by Brock Beard

LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

Patrick Emerling picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINTY Series career in Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 302 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway when his #53 The Meredith Haga Foundation Chevrolet fell out with engine trouble after 3 of 201 laps.

The finish came in Emerling’s 31st series start. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 5th for the #53, the 387th from a crash, and the 632nd for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 30th for the #53, the 1,357th from a crash, and the 1,919th for Chevrolet.

Emerling, a veteran driver in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, is also among the series’ new team owners who have flourished in today’s XFINITY Series. After driving for multiple different teams, Joey Gase acquired some cars of his own, and joined forces with Emerling to form a two-car team. By then, Emerling had himself been branching out into the series after a few starts with Our Motorsports. While only the flagship #35 ran the full 2022 season, both Gase and Emerling shared driving duties along with upstarts including Brad Perez and Dawson Cram. Parker Kligerman earned them a season-best 12th at COTA driving an unsponsored Toyota.

This year has seen the second entry, the #53, also run the full campaign, each frequently swapping drivers. Both teams ran their best at Talladega this past spring, where C.J. McLaughlin finished 13th and Gase earned the team’s first-ever top-ten finish by coming home 9th.

As the team tweeted on Wednesday, the Las Vegas track held special significance as it was here in March that Emerling and Gase first competed against each other as both drivers and team owners. That day, Gase fell out early with fuel pump issues while Emerling came home 34th. While Gase would run his same Nevada Donor Network scheme from that race on his #35, Emerling’s #53 remained flat black with Sci Aps logos on the c-pillars. However, the results would show Emerling’s car sponsored by The Meredith Haga Foundation, which offers support to living organ donors. 

In practice, Emerling ran 36th of the 40 entrants, then qualified 33rd with a lap of 173.149mph (31.187 seconds) – the last driver to lock himself in on speed. The two teams sent home were Garrett Smithley in the #4 Trophy Tractor, Inc. Chevrolet and Gray Gaulding in the #07 Ahem Luxury Boutique Hotel Chevrolet.

Taking the 38th and last starting spot was Playoff contender John Hunter Nemechek, who for a second-straight race was unable to turn a lap in qualifying after the team discovered a fluid leak on the #20 Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota – this time a leak in the rear end. Nemechek would incur a redundant tail-end penalty for unapproved adjustments, to be joined by 8th-place Riley Herbst in the #98 Monster Energy Ford, 26th-place Josh Williams in the #92 Parking Guidance Systems Chevrolet, 29th-place Stefan Parsons in the #08 Sokal Chevrolet, and Emerling.

Emerling (No. 53) battling Brennan Poole (No. 6) just before Emerling's engine trouble. PHOTO: Dominic Aragon, TheRacingExperts.com

When the race started, Emerling fell to last place, 4.362 seconds back of the lead at the end of Lap 1. By Lap 4, the gap increased to 7.258 seconds, but he remained in the tire tracks of new 37th-place runner Brennan Poole in the #6 Macc Door Systems Chevrolet. But just past the stripe, an oil line burst on Emerling’s car, causing it to erupt in smoke and skate up the track into the Turn 1 wall. Under the ensuing caution, NASCAR told Emerling to stop on the apron to avoid oiling down the track. It was reported the car lost fuel pressure. Emerling climbed out, done for the day. 

Finishing 37th was Joe Graf, Jr., who shortly after the restart found trouble in nearly the same spot as Emerling. Graf was following Charlotte last-placer Brett Moffitt’s #25 Lane Frost Brand Ford when Moffitt bounced off the wall, causing Graf to check up and spin into the wall, destroying the right-front fender of Graf’s #38 G-Coin Ford. Graf climbed from his car on the apron, done for the day. The rest of the Bottom Five was filled by a grinding Lap 54 pileup in Turn 1 triggered by a blown engine on Kaz Grala’s 18th-place #26 Ruedebusch Toyota. At least seven cars slipped in the oil and collided. Grala took the 35th spot ahead of the involved Kyle Weatherman, whose #91 PORAC Chevrolet qualified 12th only to be towed to the garage, and behind 34th-place Anthony Alfredo, for the first time this year unsponsored in the white #78 B.J. McLeod Motorsports Chevrolet.

Herbst breaks through while Riggs and Reed show speed

Saturday saw Layne Riggs score his first career XFINITY Series top-ten finish by coming home 10th in only his second series start, and Ryan Reed finish 20th in his first XFINITY start since he last drove for Roush-Fenway Racing in 2018. But the day belonged to Riley Herbst, who in his 139th series start and just hours after re-signing with Stewart-Haas Racing broke through with his first series victory, coming at his home track. In that time, Herbst has finished runner-up in three XFINITY Series starts and finished top-ten in half his four career Cup starts, most recently a career race in Talladega where he led 10 laps – nine under the green flag.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for the #53 in a XFINITY Series race at Las Vegas.

*This is the 13th time in 33 XFINITY Series races that the last-place finisher fell out after completing fewer than four laps.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

38) #53-Patrick Emerling / 3 laps / crash

37) #38-Joe Graf, Jr. / 12 laps / crash

36) #91-Kyle Weatherman / 53 laps / crash

35) #26-Kaz Grala / 53 laps / engine

34) #78-Anthony Alfredo / 54 laps / crash

2023 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) SS-Green Light Racing (4)

2nd) Alpha Prime Racing, Emerling-Gase Motorsports (3)

3rd) Big Machine Racing, CHK Racing, DGM Racing, JD Motorsports, Motorsports Business Management (2)

4th) AM Racing, B.J. McLeod Motorsports, Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Jordan Anderson Racing, JR Motorsports, Kaulig Racing, Our Motorsports, Sam Hunt Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing (1)

2023 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet (23)

2nd) Toyota (4)

3rd) Ford (3)

2023 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP