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

Brennan Poole picked up the 4th last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Drive for the Cure 250 Presented by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course when his #44 Macc Door Systems Chevrolet was involved in a multi-car pileup after 32 of 72 laps.

The finish, which came in Poole’s 153rd series start, was his first of the season and first in a XFINITY Series race since June 3, 2023 at Portland, 49 races ago. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 32nd for the #44, the 401st from a crash, and the 651st for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 73rd for the #44, the 1,397th from a crash, and the 1,963rd for Chevrolet.

It has been a long wait for Poole to return to full-time competition in the XFINITY Series – more than six years since his time driving for Chip Ganassi Racing with the backing of the now infamous DC Solar. In that time, he’s become one of the sport’s many journeyman drivers, picking up rides in all three of NASCAR’s top series – including a bid at Rookie of the Year in Cup in 2020. He finally found stability toward the end of 2022, earning a week-to-week deal with JD Motorsports and welcoming new sponsorship from Macc Door Systems. That company now funds most of Poole’s rides at Alpha Prime, where he drives the flagship #44 entry once campaigned by team co-owner Tommy Joe Martins. Last month, Poole and team paid tribute to company founder Cliff Bowman, who died at age 68. And just last week, Poole finished 9th at Talladega, where in the spring, he nearly got his revenge on a win stolen from him in 2016. Running a “throwback” scheme to that very race, Poole was ahead of Jesse Love for the lead, only to lose his drafting help from Anthony Alfredo and Riley Herbst at the last second, dropping him to 5th.

Prior to Saturday, Poole had competed at the Charlotte “Roval” just once before, finishing 17th last year for JD Motorsports. This time for Alpha Prime, running a pink version of the Macc paint scheme, he ranked 29th of the 38 entrants in practice, then qualified 11th of 19 drivers in Round 1A with a lap of 86.292 seconds (95.1199mph), securing him the 24th spot on the grid. No drivers were sent home as Mike Harmon Racing was not entered this week, having skipped the other road course races this year.

Securing the 38th and final starting spot was Nathan Byrd, back for his third series start in SS-Green Light Racing’s #14 ASAP Commercial Doors Chevrolet. Byrd would be joined by two drivers who incurred penalties for unapproved adjustments: 18th-place Ed Jones in the #26 Toyota Racing Development Toyota and 32nd-place Thomas Annunziata in Joey Gase’s #35 NFPA Toyota. Though these were the only two pre-race penalties, NASCAR still had some difficulty organizing the tail end of the field just before the start. During the pit road speed test, Byrd had trouble seeing his pit board at Stall 32, so the team told him who was pitted nearby.

When the green flag dropped, Annunziata’s car was last across the stripe, 7.741 seconds back of the lead with Jones up to 36th ahead of new 37th-place runner Dawson Cram, whose #92 Trade with the Pros Chevrolet had also qualified 37th, and was now 7.428 back of the leaders. But already, the start was under review as outside-polesitter Sam Mayer got the jump on polesitter Shane Van Gisbergen’s #97 WeatherTech Chevrolet. As Mayer’s crew pled their case, Cram took last on Lap 2, 14.81 seconds back of the lead but just 0.140 behind the now 37th-place Byrd. On Lap 3, when Mayer finally served his pass-through penalty, Kyle Sieg spun exiting Turn 1, then continued. In an effort to move the #28 team up the Owner Points rankings, Kyle had traded car numbers with brother Ryan Sieg, putting Kyle in an unsponsored #39 with Ryan’s Sci Aps Ford now the #28. By now, the field was so spread apart that Mayer only fell to about 20th place. Kyle Sieg’s spin dropped him to last, 32.049 seconds back of the lead and 7.290 behind Dylan Lupton, who had just served a stop-and-go penalty that dropped his #15 Lupton Excavation Ford another 6.093 seconds behind the now 36th-place Byrd.

In the run that followed, Kyle Sieg was first told he was a second faster than 37th-place Lupton, but the gap between the two steadily increased. It was 8.047 on Lap 5, 9.247 on Lap 6, and 10.090 on Lap 8. The crew observed that Sieg was losing ground on the backstretch, and also suggested he change his entry into the frontstretch chicane, where he was wheel-hopping into the turn. Further ahead, Byrd incurred a stop-and-go penalty for missing the front chicane, but failed to do so, so NASCAR called him in for a pass-through on Lap 12. This penalty dropped Byrd back to 37th on Lap 13, when Sieg closed to within 4.104 seconds of him, then just 0.786 on Lap 14. But before Sieg could complete the pass, his #39 dropped off the pace. “It broke – something’s broke,” he said. “The track bar.” He lost a lap coming to pit road, but returned to the track, and the team discussed a possible suspension issue in the right-front. By staying on track, Sieg’s was the only lapped car when the caution came out to end Stage 1 on Lap 21, awarding him the “Lucky Dog.”

Under yellow, Sieg and team discussed a different approach to the next run, the driver surprised that he was driving the car too hard. On Lap 22, he was told to pull into the right lane to pass the field and return to the lead lap. Ahead of him in 37th was Ryan Ellis, whose #43 Classic Collision Chevrolet had just taken the spot from Annunziata, who had a lengthy pit stop. Also pitting late during the yellow were Lupton, Cram, and the #42 DPR Construction Chevrolet of Leland Honeyman, Jr., whose crew worked under the hood on pit road. Sieg moved ahead of Honeyman and Cram into 36th, putting the #92 back to last for a moment. But around Lap 25, Ellis pulled behind the wall with an axle issue, dropping the #43 to last place. “We'll push the axle back through, fill it up with oil and send it back on track,” said someone on Ellis’ team. By Lap 28, the team pulled off both rear tires, and team co-owner Tommy Joe Martins remarked that other teams were still struggling on pit road, giving them a chance to gain some spots if they returned. Among these was still another RSS Racing entry of Blaine Perkins, whose #29 To The Point Ford had also pulled behind the wall four laps after Ellis.

Back on track, the cautions continued to fly. On Lap 30, Matt DiBenedetto and Jeremy Clements both spun into the wall at Turns 5 and 6. While Clements’ Dale Earnhardt, Jr. “throwback” scheme on his #51 Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet Chevrolet continued to roll, DiBenedetto’s #38 ReMA Ford was stopped for some time before it re-fired. This led to the Lap 33 restart, one lap after which the last-place battle was soon settled. Coming off the reconfigured frontstretch chicane on Lap 34, the battle for 15th came to blows when Anthony Alfredo’s #5 Dude Wipes Chevrolet got into the left-rear of Riley Herbst’s #98 Monster Energy Ford. Herbst spun, blocking the corner exit for both Alfredo and the fast-closing Josh Williams in the #11 Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet, completely closing the track for anyone behind. Among these was Poole, who was six cars back of Herbst at the time of the spin. Stuck between a slowing Parker Retzlaff in the #31 Funkaway Chevrolet in front of him and a closing Sheldon Creed’s #18 Friends of Jaclyn Toyota behind, Alfredo spun off Poole’s nose an instant before the #44 slammed into the wrecking Jones, leaving each with heavy damage. NASCAR told Jones to stop due to leaking fluid, and both Poole and Williams were also stranded as others limped away.

Back in the garage, Tommy Joe Martins was frustrated with the latest turn of events. Not only had Poole been swept up in the wreck while Ellis was in the garage, but his third entry of Brad Perez in the #45 Chevrolet also suffered some damage at the tail end of the pileup. Still, the effort was to get Ellis back on track, looking to at least beat Perkins, who appeared to be out on Lap 35. Around Lap 37, Ellis did finally return to the track, showing 15 laps down. As he navigated the wrecked cars trailing the field, Creed’s #18 lost an engine and stopped down the backstretch, drawing another caution. On Lap 40, Creed and Herbst both went behind the wall, yet while Creed was done, Herbst had apparently cleared the “Crash Clock” from the Lap 34 pileup, and his crew could complete more repairs. Meanwhile, Ellis climbed past Perkins on Lap 42, putting the #29 in last place. But Perkins and the RSS team responded, putting the #29 back on track on Lap 44, just two laps back of Ellis. Herbst, too, rejoined the race on Lap 49, ten laps down.

Over the next several laps, Ellis and Perkins both closed the gap on the wrecked Poole, Jones, and Williams, who had been eliminated in the Lap 34 stack-up. Curiously, there was a discrepancy in the scoring, as The CW’s television broadcast showed Jones the lowest classified of the three while NASCAR’s website credited Poole with the spot. As the wreck occurred, Williams was the first car involved, followed by Jones and then Poole, which should indicate NASCAR’s scoring as correct. Going from the NASCAR leaderboard, Poole dropped to 37th on Lap 48, then last on Lap 50 with Jones in 37th, Williams in 36th, and Creed in 35th. Rounding out the Bottom Five was Annunziata, whose apparent brake failure entering Turn 1 left him stuffed nose-first into the tire barriers with 52 laps completed. This lifted Perkins to 33rd at the finish with Ellis in 31st. Perez also salvaged a lead-lap finish for Alpha Prime, coming home 26th, 19.655 seconds back of the lead.

Kligerman nearly wins, Green and Pardus nearly earn strong finishes

In a race that saw Parker Kligerman both inches and fractions of a second from his first career NASCAR XFINITY Series win, and a path to the “Round of 8” in the Playoffs, the next-to-last restart also saw Austin Green take the green in 2nd spot in his #32 3Dimensional.com Chevrolet with Preston Pardus’ #50 Chinchor Electric Inc. Chevrolet right behind him on the inside line in 3rd. But Green’s engine let go in the final few laps, dropping him to 30th – his first finish worse than 15th in a NASCAR road course race. Pardus held on to a spot in the Top Ten before he, too, slipped back in the rankings to 21st at the checkered flag.

The race was instead won by Sam Mayer, who just this week lost his appeal for a disqualification the relegated him to last place in the most recent race at Talladega, and had just taken the 2024 LASTCAR XFINITY Series lead.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for both Poole and the #44 in a XFINITY Series race at the Charlotte “Roval.”

THE BOTTOM FIVE

38) #44-Brennan Poole / 32 laps / crash

37) #26-Ed Jones / 32 laps / crash

36) #11-Josh Williams / 32 laps / crash

35) #18-Sheldon Creed / 38 laps / dvp

34) #35-Thomas Annunziata / 52 laps / crash

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Joey Gase Motorsports, JR Motorsports (4)

2nd) DGM Racing, Jordan Anderson Racing (3)

3rd) Alpha Prime Racing, AM Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, Mike Harmon Racing, SS-Green Light Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing (2)

4th) Kaulig Racing, Motorsports Business Management, RSS Racing (1)

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet (19)

2nd) Ford (6)

3rd) Toyota (4)

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP