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

Justin Haley picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas when his #51 Fraternal Order of Eagles Ford finished 17th, but was then disqualified after completing all 68 laps.

The finish, which came in Haley’s 114th series start, was his first of the season and first in Cup since May 23, 2021 – the inaugural race at this same COTA track – 100 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 30th by disqualification, the 32nd for the #51, and the 740th for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 46th for the #51, the 54th by disqualification, and the 1,031st for Ford.

Michael McDowell picked up the 37th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas when his #34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford fell out with steering issues after 51 of 68 laps.

The finish, which came in McDowell’s 471st series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since August 20, 2023 at Watkins Glen, 17 races ago (LINK). In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 26th from steering trouble, the 38th for the #34, and the 740th for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 35th from steering trouble, the 58th for the #34, and the 1,031st for Ford.

Haley’s surprising move from Kaulig Racing’s second car to the flagship Ford at Rick Ware Racing was one of “Silly Season’s” biggest surprises. It also saved the Ware team from losing one of their two Charters, thanks to a judgment call as to the team’s intent to improve its program for 2024. Haley has since been the most outspoken supporter of the team, insisting they are on the cusp of a breakout year. Indeed, Haley was fast in Daytona before late-race damage left him 26th. In the four races following, he’d only once finished worse – a 27th at Las Vegas – finishing each race under power. This included last Sunday’s brutal Bristol race, where he enjoyed his best finish of the young season in 17th. Trey Ryan reported that, in that race, Haley had an average running position of 14.7 while teammate Kaz Grala averaged 18.8, perhaps the best overall performance in the history of RWR. “Don’t overlook us!” Haley tweeted, in part, after that race.

Haley began the weekend 21st of the 39 entrants in opening practice. He then ran solid in Qualifying Round 1B, ranking 7th with his best of three laps coming in at 94.442mph (129.984 seconds). While just short of making the second round, he still secured 13th on the starting grid, by far his best of the young season. This also marked the second time in 2024 he’d carry one of his longtime sponsors in the Fraternal Order of Eagles.

Securing the 39th and final starting spot was fellow Ford driver Noah Gragson, back to the slate grey #10 Rush Truck Centers Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing. Gragson’s qualifying lap was spoiled by Daniel Suarez, whose #99 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet locked his tires in front of him entering Turn 1, causing both cars to overshoot. While Suarez managed to take 19th on the grid, Gragson turned in the day’s slowest lap at 74.014mph (165.860 seconds), a full 24 seconds off the next-slowest car, the #43 Family Dollar Toyota of Erik Jones.

On race day, Gragson was joined in the back by 20th-place Chris Buescher, who needed a new steering rack on his #17 Fastenal Ford, 24th-place Ryan Preece for a valve spring issue under the hood of his #41 HaasTooling.com Ford, and 37th-place Timmy Hill for unapproved adjustments on Motorsports Business Management’s #66 Amptricity Ford. After a sponsorship deal for Matt Jaskol fell through, Hill gave MBM its first Cup start since 2022 with backing from both solid-state battery company Amptricity and Texas-based Stocklin Company trucking. NASCAR instructed Buescher and Preece to line up at the tail end of the right lane behind Jones while Hill slotted in behind Gragson at the end of the left lane. This put Hill by himself on the left side of the final row, trailing the grid of 39 starters.

When the green flag dropped, Hill was still working his way through Turn 20. The left lane got a better run toward the stripe, putting Hill just ahead of Preece at the stripe – Hill’s 6.593 second deficit to the leader against Preece’s 6.639. Buescher held off Hill’s advance in the outside lane, then cut left and banged doors with the charging Preece, leaving Hill behind in 39th.

Further ahead, trouble broke out near the front. Heading into Turn 11 for the first time, Martin Truex, Jr.’s #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota attempted to follow teammate Denny Hamlin’s #11 Interstate Batteries Toyota when Truex found himself in the middle of a three-wide battle between Bubba Wallace’s #23 Mobil 1 Toyota to his left and Corey LaJoie’s #7 Gainbridge Chevrolet to his right. The hole closed, causing Truex to get into LaJoie’s door and swerving LaJoie into the right-front of Wallace, pinning Truex between them. The impact was hard enough to shatter Truex’s right-front wheel. “I just (don’t) understand it,” said Truex. “On the first lap, man.” While LaJoie continued, both Truex and Wallace made unscheduled stops on Lap 2. Both drivers’ stalls were on opposite ends of the start / finish line, moving Wallace to 38th with one lap complete while Truex had yet to finish the circuit. Both immediately lifted Hill to 37th with Wallace 38th and the now 39th-place Truex showing 35.666 seconds back of the lead, 12.991 behind Wallace.

By the end of Lap 3, Truex had caught and passed Wallace, opening an 8.096-second gap by the time the two crossed the stripe. Wallace was now 51.837 seconds back of the lead while Truex reeled in new 36th-place runner Harrison Burton, who spun his #21 Motorcraft Ford at Turn 1. Still feeling something wrong in the rear of his car, Wallace fell 10.978 seconds back of Truex on Lap 4, and Burton climbed past Hill, dropping the #66 back to 37th. On Lap 5, Wallace was 13.210 seconds behind 38th-place Truex. That time by, John Hunter Nemechek was first to be black-flagged for short-cutting the course in his #42 Romco Equipment Co. Toyota, though it wasn’t until after NASCAR waved the “stop scoring” flag that he served the penalty, dropping him to 36th on Lap 6. Hill then dropped to 38th on Lap 7 with Wallace now closing in, 10.737 seconds behind. The next time by, Wallace cut the deficit to 4.804 seconds, then on Lap 9 was within sight of Hill’s bumper, just 0.986 second ahead. Wallace completed the pass, and by Lap 10 was already 5.976 seconds in front of Hill’s Ford.

Team owner Carl Long relayed a message through the spotter asking Hill how the car felt. The driver didn’t respond at first, and the deficit to 38th-place Wallace continued to grow. It was 13.022 seconds on Lap 11, 20.146 on Lap 12, then 14.256 on Lap 13, when Wallace caught and passed Nemechek, putting the #42 back to 38th. Hill didn’t pit during this time, and instead started to catch Nemechek, who was now 7.689 ahead of him on Lap 14, then 8.608 on Lap 15. The next time by, when the caution fell to end Stage 1, Hill radioed that he needed to be tightened up on the left-hand corners and called for a bottle of water, but otherwise said the car was fine. Long prepared to go two rounds down in the left-rear on their stop. Hill made his stop by Lap 17, receiving a set of two-lap scuffed tires so he could run stickers the rest of the way. That time by, last place switched to Austin Cindric. Cindric qualified 11th in his #2 Discount Tire Ford, but in the early laps rear-ended Corey LaJoie’s #7, caving in the nose and damaging the inlet to the airbox. Bear-bond was applied to his hood and the vents were cleared as best the team could manage, though they said they wouldn’t function as well the rest of the race. Wallace made an extended stop of his own for further repairs from the first-lap tangle, and both he and Cindric went to the tail end of the longest line for pitting on a closed pit road.

On the Lap 19 restart, Cindric zipped under Hill on the approach to Turn 1, putting Hill back into last place. Back around again to start Lap 20, Hill and his scuffed tires were 3.987 seconds behind new 38th-place runner Daniel Hemric in the #31 Cirkul Chevrolet. After his repairs, Bubba Wallace had climbed back to around 33rd place when he spun out, dropping him back to last place on Lap 21, 4.562 seconds behind Hill. Wallace cleared minimum speed and once again set after Hill, who by Lap 22 had built an 18.102-second gap over his Toyota. On Lap 23, Wallace was again on the charge, cutting the gap to 9.655 seconds, then 1.701 on Lap 24. The next time by, Wallace had again passed Hill, and now opened a gap of 6.602 seconds. Wallace then cleared Suarez’ #99, penalized for speeding in Section 1 on pit road, moving Wallace to 37th.

On Lap 28, the new 38th-place runner was Kamui Kobayashi, making his first start of the year and second of his Cup career in 23XI Racing’s #50 Mobil 1 Toyota. Reminiscent of his debut at Indianapolis last summer, Kobayashi spun due to contact from Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. in the #47 Palmolive Chevrolet, dropping both back in the order. Back running again, Hill found himself 8.687 seconds behind Kobayashi, but only until Lap 29, when the spot fell to Michael McDowell. McDowell had made an early stop in his #34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford which dropped him to 37th, and he now fell to 38th as he reported a loss of power steering. Hill’s crew informed him of this as he quickly caught McDowell’s floundering Ford. On Lap 30, Hill got by off Turn 20 and inched ahead by 0.380 second at the stripe. McDowell managed to reach the end of Stage 2 the next time by, but by then had lost 11.832 seconds to Hill.

Under the yellow, McDowell pulled into his stall – the second from the entrance ahead of that belonging to Ross Chastain – and the crew looked under the hood, soon removing the air cleaner to diagnose the steering issue. The team found the steering rack had come loose from the chassis, so they tried to re-attach it while also refilling the fluid. McDowell returned to the track on Lap 32, but still had no power steering. The repair did, however, fix a “slop” sensation he had in the steering just before the caution. Already one lap down on the verge of a second, McDowell was told by his crew he’d have to make do until the next caution. He took the green on Lap 34 to begin the final stage, but two laps later was pulling left on the frontstretch to let the leaders by, putting him a second lap down.

McDowell was also the first driver to be lapped, soon joined by Hemric’s #31, which reported issues with the oil and water pressure, and Josh Berry, whose #4 Overstock.com Ford had a lengthy stop after a spin. On Lap 38, McDowell pitted under green for four tires and fuel, then another look under the hood. The crew now discovered a hole in the power steering line. Unlike a similar issue in Saturday’s Truck Series race, the peculiar design of the NextGen car prevented the line from being replaced – it could only be plugged. McDowell re-fired the engine on Lap 41 and returned to the track a full six laps down. With no one out of the race, the crew still hoped they could gain some more spots by the checkered flag. On Lap 43, they estimated he’d lose between two and three more laps by the checkered flag. McDowell continued to muscle his car around the track, but struggled to maintain a competitive pace. He was seven laps down on Lap 47. “Yeah, my fun meter’s pegged,” said McDowell on Lap 51. “But I’m doing my best.” On Lap 53, race leader William Byron sped past on his right to put him an eighth lap behind. The next time by, Chase Elliott spun his #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet in front of him, causing McDowell to jam on his failing brakes. The two somehow avoided contact, but McDowell was now nine laps down with just 14 to go.

On Lap 59, McDowell came down pit road and stopped, waiting for the field to come by. He then returned to the track and came back in on Lap 62. The team waited to see if anyone would fall out, but on Lap 63, they told McDowell to pull into the garage. The driver entered the next opening, drove past the hauler, and entered the stall across from its lowering liftgate. The team shut the car’s NASCAR Drive camera off the next time by, when there were just four laps to go. No other cautions fell, and no other drivers joined McDowell in the garage. In fact, Justin Haley went on to enjoy a solid afternoon, running 11th in the final ten laps before he slipped to 17th at the checkered flag. This still matched his best run of the year last week in Bristol.

But in post-race inspection, Haley’s car was found to be below the minimum weight requirement, leading to his disqualification. The DQ lifted McDowell – the race’s only retiree – to 38th spot behind Hemric, Hill, and Berry. This nudged Noah Gragson out of the Bottom Five and Kamui Kobayashi out of the Bottom Ten. In so doing, McDowell was saved from what would have been his 40th career last-place finish in NASCAR’s top three series, breaking a tie with Derrike Cope and J.J. Yeley for the fourth-most all-time.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for the #51 in a Cup Series race since September 16, 2023, when Ryan Newman’s turn in the #51 Biohaven Ford ended with crash damage after 260 laps around Bristol. The number had never before finished last in a Cup race at COTA, though Haley did in the 2021 inaugural.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

39) #51-Justin Haley / 68 laps / running

38) #34-Michael McDowell / 51 laps / steering

37) #31-Daniel Hemric / 66 laps / running

36) #66-Timmy Hill / 66 laps / running

35) #4-Josh Berry / 67 laps / running

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Spire Motorsports (2)

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

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet, Ford (3)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP