PREVIEW: LASTCAR championship battles set to intensify in Martinsville

IMAGE: @teamlivefast

by Brock Beard

LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

Saturday, October 28, 2023 (3:30 P.M. ET, USA)

XFINITY Race 32 of 33

Round of 8: Race 3 of 3

Dead On Tools 250 at Martinsville

2022 Last-Place Finisher: Bayley Currey

LASTCAR CHAMPIONSHIP SCENARIOS

With two races to go, Parker Kligerman leads the LASTCAR XFINITY Series Championship by three bottom-ten finishes over Greg Van Alst. The standings remain so close that the 17 drivers behind them can take the lead in the standings simply by finishing last at Martinsville: Blaine Perkins, Anthony Alfredo, Patrick Emerling, Kyle Weatherman, Brett Moffitt, Riley Herbst, Sam Mayer (already locked into the Championship Four), Dawson Cram, Brennan Poole, Parker Retzlaff, Sammy Smith, Stefan Parsons, Gray Gaulding, Sage Karam, Joey Gase, Carson Hocevar, and Parker Chase. 

As to all 17, both Kligerman and Van Alst can reclaim the title by finishing last at Phoenix. Depending on who finishes last at Martinsville, Kligerman and Van Alst may need only a Bottom Five or Bottom Ten at Phoenix. Brad Perez and Timmy Hill can tie Kligerman for the lead if either of them finish last, but Kligerman will prevail since he’s full-time while Perez and Hill are not. Thus, Perez, Hill, and the eight other drivers behind them can only win the title if any one of them finish last at both Martinsville and Phoenix.

With the entry list now posted, these nine drivers are both entered in Martinsville and in position to take the lead from Kligerman on Saturday. Stefan Parsons, Gray Gaulding, Sage Karam, Joey Gase, Carson Hocevar, and Parker Chase may still be in contention at Phoenix if Kligerman leads with just two last-place finishes going into that race.

ENTRY LIST

There are 39 drivers entered for 38 spots, meaning one will fail to qualify.

DRIVER CHANGE: #11-Kaulig Racing

Layne Riggs jumps back behind the wheel of Kaulig’s #11 entry for his third series start with Infinity Communications Group as sponsor. He takes the place of 11th-place Homestead finisher Derek Kraus, recently announced as the driver of Spire Motorsports’ second Truck entry at Phoenix.

DRIVER CHANGE: #19-Joe Gibbs Racing

DRIVER SWAP: #29-RSS Racing

DRIVER SWAP: #38-RSS Racing

Myatt Snider will make his fifth series start of the year, his first since his 11th-place showing at Las Vegas. Snider enters this race completing all but one of his 470 attempted laps with no finishes worse than 14th. Snider’s return moves 10th-place Homestead finisher Joe Graf, Jr. back to RSS Racing’s #38 in place of 22nd-place Kyle Sieg, who returns to the RSS #29 in place of 33rd-place Mason Maggio, who isn’t entered.

DRIVER CHANGE: #35-Emerling-Gase Motorsports

Suspended in August for a DWI charge, Chris Hacker was reinstated by NASCAR on Wednesday, reporting that he’s been 71 days sober. Hacker began the year with his first two XFINITY Series starts, taking 14th in his Richmond debut and 30th in Loudon, both for RSS Racing. He now returns to action with Emerling-Gase Motorsports, a car which had no driver listed in place of 25th-place Homestead finisher Patrick Emerling.

DRIVER CHANGE: #44-Alpha Prime Racing

DRIVER SWAP: #45-Alpha Prime Racing

Rajah Caruth will make his last 2023 start with Alpha Prime Racing before he drives for Hendrick in the Phoenix finale, carrying sponsorship from Virginia State. Caruth will pilot the #44, moving 18th-place Homestead finisher Jeffrey Earnhardt to the #45 in place of 23rd-place Leland Honeyman, who’s not entered. Earnhardt will run a Cleveland Browns paint scheme on his ForeverLawn Chevrolet.

DRIVER CHANGE: #53-Emerling-Gase Motorsports

Martinsville will see Akinori Ogata attempt his seventh series start and second of the year, following his 29th-place showing in the July race at Atlanta, also in this Emerling-Gase #53. Ogata takes the place of Matt Mills – fastest among the three DNQs in Homestead – and carries sponsorship from Pneumatic Tools Shinano. Ogata finished 26th in his lone Martinsville start two years ago.

DRIVER CHANGE: #66-Motorsports Business Management

For the second-straight Homestead race, MBM’s #66 team showed speed in qualifying at Homestead, only to finish last with early misfortune. This time, the issue was a piece of debris striking the gear pump, leaking fluid under the rear tires. Taking the place of last week’s Ryan Newman is a returning Timmy Hill with sponsor CRC Brakleen. This would be only the fifth XFINITY start of the season for Hill and his first since rear gear issues of his own ended his race in Bristol.

WITHDREW: #74-CHK Racing

An apparent axle issue was to blame for the loose left-rear wheel that sent Dawson Cram into the Turn 2 wall last week – a rare accident for the Harmon team. Cram had been entered in this week’s race, but withdrew by Wednesday, cutting the entry list to only 39 cars. 

MISSING: #88-JR Motorsports

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished 5th in his second and final XFINITY start of 2023, and the #88 is not entered with another driver this week.

DRIVER CHANGE: #91-DGM Racing

Taking the place of 16th-place Kyle Weatherman is a returning Josh Bilicki, who seeks his 90th career XFINITY Series start and first since a 25th-place run for Bobby Dotter on the Charlotte “Roval.” Bilicki and teammate Josh Williams are among the drivers running special Halloween-themed paint schemes, joined by at least Ryan Ellis in Alpha Prime’s #43 Keen Parts Chevrolet and Jeremy Clements in the #51 Spartan Waste / FOX Sports 98.3 Chevrolet. Alongside the return of Josh Williams’ Beetlejuice paint scheme on the #92, Bilicki’s #91 features aliens along with sponsors Evolution Edges and Chemung Supply.

DRIVER CHANGE: #07-SS-Green Light Racing

The Dotter team swaps both drivers once more, this time bringing on Devin Jones, who failed to qualify in his attempted series return at the Roval with CHK Racing. Jones’ VERINEXT sponsorship joins him on the #07, taking the place of Homestead DNQ Natalie Decker.

DRIVER CHANGE: #08-SS-Green Light Racing

In the second Dotter car comes Chad Finchum with sponsor Garrison Homes on the #08, taking the place of 27th-place Homestead finisher Mason Massey. Massey had been in the running to drive this car next week at Phoenix, but lost a determining online contest to J.J. Yeley from sponsor Control App. Finchum seeks his fourth start of the season and first since Bristol, where he ran 29th with this same team.

CUP INVADERS: None

Sunday, October 29, 2023 (2:30 P.M. ET, NBC)

CUP Race 35 of 36

Round of 8: Race 3 of 3

XFINITY 500 at Martinsville

2022 Last-Place Finisher: Brad Keselowski

LASTCAR CHAMPIONSHIP SCENARIOS

Coming into last week’s race at Homestead, all Cup drivers without a single last-place finish were eliminated from championship contention. After Homestead, the drivers with one last-place finish after the race were also eliminated, plus any of the two-time last-place finishers with too few Bottom Fives and Bottom Tens. 

With that, the title will come down to current leader B.J. McLeod – the only driver with four last-place finishes – and brothers Ty Dillon and Austin Dillon. McLeod can lock-up the title early by finishing last at Martinsville. Ty can take the lead by finishing last in either race no matter where McLeod finishes - so long as McLeod doesn’t finish last in either. Austin’s only path is to finish last in both Martinsville and Phoenix, but even in that scenario, McLeod can still beat him by finishing Bottom Five in both races. If neither Austin nor McLeod finish last in Martinsville, the title will come down to Ty and McLeod in Phoenix.

ENTRY LIST

The penultimate Cup race features only the 36 Chartered entries, the 22nd of 35 Cup races to do so. The Daytona 500 still stands alone as the only 40-car Cup starting grid in 2023.

DRIVER CHANGE: #42-Legacy Motor Club

Fresh off punching his ticket into the Truck Series Championship Four with his win last Saturday in Homestead, Carson Hocevar rejoins the #42 team which finished 32nd after a late-race crash by John Hunter Nemechek. Hocevar’s eighth Cup start of the year and first since his last-place run in Las Vegas will be his first on a short track since Bristol, when he ran a season-best 11th.

DRIVER CHANGE: #78-Live Fast Motorsports

Another Halloween paint scheme features driver B.J. McLeod, who returns to his #78 in place of 35th-place runner Josh Bilicki and carries sponsorship from Falk’d Up Garage. McLeod enters the race in position to secure his third LASTCAR championship and second in a row with a fifth last-place run in 2023.

Friday, November 3, 2023

TRUCKS Race 23 of 23

Championship Race

Lucas Oil 150 at Phoenix

2022 Last-Place Finisher: Armani Williams

The Truck Series returns next week in Phoenix to crown their champion for 2023.

TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (October 27, 2001): Mark Voigt picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Busch Series career in the Outback Steakhouse 200 at Phoenix when his #8 Channellock Chevrolet fell out with shock issues after 6 laps. This was the third and last of Illinois-born driver’s starts, and came driving for Armando Fitz after fielding his own equipment at Darlington and Memphis.