CUP: Sour engine forces B.J. McLeod behind the wall early at Indianapolis

Written By Brock Beard

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

PHOTO: Colby Evans, @StartAndParkCar

B.J. McLeod picked up the 15th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when his #66 Coble Enterprises Ford lost the engine after 15 of 167 laps.

The finish, which came in McLeod’s 141st series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since October 29, 2023 at Martinsville, 23 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 68th for the #66, the 721st from an engine, and the 747th for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 92nd for the #66, the 1,043rd for Ford, and the 1,143rd from engine trouble.

Near the conclusion of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, McLeod made the decision to sell off his Charter for Live Fast Motorsports, and parted ways with team co-owner Matt Tifft. As to his decision, McLeod cited disappointment with the week-to-week grind of the season. With NASCAR’s restrictions on practice, his team made the right adjustments on race day, but by the had often lost too much ground on track to earn a good finish. As an “open” team owner, he’d be able to focus on the sport’s biggest races, which has immediately paid off. At Daytona, he battled Kaz Grala to the finish of his Duel race, coming just short of the final spot in the Daytona 500 field. At Talladega, he charged from the back to the front, leading five laps before engine trouble forced him into the wall, then onto pit road. He also partnered with Carl Long at Motorsports Business Management, and together finished the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 under power.

For Indianapolis, McLeod and Long would join forces once more, this time on a double-duty assault on Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He began the weekend in the XFINITY Series, where rock band Falling in Reverse backed his black #13. After starting 33rd on the grid, McLeod worked strategy to battle among the leaders, then settled in 28th, coming home on the lead lap.

McLeod’s ride for Sunday would come in Long’s Cup car, the #66, with Timmy Hill’s sponsor Coble Enterprises on the hood. This portion of the weekend got off to a rough start as McLeod was the only member of the 39-car entry list to not complete a lap in practice. He then qualified last in Round 1B with a lap of 53.012 seconds (169.773mph). Though Austin Cindric ran a slower lap after he bounced off the wall between Turns 1 and 2, Cindric’s #2 Discount Tire Ford still took 38th on the grid with McLeod in last. Repairs to Cindric’s car incurred him a tail-end penalty for unapproved adjustments. Joining him would be 14th-place Martin Truex, Jr., whose team was caught making an unapproved adjustment after inspection of his #19 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota. Truex’s team lost pit stall selection, had to eject car chief Chris Jones, and the driver would both have to drop to the rear and serve a drive-though penalty after the green flag.

When the race started, McLeod was still last across the yard of bricks, 3.388 seconds back of the lead. Preparing to make his pass-through penalty, Truex only fell back to 36th (3.014 seconds), ahead of 37th-place Josh Berry in the #4 Panini / Caitlyn Clark Ford, who retained his original starting spot along with 38th-place Cindric (3.171). Truex served his penalty as the field completed Lap 1, and on pit road took over last place, 24.707 back of the lead and 17.395 behind the now 38th-place McLeod. Back on track for Lap 3, Truex was 26.453 seconds behind McLeod, and the gap peaked at 26.764 the next time by on Lap 4.

From there, Truex reeled in McLeod while McLeod lost touch with new 37th-place runner Cody Ware in the #15 American Flat Track Peoria TT Ford. Incidentally, Ware’s sponsor came on late in the week after an apparent issue with streaming service Zeam, the team’s originally scheduled backer. “Really good rhythm,” Truex was told on Lap 5, when he closed to 23.530 behind McLeod on Lap 5. The next time by, McLeod was already 3.585 back of Ware, and Truex gained three seconds to 20.329. On Lap 7, Truex was 17.808 behind McLeod, then 15.357 on Lap 8, 13.040 on Lap 9, 8.342 on Lap 10, 10.248 on Lap 11, 5.639 on Lap 12, then 2.645 on Lap 13. That time by, Truex passed McLeod to his inside and crossed the stripe 0.230 ahead of the now last-place #66. But now, Truex had another 16.155 seconds to catch 37th-place Ware.

During this same run, McLeod expressed concern with the tone of his engine, and there were discussions whether he’d dropped a cylinder or was dealing with a failing fuel pump. On Lap 15, he pulled down pit road, already asking the location of the entrance to the garage. The crew instead had him stop in his stall, Stall 40, the second used pit position past the entrance to pit road. The crew lifted the hood, then had him go to the nearest pit entrance, which was just past the infield pagoda. Multiple laps down, McLeod pulled behind the wall on Lap 18, then stopped in the team’s empty garage stall. Over the radio, Carl Long said the car’s clutch may have been slipping. The spotter indicated the engine sounded quieter during the run while the driver said its pitch changed, but there was no smoke in the cockpit. McLeod also said the car lost a second a lap his last two circuits before pitting. Due to how far the team’s stall was from Gasoline Alley, it wasn’t until Lap 21 the crew arrived at the car, the driver still behind the wall. NASCAR declared McLeod out on Lap 28, which surprised some of the crew. Regardless, the team packed up, done for the day.

Finishing 38th was William Byron, whose #24 Valvoline Chevrolet was involved in a multi-car accident off Turn 2 when contact from Ryan Preece’s #41 HaasTooling.com Ford caused Byron’s car to collide with A.J. Allmendinger’s #16 Campers Inn RV Chevrolet, sending Byron’s car hard into the inside wall. Allmendinger made it to pit road along with Harrison Burton, who suffered right-front damage to his #21 Draiver Ford in the incident, but both were done for the day in 37th and 36th, respectively. Josh Berry completed the Bottom Five when he slowed to avoid a crashing Martin Truex, Jr., only to be spun into the wall after contact from Ty Gibbs’ #54 Monster Energy Toyota. Truex would be involved in a second incident but still finished under power in 27th, two laps down.

Near breakthroughs abound at Indy

The Brickyard 400 was a story of both what was and what could have been. John Hunter Nemechek enjoyed a career weekend, qualifying a strong 10th in the #42 Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota and leading his pit strategy in the middle stages, holding the lead for 16 laps. But his race ended on the first attempt at “overtime” when he and Daniel Hemric came together entering Turn 1, sending both hard into both walls. Also sent down the ranking was Zane Smith, who continued his summer stretch of solid runs by battling his way to 3rd in the closing stages, only to come two laps short on fuel, forcing a late-race pit stop that left him 17th in the #71 Focused Health Chevrolet.

However, it was Todd Gilliland who cashed in his own strong performance by coming home 6th in the jet black #38 gener8tor Ford. Gilliland was a fixture in the Top 10 for much of the afternoon, at one point trading spots with eventual race winner Kyle Larson as the two weaved through traffic into Turn 1. This continues an impressive streak that kicked off with a 14th-place finish at Kansas back in early May. Since that race, only once – his crash last Sunday in Pocono that left him 34th – has he ever finished worse than 17th. Across those same ten races, Gilliland finished 7th on the Chicago Street Course and 10th at Sonoma.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for the #66 in a Cup race at Indianapolis since July 29, 2007, when Jeff Green’s #66 Best Buy / Haas Automation Chevrolet crashed after 13 laps.

*Through 27 runnings, the Brickyard 400 has still yet to have a single repeat last-place finisher. The only four starters on Sunday who could have broken that streak were Alex Bowman (2015), Corey LaJoie (2017), Martin Truex, Jr. (2018), and Ryan Preece (2020).

THE BOTTOM FIVE

39) #66-B.J. McLeod / 15 laps / engine

38) #24-William Byron / 73 laps / crash

37) #16-A.J. Allmendinger / 74 laps / crash

36) #21-Harrison Burton / 74 laps / crash

35) #4-Josh Berry / 104 laps / crash

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Kaulig Racing, Motorsports Business Management, Spire Motorsports, Stewart-Haas Racing (3)

2nd) Joe Gibbs Racing, Penske Racing (2)

3rd) Hendrick Motorsports, Legacy Motor Club, RFK Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Rick Ware Racing (1)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Ford (10)

2nd) Chevrolet (8)

3rd) Toyota (3)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

Brock Beard https://lastcar.info
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