XFINITY: Joe Graf, Jr. prevails in “race” to the garage area after huge Las Vegas wreck; Bayley Currey runs "Lucky 13th."

ALL PHOTOS: Brock Beard

Joe Graf, Jr. picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 302 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway when his #07 Bucked Up Energy Chevrolet was involved in a multi-car accident after 30 of 201 laps.

The finish, which came in Graf’s 59th series start, was his first of the season and first since August 29, 2020 at Daytona, 38 races ago. In the LASTCAR XFINITY Series standings, this marked the 11th for the #07, the 358th from a crash, and the 580th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 22nd for the #07, the 1,274th for Chevrolet, and the 1,807th from a crash.

Graf is closing out his second full XFINITY Series season with Bobby Dotter’s SS-Green Light Racing team, a program that has increasingly cooperated with Rick Ware Racing and their #17 effort. Following an 11th-place finish in this year’s Daytona opener, however, Graf has struggled for much of this season, coming home no better since. He entered Las Vegas with the most Bottom Fives (4) and Bottom Tens (9) of anyone without a last-place finish in this year's XFINITY Series. Four DNFs due to accidents and another under the Damaged Vehicle Policy weighed down his average, and he failed to qualify at Charlotte. He was also swapped out for Ross Chastain at COTA, only for Chastain to himself drop from contention on the first lap. 

However, just last week, Graf came home 17th in a physical Bristol race, his best run since Daytona. He had reason to be excited for a return to Las Vegas, as the 18th-place showing this past March had been his second-best before Bristol. Bucked Up Energy, which had a significant brand presence at the Las Vegas track, would again back his #07, and he’d roll off in 21st.

Starting 40th and last was C.J. McLaughlin, who was back in Mike Harmon Racing’s #74 Sci Aps Chevrolet for the first time since his last-place run earlier this month in Richmond. The team also welcomed back returning sponsorship from Findlay Cadillac and the law firm of Lerner & Rowe. While no drivers were sent to the rear for pre-race penalties, two were briefly stopped on pit road as the field rolled off – 19th-place Tommy Joe Martins for a disconnected hose on his #44 Market Rebellion Chevrolet, and 22nd-place Jeffrey Earnhardt, whose #0 K9 Grass by Forever Lawn Chevrolet needed a push-start. Earnhardt ran nearly full-throttle to catch up to the pack, and soon retook his place in line.

Coming to the green, Carson Ware had dropped to the rear. Ware was running a Rick Ware Racing Toyota sponsored by KeepItSecure.net, the same brand that backed Graf last week in Bristol. The Ware car bore RWR markings on the nose and b-pillar, but was entered under Jimmy Means Racing as the #52 (used by both teams). 

When the race started, Ware slotted in behind McLaughlin and took over the 40th spot. This didn’t last long, however as by the end of the first lap, Ware had worked under McLaughlin in the tri-oval an completed the pass. The #74 then continued to drop back through the opening run until Lap 7, when the gap stabilized. By then, the leaders were starting to bear down on them. On Lap 12, Spencer Boyd had slipped to 38th in the #90 Mini Doge Chevrolet, but there was still open track between the trailing Ware and McLaughlin behind him. On Lap 14, McLaughlin made another charge at Ware, a gap that continued to shrink as the leaders put both a lap down. Ware had just passed Boyd for 38th when the competition caution fell on Lap 25. Ware reassumed the spot after slowly pulling from his pit stall, taking 40th by Lap 28.

On the Lap 31 restart, McLaughlin had retaken last from Ware, and was running to the inside of Josh Williams in the #92 Silverton Hotel & Casino Chevrolet. Just as the cars crossed the line, however, trouble broke out among the leaders.

The problem began around 11th place, where the field fanned out five-wide. In the middle lane, Jeb Burton’s #10 Nutrien Ag Chevrolet came up into Josh Berry’s #1 Pilot Travel Centers Chevrolet, which then clipped the left-rear corner of Riley Herbst’s #98 South Point Hotel & Casino Ford. Herbst spun across the track, which was quickly blocked to rapidly-closing field. Among those were J.J. Yeley, whose #17 Parler Chevrolet had charged from 33rd on the grid into the Top 20 – only to be collected in the ensuing pileup.

"Obviously, just super disappointed," said Yeley. "The other guys at SS-Green Light literally have been fine tuning on this car for three weeks. Having Parler on board, wanted to give them a great effort. Had an ECR engine. All the things that we needed to go out and be a Top Ten car. We started 33rd, drove up to 19th, was running Top Ten lap speeds. Realistically, just kind of cruising. So knowing that we were going to get the competition caution and push it, you get a restart. They go four or five wide. I'm not exactly sure who caused it, but I saw Jeb (Burton) come across the field. I'm on the brakes and think I'm in great shape, and the 26 (Dylan Lupton) was behind me never checked up, never let off the gas until we were plowed into the fence. So, complete surprise - not sure what (Lupton's) problem was, but he took himself out, too. But it sucks. It definitely sucks. Because I think that based off of the small adjustments we needed to make to the car, we had talked about running without attrition or anything else, just going out there and beating really good cars with a small team."

In all, 12 drivers were involved, including Graf, who was trapped in the high line, damaging the left-front corner and rear of his car. His was among the cars that managed to limp their way back to pit road for repairs, each placed on the six-minute “Crash Clock.” First to reach the pits was Brandon Brown in the #68 TradeTheChain.com Chevrolet, followed shortly by the battered Sam Mayer in the #8 Big Machine / Carly Pearce Chevrolet with Riley Herbst’s #98 right behind. Dylan Lupton trailed sparks when his #26 Marques General Engineering Toyota followed after. 

Last place on Saturday was decided by Jeremy Clements (left, top and bottom) being pushed to the garage before Joe Graf, Jr. (right, top and bottom)

During all this, Graf had also made it to pit road along with Jeremy Clements in the #51 First Pacific Funding Chevrolet. Joining Clements' backers in Las Vegas was Eric Estepp's NASCAR YouTube series "Out of the Groove," which was featured prominently on each side. Both Graf and Clements were the first to pull into the garage through the first pit road entrance off Turn 4 – Clements on Lap 33, followed by Graf on Lap 34. With both drivers on the same lap, this spelled the difference in who would be ranked behind the other. Since Graf arrived after Clements, he was ranked behind the #51, which by Lap 34 had dropped to the final two spots. As the cleanup continued, three other cars were towed into the garage adjoining Turns 3 and 4 from another entrance – Yeley’s #17, Herbst’s #98, and Alex Labbe’s #36 Larue Industrial Snowblowers Chevrolet. Lupton’s #26 was also in the garage by this time along with Jeb Burton’s #10, meaning by then seven destroyed cars were already in different phases of being loaded on their haulers. Labbe, Yeley, and Burton rounded out the Bottom Five.

Finishing a solid 13th was Bayley Currey, who in just his second XFINITY start to complement his runs with Mike Harmon Racing finished 13th – his best series run since a season-best 7th for Harmon in this spring. I caught up with Currey after the race:

Bayley Currey (center, right - in black-and-red) after his 13th-place run.

Bayley Currey finishes “Lucky 13” in Vegas

Finishing a solid 13th was Bayley Currey, who in just his second XFINITY start to complement his runs with Mike Harmon Racing finished 13th – his best series run since a season-best 7th for Harmon in this spring. I caught up with Currey after the race:

“I just feel happy. Really thankful to Johnny Davis for allowing me to come and drive this 15 car this weekend. Guys worked on it hard all day, made all the right adjustments, and ended up P13. I was pedaling like hell trying to keep them other two guys behind (Brett Moffitt and Ty Gibbs), couldn't do it. We short pitted, good strategy and jumped a couple of them in front of us and yeah - Lucky 13!”

As Currey mentioned, he was running in the 11th spot in the final laps before Brett Moffitt for Our Motorsports and Ty Gibbs with Joe Gibbs Racing got by, dropping him to 13th. He also overcame damage to the nose of his car suffered in a rear-end collision with Dylan Lupton earlier in the race. Currey also hopes this run will help him on the sponsorship front, which has been an issue this year both at JD Motorsports and MHR.

“I mean, yeah, hopefully hopefully I did open some eyes and it's one more thing I could put in the marketing deck. We're top 15 car, we're here with JD, and I think we can continue to be that.”

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for the #07 in a XINITY Series race since November 16, 2019, when Ray Black, Jr. lost the engine after 4 laps at Homestead. The number had never before finished last in a XFINITY race at Las Vegas.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

40) #07-Joe Graf, Jr. / 30 as / crash

39) #51-Jeremy Clements / 30 laps / crash

38) #36-Alex Labbe / 30 laps / crash

37) #17-J.J. Yeley / 30 laps / crash

36) #10-Jeb Burton / 30 laps / crash

2021 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) B.J. McLeod Motorsports (5)

2nd) Mike Harmon Racing (3)

3rd) DGM Racing, JD Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, JR Motorsports, Motorsports Business Management, Our Motorsports, RSS Racing / Reaume Brothers Racing (2)

4th) Brandonbilt Motorsports, Jimmy Means Racing, Sam Hunt Racing, SS-Green Light Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing (1)

2021 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet (19)

2nd) Toyota (7)

3rd) Ford (1)

2021 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP