PREVIEW: Two tight LASTCAR championship battles and several double-duty drivers on hand for Phoenix finales
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| PHOTO: Emerling-Gase Motorsports, @EG_Motorsports |
by Brock Beard
LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
LASTCAR TRACKSIDE COVERAGE
I'll be closing out my 2023 trackside coverage with this weekend's action from Friday through Sunday - including the close LASTCAR championships in both Trucks and XFINITY. Be sure to follow me on Twitter / X at @LASTCARonBROCK for more updates!
Friday, November 3, 2023 (10:00 P.M. ET, FS1)
TRUCKS Race 23 of 23
Championship Race
Craftsman 150 at Phoenix
2022 Last-Place Finisher: Armani Williams
CHAMPIONSHIP FOUR
#11-Corey Heim
#23-Grant Enfinger
#42-Carson Hocevar
#99-Ben Rhodes
LASTCAR CHAMPIONSHIP SCENARIOS
The current leader in the LASTCAR Truck Series Championship is Josh Reaume, who leads by just one bottom-ten finish over his teammate Keith McGee. McGee is entered while Reaume is not, giving McGee a prime opportunity to clinch the title in the season’s final race. McGee clinches with a last-place finish, no matter where everyone else finishes.
McGee can also win with a Bottom Five if none of the four title contenders below finish in last. If McGee finishes in the Bottom Ten, but not the Bottom Five, and none of the other four title contenders finish last, Reaume takes the title on a bottom-fifteen tiebreaker, 9-4.
These are the four drivers who can win the title by finishing last at Phoenix, no matter where McGee finishes. Greg Van Alst was also on this list, but remains out of the field as he recovers from his Talladega injury. Stephen Mallozzi also had a mathematical shot at the title, but was not entered. Thus, McGee joins these four contenders:
ENTRY LIST
There are 38 drivers entered for 36 spots, meaning two will fail to qualify.
RETURNING: #1-TRICON Garage
Earlier this season at Gateway, Jesse Love made his Truck Series debut in Corey Heim’s truck – a last-minute switch after an illness. Love finished 9th, then returned to his originally scheduled “all-star” #1 entry for Kansas, where he finished 13th. Now with his ARCA Menards Series championship in hand – and Heim competing for the Truck Series title - Love makes his first start since, and on the eve of his graduation to RCR’s XFINITY program. It’s the first run for TRICON’s #1 since team owner David Gilliland’s crash at Talladega left him 35th.
DRIVER CHANGE: #22-AM Racing
Christian Rose seeks to make only his second career start this Friday, his first since a 32nd-place debut with this same AM Racing team in Richmond, where he came home six laps down. Taking the place of Mason Maggio, who finished 27th in Homestead, Rose’s Ford carries sponsorship from the Disability Opportunity Fund.
DRIVER CHANGE: #25-Rackley-W.A.R.
As announced just last month, Stefan Parsons seeks his 11th career Truck Series start and first since a 28th-place run for Young’s Motorsports in Pocono – this time behind the wheel of last year’s Talladega winning Rackley-W.A.R. effort. This will be the best entry Parsons has yet raced in the series where his career-best finish of 17th came in his 2018 series debut at Bristol driving for Jay Robinson, formerly of Premium Motorsports. Parsons takes the place of Trevor Bayne, who steered the #25 to a 14th-place finish in Homestead, and eyes a new career-best. Parsons will also run double-duty with the XFINITY Series (see below).
DRIVER CHANGE: #30-On Point Motorsports
Another driver pulling double-duty with the XFINITY Series will be Chris Hacker who was announced as driver of the On Point #30 effort in place of 26th-place Homestead finisher Jonathan Shafer. This would be Hacker’s 15th career Truck Series start and first since IRP, where he ran 29th with this same team.
DRIVER CHANGE: #33-Reaume Brothers Racing
While the preliminary entry list showed only “TBA,” it was announced early in the week that Keith McGee will return to race at the track where he crashed out early last year in a tangle with Armani Williams. McGee, who has hinted at soon-to-be-announced plans for 2024, will pilot the flagship #33 entry in place of Memphis Villarreal, who ran 29th in Homestead. More Core is the listed sponsor for McGee, who remains locked in a tight battle with team owner Josh Reaume for the 2023 LASTCAR Truck Series Championship.
MISSING: #46-G2G Racing
The aforementioned Armani Williams, the defending last-place finisher of this race, is not entered this week after a 31st-place finish in Homestead. The G2G team announced that last week’s race would be their last for 2023.
RETURNING: #66-ThorSport Racing
Phoenix will mark the ninth career start for Conner Jones, who we last saw piloting ThorSport’s part-time #66 entry back at Bristol, yielding a career-best 15th-place finish.
RETURNING: #75-Henderson Motorsports
A surprising bit of news came from Charlie Henderson’s team, which has rarely competed on the west coast tracks and particularly without XFINITY regular Parker Kligerman. The #75 will make the trip for Sean Hingorani’s second career Truck Series start and first since a 23rd-place run in Hattori Racing Enterprises’ second entry at Milwaukee. Fidelity Capital, which backed him that day, will again sponsor Hingorani's ride the same day he looks to clinch the ARCA West title.
NEW TEAM: #77-Spire Motorsports
On the eve of their formal acquisition of Kyle Busch Motorsports, the Spire team has for the first time entered two Truck Series entries. Alongside Marco Andretti in the #7 comes a returning Derek Kraus, whose stock has been on the rise after a series of strong runs with Kaulig Racing, most recently an 11th last week in Homestead where he led 21 laps. Kraus seeks his third Truck Series start of the year – his first since an equally impressive 8th in Spire’s #7 at Milwaukee – and carries sponsorship from Western States Flooring.
DRIVER CHANGE: #02-Young’s Motorsports
As I revealed in the lead-up to the ARCA Menards Series race at Roseville, Kaden Honeycutt will indeed reunite with Young’s Motorsports for the Phoenix finale, taking the place of 24th-place Homestead finisher Brad Perez. Honeycutt, who has been on a tear in ARCA West since his win in Roseville, last competed in Trucks at Bristol with a 25th-place finish, and in this race last year scored his first career top-ten finish with a 9th for On Point Motorsports.
CUP INVADERS: None
Saturday, November 4, 2023 (7:00 P.M. ET, USA)
XFINITY Race 33 of 33
Championship Race
XFINITY Series Championship at Phoenix
2022 Last-Place Finisher: Dillon Bassett
CHAMPIONSHIP FOUR
#1-Sam Mayer
#7-Justin Allgaier
#20-John Hunter Nemechek
#00-Cole Custer
LASTCAR CHAMPIONSHIP SCENARIOS
Saturday sees the conclusion of an unusually competitive LASTCAR XFINITY Series Championship. Parker Kligerman remains the leader as the only two-time last-place finisher entered in the race, but has so few Bottom Fives (2) and Bottom Tens (2) that 16 one-time last-place finishers could have won the title by finishing last at Phoenix, no matter where Kligerman finishes. Of these, 12 are entered, eliminating Dawson Cram, Gray Gaulding, Patrick Emerling, and Sage Karam:
ENTRY LIST
There are 40 entrants for 38 spots, meaning two will fail to qualify.
DRIVER CHANGE: #4-JD Motorsports
DRIVER SWAP: #08-SS-Green Light Racing
Stefan Parsons completes his double-duty weekend with JD Motorsports – his first start for team owner Johnny Davis since November 2, 2019 at Texas – as he takes the place of 34th-place Martinsville finisher J.J. Yeley in the #4. Jupiter Rings Buffalo Sauce will sponsor the Parsons effort, the 65th of his career. Yeley will also drive, taking the place of 27th-place Martinsville finisher Chad Finchum in SS-Green Light’s #08 Ford with sponsorship from Fan Controlled and Safelite, the result of an online poll that voted him in over challenger Mason Massey.
DRIVER CHANGE: #11-Kaulig Racing
Derek Kraus looks to continue his string of strong runs for Kaulig in the season finale as he takes the place of 11th-place Martinsville finisher Layne Riggs in the #11. This will close a double-duty weekend for Kraus, who is also entered in Spire Motorsports’ second entry for Friday’s Truck Series race.
RETURNING / DRIVER SWAP: #17-Hendrick Motorsports
DRIVER CHANGE: #44-Alpha Prime Racing
As he helps close out GMS Racing’s Truck Series program in a 2020 throwback scheme on Friday, Daniel Dye will also run a third and last XFINITY race for the year in Alpha Prime’s #44, his first since a 21st-place run in Las Vegas. Dye takes the place of one of his GMS teammates in Rajah Caruth, who this weekend gets his chance in elite level equipment as driver of Hendrick Motorsports’ #17 Chevrolet. In anticipation of this opportunity, Caruth has even purchased his own HendrickCars.com merchandise at a track’s souvenir hauler.
DRIVER SWAP: #28-RSS Racing
WITHDREW: #29-RSS Racing
RSS Racing has withdrawn their part-time fourth entry, the #29 which finished last after Kyle Sieg’s blown tire in the early laps at Martinsville. Sieg will move over to the #28 in place of C.J. McLaughlin, who finished an impressive 13th that day.
DRIVER CHANGE: #35-Emerling-Gase Motorsports
DRIVER SWAP: #53-Emerling-Gase Motorsports
Another shuffling of entries comes at the Emerling-Gase program where Joey Gase returns to the #35 with Donate Life Arizona n the car, moving Chris Hacker to the #53 in place of 33rd-place Martinsville finisher Akinori Ogata. Hacker, who closes out a double-duty effort with On Point Motorsports’ Truck Series team on Friday, will carry sponsorship from Morgan & Morgan.
RETURNING / DRIVER CHANGE: #74-CHK Racing
DRIVER SWAP: #07-SS-Green Light Racing
There was originally no driver listed for CHK Racing, which had withdrawn from last week’s action in Martinsville. But that news changed mid-week with word that Brad Perez – who originally thought he’d run his last race of the year – was tabbed to run the #74. Perez seeks his eighth series start and first since his last-place run on the Indianapolis Grand Prix Circuit for Emerling-Gase. Dawson Cram, who last ran for CHK at Homestead where a freak wheel issue resulted in a crash, this time drives SS-Green Light’s #07 with returning sponsorship from Titan Construction. Cram takes the place of Devin Jones, whose first XFINITY start since 2017 resulted in a 37th-place finish.
DRIVER CHANGE: #91-DGM Racing
Kyle Weatherman will make his 109th series start after he wasn’t entered at Martinsville looking to build on his 16th-place run his last time out at Homestead. Then as now he drives for DGM Racing in the #91, taking the place of 23rd-place Martinsville finisher Josh Bilicki. Fanttik is the listed sponsor for Weatherman’s Chevrolet.
CUP INVADERS: None
Sunday, November 5, 2023 (3:00 P.M. ET, NBC)
CUP Race 36 of 36
Championship Race
Cup Series Championship at Phoenix
2022 Last-Place Finisher: Landon Cassill
CHAMPIONSHIP FOUR
#5-Kyle Larson
#12-Ryan Blaney
#20-Christopher Bell
#24-William Byron
LASTCAR CHAMPIONSHIP SCENARIOS
B.J. McLeod secured his third LASTCAR Cup Series championship with his series-leading fifth last-place finish last Sunday in Martinsville.
ENTRY LIST
The season concludes with the Daytona 500 as the only 40-car starting grid in 2023 as Phoenix marks the 23rd time only the 36 Chartered teams arrive at the track. There are no team or driver changes from last week’s Martinsville race.
TODAY IN LASTCAR HISTORY (November 2, 1997): Ricky Craven picked up the 4th last-place finish of his NASCAR Winston Cup Series career when his #25 Budweiser Chevrolet crashed after 39 laps of the Dura Lube 500 Presented by K-Mart at Phoenix. Craven had started last in the 43-car field, then found trouble in Turn 3. Of his 12 career Cup Series last-place finishes, this was the only one he earned while driving for Hendrick Motorsports.
