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

Josh Berry picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at the World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway when his #4 Overstock.com Ford crashed after 109 of 240 laps.

The finish came in Berry’s 27th series start. In the Cup Series rankings, it was the 44th for the #4, the 668th from a crash, and the 744th for Ford. Across the top three series, it was the 73rd for the #4, the 1,038th for Ford, and the 1,378th by a crash.

Coming into Sunday’s race, Berry, the late model star turned XFINITY Series standout for JR Motorsports – had just earned a 10th-place finish in the rain shortened Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte. This marked his fifth consecutive finish of 16th or better, including a season-best 3rd at Darlington, one spot short of his career-best 2nd at Richmond last year, when he drove in relief of Chase Elliott. It was a solid stretch for the rookie, who last year was announced as the replacement for the retiring Kevin Harvick, easily the winningest driver in the history of Stewart-Haas Racing. But that news immediately overshadowed on Tuesday with confirmation of a startling rumor: SHR would shut down at the end of 2024, and three of its four Charters were already claimed by other multi-car teams.

With the news now public, Berry would be one of three SHR drivers sponsored by Overstock.com, joined by Chase Briscoe and Ryan Preece, while Noah Gragson brought back his bright green Servpro Ford. Among the only 36 Chartered entries to make the trip to St. Louis, Berry ran 20th in practice, which was combined into a single 30-minute session due to rain in the area. He then qualified 29th with a lap of 136.484mph (32.971 seconds).

Securing the 36th and final starting spot was Zane Smith, whose #71 Focused Health Chevrolet turned in the slowest lap of the session at 134.650mph (33.420 seconds). With no drivers sent to the tail end of the field for pre-race inspection penalties, Smith remained the last car across the stripe, 3.032 seconds back of the lead to 35th-place Todd Gilliland’s 3.028 in the #38 Ruedebusch Ford.

At the end of Lap 1, Smith was still locked side-by-side with Gilliland, who took over last by just 0.013 second. Then on Lap 3, John Hunter Nemechek spun his #42 Bommarito.com Toyota off Turn 2, and Cody Ware had to spin his #15 Jacob Construction Ford to avoid a crash. Both continued without serious damage, dropping Ware to last under the ensuing caution. Ware remained in last as both he and Nemechek pitted along with Gilliland and the #31 Poppy Bank Chevrolet of Daniel Hemric. With no clear damage, Ware dropped Nemechek to last on Lap 7, and the #42 remained in 36th for the Lap 8 restart, 0.634 second back of Ware.

By Lap 10, Nemechek dropped Ware back to last, but on Lap 14, Ware caught Hemric and Gilliland in a three-wide battle off Turn 4 that put Hemric to last by just 0.066 second. Ware pulled ahead of the pair, who remained door-to-door on Lap 15, Hemric just 0.065 behind Gilliland. Gilliland shook Hemric free the next time by, only for the caution to fall a moment later. Ware had spun off Turn 2 again, this time after making contact with the left-rear of Derek Kraus’ #16 Kafka Conveyors Chevrolet. Ware lost a lap as he got back up to speed and remarked under yellow that, “every time I give it gas, it just dies again.” He took over last place on Lap 17, and remained there for the ensuing restart.

As Ware reeled in the tail end of the field, he again found himself locked in a tight battle, now in the middle of a three-wide battle with Kraus and another driver. The team advised him to “not do anything silly” and focus on reaching the end of Stage 1. He did, making it to the next yellow on Lap 46, when he earned his lap back as the Lucky Dog. During that run, Ware’s team said the car was “plowing like a dump truck” off Turn 2, which was where they were losing time.

Now on the lead lap, Ware dropped Carson Hocevar to last on Lap 51, beginning a frantic battle for the 36th spot. One year after a brake failure left him in last place, spoiling a strong charge to 16th in his Cup Series debut, Hocevar only held the spot briefly in the #77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet, dropping Ware back to last after addressing the Choose Cone on Lap 54. On the restart, Ware inched ahead of Hocevar in another door-to-door battle by 0.023 second, but Hocevar dropped Ware to last the next time by and opened a gap of 0.218. Hocevar also dispensed with Hemric, who on Lap 58 was now side-by-side with Ware, separated by 0.070. Ware pulled ahead of Hemric by 0.238 on Lap 59, then caught and passed Corey LaJoie in the #7 Chili’s Catch-a-Rita Chevrolet. Coming around for Lap 60, LaJoie dropped back further, and was alongside Hemric, separated by 0.043. Hemric inched ahead of LaJoie on Lap 51, but LaJoie dropped Hemric to last again on Lap 62, this time by 0.039. Hemric stayed within two-tenths of 35th-place LaJoie through Lap 70, when LaJoie dropped Ware back to 35th. Hemric then reeled in Ware once more, catching him on Lap 80 and inching ahead by 0.072. This time, Ware lost ground to Hemric, falling 0.475 behind on Lap 82 and 0.558 by Lap 87.

Green-flag stops then shuffled the order, starting with Gilliland’s stop on Lap 92 that put him in 36th. Ware made his stop on Lap 93, right as Josh Berry was penalized for running too fast in Section 16. Berry had also slowed briefly in the race’s early stages, but the broadcast failed to show or follow-up on this. Berry fell off the lead lap serving his penalty, but on Lap 96, the spot fell to Kraus after his own stop, leaving Berry on the same lap in 35th. On Lap 101, scoring reset to show Kraus just one lap down, and Berry climbed past Ware into 34th. Kraus dropped Ware to last an instant later. The #15 remained in 36th on Lap 109, when Martin Truex, Jr. slowed from the 11th spot for a flat left-rear tire on his #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota. The resulting stop dropped Truex to last on Lap 110, and he returned to the track between two and three laps down.

On Lap 112, mere seconds after Truex left pit road, Berry cut down a left-front tire entering Turn 3, perhaps the result of a brake failure. The car skated sideways into the turn and slammed the outside wall, drawing the caution flag. Berry took last from Truex on Lap 113, just as he climbed from the car, done for the day. On Lap 118, the #4 was towed behind the wall, where the truck stopped for a few minutes. It wasn’t until Lap 121 that the truck started rolling again, and another two laps before it came to the team’s hauler. NASCAR declared him the first car out on Lap 132.

After leading 15 laps when he and teammate Austin Dillon embarked on their own strategy, Kyle Busch finished 35th after a tangle with Kyle Larson’s #5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet. Coming off Turn 4, the two made contact, then continued into Turn 1, where Larson lost control and bumped Busch into the outside wall. Martin Truex, Jr. never recovered from his flat tire and finished 34th, still three laps down at the finish. Cody Ware took 33rd, one lap ahead of Truex, but one lap behind 32nd-place Corey LaJoie.

Hocevar and Haley impress in Gateway sprint

One year after his surprising debut, Carson Hocevar returned to Gateway and earned a career-best 8th-place finish, besting his previous mark of 10th in his first career top-ten run back at Texas. One spot behind him came Justin Haley, who steered Rick Ware Racing’s #51 MotoRad Ford to a 9th-place finish, matching his season-best run from Darlington two races ago. It’s the first time in RWR’s history that they’ve finished in the Top Ten in two of three straight races.

Joe Laracuente caught up with Rick Ware after the race. “Yeah, I'm really, really happy with the progress the team is doing,” said Ware. “Justin put some blocks on some guys and protected his Top 10, and he was 12th, 11th, and 10th. The guy is a fighter and it's just a great weekend for RWR. . .We just keep reinvesting and it's starting to pay off and we've got good infrastructure. The cars are good when they unload off the haulers and we just keep fighting and just keep trying and Justin is just doing a fantastic job.”

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This was Berry’s first last-place finish in any of NASCAR’s top three series – 133 in total between 27 in Cup, 95 in XFINITY, and 11 in Trucks.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

36) #4-Josh Berry / 109 laps / crash

35) #8-Kyle Busch / 139 laps / crash / led 15 laps

34) #19-Martin Truex, Jr. / 237 laps / running / led 1 lap

33) #15-Cody Ware / 238 laps / running

32) #7-Corey LaJoie / 239 laps / running

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Spire Motorsports (3)

2nd) Penske Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing (2)

3rd) Joe Gibbs Racing, Kaulig Racing, Legacy Motor Club, Motorsports Business Management, RFK Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Rick Ware Racing (1)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Ford (7)

2nd) Chevrolet (5)

3rd) Toyota (2)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP