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

Corey LaJoie picked up the 11th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at the Richmond Raceway when his #7 Gainbridge Chevrolet finished under power, completing 404 of 407 laps.

The finish, which came in LaJoie’s 243rd series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since June 5, 2022 at Gateway, 64 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 42nd while finishing under power, the 46th for the #7, and the 854th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 55th for the #7, the 56th while running, and the 1,933rd for Chevrolet.

It was not long after Gateway in 2022 that LaJoie nearly broke through with his first career Cup victory at Atlanta, leading 19 laps in the closing stages before a block from Chase Elliott left him wrecked out in 21st. He and the Spire Motorsports team finished the year with Top 20 finishes in seven of the remaining 17 races, then improved to a career-best 25th in points in 2023. That year saw him pick up the first of three career-best 4th-placce finishes in his return to Atlanta, followed by Talladega and this year’s Daytona 500. LaJoie’s 500 performance also drew the final caution when he made contact with Austin Cindric as the leaders took the white flag.

Now teamed with rookie drivers Carson Hocevar (#77) and Zane Smith (#71), LaJoie came to Richmond with no other finishes better than his 13th in Atlanta, including a crash midway through Phoenix. He did, however, earn a surprising 5th-place qualifying effort the previous week at COTA, a track where he’d never started better than 25th in his previous three attempts. He came home 24th.

LaJoie was among the only 36 Chartered entries which arrived in Richmond, and he ranked 33rd in opening practice. He then ran 11th-fastest in Qualifying Round 1B, which placed him 21st on the grid with a lap of 120.897mph (22.333 seconds).

Securing the 36th and final starting spot was Justin Haley, whose #51 Walmart Health & Wellness Ford put up the slowest overall time at 117.356mph (23.007 seconds). No drivers were sent to the back for pre-race penalties, so Haley took the green flag to the outside of his Rick Ware Racing teammate Kaz Grala in the #15 N29 Capital Partners Ford. Equipped with NASCAR’s wet-weather package on a damp race track, Haley pulled ahead of Grala by the stripe, crossing the line 3.226 seconds behind the leader to Grala’s 3.441. By the end of Lap 1, Grala was still last while Haley had climbed to 33rd.

So began an intense race-long battle for last place.

On Lap 3, the spot fell to Daniel Hemric, but his #31 LA Golf Chevrolet was locked in a side-by-side battle with Grala, the two separated by just 0.057 second at the stripe. The next time by, both dropped Carson Hocevar to last, though his #77 Delaware Life Chevrolet was likewise side-by-side with Grala and trailed by just 0.093. Hemric retook the spot on Lap 6, but was still 0.052 behind Hocevar. Hocevar then shook off Hemric, opening a gap of 0.254 on Lap 7. That is, until Hemric again caught Hocevar on Lap 13, his #31 back alongside, just 0.032 behind.

On Lap 14, both Chevrolets dropped Michael McDowell to last for the first time, his #34 Long John Silver’s Ford a full 0.483 second back of Hemric. That gap grew to 0.939 on the 17th go-round, at which point Hemric’s teammate Ty Dillon in the #16 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet fell to 35th. McDowell reeled in the Kaulig Racing teammates, closing to within 0.292 on Lap 20, then dropped Dillon’s #16 to last on Lap 23, opening a gap of 0.791 second. Dillon was now struggling with a tight condition that caused him to fall 1.478 back of McDowell by Lap 25. He was saved by the competition caution on Lap 30, at which point NASCAR had teams switch back to dry tires. The caution lasted nearly 20 laps, including a series of non-competitive pit stops, keeping Dillon in last during the exchange.

The race restarted on Lap 49, at which point Dillon battled Erik Jones in the #43 Dollar Tree Toyota. Dillon dropped Jones to last on Lap 50, but Jones surged back to 34th the next time by, dropping Dillon back to last with McDowell again in 35th, 0.129 ahead of Dillon’s Chevrolet. Dillon then waged war with McDowell, the pair 0.099 apart on Lap 53. McDowell pulled away, then dropped LaJoie’s #7 to 35th on Lap 57. Dillon immediately battled LaJoie, resulting in three straight laps of side-by-side racing. On the 57th circuit, Dillon was just 0.013 second back of LaJoie, then 0.030 on Lap 58 and 0.065 on Lap 59. Dillon then inched ahead on Lap 61, but even then, LaJoie was just 0.047 behind. It wasn’t until Lap 62 that Dillon opened up a gap of 0.243, only for the caution to fall two laps later.

The yellow came out for Daniel Suarez, whose #99 Quaker State Chevrolet was bumped into a Turn 1 spin by Josh Berry’s #4 SunnyD Ford. Suarez took last from LaJoie on Lap 65, at which point LaJoie said he felt like his right-front tire was going down. “Just got a lot of cars to pass,” said Suarez’ crew over the radio. “I think we have a good enough car to do it.” While ending Stage 1 under caution, NASCAR elected to return to competitive pit stops, during which on Lap 75 Hemric retook last place. Hemric remained in last place for the Lap 80 restart, then cut under teammate Ty Dillon, who on Lap 81 was just 0.048 ahead. The two were still side-by-side on Lap 83, separated by just 0.039, before Hemric dropped Dillon to last by just under two-tenths on Lap 85. LaJoie then plummeted to the back again, 0.013 back of Dillon on Lap 86, but LaJoie inched back ahead on Lap 87 for the closest margin of the race – just one-thousandth of a second – putting Dillon back to 36th. Dillon ultimately prevailed on Lap 89, and this time opened up a gap of 0.282 second.

On Lap 92, LaJoie said the “left-front’s really bad,” though he remained within about two-tenths of 35th place for the next several laps. After Lap 94, this was Hemric, who Dillon had re-passed that time by. “The front doesn’t turn, buddy,” said LaJoie on Lap 114, by which point his gap to Hemric had grown to 0.882, and his deficit to the leader was just over 23 seconds. It wasn’t until Lap 120 that LaJoie was the first to be lapped by then-leader Kyle Larson, who pulled ahead off Turn 4. The first round of green-flag stops followed, shaking up the running order. On Lap 123, the spot went to Brad Keselowski in the #6 BuildSubmarines.com Ford. McDowell retook it on Lap 125, then Hemric on Lap 126 with LaJoie falling to 35th on Lap 130. Ty Dillon climbed to 14th before he, too pitted, dropping him to last on Lap 152. Haley retook the spot on Lap 161. By then, much of the field had split into one of two different pit strategies.

But on Lap 171, NASCAR jumped the gun on throwing a caution for Kyle Busch’s glancing off the Turn 2 wall in his #8 Rebel Bourbon Chevrolet. A frustrated Haley commented on his #51, saying, “Dude, it’s awful – it’s not the same race car.” McDowell reassumed last place on Lap 170, having been on pit road at the moment of Busch’s caution. “Debris caution while we’re on pit road,” his crew said. “That’s super convenient.” As scoring reset, McDowell was shown two laps down and on the same lap as the now 35th-place Haley. On Lap 176, Ryan Preece briefly held 36th in his #41 United Rentals Ford followed by Grala on Lap 177, just before the race restarted the next time by. Grala held down last place until Lap 194, when he dropped Haley to 36th once more. LaJoie slipped back to 35th on Lap 203, then LaJoie climbed past new 35th-place runner Harrison Burton’s #21 Dex Imaging Ford on Lap 226. Haley remained in last on Lap 231, when the caution fell again to conclude Stage 2.

Under the Stage 2 caution, Haley reported something felt broken in the right-front of his Ford, and he then received a redundant tail-end penalty for improper fueling on his ensuing stop. Haley took the Lap 241 restart in last place, then dropped LaJoie to last again on Lap 248. LaJoie reported some raindrops on Lap 280, but NASCAR soon determined it was not enough to draw a caution flag. On Lap 284, LaJoie was running the high lane off Turn 4 as the leaders rushed by to put him a third lap down. Another round of green-flag stops followed, dropping Grala to last on Lap 291, then LaJoie again on Lap 292 after his own stop. “You wanna hear something really messed up?” asked someone on LaJoie’s team on Lap 308. “We ran the 11th fastest lap of the race.”

On Lap 320, with 80 to go in regulation, LaJoie’s other teammate Zane Smith suddenly dropped to 35th after a lengthy stop on his #71 Focused Health Chevrolet. The stop dropped Smith three laps down, putting him on the same circuit as LaJoie. Hemric took 35th from Smith on Lap 340, but LaJoie remained in last through his final stop on Lap 345, at which point he was shown nearly four laps down. Both Haley and Burton had also pitted on the same lap as LaJoie, putting Haley in 35th now and Burton in 34th, moving both Hemric and Smith up the rankings. With two laps to go, Smith had retaken 35th from Haley, moving the #51 up with Burton, when the fifth caution of the night came out for Kyle Larson’s spin from 3rd place.

The race went into overtime, seven laps past the scheduled 400-lap distance. At the checkered flag, LaJoie and Smith remained three laps down in the final two positions. Burton took 34th with Haley 32nd as Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. slipped to 33rd in his #47 Kroger / NOS Energy Drink Chevrolet.

In all, last place in Sunday’s race was traded 27 times between 11 drivers with at least a dozen laps seeing 35th and 36th separated by less than one-tenth of a second. LaJoie made the winning “pass” on Lap 292 with 108 laps to go in regulation.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for the #7 in a Cup Series race at Richmond since September 9, 2000, when Michael Waltrip’s #7 Philips Light Bulbs Chevrolet crashed after 30 laps of the Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400.

*The 404 laps LaJoie completed set a new record for most laps run by a last-place finisher of a Cup Series race at Richmond. Incredibly, this bested the old mark of exactly 400 laps, when 4th-place finisher Erik Jones was disqualified on September 21, 2019.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

36) #7-Corey LaJoie / 404 laps / running

35) #71-Zane Smith / 404 laps / running

34) #21-Harrison Burton / 405 laps / running

33) #47-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. / 405 laps / running

32) #51-Justin Haley / 405 laps / running

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Spire Motorsports (3)

2nd) Kaulig Racing, Penske Racing, RFK Racing, Rick Ware Racing (1)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet (4)

2nd) Ford (3)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP