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

Austin Dillon picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s South Point 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway when his #3 Boot Barn Chevrolet crashed after 61 of 201 laps.

The finish, which came in Dillon’s 405th series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup race since September 24, 2023 at Texas, 39 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 20th for the #3, the 678th from a crash, and the 863rd for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 32nd for the #3, the 1,398th from a crash, and the 1,966th for Chevrolet.

After the worst season of his Cup career last year saw him rank just 29th in the point standings, Dillon and the fabled #3 team continued to struggle for much of this year. He only earned the occasional top-ten finish, taking 8th in Texas and 6th in Gateway, and after the first 22 races of the season ranked even worse – a distant 32nd in points.

But the next race at Richmond saw NASCAR test multiple tire compounds, and the Richard Childress Racing team with surprising speed. Dillon led his first laps of the season, and in the late stages was in position to win the race outright. But a late-race caution led to a chaotic overtime finish where Dillon wrecked both Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin off the final corner. The now pyrrhic victory didn’t come with a Playoff spot, however, as NASCAR allowed him to keep the win, but not the bid at the title. In the nine races since, he’s only scored one more top-ten finish – an 8th two weeks ago in Talladega.

In Vegas, Dillon began the weekend with solid speed, ranking 17th in practice, then securing 7th in Qualifying Round 1B with a lap of 29.269 seconds (184.496mph), securing 13th on the starting grid. It was Dillon’s best qualifying run on a non-superspeedway since Michigan, where he started 10th in August.

Securing the 37th and final starting spot was Playoff contender Ryan Blaney, who during practice blew a tire on his #12 Menards / Great Stuff Ford entering Turn 1, then smacked the outside wall with the driver’s side. Blaney was uninjured, but his crew was left scrambling to prepare the backup, working until late Saturday night and on the first part of race morning. No other drivers incurred pre-race penalties, so Blaney’s redundant move to the tail end of the field left him 37th and last on race day, 3.232 seconds back of the lead at the green flag.

By the end of Lap 1, the spot fell to Shane Van Gisbergen, the last-place finisher of the XFINITY race the day before, when his #16 Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Chevrolet came just nine-thousandths of a second short of beating Blaney to the line. That gap increased to 0.523 second on Lap 3, when Blaney climbed up another spot to 35th, passing Cody Ware’s #15 Evel Knievel / Parts Plus / Pronto Ford. The gap increased to 0.813 on Lap 5, then dropped to 0.439 on Lap 9. By Lap 13, Ware had fallen 1.222 seconds back of new 35th-place runner Harrison Burton in the #21 Dex Imaging Ford, but was still a half-second ahead of Van Gisbergen. On Lap 27, Van Gisbergen drew to within two-tenths of Ware’s bumper, but by then, both had lost too much time to the leaders. On Lap 29, both were quickly lapped by then-leader Christopher Bell.

Soon after, green-flag stops began, shuffling the tail end of the order. On Lap 33, the spot fell to Michael McDowell’s #34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford, which pitted along with Brad Keselowski’s #6 King’s Hawaiian Ford and Chase Briscoe’s #14 Texas A&M University Ford. McDowell dropped Briscoe to last on Lap 36, when the #14 was handed a safety violation for his stop, incurring a pass-through. Briscoe still climbed to 36th on Lap 37 as teammate Ryan Preece pitted his #41 Bonanza Cabernet Ford, then reached 33rd on Lap 38, when Jimmie Johnson took the spot in his #84 Dollar Tree / Family Dollar Toyota. That time by, Briscoe served his pass-through, dropping him two laps down as he retook last from Johnson. Van Gisbergen made his stop soon after, but only slipped to 36th ahead of Briscoe. Ware pitted after Van Gisbergen, and on Lap 43 took the 36th spot himself, splitting Van Gisbergen from Briscoe. By Lap 55, Briscoe was still in last place, and now scored between two and three laps down. He was still in that spot when the first caution fell.

On Lap 64, Austin Dillon was running mid-pack ahead of Daniel Hemric in the #31 South Point Hotel and Casino Chevrolet. Entering Turn 3, Hemric appeared to look to Dillon’s inside for a pass just as Dillon moved to the low lane. Hemric then bumped Dillon squarely in the rear bumper, causing Dillon to slip up the track, then cut hard to the right. Dillon smashed the outside wall with the right-front, then ground to a stop on the apron. His window net was already down, the driver able to climb out under his own power, gesturing at Hemric as he passed by. Both Dillon and team owner Richard Childress were uncertain what led to Hemric bumping into him, though replays seemed to show both drivers committing to the same lane at the wrong time. Dillon took last from Briscoe on Lap 65, and the car was towed behind the wall.

The rest of the Bottom Five was completed by a grinding five-car accident on Lap 89, which began with a three-wide battle between Martin Truex, Jr.’s #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, Chase Elliott’s #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, and Tyler Reddick’s #45 Jordan Brand Toyota. Running the outside lane, Reddick’s hole closed, bouncing him into both Elliott and a nearby Brad Keselowski. As the three careened down the banking, Reddick’s car skated across the infield grass, then caught air over the paved bullring, sending him into a slow flip. Keselowski, meanwhile, collected Blaney’s backup car, which also flicked teammate Austin Cindric’s #2 AutoTrader Ford into a spin. Keselowski and Reddick were done for the day with Cindric soon to follow after his “Crash Clock” expired. Elliott reached minimum speed, then spent around 20 laps in the garage for additional repairs before late-race suspension issues kept him 33rd, one spot back of Blaney.

Nemechek and LaJoie run well in Vegas

John Hunter Nemechek earned only his fourth top-ten finish of 2024 when his #42 Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota came home a strong 9th, his best run since Loudon. Meanwhile, the swapped drivers of Corey LaJoie and Justin Haley also enjoyed strong runs. Haley battled into the Top Ten at one point before he settled back in 17th, his #7 Gainbridge Chevrolet three spots behind LaJoie’s #51 Mighty Fire Breaker Ford. LaJoie has now finished 18th or better in three of his last four Cup starts for Rick Ware Racing.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for the #3 in a Cup Series race at Las Vegas.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

37) #3-Austin Dillon / 61 laps / crash

36) #6-Brad Keselowski / 89 laps / crash

35) #45-Tyler Reddick / 89 laps / crash / led 9 laps / won stage 1

34) #2-Austin Cindric / 96 laps / dvp

33) #9-Chase Elliott / 230 laps / suspension

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Stewart-Haas Racing (5)

2nd) Penske Racing (4)

3rd) Joe Gibbs Racing, Kaulig Racing, Motorsports Business Management, Spire Motorsports (3)

4th) Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Trackhouse Racing (2)

5th) Front Row Motorsports, Legacy Motor Club, RFK Racing (1)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Ford (16)

2nd) Chevrolet (12)

3rd) Toyota (4)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP