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

Josh Bilicki picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s XFINITY 500 at the Martinsville Speedway when his #66 2ONE Pouches Ford fell out with brake issues after 131 of 500 laps.

The finish, which came in Bilicki’s 101st series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since May 2, 2021 at Kansas, 132 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 69th for the #66, the 80th for brakes, and the 754th for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 94th for the #66, the 173rd for brakes, and the 1,055th for Ford.

To date, the 2021 season marks Bilicki’s only full-time campaign in the Cup Series, when he drove the #52 entry for Rick Ware Racing. He’s since run progressively fewer starts in the NextGen era, first for Spire Motorsports in 2022, then Live Fast Motorsports in 2023 before his current efforts with Carl Long’s team, Motorsports Business Management (MBM). Coming into Sunday, he’d made just three previous starts all year, taking 28th on the Chicago Street Course, 34th without power steering for much of the Bristol Night Race, then 29th in the most recent round at the Charlotte “Roval.” That same weekend saw him run his 16th and most recent XFINITY start of the year, where he qualified 4th and tied his career-best 8th-place finish in his second-ever start for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Each of Bilicki’s three previous Cup starts saw Bilicki run a different sponsor, surely a positive sign for the underfunded MBM effort. For Martinsville, Bilicki would debut a new backer in 2ONE brand nicotine patches, which will also back driver Chad Finchum’s effort in the car for next Sunday’s season finale at Phoenix. The one notable difference between Bilicki’s car and Finchum’s is the hood logo on Bilicki’s from Coble Enterprises, a longtime sponsor of MBM driver Timmy Hill. Bilicki began the weekend slowest in opening practice, but improved to rank 18th of 19 drivers in Qualifying Round 1B, securing 35th on the starting grid.

Securing the 37th and final starting spot was Denny Hamlin, whose #11 FedEx One Rate Toyota was the only car to not take time in qualifying. Hamlin was running fastest in opening practice when a chunk of rubber from NASCAR’s new softer compound tires jammed itself in his throttle linkage, hanging it wide open and sending him spinning backwards into the Turn 3 wall. Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing crew spent the rest of the day rebuilding the rear of his car, which was ready by Sunday. The repairs incurred him a redundant tail-end penalty along with unapproved adjustments penalties handed to 24th-place Austin Cindric in the #2 Menards / Cardell Cabinetry Ford and 34th-place Corey LaJoie in the #51 Jacob Construction Ford.

When the green flag dropped, Cindric and LaJoie were directed to trail the outside line, but Hamlin was still last across the stripe, 4.12 seconds back of the lead. By Lap 4, the spot fell to Bilicki, who was 0.584 second behind new 36th-place runner Kaz Grala in the #15 Meat ‘n Bone Ford. Over the next few laps, the gap fluctuated, Bilicki closing to 0.118 on Lap 8, dropping to 0.763 on Lap 14, then 0.947 on Lap 23. Ahead of him, Grala was now locked in a side-by-side battle with his Rick Ware Racing teammate LaJoie, which wasn’t settled until Lap 33, when Bilicki was first to be lapped. Grala had now dropped LaJoie to 36th, and LaJoie’s #51 was lapped on the 44th circuit.

“I’m loose on initial throttle application,” said Bilicki on Lap 48, around the time Harrison Burton apologized for bumping him with the sliding nose of his #21 Motorcraft / Quick Lane Ford. On Lap 61, Bilicki was on the verge of two laps down. Four laps later, Tyler Reddick made a scheduled early stop in his #45 Monster Energy Toyota, planning to split the opening stage. This dropped him to last place, two laps down. Next to pit was polesitter Martin Truex, Jr. on Lap 67, but Truex was caught speeding, forcing him to serve a pass-through that dropped his #19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota to last on Lap 73. “Next time we're gonna pit,” he said. “Give me a heads-up so I can fix my brake bias - under green, that is.” On Lap 79, the spot fell to Chris Buescher, who pitted his #17 BuildSubmarines.com Ford as the green flag stayed out. Seconds later, the caution fell for Christopher Bell, who spun his #20 Mobil 1 Toyota in Turns 1 and 2 after tangling with LaJoie. With that, those who pitted were now trapped laps down.

Just before the restart, Bilicki retook last place on Lap 85. LaJoie made a stop on Lap 94, dropping him behind Bilicki. LaJoie caught and re-passed Bilicki on Lap 109, at which point the #66 was the only driver among the final eight runners to not yet come down pit road. On Lap 114, race leader Chase Elliott passed Bilicki off Turn 2, putting him three laps down, where he was still running when the caution fell to end Stage 1 on Lap 131.

“Wrecking free everywhere - completely different from yesterday,” said Bilicki. “I just need more overall grip everywhere.” Bilicki came to Pit Stall 32 for his first stop, where Carl Long said he’d make adjustments to three of his tires. But Bilicki reported he’d lost his clutch pedal, and now had smoke in the cockpit. The crew looked under the hood as the smoke dissipated. On Lap 140, the crew pushed Bilicki backwards to the garage stall just behind them between Turns 3 and 4, rounding the corner at Pit Stall 33, where Daniel Suarez’ pit was stationed. Bilicki’s car stopped facing the garage exit as the crew continued to work under the hood until Lap 148, when officials directed them to the garage on the backstretch. Bilicki was directed toward the technical inspection tent, but couldn’t get through there.

The team continued to message each other about what to do next, but the spotter had trouble hearing anyone, and Long had reportedly taken off his headset. When Long put his back on, he reported “I will not be able to fix it – we are done.” The crew was finally directed back to their hauler on Lap 158, and were declared out soon after. Bilicki tweeted that, similar to Hamlin’s practice incident, an errant piece of rubber was to blame. This time, a piece of rubber caught fire and melted the clutch line at the firewall, which also ignited the clutch fluid. Rather than risk it catching again, they decided to end their race.

LaJoie made an extended stop of his own for a fire in the dashboard of his #51, but returned to the race long enough to climb to 35th before oil pressure issues ended his run. He passed Harrison Burton, who qualified a surprising 6th and was first reported to have transmission trouble before the results showed he’d lost an engine. Tyler Reddick’s #45 also caught fire in the closing laps, citing brake trouble as the reason for his 34th-place finish. Rounding out the group was Michael McDowell, who in his 500th career Cup start lost ten laps in the race’s second half, leaving the #34 Benebone Ford in 33rd.

Two championship battles await Blaney next Sunday

The race was won by Ryan Blaney, whose #12 Discount Tire Ford took the lead with 15 laps to go in a dramatic three-way tire wear battle with fellow Playoff contenders Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson. Blaney also remains the leader in the 2024 LASTCAR Cup Series Championship as the only driver with three last-place finishes. Now secured his spot in the Championship Four for next Sunday, Blaney now has a chance to become the first driver in the history of NASCAR to win a NASCAR and LASTCAR championship in the same season.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marks a season sweep for Motorsports Business Management, whose #66 entry finished last in the spring race after David Starr had steering issues that stopped him at 311 laps.

*It’s the first time a car number swept both Cup Series last-place runs at Martinsville since 1994, when Jeff Burton had clutch issues after 286 laps on April 24th and blew an engine after 36 laps on September 25th, both times in the Stavola Brothers’ #8 Raybestos Ford. It’s the first time a car number has swept both Cup Series Martinsville last-place finishes with two different drivers.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

37) #66-Josh Bilicki / 131 laps / brakes

36) #21-Harrison Burton / 347 laps / engine

35) #51-Corey LaJoie / 365 laps / oil pressure

34) #45-Tyler Reddick / 458 laps / brakes

33) #34-Michael McDowell / 490 laps / running

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Stewart-Haas Racing (5)

2nd) Motorsports Business Management, Penske Racing (4)

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

4th) Hendrick Motorsports, NY Racing Team, 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 (17)

2nd) Chevrolet (14)

3rd) Toyota (4)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP