASCAR team. Stock car racing notwithstanding, CGR decided to keep operating a fourth car after Johnson left the team. The organization looked for a full-time driver but struggled to find a candidate with ample amounts of both talent and budget. Eventually, the team nabbed former Formula 2 driver Marcus Armstrong for the road courses, announcing the signing in early December. Rumors swirled about who the oval driver would be, but Sato was eventually announced. In many ways, this made sense as IndyCar’s most loyal Honda driver and best oval ace was paired with the team that won the 2022 Indianapolis 500. While the deal was only originally announced for Texas and Indianapolis, neither the team nor Sato has made any indication that he will not drive at the late-season ovals.

Sato was one of two changes on the entry list from St. Petersburg, taking over the reins from Armstrong, who fought back from early adversity to notch an 11th-place finish on the lead lap. Ed Carpenter returned as well, primed for yet another season of doing the oval races in a third entry for his Ed Carpenter Racing team.

While Sato’s eighth-place run in opening practice may have been a small story for those who expected a transition period, the real story was the lack of pace from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. The team endured a languid start to the 2022 season, and while they turned it around in the latter half of the year, the team now looks to be back to square one. The team’s three cars were 26th, 27th and 28th in first practice. While Graham Rahal and Jack Harvey were within a tenth of catching Carpenter, Christian Lundgaard, in only his second year of oval racing, was a few tenths off the entire field.

Qualifying was more of the same story, except that ECR joined the misery. Cars from the Rahal and Carpenter teams combined to take the bottom five spots of qualifying, with only Ed Carpenter breaking into the Top 20. This time, it was Harvey who was the slowest car on track, with a two-lap total time of 47.97 seconds. This was only two-hundredths more than Lundgaard, who in turn was just fifteen-hundredths of a second off of Rinus VeeKay. Sato, meanwhile, qualified sixth, two-tenths off the pole.

Final practice was about a half-hour after qualifying on Saturday and was used by many teams as an opportunity to get back into race trim. Harvey once again sat at the bottom of the charts, the only car in the 24-second time bracket. VeeKay narrowly avoided the same fate, clocking a fast lap of 23.95 seconds. Sato continued to be on the rise, going from eighth in first practice to sixth in qualifying and third in final practice. He looked to be a legitimate dark horse race winning candidate, pulling within a tenth-and-a-half of Scott Dixon’s hot lap in the session.

With ominous skies looming on race day, the start time of the race was moved up to approximately 11:15 A.M. local time to try and have an official race before the rain came. Harvey wasted no time if that was to be the case, jumping Lundgaard, 25th-place starter Conor Daly and 23rd-place starter Sting Ray Robb by the time the first lap ended. Still struggling for pace, Lundgaard dropped into the 28th spot. 

Lundgaard remained there for the opening run, following in the tow of Daly. The Danish driver was 4.4 seconds back after the first lap and nine seconds back after nine laps, a mere three-tenths behind Daly’s Ed Carpenter Racing machine. The two gradually drifted back until they fell into the clutches of leader Josef Newgarden, who put Lundgaard a lap down on the frontstretch coming to Lap 34 and then put Daly a lap down in Turns 1 and 2 the next time by. Lundgaard and Daly continued to work towards the first round of pit stops until Lap 45, when Rahal pitted from 25th. Already a lap down, the #15 dropped to the bottom of the scoring pylon following the stop. 

Two laps later, Sato found himself on the outside of a three-wide situation in Turns 1 and 2. His car got outside of the two-wide groove, lost traction, and jerked towards the outside wall. He struck the wall on the exit of Turn 2, spun around, and backed into the inside wall, terminally damaging the left side of the car.

Kyle Kirkwood finished 27th, the victim of a pit incident when Alexander Rossi released from his pit stall as Kirkwood was turning in to find his. Felix Rosenqvist and Robb were the next two cars out, both crashing out in single-car incidents similar to Sato’s. Rahal rounded out the Bottom Five, retiring from the race after he crashed into Devlin DeFrancesco, who was sliding up the track in Turn 3 after crashing on the backstretch.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This was the first last-place finish for the #11 since Barber last year, when Tatiana Calderon finished the race under power.

*This is the first last-place finish for the #11 as a Chip Ganassi Racing entry, the previous last-place finishes come from KV Racing Technologies (three, all in 2013 with Tony Kanaan), A.J. Foyt Racing (two) and Andretti Green Racing (one).

THE BOTTOM FIVE

28) #11-Takuma Sato / 46 laps / crash

27) #27-Kyle Kirkwood / 97 laps / crash

26) #6-Felix Rosenqvist / 177 laps / crash

25) #51-Sting Ray Robb / 208 laps / crash

24) #15-Graham Rahal / 219 laps / crash

2023 LASTCAR INDYCAR SERIES OWNERS CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) A.J. Foyt Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing (1)

2023 LASTCAR INDYCAR SERIES MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet, Honda (1)

2023 LASTCAR INDYCAR SERIES DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP

CUP: Race-long battle between Stenhouse and Yeley ends with Noah Gragson’s crash

PHOTO: @LegayMotorclub

by Brock Beard

LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

Noah Gragson picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at the Richmond Raceway when his #42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet was involved in a single-car accident after 303 of 400 laps.

The finish, which came in Gragson’s 25th series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup race since March 20, 2022 at Atlanta, 38 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 28th for the #42, the 644th from a crash, and the 836th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 40th for the #42, the 1,325th from a crash, and the 1,882nd for Chevrolet.

Last year marked Gragson’s final full-time campaign in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, and the aggressive young driver was in peak form. He scored a career-best eight wins and joined his JR Motorsports teammates in a three-on-one battle for the title at Phoenix, only to finish 2nd behind a dominant Ty Gibbs. The year also saw Gragson make his first 18 Cup starts, a combined schedule with Kaulig Racing’s “all-star” #16 Chevrolet and the #62 of Beard Motorsports. The Beard team gave him his best run at Daytona in August, where Gragson escaped the day’s biggest wreck to finish 5th – his first career Top Five.

This year, Gragson again races Ty Gibbs – this time for Rookie of the Year in the Cup Series. His mount is the #42 Chevrolet driven last year by Ty Dillon. Now fielded by Legacy Motor Club - the rebranding of the Petty GMS Racing team after the investment of Jimmie Johnson – Gragson is making the most of the opportunity. He played a key role in Wendy’s massive marketing push at Daytona, where he carried the sponsor’s colors to a 24th-place finish. He led his first lap of the season at Fontana, ran a season-best 12th at Atlanta, and was contending for a Top 10 at COTA before a late-race spin off Turn 1. While he finished under power each time, he still entered Richmond a distant 28th in points.

With Richmond’s practice and qualifying cancelled by rain, Gragson secured the 23rd starting spot of 37 entrants.

Chandler Smith's view from 37th before the start.
PHOTO: NASCAR Drive

Starting 37th and last was Chandler Smith, whose #13 Quick Tie Products, Inc. Chevrolet – a third entry from Kaulig Racing – was the only “open” car in the field. Just hours after scoring his first career XFINITY Series win at the same track, Smith would make his Cup debut, bouncing back from a DNQ in the Daytona 500. Smith aimed to complete all the laps, and adjusted to the stronger brakes of the Cup car. “Only one way to go, playa,” said Smith’s crew.

With no drivers sent to the back for pre-race penalties, Smith crossed the stripe 3.391 seconds back of the lead and just behind the two occupants of Row 18. On the inside of COTA last-place finisher Ty Dillon in the #77 Nations Guard Chevrolet was Anthony Alfredo, back in a Cup field for the first time since the end of his rookie season in 2021. One day after finishing last in Richmond’s XFINITY race, Alfredo would run for Live Fast Motorsports in the #78 Dude Wipes Chevrolet. 

Entering Turn 1 for the first time, Smith was advised the high lane was faster than the low lane, and instead chose the middle. This kept Smith in last at the end of Lap 1, but he was now alongside Alfredo, just 0.016 second ahead. Alfredo inched back ahead of Smith on Lap 5, but Smith stuck to the inside lane, keeping the two side-by-side. On Lap 7, Smith finally pulled ahead of Alfredo, and by Lap 10 had climbed to 35th past J.J. Yeley in the #15 CW & Sons Infrastructure Ford. By Lap 23, Yeley dispatched with teammate Cody Ware in the #51 Biohaven Ford, and Alfredo now pulled to his inside. On Lap 25, the two were in nearly a dead heat, just 0.090 apart, until Alfredo cleared him on Lap 27. Ware remained within sight of Alfredo until just before the competition caution on Lap 30, at which point he’d fallen 1.064 seconds behind Alfredo’s #78. 

Under yellow, Ware discussed adjustments to his car’s handling as he was unable to use the brakes without upsetting the car’s balance. Alfredo took last as the field came down pit road on Lap 34, followed on Lap 35 by Justin Haley in Kaulig Racing’s #31 Leaf Filter Gutter Protection Chevrolet. But Alfredo was told by his crew to make a second stop, which would have put him in last again had another driver not found trouble. In the early laps, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. had charged into the Top 10 in his #47 Kroger / Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Chevrolet. Despite a minor brush with the wall, he still appeared to have the fastest car on the track. But on his stop, the crew discovered a leak in the brake line at the right-rear wheel caused by a stuck bleeder. Stenhouse thus took last on Lap 36 as he fell off the lead lap, then pulled behind the wall the next time by. The crew had to bleed the brake system and add more fluid, which was done in Garage Stall 19.

Stenhouse's team adds more brake fluid.
PHOTO: NASCAR Drive

Back on the track on Lap 45, the second caution of the day fell when Denny Hamlin bumped J.J. Yeley’s #15 into Turn 1, sending Yeley sliding rear-first into the outside wall. In the first true test of the NextGen car’s improved “crushability” of its rear clip, Yeley’s bumper was pushed in, but the driver managed to make it back to pit road. Curiously, Yeley’s pit stall was just in front of Hamlin’s, to which the team said “Stop it short. Fuck the 11.” As Yeley’s crew set to work, losing laps as they watched the “Crash Clock” tick down, Stenhouse re-fired his engine on Lap 48, then returned to the rack on Lap 49, 14 laps down. This put Stenhouse back on track for the Lap 51 restart while Yeley’s crew continued their repairs. On Lap 57, Yeley was told to re-fire the engine and returned to the track 10 laps down, four ahead of Stenhouse. Yeley cleared the “Crash Clock” the next time by, though the crew expressed concern about refueling the car with so much damage near the fuel inlet.

When Stage 1 ended on Lap 71, Yeley got one of his laps back, putting him nine down in the 36th spot. Under this yellow, Stenhouse’s crew called for more tape on the brake ducts to heat up his brakes. On Lap 83, shortly after the restart, Stenhouse said his brake pedal was going to the floor again, and NASCAR watched for smoke coming off his car on Lap 90 from possible wall contact. Stenhouse remained on track, though he still reported too much “play” in his pedal under the Lap 95 caution for Josh Berry’s spin. Stenhouse stayed out under the caution, which saw Austin Cindric’s crew raise the hood of the #2 Discount Tire Ford for an oil leak. “Oil pressure at full throttle is 75,” said Cindric, who returned without further incident.

On Lap 128, Stenhouse moved to the high lane off Turn 2 to led then-leader Kyle Larson pass him down low, putting him another lap down. By then, Stenhouse reported he had “so much brake shake.” The 36th-place Yeley remained the first car one lap down until Lap 133, when Larson caught and lapped Cody Ware’s #51. Green-flag stops ensued with Stenhouse’s coming on Lap 160, and he returned to the track with a seven-lap deficit to Yeley. This deficit all but disappeared on Lap 173, when Yeley pitted and the crew had to make further repairs to the rear decklid of his car to allow it to take fuel. After the crew took the saws-all to the bodywork, Yeley returned to the track on Lap 180 just one circuit ahead of Stenhouse. “I don’t think our car is that bad,” said Yeley’s crew. “We just never hand a chance.” 

Gragson's car in the garage after his wreck.
PHOTO: NASCAR Drive

Though Stenhouse had closed on Yeley, he continued to struggle. When Stage 2 ended on Lap 231, Stenhouse reported the steering was shaking badly, compounding the persistent brake shake. The team estimated there was still air in the brake lines, but Stenhouse said the pedal was pushing back against his foot, an issue the team also had in Phoenix. Informed that he was just one lap behind Yeley, Stenhouse said, “We’ll try not to finish last.” This led to Lap 241, where Stenhouse raced past Yeley on the track, though their running positions remained unchanged. By then, NASCAR’s leaderboard occasionally showed the two drivers on the same lap. Stenhouse’s next green-flag stop came on Lap 293 followed by Yeley’s on Lap 296. For a time, the gap remained the same, but Stenhouse began to close when the next caution fell.

Through all this, Noah Gragson had not been a factor, and was running off the lead lap. On Lap 306, something broke on his Chevrolet entering Turn 1, and he slapped the outside wall hard with the passenger side. Gragson made it to pit road with smoke pouring from his right-front wheel, but the crew soon discovered both the upper and lower control arms on the right-front were too damaged to continue. The team told Gragson to pull behind the wall at the nearest entrance, taking care to run slowly. He couldn’t make the entrance at pit exit, so he ran on the apron for another lap, then pulled in between two stalls past the exit of Turn 4. Eliminated under the ”Damaged Vehicle Policy,” Gragson was checked and released from the infield care center as crews prepared to load his car. On Lap 312, Stenhouse had finally climbed past Yeley into 36th spot, and on Lap 321, Gragson took last place from Yeley. NASCAR declared Gragson out on Lap 322.

Gragson was the race’s only retiree. Yeley finished the race one lap back of Stenhouse with Ware and Alfredo completing the Bottom Five. 

Two impressive runs made headlines, both stemming from incidents earlier in the race. After spinning in front of Stenhouse after contact from Ryan Blaney, Josh Berry finished a career-best 2nd to Kyle Larson – a relief driver with a substitute crew chief. Chandler Smith, who started the race in last, jumped into the Top 20 in the final laps, then clawed his way to 17th at the checkered flag, completing his memorable Richmond weekend with a sterling Cup debut.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first Cup Series last-place finish for the #42 since October 18, 2020, when Matt Kenseth crashed out after 144 laps around Kansas. The number hadn’t finished last in a Cup race at Richmond since April 13, 2019, when Kyle Larson crashed after 125 laps. Both were with Chip Ganassi Racing, which fielded the #42 from 2003 through 2021.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

37) #42-Noah Gragson / 303 laps / crash

36) #15-J.J. Yeley / 383 laps / running

35) #47-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. / 384 laps / running

34) #51-Cody Ware / 395 laps / running

33) #78-Anthony Alfredo / 396 laps / running

2023 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Live Fast Motorsports, Spire Motorsports (2)

2nd) Kaulig Racing, Legacy Motor Club, Penske Racing (1)

2023 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet (6)

2nd) Ford (1)

2023 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

XFINITY: Anthony Alfredo’s last-place finish follows a rough afternoon for Joe Graf, Jr.

PHOTO: @truexfangirl134

by Brock Beard

LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

Anthony Alfredo picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Toyota Care 250 at the Richmond Raceway when his #78 Dude Wipes Chevrolet was involved in an accident after 144 of 250 laps.

The finish came in Alfredo’s 59th series start. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 10th for the #78, the 377th from a crash, and the 614th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 48th for the #78, the 1,323rd from a crash, and the 1,880th for Chevrolet.

The Richmond weekend marked Alfredo’s return to the Cup Series for the first time since November 2021, when he concluded his rookie campaign with Front Row Motorsports. This time around, he’d run double-duty for owner-driver B.J. McLeod, each in #78 Chevrolets sponsored by Dude Wipes. Through five of the first six XFINITY races of 2023, Alfredo has finished between 14th and 19th, including a spirited charge at the finish of the Phoenix race. Through it all, he’d finished under power each time and completed all but two laps, which he lost during a 19th-place showing in Las Vegas.

With qualifying rained out at Richmond, Alfredo secured the 13th starting spot. The two teams sent home were Dawson Cram in CHK Racing’s #74 Service Master Restore Chevrolet – the team’s sixth DNQ in seven races this season – and the attempted debut of FRS Racing, which hired Kyle Weatherman from Our Motorsports and brought sponsorship from the BrewHaha Brewing Company to back equipment from the shuttered Brandonbilt Motorsports.

Starting 38th and last was Mason Maggio, who after a DNQ in Las Vegas was able to make his XFINITY Series debut in Motorsports Business Management’s #66 HMY Yachts Toyota. This was only the third start in seven races for MBM’s team, and the first with one of their own cars since Timmy Hill ran 32nd in Fontana (as Caesar Bacarella’s Atlanta entry was from Alpha Prime Racing). He’d be joined in the back by 20th-place starter Parker Kligerman, whose #48 Big Machine Racing Spiked Coolers Chevrolet was docked for unapproved adjustments. Kligerman would ultimately recover to finish 8th.

When the green flag dropped, Kligerman crossed the line in 37th, 3.932 seconds back of the lead to last-place Maggio’s deficit of 4.145. In the early laps, as Maggio tracked down 37th-place Garrett Smithley in the #4 Morooka UA Chevrolet, MBM team owner Carl Long checked with Maggio to make sure his brake fans were on. On Lap 5, Long warned that a car was in the wall ahead of him in Turn 2. This was Joe Graf, Jr., who was making his third start of 2023 as driver of Joe Gibbs Racing’s #19 CoverSeal Toyota. Running 19th at the time, contact from Cole Custer’s #00 Haas Automation Ford had reportedly cut a tire, putting him into the Turn 2 wall. The caution didn’t come out, and Graf took over last place on Lap 6 as he made it to pit road.

This began a series of struggles for Graf, who endured a mix of penalties and handling issues for the rest of the afternoon. For his Lap 6 pit stop, he incurred a pass-through penalty for speeding in Sections 1 and 6, and returned to action three laps down. As the team watched for smoke from his damaged fender, they said his earlier incident was likely because Graf hit the brakes too hard, causing the splitter to hit the track. After instructing Graf to arc his entry into the corners, the crew said he was managing the brakes much better and running decent lap times. With a competition caution coming up on Lap 35, they hoped to get one of their laps back. But on Lap 34, the leaders put Smithley’s #4 a lap down, taking away the Lucky Dog. Graf’s crew managed to complete more repairs to his fenders under caution.

After the Lap 42 restart, both entries from SS-Green Light Racing had issues. Stefan Parsons fell to 37th, reporting a 220-degree oil temperature and 200-degree water on his #07 SOKAL Chevrolet. Gray Gaulding in the #08 Ford dropped to 36th, the last car on lead lap by more than two seconds of open track behind 35th-place Maggio in the #66. Gaulding then pitted on Lap 49 as the crew discovered they bolted the tires on the wrong side of the car. Gaulding took last from Graf, and was shown between three and four laps down when he returned to the track on Lap 53. Gaulding also fought a serious loose condition, but managed to lose just one more lap when Stage 1 ended on Lap 75.

Under the caution, Ryan Sieg was instructed by NASCAR to pull his #39 CMRroofing.com Ford to the apron. Following the competition caution, Sieg’s car was seen trailing smoke, which by Lap 59 the team described as a “haze.” This haze now grew worse, and the team believed it to be a brake fluid leak, pinpointing it to the right-front wheel. When Sieg pitted, the crew discovered it was instead an oil leak coming from a feed line on the back of the engine block. This made the crew abandon their attempt to stay on the lead lap, and he returned on Lap 80 showing two laps down in 35th. Posted for too many crew members over the wall, Sieg made a second stop for tires, which meant he had to start at the tail end of the longest line for the restart. The crew bucked up their driver, saying he still had time to get back on the lead lap. They were right – Sieg charged back to finish 7th, his best finish of the season so far.

Stage 2 began with Gray Gaulding still holding last place and battling 37th-place Graf on track, though not for position as Gaulding was a lap further behind. It was then that Graf’s handling problems worsened, and twice off Turn 2 he found himself in a full four-wheel drift, nearly losing control. He came down pit road on Lap 106, only to incur still another pit road speeding penalty, now in Sections 6 and 7. “No way,” said Graf, who was told he was likely caught speeding for running the inside line at pit entry. Graf served his penalty on Lap 110, re-taking last from Gaulding, only to find his car was now stuck in gear. On Lap 114, Graf’s crew called for bear-bond, and two circuits later returned to the track nine laps down. He still owed a pass-through penalty since the gear issue was performed when he was about to serve it. This was done, and by Lap 120, Graf was now 12 laps down, six behind 37th-place Gaulding.

Then, on Lap 145, Graf’s spotter said, “We’ve got one in the wall – Turn 2.” 

This was Anthony Alfredo, who was still running on the lead lap in the Top 20 when his #78 slammed into the outside wall off Turn 2. “Got no fucking brakes,” he said. “Blew the caliper off. Might have taken the brake line off.” The crew remarked they were “surprised he could hit the wall that hard at this place.” Even more surprising, no caution fell as Alfredo pulled down pit road with visible damage to the right-rear corner of his car. The race stayed green for the final few laps of Stage 2, which concluded on Lap 150. That time by, as Alfredo’s car was pushed behind the wall, someone shouted on his channel, "I'm leaving this piece of shit here - these people here doing their fucking jobs! Open your damned eyes!" Alfredo took last from Graf on Lap 155.

Alfredo was the race’s only retiree, and Graf remained 37th, 14 laps down after a frustrating afternoon. Jeremy Clements tumbled to 36th in the final laps after his #51 Fox Sports / Spartan Waste Chevrolet stalled on the track on Lap 221, drawing the caution flag. Gray Gaulding cleared Clements by two laps, taking 35th, another two laps back of Brennan Poole. Poole, making his 100th XFINITY start, completed the Bottom Five in an unsponsored red #6 Chevrolet.

Chandler Smith’s first win also sees underdogs succeed

A day of first-time winners began with Chandler Smith breaking through in only his 10th series start, moving him to 4th in the point standings.

Finishing 4th on the track was Kaz Grala in the #26 Toyota Racing Development Toyota, tying Grala’s career-best from Daytona in 2018 and matched at Road America in 2020. It’s also tied for the second-best finish by Sam Hunt Racing, matched with John Hunter Nemechek’s 4th-place performance at Darlington last May.

Taking the 11th spot was Alex Labbe in the #91 Parking Guidance Systems Chevrolet, his best finish at Richmond and best in a XFINITY Series race since last fall on the Charlotte Roval.

Also impressive was Chris Hacker, who in his XFINITY Series debut driving RSS Racing’s #38 Morgan & Morgan Ford climbed into the Top 20 before the end of Stage 2 and came home 14th, the third-highest finishing Ford behind Cole Custer and teammate Ryan Sieg.

One spot behind Hacker came Ryan Ellis in the #43 Device 42 Chevrolet, his best finish of the season and tops of the three entries from Alpha Prime Racing. Saturday was Ellis’ first XFINITY start at Richmond since 2016, and prior to Saturday had finished no better than 29th.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for the #78 in a XFINITY Series race at Richmond since September 11, 2009, when Kevin Lepage’s #78 Derrike Cope, Inc. Dodge crashed on the opening lap of the Virginia 529 College Savings 250.

*The 144 laps Alfredo completed are the second-most of a XFINITY Series last-place finisher at Richmond, trailing only the disqualification of Chad Finchum on September 11, 2020, where his #61 Smithbilt Homes Toyota completed 246 of 250 laps in 27th before a rear heights violation.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

38) #78-Anthony Alfredo / 144 laps / crash

37) #19-Joe Graf, Jr. / 236 laps / running

36) #51-Jeremy Clements / 243 laps / running

35) #08-Gray Gaulding / 245 laps / running

34) #6-Brennan Poole / 247 laps / running

2023 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) SS-Green Light Racing (2)

2nd) B.J. McLeod Motorsports, CHK Racing, Emerling-Gase Motorsports, JD Motorsports, Motorsports Business Management (1)

2023 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet (5)

2nd) Ford, Toyota (1)

2023 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

TRUCKS: Chad Chastain the first of many to find the wall at Texas

PHOTO: @chadchastain36

by Brock Beard

LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

Chad Chastain scored the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career in Saturday’s SpeedyCash.com 250 at the Texas Motor Speedway when his #41 GlobalTranz Chevrolet fell out with crash damage after 17 of 172 laps.

The finish came in Chastain’s fifth series start. In the Truck Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 4th for the #41, the 181st from a crash, and the 432nd for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 59th for the #41, the 1,324th from a crash, and the 1,881st for Chevrolet.

The younger brother of aggressive Cup Series standout Ross Chastain, 24-year-old Chad has just recently begun his own ascent through the ranks. In 2016, he won the Pro Late Model championship at 4-17 Southern Speedway in Punta Gorda, Florida, one of many tracks on which he’s competed across the southeast. Teamed with Al Niece, for whom Ross nearly won the championship in 2019, Chad made his Truck Series debut at Watkins Glen in 2021 and finished 34th. Three more starts came last year, but each time he finished off the lead lap in 30th place. Just two weeks ago, he made his XFINITY debut with DGM Racing at Atlanta, and this time recovered from an early spin to finish on the lead lap in 24th.

Chad was one of 36 drivers entered for as many spots, though not all of these drivers would fill the field. A pair of practice crashes on Saturday, each involving small teams, cut the field to 34. First was Kaden Honeycutt, whose #04 Carquest Ford struck the wall between Turns 1 and 2. Tyler Hill was set to make his season debut in the #56 MF1 Fantasy Racing Toyota, but wrecked off Turn 2 and spun down the backstretch. As both Honeycutt and Hill’s teams loaded up early – Hill would have started 34th with Honeycutt 35th, but neither were credited in the final results – Chad ran 26th-fastest in practice and secured the 22nd starting spot in qualifying with a lap of 180.735mph (29.878 seconds).

Spencer Boyd was already ranked behind both Honeycutt and Hill as one of two other trucks that failed to complete a qualifying lap. Boyd’s #12 Ft. Worth Stockyards Chevrolet, which had electrical issues, was ranked behind Matt DiBenedetto, whose #25 Rackley Roofing Chevrolet took 33rd after right-front suspension issues. Boyd and DiBenedetto incurred redundant tail-end penalties for their unapproved adjustments, which kept them 33rd and 34th, the last two trucks in line. However, when the green flag dropped, Boyd had one more truck behind him – G2G Racing’s Armani Williams, who ran an old-bodied #46 Blue Sprig / Motivity Toyota.

Chad's truck in the garage after the wreck.
PHOTO: @stephen_stumpf

It wasn’t long before Chad found trouble. Just seconds after the green flag, as the field came off Turn 2, he spun off the corner and backed into the outside wall, pushing in the rear bumper. As the first caution fell, a trailing Matt DiBenedetto passed him down the backstretch as Chad pulled to the apron and came to pit road. Chad would ultimately be credited with 17 laps before he pulled behind the wall, done for the day.

Taking 33rd was Keith McGee, who this week swapped rides with teammate Mason Maggio at the Reaume Brothers Racing entry. While Maggio ran the all-white Ford, now the #33, McGee ran a neon-hued #34 that earned the Lucky Dog on Lap 35’s competition caution, then fell out of the race just after the ensuing restart. Matt DiBenedetto’s struggles from practice continued into the race as he lost multiple laps, then pulled behind the wall in the final stages. 

The Bottom Five wasn’t completed until the day’s most frightening wreck on Lap 145. Dean Thompson’s #5 Thompson Pipe Group Toyota was running a strong 12th when he pushed high off Turn 4, got into the wall, then slid to the inside of the track. Several trucks approached the scene with some cutting into the infield grass to avoid contact, creating an even larger smoke screen. Into this came Matt Mills, who didn’t see Thompson’s truck, then felt his brake pedal go to the floor when he tried to stop. The resulting impact was followed by Armani Williams, who didn’t slow in time to avoid rear-ending a slowing Trey Hutchens in the #14 Quality Roof Seamers Chevrolet. Both Hutchens and Williams joined the pileup, further damaging Thompson’s truck. All four drivers climbed from their trucks, but Thompson and Mills soon sat on the track. Thompson was then placed on a gurney and transported by ambulance to the infield care center, then to Baylor Scott & White Medical Center for further evaluation. After scans, Thompson was discharged from the hospital just after 11 P.M. local time.

Hocevar finally breaks through in messy finish ahead of several underdogs

After another grinding crash eliminated race leaders Nick Sanchez and Zane Smith during their side-by-side battle into Turn 1 on the final lap, Carson Hocevar escaped the melee and was awarded the win – his first in his 59th series start. The run came just one week after his first career XFINITY Series start at COTA, where a transmission failure on SS-Green Light Racing’s #07 also gave him his first last-place finish. 

Runner-up Chase Purdy in the #4 Bama Buggies Chevrolet earned his career-best finish in 57 starts, which was also his first Top Five. Jake Garcia also earned his first Top Five in only his 9th start, taking 5th in the #35 Adaptive One Calipers Chevrolet. Hailie Deegan tied her career-best 6th-place finish in the #13 Ford Performance Ford, a mark set last fall in Talladega. Ryan Vargas finished 8th in the #30 Rangeline Group Toyota, scoring his first top-ten finish in only his second series start, and did so at the scene of his first XFINITY top-ten finish in 2020, when he also ran 8th for JD Motorsports. 

And just outside the Top 10 in 11th place came Mason Massey – his career-best finish in 11 series starts and first finish better than 17th. Massey accomplished this in Josh Reaume’s #33 Ripper Magoos Ford, yielding the team’s fourth-best finish and second-best on a non-superspeedway behind Mike Marlar’s 4th-place run in Eldora in 2019.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first time the #41 finished last in a Truck Series race at Texas since June 9, 2000, when Randy Renfrow’s #41 Farris Concrete Dodge lost the transmission after 7 laps. The number most recently finished last at Knoxville last June, where Tyler Carpenter broke the driveshaft on Al Niece’s #41 Aggressive Chevrolet in his series debut.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

34) #41-Chad Chastain / 17 laps / crash

33) #34-Keith McGee / 39 laps / vibration

32) #25-Matt DiBenedetto / 122 laps / vibration

31) #20-Matt Mills / 134 laps / crash

30) #14-Trey Hutchens / 137 laps / crash

2023 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Reaume Brothers Racing (2)

2nd) Niece Motorsports, TRICON Garage, Young’s Motorsports (1)

2023 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet, Ford (2)

2nd) Toyota (1)

2023 LASTCAR TRUCK SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP