XFINITY: Landon Cassill climbs to 28th before early exit in Fontana; Tommy Joe Martins finishes 18th amid adversity

PHOTO: Brock Beard

Landon Cassill picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Production Alliance Group 300 at the Auto Club Speedway of Southern California when his #89 Visone RV Chevrolet fell out with a loss of fuel pressure after 38 of 150 laps.

The finish, which came in Cassill’s 142nd series start, was his second of the season and second in a row. In the XFINITY Series last-place rankings, it was the 15th for the #89, the 3rd from fuel pressure issues, and the 543rd for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 37th for the #89, the 7th from fuel pressure issues, and the 1,706th for Chevrolet.

As reported here yesterday, while Cassill was assured a starting spot in Sunday’s race as 36 teams attempted to qualify for as many spots, running all 150 laps was not a guarantee. Even with a smattering of hundred-dollar sponsors claiming spots on the quarter-panels of Morgan Shepherd’s red-white-and-blue #89 Chevrolet, this fell short of the funds needed to hire a pit crew and purchase tires. Still, Cassill showed speed, running just one lap in each practice session, but ranking 27th and 15th in each. Running scuffed tires in qualifying, Cassill put up a lap of 172.616mph (41.711 seconds), good enough for 24th on the grid.

Starting 36th and last on the grid was Vinnie Miller, whose #78 Koolbox Chevrolet turned in the day’s slowest lap of 163.302mph (44.090 seconds), more than four seconds off the pole. Joining him would be four teams sent to the rear for pre-race penalties: unapproved adjustments sent back Josh Bilicki in the #99 Lemons of Love Toyota, Bayley Currey in the #47 The Journey Home Project Chevrolet, and Chad Finchum in the #13 Manscaped Toyota. Also penalized was Tommy Joe Martins for the engine change on his #44 AAN Adjusters Chevrolet following his oil line fire in Friday practice.

Before the field even rolled off pit road, however, there was word some of the other drivers were having problems. Radio transmissions from other teams questioned if Bilicki’s car would even start as the team had transmission problems and had to replace the clutch. While Bilicki’s car did roll off with the rest of the field, Austin Hill then had radio problems on the #61 AISIN Group Toyota, and didn’t catch up to the tail end of the field until everyone else had rolled away. Hill pulled to the inside to reassume his spot in line, at which point the final row now consisted of Robby Lyons, driving the #15 Sunwest Construction Chevrolet, and Stephen Leicht in the #66 MBM Motorsports Toyota. By the final pace lap, Cassill had dropped back toward the rear with Bilicki in the final row, taking the place of Leicht alongside Lyons.

When the race started, Bilicki and Lyons ran side-by-side into the first corner before Bilicki pulled ahead, dropping the #15 to 36th spot. On Lap 2, there were reports that Leicht was putting down fluid in the #66. The fluid didn’t draw the caution, but it did get on the windshield of Cassill’s car before he moved past. By Lap 4, Bilicki was now running down Leicht for position, but Lyons was losing touch with the pair. Bilicki completed the pass on Leicht and opened the gap by Lap 8. Lyons then closed the gap on Leicht, and the #15 passed the #66 on the outside on Lap 13, dropping Leicht to the last spot. Lyons then opened the gap on Leicht, who was about to be lapped by the leaders. At the start of Lap 20, the leaders put Leicht the first car one lap down.

As the leaders continued to negotiate lapped traffic, other drivers fell off the pace. On Lap 25, B.J. McLeod dropped to 35th in Johnny Davis’ #0 KSDT CPA Chevrolet. Three circuits later, McLeod passed his teammate Jesse Little, who made an unscheduled stop in his #4 Series Seating Chevrolet. Little lost three laps as a result, and remained in the final spot when Stage 1 ended on Lap 35. Cassill, who couldn’t see because of Leicht’s fluid on his windshield, prepared to come down pit road for a tear-off. Leicht was also struggling, saying his water temperature was at 200 degrees and his car couldn’t hold the low line in Turns 3 and 4.

On Lap 38, Cassill – running 28th at the time – pitted with the rest of the lapped cars, and had to be guided to his stall by his spotter. Two circuits later, he was told to pull his car into the garage area. He drove around the third garage building and pulled up behind Shepherd’s trailer at the far end of the garage area. Cassill took the last spot from Little on Lap 42, then was told to climb out the next time by.

“The car was just really tight, so I was just protecting it,” said Cassill after he climbed out of the car. “Usually – maybe just a little hypersensitive to make sure nothing breaks or falls off it.”

After significant interest from viewers about Shepherd’s sponsorship options, I asked Cassill about the best way to help the team. “Just go on Morgan’s website and reach out to them. If there’s any companies, small businesses that wants to sponsor this 89 team. Reach out to me on Twitter – my DMs are open. I’ve seen a lot of people send some messages offering to help out. Really anything helps Morgan, but really if there’s a small business that wants to jump on board, pay the tire bill for the weekend. It’s $15,000 to do the trick – from $15,000 to $30,000 can elevate this team to where we’re racing competitively.”

Leicht ultimately fell out after 78 laps, citing fuel pump issues. The rear bumper cover was coated in dried black fluid, particularly toward the passenger side. NASCAR officials did not deem Leicht out until Lap 119.

Mike Harmon’s two cars, driving by Bayley Currey and Kyle Weatherman, both spent time in the garage area. Weatherman’s #74 went behind the wall first, where the crew worked under the hood, then sent him back out laps down to the leaders. Currey’s #47 came in a few minutes later, Harmon himself looking over the right-rear after a reported brake caliper issue. Currey, too, managed to return to the track multiple laps down, and followed Weatherman at the back of the pack for a mid-race restart. Currey finished the race 30 laps down in 32nd while Weatherman ultimately fell out with engine trouble to take 34th (also reported by NASCAR on Lap 119). Completing the Bottom Five was Brandon Brown, whose #68 Vero Chevrolet was collected in a pileup on Lap 87, then ultimately dropped out with a blown engine. NASCAR reported Brown was out on Lap 124.

Other teams who struggled in the lead-up to the race enjoyed better showings on Saturday. Austin Hill overcame his radio issues and was running inside the Top 10 until a pit road penalty, then an unscheduled pit stop left him 16th. Tommy Joe Martins ran as high as 11th - at one point tracking down both DGM Racing teammates Josh Williams and Alex Labbe – but a flat tire forced a pit stop just before one of the race’s final cautions, trapping him a lap down in 18th.

“. . .We were in the battle with the 93 (Myatt Snider) really hard to get the Lucky Dog the middle of the race and then finally were able to beat him and get that Lucky Dog and got back on the same lap as everybody, kept making it better," said Martins. "When everybody came in to take tires there at the end, we didn’t  - we decided to kind of gamble and save a set. We played to our strengths there, it was really good. And two laps before that caution came out, we cut a tire down and had to pit under green. It put us a lap down and we just couldn’t get back.”

“And that’s with the guys I’m looking at up here. I don’t have any idea how the 78 (Vinnie Miller) finished 15th, that’s wild – I lapped him under green. We’re scratching our heads. The 61 (Austin Hill) – I drove away from him at the end, the 02 (Brett Moffitt) – I drove away from him, the 90 (Alex Labbe) same thing. . .But I think it shows a lot of guts from this race team. We fired off terrible. I mean, just absolutely pathetic at the start of this race and we just stayed with it. Just kept grinding at it. . .You can look at this car, it looks like it’s been through a demo derby. Dodged two wrecks, but finished the race. That was really our goal was maybe a Top 20 and finish the race, but that’s a couple weeks in a row I could’ve got a Top 15, Top 12 finish with this thing. So, I think we’ve got some better days ahead, I think we’ve got a lot of speed.”

For all the struggles, Martins was proud of what he and his team managed to overcome. “Today was just a complete showing of the heart of this team and facing adversity, and it was just adversity from the beginning of the weekend (laughs), adversity last week, adversity in qualifying and the beginning of the race. And we just kept fighting. So, just a lot of heart – really proud of my guys. Just want to thank our sponsor AAN Adjusters for being so encouraging, even through all the struggles in all of this. . .and so many people who reached out to us through Twitter and social media and everything telling us to keep our head up and believing in us. That meant so much to me. . .”

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked only the third instance of an XFINITY Series driver finishing last due to fuel pressure, but it’s the second occurrence in less than seven months. The last time was on August 10, 2019, when Max Tullman’s entry fell out after 2 laps at Mid-Ohio.
*This is the first last-place finish for the #89 in an XFINITY Series race at Fontana.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #89-Landon Cassill / 38 laps / fuel pressure
35) #66-Stephen Leicht / 78 laps / fuel pump
34) #74-Kyle Weatherman / 97 laps / engine
33) #68-Brandon Brown / 115 laps / engine
32) #47-Bayley Currey / 120 laps / running

2020 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Shepherd Racing Ventures (2)
2nd) SS-Green Light Racing (1)

2020 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (3)

2020 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

INTERVIEWS: A difficult Friday at Fontana for team owners Shepherd and Martins

PHOTO: Brock Beard

At the far end of the XFINITY Series garage area at Auto Club Speedway closest to Turn 1, two haulers sat by themselves, practically isolated from the rest of the field. They belonged to the #44 of Martins Motorsports, the start-up single-car operation by Tommy Joe Martins, and Shepherd Racing Ventures, Landon Cassill’s current ride in the #89 Chevrolet. At the start of Friday’s opening practice, both cars were still on the scales, and each would only make a brief appearance.

Last Sunday in Las Vegas, Martins was on his way to a solid finish, bouncing back from a disappointing DNQ in the Daytona opener, when the engine let go, sparking a fire behind the left-front wheel. A 32nd-place finish was the result. Martins followed his team’s hard work through the week in Vegas as they took parts off the backup car and swapped out the motor, getting it ready for the trip to Fontana. The team pulled through, and on Friday afternoon, Martins’ second of four laps put him 20th on the speed charts out of 32.

Then, a plume of smoke in Turn 4, and Martins pulled down pit road. The flames returned – this time behind the right-front wheel – and the car returned to the garage area. By the time I arrived at the garage, the team had the wheels off and were crawling all over the engine compartment. The underside of the hood was badly burned, the right edge warped. Fortunately, Martins was uninjured.

“We think it was an oil line or something that came loose and caught fire,” said Martins. “Guys are out there cleaning it up right now, so we’ll kind of assess the damage. Good thing we didn’t hit anything. I know we didn’t hurt the motor because we shut the motor off and the motor was only probably 200 on the water temps, so didn’t hurt the motor it just probably burned up a lot of other stuff in there, and we’ll have to figure out what it is.”

Martins had a backup car ready – the car he’d set aside to close out the West Coast Swing next week in Phoenix – but his quick decision to shut off the motor perhaps saved their weekend. The team didn’t have another engine on hand.

Among those stopping by the Martins hauler was B.J. McLeod, who currently drives for JD Motorsports. One year after Jimmy Means Racing provided a backup car for Caesar Bacarella at DGM Racing, I asked if Martins had been working out a similar arrangement. “No,” said Martins. “He was just offering us some help if we needed to replace some parts or anything on the car, so it was really nice of him. He and I have a really good relationship. There’s a lot of mutual respect there. It was nice of him to offer, but right now we don’t even know what’s messed-up yet. We’ve gotta get in there and take a look at it.”

Landon Cassill didn’t share the same engine troubles as Martins. In fact, Cassill’s single lap in practice ranked him 27th, besting five other teams, and another single-lap run in Happy Hour put him 15th of 33. For him and team owner Morgan Shepherd, the biggest challenge for the #89 team remains sponsorship. While the car carried a few more small sponsors on the rear quarter-panels compared to the team’s season debut at Las Vegas, where Cassill finished last, their financial situation has not yet been solved.

“Those are just small sponsors – some of them are only $100,” said Shepherd. We can’t do much with just a couple hundred dollars, everybody’s helping a little bit. . .We just need some corporate company to come on board.”

Last fall at Homestead, Cassill and Homestead enjoyed a breakout 15th-place finish thanks to the support of longtime backers Dale and Sandra Dietrich: “That was a friend of ours that called me and said ‘would you like to run the last race?’ and I said ‘well sure.’ He said ‘will $10,000 do it?’ I said ‘no – not hardly. The tires will be more than that.’ He said ‘what will it take?’ I said ‘$15,000.’ And so he got up $15,000. Was able to hire a pit crew and also buy the tires we needed. I think the tires was a little over $12,000.” Unfortunately, no major sponsors took notice after Cassill’s run, and the team will continue to “start-and-park” until that changes.

Like other owner-driver operations, Shepherd says he can run competitively for much less than other teams. “We could probably do it for two-and-a-half million and have a team and all of the things we need.” Among the team’s needs is a new superspeedway car, which is why the team didn’t run the opener in Daytona – and why they will likely skip Talladega. “I’ve gotta come up with a car, because it takes a complete different race car.” Shepherd indicated they will have to skip other races this season, but that could change if the sponsorship forecast improves.

PREVIEW: Multiple tributes - but only a handful of team changes - highlight Fontana entry lists

PHOTO: @blaney

LASTCAR TRACKSIDE COVERAGE
Fontana marks the first race of the season for our trackside last-place coverage, and my first time being credentialed at the track. Stay tuned to this website and my Twitter @LASTCARonBROCK for updates throughout the weekend. And if you’d like to ride along with us, click here to join any level of my Patreon and get your name on our car magnet. You’ll also be entered in a drawing to win it after the race!

Saturday, February 29, 2020
XFINITY Race 3 of 33
Production Alliance Group 300 at Auto Club Speedway of Southern California
2019 Last-Place Finisher: Caesar Bacarella

ENTRY LIST
There are 36 drivers entered for as many starting spots, meaning no teams will fail to qualify.

DRIVER CHANGE: #21-Richard Childress Racing
DRIVER SWAP: #93-RSS Racing
Myatt Snider moves from the #21 to the #93, taking the place of Joey Gase, who isn’t entered in Saturday’s ace. Snider finished 16th last Sunday following his late-race incident with Noah Gragson, three spots ahead of Gase in 19th. Taking Snider’s place in the #21 is Anthony Alfredo, who will be sponsored by Anderson’s Pure Maple Syrup and Ralph’s Supermarkets. This will be Alfredo’s first XFINITY Series start, and his first in NASCAR’s top three series since his first-lap engine failure at Homestead last fall.

DRIVER CHANGE: #47-Mike Harmon Racing
It was announced Thursday that Bayley Currey will take the place of Joe Nemechek in Harmon's #47.

DRIVER CHANGE: #61-Motorsports Business Management
Back in the #61 for the first time since Daytona is Austin Hill, who takes the place of Timmy Hill, 26th last Sunday in Vegas. Timmy Hill will instead focus on Sunday’s Cup Series race, where he again runs MBM’s #66.

DRIVER CHANGE: #74-Mike Harmon Racing
Team owner Mike Harmon takes the place of Kyle Weatherman, who isn’t entered this week after a 30th-place showing in Vegas. It will be Harmon’s first series start since the Daytona opener, where he ran 16th behind teammate Joe Nemechek in 15th.

DRIVER CHANGE: #99-B.J. McLeod Motorsports
After Mason Massey finished 29th in his series debut last week in Las Vegas, Josh Bilicki – the last-place finisher of the Truck Series race the night before – will take his place in the #99 Toyota.

Sunday, March 1, 2020
CUP Race 3 of 36
Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway of Southern California
2019 Last-Place Finisher: Clint Bowyer

ENTRY LIST
There are 38 drivers entered for as many spots, meaning no teams will fail to qualify. On this second leg of the “West Coast Swing,” it is also the exact same roster of 38 drivers and teams that ran last Sunday in Las Vegas.

TRIBUTE: #12-Penske Racing
TRIBUTE: #24-Hendrick Motorsports
TRIBUTE: #96-Gaunt Brothers Racing
Rumors swirled on Monday that William Byron would run a paint scheme honoring the life of Kobe Bryant, whose public memorial service was held at the Staples Center that same day. By Tuesday, it was revealed both Byron and Ryan Blaney will run purple-and-gold schemes in Sunday’s race. Blaney’s has its origins with sponsor BodyArmor, which had both Blaney and Bryant represent the brand. In addition, Daniel Suarez will wear special Kobe-themed gloves and shoes in the race, designed by local artist Kickstradomis.

TRIBUTE: #48-Hendrick Motorsports
There will also be several tributes to Jimmie Johnson as he runs his last race at the scene of his first Cup victory in 2002. Among these are a mural painted on the property and his wife and two children serving as the honorary starters

Saturday, March 14, 2020
TRUCKS Race 3 of 23
Georgia 200 at Atlanta
2019 Last-Place Finisher: Joe Nemechek

The Truck Series returns in three weeks to join the upcoming action at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

LASTCAR STAT OF THE WEEK
Today in LASTCAR History (February 27, 1994): The late Billy Standridge scored his first career Cup Series last-place finish on this day when his #47 Johnson Racing Ford was involved in a multi-car accident with Rich Bickle and Bill Elliott after 55 laps of the Goodwrench 500 at Rockingham. This also happened to be Standridge’s Cup Series debut, one week after the Daytona 500 marked his fourth DNQ. Standridge made 23 Cup Series starts in all, capped by the 1998 season, when he qualified his car into all four Winston Cup superspeedway races.

CUP: Timmy Hill’s last-place run in Vegas follows a memorable week in Daytona

PHOTO: Matt Miller, @MGMiller17

Timmy Hill picked up the 10th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway when his #66 Manscaped / LasVegas.net Toyota fell out with rear end trouble after 175 of 267 laps.

The finish, which came in Hill’s 94th series start, was his first of the season and first in the series since November 11, 2018, when an oil leak ended his run at Phoenix, 39 races ago. In the Cup Series last-place rankings, it was the 57th for the #66, the 60th from rear end trouble, and the 159th for Toyota. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 68th for the #66, the 107th from a broken rear end, and the 327th for Toyota.

After nearly a decade of competing part-time in all three of NASCAR’s top three series, Hill turned out to be one of the biggest stories of SpeedWeeks 2020. The offseason saw the 27-year-old Maryland driver pick up new sponsorship from RoofClaim.com, allowing him to run double-duty at Daytona in both the XFINITY Series and in Cup. He would run both races for Motorsports Business Management, whose team owner Carl Long looked to field multiple cars in both series.

Both were chances Hill eagerly anticipated - on the XFINITY side, he had never finished worse than 23rd in eight previous Daytona starts, and was vying for a Top Five there last July before an accident left him 20th. But Hill had never made a Cup start in either Daytona race. His lone attempt at the Daytona 500 came in 2017, when his Rick Ware Racing entry fell short of racing into “The Great American Race.”

The week proved a success for both driver and team, though not without challenges. In Saturday’s XFINITY race, Hill qualified the team’s Supra 26th on the grid, though he would race without his crew chief Sebastian LaForge. According to the team, a hired paint shop put a narrow strip of body filler around the headlights without telling anyone at MBM. When NASCAR discovered this during inspection, they suspended LaForge for six races, fined the team $50,000, and docked MBM 75 owner points. With the Bondo stripped away, Hill was allowed to race, and charged to a 3rd-place finish – his new career best. LaForge, watching intently from outside the XFINITY garage, celebrated with his teammates after the race.

For the even bigger goal of the Daytona 500, Hill would drive a Ford in place of MBM’s typical Toyotas, and a Roush-Yates engine was under the hood. While Hill narrowly missed locking himself into the 500 field on speed, he had a good enough car to race for the spot in Duel Race 2. For much of that Thursday night, Hill raced side-by-side with J.J. Yeley, knowing that only one of them would earn a spot in the race. In the end, Yeley wrecked on the backstretch, and Hill squeezed by, finishing 16th. Locked into his first Daytona 500 field, Hill became the week’s media darling with several interviews. He also completed all 200 laps, only to be wrecked in overtime for a 27th-place finish.

Hill would run triple-duty in Las Vegas, combined with his first Truck Series start of the year in the #56 team co-owned by his brother Tyler. After Gus Dean finished 26th in Hill’s truck at Daytona, Hill himself worked his way toward the front, only to overheat in the final laps. Multiple stops dropped Hill off the lead lap, and he ended up pulling into the garage just short of the finish. Rain then washed out qualifying for both the XFINITY and Truck Series race, where Hill was locked into each. His #61, a Toyota Camry, would start 29th in the Saturday race. The #66 Toyota Cup car, ranked lowest in Owner Points among “open teams,” secured the 38th and final spot for Sunday. After just 50 laps on Saturday before rain stopped the day’s action, Hill prepared to run the two races on Sunday.

The Cup race came first, where five drivers dropped to the rear. Headlining the group were three Toyota drivers again caught for illegal body modifications – specifically, an unapproved piece below the Toyota crest on the front of each car. The cars of Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and Christopher Bell were all penalized for the modification while Martin Truex, Jr. and Erik Jones, both teammates of Hamlin and Busch at Joe Gibbs Racing, did not. Also sent to the rear were Garrett Smithley, whose first turn of the season in Rick Ware Racing’s unsponsored #51 Chevrolet began with the car failing pre-race inspection three times, and Brennan Poole, whose Premium Motorsports team had to change engines on his #15 Goettl Chevrolet.

Coming down the backstretch to take the green, wisps of smoke appeared behind the #96 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Toyota of Daniel Suarez. Just over a week after he failed to make the Daytona 500 following a crash in his Duel, his car sputtered and slowed in Turns 3 and 4, falling out of line and creeping toward the starting line as the rest of the field took off. The caution fell as Suarez lost a lap, then was pushed back to pit road. The crew prepared a battery swap, examined the digital screen readouts and the ECU, then managed to get him back on track just under three laps down.

Next to take the last spot was Garrett Smithley, whose penalized #51 now had a serious overheating problem. The driver made at least two pit stops in the first 14 laps, reporting a water temperature of 247 degrees. The crew pulled all the tape of the grille and sent him back on track, now the last-place runner after 15 laps. Due to a handling issue on top of everything else, Smithley was visibly off the pace as the leaders put him another lap down.

Michael McDowell was the race’s newest challenger when his #34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford became the first car to pull into the garage. The Front Row Motorsports team reported a stuck throttle, requiring several laps for repairs. McDowell dropped to last place on Lap 38, and was in position to not only score his fourth last-place finish in a Cup Series race at Las Vegas, but also break his tie with Joe Nemechek for the most last-place finishes in Cup Series history. McDowell returned to the track on Lap 50, now eighteen laps behind the leaders. Though McDowell remained in last place for much of the race, he gradually closed the thirteen-lap gap on 37th-place Smithley. By Lap 100, the two were 11 laps apart. They were nine apart after 151 laps.

It was during this stretch run that two different Toyotas looked to spoil the party. First was Christopher Bell, who after an incredible save in Turn 4 slammed the backstretch wall laps later with the right-front of his #95 Rheem Toyota. The Leavine Family Racing team managed to keep Bell from losing more than five laps, and somehow completed their repairs with ten seconds left on the six-minute “Crash Clock.” Bell missed the Bottom Five with a 33rd-place finish. Next was Martin Truex, Jr., who after running 2nd to Chase Elliott lost track position for an unscheduled second stop for loose wheels. Truex’s #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota clipped the wall on Lap 174, then lost a right-front and hit it much harder. Truex, too, cleared the “Crash Clock” and even stayed on the lead lap, ultimately taking 20th.

Hill, meanwhile, lost his first lap shortly after Suarez and Smithley, and was again trying to hold his line as the leaders raced all around him. Hill himself later tweeted that his car was leaking fluid around the halfway mark, then was black-flagged by NASCAR on Lap 185. Already nine laps down, Hill pulled down pit road, then back to the garage. On Lap 193, NASCAR officials reported Hill was the first driver out of the race, citing rear end trouble. Hill took the last spot from McDowell on Lap 198, averting the record run. McDowell climbed to 36th with Smithley taking 35th. Between the pair and Hill came Ryan Preece, who inherited the 2nd spot in the race’s final laps, only to lose the engine on his #37 Natural Light Seltzer Chevrolet. Rounding out the group was Reed Sorenson, 14 laps down in his return to Spire Motorsports’ #77 Chevrolet.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the second-consecutive last-place finish for the #66 in the spring Cup Series race at Las Vegas. It comes just under one year since “The Lastover,” where Joey Gase famously swept both last-place finishes while the MBM team tried to find a missing crew member.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #66-Timmy Hill / 175 laps / rear end
37) #37-Ryan Preece / 222 laps / engine
36) #34-Michael McDowell / 245 laps / running
35) #51-Garrett Smithley / 252 laps / running
34) #77-Reed Sorenson / 253 laps / running

2020 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Hendrick Motorsports, Motorsports Business Management (1)

2020 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet, Toyota (1)

2020 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

XFINITY: Battered Daniel Hemric manages to squeak past Landon Cassill before the rain in Vegas

PHOTO: Cindy Shepherd

Landon Cassill picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday (and Sunday’s) Boyd Gaming 300 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway when his #89 Visone RV Chevrolet fell out with a vibration after 31 of 200 laps.

The finish, which came in Cassill’s 141st series start, was his first since last fall at Phoenix, three races ago. In the XFINITY Series last-place rankings, it was the 14th for the #89, the 139th from a vibration, and the 542nd for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 36th for the #89, the 213th from a vibration, and the 1,705th for Chevrolet.

Las Vegas marked the 2020 season debut of both Cassill and Morgan Shepherd’s single-car operation. It was also their first start since a breakout performance under the lights at Homestead last fall, where the team made a rare full-race attempt. Thank to support from longtime team backers Dale and Sandra Dietrich, who paid the team’s tire bill, Cassill finished 15th, and even edged race winner Tyler Reddick to the finish line to stay just one lap down.

At the time of the Homestead race, Cassill had planned on helping Shepherd continue to build his program in 2020 while also competing full-time for StarCom Racing in the Cup Series. That changed over the offseason, when Cassill was replaced by Quin Houff in StarCom’s #00, leaving him without a Cup ride. The Shepherd team didn’t attempt the Daytona opener, but planned to run the rest of the season – a year where a further field reduction to just 36 grid spots threatened to make things even more difficult for small teams like his.

Fortunately, exactly 36 drivers were entered in Saturday’s race, and when qualifying was rained out, his #89 secured the final starting spot. The car also carried several new associate sponsors which joined since the end of last season – David’s Electric, Carolina Fire Protection, Inc., and Rollin’ Smoke Barbecue, plus a decal promoting Friday’s Strat 200 Truck Series race. The new logos didn’t get much airtime in practice as Cassill was one of three drivers who didn’t turn a lap in the lone session, but he would start the race.

With rain fast approaching the race track Saturday afternoon, Cassill was joined at the back by two cars sent to the rear of the field – polesitter Myatt Snider, sent to a backup after a spin in practice tore the splitter off his #21 Tax Slayer Chevrolet, and Robby Lyons in the #15 Sunwest Construction Chevrolet. The broadcast also showed other small teams falling to the rear, including the #74 Finlay Cadillac Chevrolet driven this week by Kyle Weatherman and the #66 MBM Motorsports Toyota Camry of Stephen Leicht.

Leicht, making his own season debut, was last across the stripe, 5.6 seconds back of the lead. He was also the first driver to be lapped when the leaders whistled past on the high side on Lap 11. Leicht was still running last on Lap 20 when trouble broke out up front. Daniel Hemric, still another driver returning to the circuit for the first time in 2020, had worked his way up to 4th in JR Motorsports’ #8 South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet. That time by, he was holding off Austin Cindric when the #8 broke loose in Turn 4. The car wobbled down the track, then slid up and slammed the outside wall with the right side. This crash became NASCAR’s competition caution, which had originally been set for Lap 20.

On Lap 23, Hemric returned to the track just as the field took the green flag but was now laps down and behind Leicht for last place. He pitted again on Lap 25, apparently clear of the Crash Clock, and now five laps down. Cassill, meanwhile, was running on the lead lap in 33rd, but then pulled down pit road with 12 laps to go in Stage 1. The car then pulled behind the wall, done for the afternoon. By the time the rain hit after the end of Stage 1, then stopped the race on Lap 50, Hemric had climbed past Cassill into 35th – Cassill 16 laps down to Hemric’s 13. Neither driver would return for the race’s completion on Sunday evening, and they would take the final two positions.

The rest of the Bottom Five was filled out after the Cup Series race. The lapped Stephen Leicht continued on in the early laps, pulling to the apron for the Lap 55 restart, then exited past the halfway mark. Finishing 33rd was B.J. McLeod, who lost several laps of his own in the #0 JD Motorsports Chevrolet, then fell out with ignition issues. Rounding out the group was Tommy Joe Martins, who bounced back from a DNQ in Daytona to qualify his own XFINITY car for the first time in 2020. Martins was headed for a mid-pack finish when he was forced to make an extended stay in the garage area. The engine then let go near the end, triggering a small fire behind the right-front tire.

Although the field was set by points, an offseason Owner Point swap following the closure of Stewart-Haas Racing’s second team meant J.J. Yeley lined up 5th in the #52 Franklin Signs Chevrolet owned by Jimmy Means. He even moved up to 3rd for the initial start after Snider’s penalty dropped the polesitter to the back. It was the best-ever start by a Jimmy Means-owned car in 900 combined NASCAR national touring series starts. Means’ Cup car had a best of 12th at the Nashville Fairgrounds in 1978, then again at Atlanta in 1994. The XFINITY team had never started better than 17th, which came at Daytona in July 2009.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #89-Landon Cassill / 31 laps / vibration
35) #8-Daniel Hemric / 34 laps / suspension
34) #66-Stephen Leicht / 101 laps / suspension
33) #0-B.J. McLeod / 132 laps / ignition
32) #44-Tommy Joe Martins / 144 laps / engine

2020 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Shepherd Racing Ventures, SS-Green Light Racing (1)

2020 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (2)

2020 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP