by Brock Beard

LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

Ryan Newman picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Contender Boats 300 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway when his #66 Generx Generators Ford fell out with rear gear trouble after 27 of 200 laps.

The finish, which came in Newman’s 65th series start, was his first of the season and first in a XFINITY Series race since July 14, 2007 at Chicagoland, 548 races ago. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 17th for the #66, the 19th from the rear gear, and the 165th for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 51st for rear gear issues, the 88th for the #66, and the 1,024th for Ford.

The last time Ryan Newman finished last in a XFINITY Series race - July 14, 2007. SCREENSHOT: NASCAR on ABC, upload by jinjabreadman46

Coming into Saturday, Newman hadn’t started a XFINITY Series race since November 3, 2012, when he made a one-off start for Turner Motorsports and finished 19th in their #30 Great Clips Chevrolet. In the eleven years since, Newman has since driven for both Richard Childress Racing and Roush-Fenway Racing, recovered from his terrifying crash on the last lap of the 2020 Daytona 500, and won this year’s championship in the Superstar Racing Experience. Newman had also made five Cup starts for Rick Ware Racing, including his most recent last-place finish at Bristol.

Newman would again run the Cup race for Ware at Homestead, but this time as a “double-duty” entrant with the XFINITY Series. As announced on October 5th, he’d drive for Carl Long, against whom Newman competed for – and won – Rookie of the Year in the 2002 Winston Cup Series season. The car would carry sponsorship from returning backer Generx Generators, which was part of Motorsports Business Managements’ strong two-car effort in the 2022 race at Homestead where teammates J.J. Yeley and Timmy Hill qualified 14th and 22nd. Even after a difficult 2023 season for MBM, a strong finish wasn’t out of the question.

Newman joined Homestead’s entry list of 41 drivers for 38 spots, meaning three teams would fail to qualify. After running 28th in practice, Newman had a good lap going in qualifying before a slip dropped him to 24th with a lap of 159.109mph (33.939 seconds). 

Failing to qualify were Matt Mills, who rejoined Emerling-Gase Motorsports in the #53 J.F. Electric Chevrolet, plus double-duty driver J.J. Yeley in his first start with JD Motorsports with the #4 IFCJ.org Chevrolet and Natalie Decker in the #07 Wawa Rechargers Chevrolet for SS-Green Light Racing.

Rolling off 38th and last was C.J. McLaughlin in the #28 Sci Aps Ford, who wasn’t joined by any drivers for pre-race penalties. However, as the green flag dropped, McLaughlin was already 37th on track, his 3.58 second deficit to the leader ahead of new 38th-place runner Patrick Emerling, 3.694 seconds back. Emerling had timed in 36th after a dramatic save in Turns 3 and 4 qualifying his #35 Emerling-Gase Motorsports Chevrolet. Emerling passed McLaughlin back by the end of Lap 1, but both remained just a couple tenths apart. 

By Lap 7, Emerling had dispensed with another RSS Racing entry in Mason Maggio’s #29 Flitz Polish Ford on whom McLaughlin pulled alongside, just 0.073 apart at the stripe. Maggio held him off while McLaughlin was warned by his crew to turn in later through the corner to not overtax the right-front tire. This appeared to help, as by Lap 14, McLaughlin passed both Maggio and Emerling, putting Maggio in last place for the first time. Maggio then set to work on Emerling, and one lap later, they were side-by-side, 0.050 apart. Maggio cleared Emerling, who on Lap 16 had already dropped 0.481 back of the #29. Thus, it was Emerling who on Lap 18 became the first car to fall one lap down.

Meanwhile, Newman had climbed to 19th on Lap 26, when NASCAR black-flagged him for some coming off his Ford. Newman was on pit road by Lap 29, and he promptly took last place on Lap 30 as the crew looked under the car. Team owner Carl Long said the rear gear was burned up, and needed to look it over behind the wall. “I don’t know what to fix,” he said. “Everything’s fucking covered.” The team would later reveal that a piece of debris had struck the rear gear cooler and put a hole in it, spraying oil everywhere under the car and on the rear tires. Miraculously, Newman maintained control as he made it to pit road with the car otherwise undamaged. Regardless, it was a quick announcement from NASCAR on Lap 37 that Newman was the first car out of the race, citing rear gear issues. 

Newman pulls into the garage, done for the day. PHOTO: @EdLovesNASCAR

McLaughlin’s day didn’t go much better. On Lap 38, his #28 dropped off the pace, then started pouring smoke from behind the left-front wheel as he made it to pit road. With a fire in the engine compartment, the driver climbed out unharmed as the crew extinguished the flames, then pushed him behind the wall. Maggio, too, had an extended stop the very next lap as he’d bounced off the wall, though he managed to climb to 33rd before electrical woes ended his afternoon. This put him just outside the Bottom Five ahead of 36th-place Dawson Cram, whose left-rear wheel came loose in Turns 1 and 2, putting his #74 Lerner & Rowe Injury Lawyers Chevrolet into the outside wall. 35th fell to Brett Moffitt, whose strong run in the #25 AM Technical Solutions Ford was spoiled after he was collected by a spinning Chandler Smith in the #16 Quick Tie Products, Inc. Chevrolet. While Moffitt pulled into the garage next to McLaughlin’s car, Smith continued to salvage Playoff points before the engine let go, leaving him 34th. Smith – whose contract was just this week bought out by Toyota – now enters Martinsville in a “must-win” scenario to make the Championship Four.

Kraus and Graf earn solid finishes

After an unusually physical race, Derek Kraus came home a strong 11th, having led 21 laps and won Stage 2 in Kaulig Racing’s #11 Celsius Chevrolet – this in only his seventh series start. Also impressive was Joe Graf, Jr., who rejoined Joe Gibbs Racing in the #19 Wawa Toyota and finished 10th – his fifth career top-ten finish and third of the season, his first since the fall race at Kansas with the same team.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the second-straight last-place finish for the #66 in the XFINITY Series race at Homestead. Last year, J.J. Yeley’s crash after 3 laps put him out of the race.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

38) #66-Ryan Newman / 27 laps / rear gear

37) #28-C.J. McLaughlin / 37 laps / electrical

36) #74-Dawson Cram / 65 laps / crash

35) #25-Brett Moffitt / 97 laps / crash 

34) #16-Chandler Smith / 138 laps / engine

2023 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) SS-Green Light Racing (4)

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

3rd) Big Machine Racing, CHK Racing, DGM Racing, JD Motorsports (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) Ford, Toyota (4)

2023 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP