XFINITY: Akinori Ogata unable to capitalize on big wreck due to early brake issues
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Akinori Ogata, @AkinoriOgata
Akinori Ogata picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Dude Wipes 250 at the Martinsville Speedway when his #35 Kyowa-Eidemiller Machining Toyota fell out with brake issues after 41 of 251 laps.
The finish came in Ogata’s eighth series start. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 18th for the #35, the 60th from the brake issues, and the 162nd for Toyota. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 32nd for the #35, the 169th for brake problems, and the 406th for Toyota.
The first XFINITY start of the season for the 50-year-old driver from Kangawa, Japan nearly didn’t happen at all. One week ago, the famous altercation between Joey Gase and Dawson Cram left Gase with his Chevrolet planned for Martinsville with a destroyed rear clip. Nevertheless, Gase pushed through to enter two cars in Saturday’s race, enlisting what appeared to be the team’s road course Toyota for Ogata to drive. Ogata would run the flagship #35 alongside Gase in the part-time #53. While Ogata carried continuing sponsorship from Kyowa-Eidemiller, Gase’s rear bumper carried his new sponsor Bumpers That Deliver – a pitch-perfect reference to Gase’s throwing of his TV panel at Cram’s car in Richmond, resulting in a $5,000 fine. Interestingly, Cram’s #4 KSDT CPA Chevrolet would also pick up an incident-related sponsor from Express Auto Glass, which repairs windshields.
Ogata and Gase were among the 39 entrants to attempt Saturday’s race, meaning one car would fail to qualify. In practice, Ogata ranked 36th to Gase’s 38th. Both outpaced Chandler Smith, whose #81 Wheelers Toyota had a left-front brake issue on his first timed lap, sending him into the Turn 1 wall. The crew sent his car back to Joe Gibbs Racing for repairs, meaning they would miss qualifying and incur a redundant tail-end penalty on race day. The car was back at the track at 1:00 P.M. local time, six hours before the green flag. Smith took 37th on the grid ahead of Ogata, who also couldn’t take a qualifying lap as a small piece of gravel pierced the tape on his front grille and punched a hole in the radiator. Gase was just fast enough to make the show, besting Ryan Vargas’ unsponsored #74 Mike Harmon Racing Chevrolet by 0.097 second, sending Vargas home.
Chandler Smith’s #81 (center) being loaded for repairs at the JGR shop on Friday. (PHOTO: Cameron Tracey, @conrail_1)
Ogata and Chandler Smith were just two of six drivers sent to the back for unapproved adjustments. A series of brake rotor issues befell JR Motorsports racing teammates Brandon Jones, whose #9 Menards / Scotts Chevrolet won the pole, Justin Allgaier’s 5th-place Jarrett Logistics Chevrolet, and Sammy Smith’s #8 TMC Transportation Chevrolet. Also docked were 25th-place Leland Honeyman, Jr. in Young’s Motorsports’ #42 RandCo Chevrolet and Alpha Prime’s Ryan Ellis, who started 29th in the #43 Costa Oil Chevrolet. During the pace laps, NASCAR instructed the penalized drivers to form up at the tail end of the inside line with Smith at the back. By the time Smith crossed the stripe at the green flag, he was already in 37th, 4.45 seconds back of the lead to Joey Gase’s 4.473.
At the end of Lap 1, Gase was 5.811 seconds back of the lead and 0.134 behind new 37th-place runner Ryan Ellis in the penalized #43. By Lap 4, Ellis drew alongside Ogata and pulled ahead into 36th by just 0.063 second, the pair just 0.201 ahead of last-place Gase. Gase then fell 0579 behind on Lap 5, pulled to within 0.193 on Lap 7, then on Lap 9 the first caution fell. The reason was an aggressive pass by Sammy Smith inside of Garrett Smithley and Dexter Bean entering Turn 3, sending Bean’s #92 American Dream / Badger Environmental Chevrolet into a spin, but staying off the wall. As Gase dropped Bean to last, Gase radioed that his helmet blower caught on fire in the early laps, so he had to disconnect it.
Bean remained in last until the Lap 14 restart, when he opened up a 0.306 second gap over Gase, then dropped Ogata back to 35th once more. Gase maintained about a half-second gap to his teammate until Lap 27, when he slipped to 0.782 second, 0.834 on Lap 30, and 1.009 on Lap 32. Gase again began to close over the next few laps, cutting a quarter of a second off the gap by Lap 33, but by now was about to be caught by the leaders. He was saved by another early caution on Lap 36, when Brennan Poole’s #44 Macc Door Systems Chevrolet bumped Hailie Deegan’s #15 AirBox Ford off Turn 2. Deegan spun and was collected by Kyle Weatherman, whose #91 Tweaker Energy Drinks Chevrolet suffered right-front damage as it ripped the nose off Deegan’s Ford. Dawson Cram stopped behind Deegan’s car, costing him a lap in his #4 KSDT CPA Chevrolet. Deegan took last on Lap 36, and she was first to fall off the lead lap, nearly going a second lap down when she returned to the track. As she caught back up to the pack, Deegan radioed that her water temperature was at 240 degrees, and she turned on her radiator fan.
Hailie Deegan’s #15 (right-center) has trouble keeping up after early front end damage. (PHOTO: Cameron Tracey, @conrail_1)
Both Deegan and Cram traded the 38th spot under the ensuing caution, but another driver was still on pit road. This was Ogata, who by Lap 43 took over last place, showing three laps down. The previous lap, the crew discussed an issue with the brakes, and went behind the wall on Lap 42 to call for more fluid. On Lap 61, when the caution fell to end Stage 1, Ogata’s crew said, “I say we're done here, this right-front caliper's toast.” Now 19 laps down, Ogata’s crew began to pack up, and one of them radioed, “10-4, sorry about that, guys. . .safe travels.” Further radio traffic indicated that Ogata may have forgotten to turn on the brake fans, causing them to overheat in the early laps.
Ogata’s #35 goes behind the wall for a brake issue around Lap 41. (PHOTO: Cameron Tracey, @conrail_1)
NASCAR had not yet declared Ogata out of the race when Stage 2 went green on Lap 71 – the very moment that 4th-place running Brandon Jones missed a shift, causing the entire outside line to stack up behind him, and unleashing a multi-car pileup into Turn 1. As the caution turned to the red flag with nearly a dozen cars suffering various degrees of damage, Gase got on the team radio telling his crew to get Ogata back on the track. Passing the cars that just wrecked out would help the #35 team earn some valuable Owner Points, particularly after Gase’s own wreck in Richmond. But by then - as he’d soon learn by radio - the team had already taken the tapered spacer off the engine, retiring the car. NASCAR’s garage official was about to confirm this when the red flag was finally withdrawn, moving Gase from 32nd to 24th. The official radioed again on Lap 82 to confirm Ogata as the first retiree. Gase directed the team to transfer their remaining tires.
The aftermath of the Lap 71 pileup in Turn 1. (PHOTO: Cameron Tracey, @conrail_1)
The rest of the Bottom Five was filled by the Turn 1 pileup on Lap 70, all with heavy front-end damage. Taking 37th was Parker Retzlaff’s #31 Funkaway Chevrolet followed by 36th-place A.J. Allmendinger in the #16 Action Industries Chevrolet, 35th-place Corey Heim in the #26 GearWrench Toyota, and 34th-place Austin Hill in the #21 Benett Transportation Chevrolet. Allmendinger and Hill climbed from their cars on pit road with Hill’s crew managing to remove most of the front valence before they fell out.
Carson Kvapil stakes his claim while Alfredo continues to impress in sponsor’s race
Following up on the success of Bubba Pollard’s debut with the same team last week in Richmond, Carson Kvapil avoided the night’s wrecks to come home 4th in his own series debut piloting JR Motorsports’ #88 Chevy Truck Season Chevrolet. Also standing out was Anthony Alfredo, who qualified a sterling 7th in Our Motorsports’ #5 Dude Wipes Chevrolet – appropriately, in a race Dude Wipes also sponsored. Alfredo was in contention for a Top Ten all night until the final lap, when contact between he and Ryan Ellis led to Ellis colliding with a wrecked Riley Herbst, dropping Ellis to 26th and Alfredo to 15th. Brandon Jones’ own eventful night ended in the same pileup, leaving him 27th.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place run for the #35 in a XFINITY Series race at Martinsville since October 17, 1993, when Shawna Robinson’s #35 Polaroid Captiva Pontiac lost an engine after 39 laps.
*Ironically, this was the first time a XFINITY Series last-place finisher at Martinsville fell out due to brake issues. Greg Van Alst was the last XFINITY driver to finish 38th due to brake issues, which happened on July 15, 2023 at Loudon.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #35-Akinori Ogata / 41 laps / brakes
37) #31-Parker Retzlaff / 70 laps / crash
36) #16-A.J. Allmendinger / 70 laps / crash
35) #26-Corey Heim / 70 laps / crash
34) #21-Austin Hill / 71 laps / crash
2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Jordan Anderson Racing (2)
2nd) DGM Racing, Joey Gase Motorsports, JR Motorsports, Kaulig Racing (1)
2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (5)
2nd) Toyota (1)
2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
