by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

Ryan Preece picked up the 7th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Wurth 400 at the Dover Motor Speedway when his #41 Morton Building Ford fell out due to a fire after he completed 66 of 400 laps.

The finish, which came in Preece’s 162nd series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since May 29, 2022 at Charlotte, 69 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 4th due to a fire, the 42nd for the #41, and the 742nd for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 4th from fire, the 60th for the #41, and the 1,034th for Ford.

Preece’s most recent last-place finish was in his final points-paying race as Stewart-Haas Racing’s reserve driver, filling in part-time in Rick Ware Racing’s #15 Ford. His patience was rewarded last year, when he took the place of Cole Custer in the #41. As Custer embarked on what became his first XFINITY Series championship, Preece nearly won in his return to the Clash at the Coliseum, leading 43 laps before electrical issues dropped him to 7th. While Preece went on to finish a career-best 23rd in points with a season-best 5th at Richmond, his season is best remembered for his terrifying barrel roll down the Daytona backstretch in August, a wreck that left him with bruises under his eyes. Regardless, he never missed a race that season.

This year, Preece finished a season-best 9th at Martinsville, the first of three finishes of 14th or better that lifted him from 30th to 23rd in points heading into Sunday’s race. After leading a career-best 149 laps last year – excluding his performance at the Clash - he’d yet to lead a lap all year. Morton Buildings joined as sponsor for the first time in 2024. He began the weekend 20th in opening practice, then qualified 28th with a speed of 159.915mph (22.512 seconds).

Securing the 37th and final starting spot was Zane Smith, whose #71 Focused Health Chevrolet cut a tire in practice and backed into the outside wall. Despite heavy damage to the rear of the car, the frame remained intact, so he didn’t need a backup car. He instead incurred a redundant tail-end penalty for unapproved adjustments along with 33rd-place Christopher Bell in the #20 Yahoo! Toyota, who spun in qualifying and grazed his bumper. The hardest hit in practice belonged to 35th-place starter Kaz Grala, whose #15 N29 Capital Partners Ford snapped loose off Turn 4 and smashed head-on into the outside wall. The Rick Ware Racing team rolled out their backup, which remained a flat black in place of Grala’s white-and-green scheme.

When the race started, Smith’s repaired #71 was last across the stripe, 2.962 seconds back of the lead. By the end of the first lap, Smith remained last, 4.566 back of the leader and 0.113 back of Grala’s backup car. Smith closed to within 0.112 on Lap 4, but the gap increased to 0.275 on Lap 7 and 0.324 on Lap 9. By the 13th circuit, Grala had dropped a full 1.207 seconds back of 35th-place runner Corey Heim, making his unexpected Cup debut in the #43 STP / Petty 75th Toyota.

Heim, driving in relief of an injured Erik Jones, ran a paint scheme honoring Richard Petty’s 199th career win at Dover in 1984. Smith then gained on Grala again and finally made his way past on Lap 16, opening up an advantage of 0.394 in a single lap. Over the next few laps, the now 36th-place Smith cut into his deficit to 35th-place Heim, and last-place Grala steadily lost ground. On Lap 18, Grala was 0.981 behind the #71, then 2.004 on Lap 21. The next time by, Grala was first to lose a lap, and Heim inched away from Smith, opening a gap of 1.314 seconds on Lap 27.

It was during this run that the broadcast first reported smoke in the cockpit of Ryan Preece’s #41. In-car footage on Lap 22 showed smoke curling from above the frame rail. The smoke appeared to lessen on Lap 30, but didn’t stop completely. That time by, the car otherwise seemed to be up to speed as he passed Harrison Burton for position. Behind him, Grala was about to lose a second lap when the first caution fell on Lap 38. He reported his car was “very much on top of the racetrack,” and that the right-rear wanted to skate on him.

Coming off Turn 4, Todd Gilliland’s #38 A&W All American Food Ford broke loose running to the inside of Austin Dillon’s #3 Breztri Chevrolet. Gilliland spun and stopped against the inside wall facing the wrong way, losing a lap as the caution fell. He tried to get going again, pointing his car toward the outside wall, but his car couldn’t move due to four flat tires. In a frustrating repeat of Joey Logano’s incident at Pocono last summer, Gilliland was denied a push and was told he’d have to be towed back to pit road. There was a further miscommunication that, if he was towed, he’d be out of the race. Both driver and crew were furious as they continued to lose laps, then watched helplessly as Gilliland’s car was dragged for an entire lap, destroying the underbody of his Ford. By the time Gilliland returned to the track, he was seven laps down, having taken last from Grala on Lap 41. “I don’t want you to beat yourself up over this,” said Gilliland’s crew. “These guys are clowns – we should be two laps down, not ten.”

After the race restarted, Preece’s smoke in the cockpit grew worse. By Lap 62, he’d dropped two laps down in 35th, and the crew radioed, “There’s shit all over the in-car camera. If it’s smoking, then we’ll have to take it to the garage.” Sure enough, streaming footage from NASCAR Drive showed specks of black debris on the lens of the camera, which was positioned just behind the source of the smoke. Prior to that, the lens had been clear. Soon after, NASCAR Drive changed the angle to Preece’s roof, then was shut off completely. “It’s in the door – it’s the foam!” shouted Preece. Around Lap 71, Preece pulled down pit road, then went to the garage, where he called for a fire extinguisher. He took last from Gilliland on Lap 74.

On the 88th circuit, Preece’s crew radioed, “Tony, Mark, we’re done. That melted all the door foam, and we can’t run without any foam in it.” This was followed on Lap 91 by the crew saying, “We need to make sure this door is cool enough before we put it in the hauler.” NASCAR declared Preece the first car out on Lap 95, citing the “exhaust,” but the rest of the message was garbled as it mentioned the foam in the door. NASCAR’s official results listed his reason out as “safety” (which would have been a first among NASCAR last-place finishers), though both NASCAR.com and racing-reference.info listed it as “fire.” Interviewed in the garage, Preece didn’t want to mention the source of the fire, but did express how unnecessary it was, and his concerns that it could have ignited the oil line.

Gilliland’s damaged car managed to climb to 31st by the finish, though by then he was 21 laps down to race winner Denny Hamlin. The first car Gilliland passed was that of his teammate, Michael McDowell, whose #34 The Pete Store Ford slowed down the backstretch, then pulled behind the wall at Turn 1 with a hub failure. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.’s solid run in the #47 Hungry Jack Chevrolet ended with a failed merge into traffic off Turn 2, sending him crashing into the backstretch wall. The day’s biggest pileup completed the group after Tyler Reddick’s #45 McDonald’s Toyota ran below a battling Zane Smith in the #71 and Bubba Wallace in the #23 XFINITY / U.S. Air Force Toyota. This caused Smith and Wallace to make contact, sending Wallace sliding into the path of both William Byron’s #24 Liberty University Chevrolet and Christopher Bell’s #20. Bell and Byron completed the Bottom Five with Bell taking over the 2024 LASTCAR lead from Smith, who finished 24th.

Daniel Hemric earns second-straight top-ten finish

Earing a solid 9th-place finish was Daniel Hemric, whose #31 Poppy Bank Chevrolet prevailed in a tight battle with Corey Heim for the “Lucky Dog” on Lap 252. Inheriting the lead after Stenhouse’s wreck occurred during green-flag stops on Lap 322, Hemric held onto his second-straight top-ten finish and first on a non-superspeedway since February 27, 2022 at Fontana.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked just the second last-place finish for the #41 in a Cup Series race at Dover. The last time it happened was on September 19, 1993, when Phil Parsons’ #41 Manheim Auctions Chevrolet crashed after 10 laps of the SplitFire Spark Plug 500 at Dover.

*Preece is the first driver to finish last in a Cup Series points race with “fire” as the officially listed cause since February 20, 1977, when Bobby Wawak’s #36 Encylopedia Britannica Chevrolet burst into flames after 3 laps of the Daytona 500.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

38) #41-Ryan Preece / 66 laps / fire

37) #34-Michael McDowell / 285 laps / hub

36) #47-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. / 320 laps / crash

35) #20-Christopher Bell / 328 laps / crash

34) #24-William Byron / 329 laps / crash

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Spire Motorsports (3)

2nd) Joe Gibbs Racing, Kaulig Racing, Motorsports Business Management, Penske Racing, RFK Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing (1)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet, Ford (5)

2nd) Toyota (1)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP