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

Chad Finchum picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at the Texas Motor Speedway when his #66 HART HVAC & Electric Ford fell out with suspension issues after 127 of 200 laps.

The finish, which came in Finchum’s 112th series start, was his first of the season and first in a XFINITY Series race since September 11, 2020 at Richmond, 116 races ago. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 18th for the #66, the 24th for suspension, and the 168th for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 52nd for suspension issues, the 90th for the #66, and the 1,033rd for Ford.

Since the end of the 2020 season, Finchum had made just 12 XFINITY Series starts coming into Texas. His best run in that span was an impressive 15th at Charlotte in the spring of 2021, which is tied for his third-best series run behind an 11th at Talladega in 2020 and a 14th in the summer race at Daytona back in 2018. The Tennessee native has most often driven for Carl Long’s team Motorsports Business Management, which also afforded him his Cup debut at Bristol in 2018, but his most recent XFINITY start came last fall in Martinsville for SS-Green Light Racing, yielding a 27th-place finish after a late-race crash.

Long’s MBM team has also steadily returned to competition this year, most recently on the Cup side with Timmy Hill at COTA and David Starr just last Sunday in Martinsville. Starr had also been entered in the team’s only XFINITY attempt this season, where he failed to qualify for the Daytona opener. The team then withdrew from Richmond without a driver, locking the remaining 38 entrants into the field. But soon after came news that Finchum and MBM would return to competition in Texas, welcoming a new sponsor in Weatherford, Texas based electricians HART HVAC & Electric. It would be Finchum’s seventh XFINITY start at Texas, but his first in nearly four years. His other 15th-place finish had occurred at the track in the fall of 2019, again while driving for MBM.

Finchum was one of 38 drivers entered for as many spots in Saturday’s race, meaning all would qualify for the main event. Finchum ran the slowest lap in opening practice, then improved to 35th in qualifying with a lap of 177.247mph (30.466 seconds).

Securing the 38th and final starting spot was David Starr, making his 28th series start at his home track, this time driving SS-Green Light Racing’s #14 SHAR Ford. He’d be joined in the back by four other drivers due to penalties for unapproved adjustments: 18th-place Jeremy Clements in the #51 First Pacific Funding Chevrolet, 23rd-place Kyle Sieg in the #28 RSS Racing Ford, 27th-place Matt DiBenedetto in the #38 Viking Motorsports Ford, and 29th-place Parker Retzlaff in the #31 Funkaway Chevrolet. Coming to the green, Starr had moved up to 36th on the outside of DiBenedetto with Clements now in 38th on the outside of Retzlaff.

On the break, Retzlaff was last across the stripe by intervals, showing 4.274 seconds back of the lead to Clements’ 4.197. By the end of Lap 1, Retzlaff and Clements had already jumped to 35th and 37th, dropping Starr back to last place. By Lap 5, Starr stayed within about two-tenths of new 37th-place runner Joey Gase in the #35 Donate Life Texas Chevrolet, and his spotter suggested taking a different angle into Turn 1. Gase began to inch away by Lap 7, opening a gap of 0.456, then was told that Dawson Cram was struggling in his #4 Certified Hustler Apparel Chevrolet. Cram fell to 37th on Lap 8, but Starr couldn’t get close to him until Lap 12, when he cut his deficit from 0.302 to just 0.124. That time by, the first caution fell for Daniel Dye, who harmlessly spun his #10 brpoauto parts Chevrolet entering Turns 1 and 2. Dye immediately took last under the ensuing caution where the crew made a track bar adjustment to make the car tighter. Still under yellow, Brennan Poole then took the spot on Lap 15 as he pitted his #44 Prime Bites Brownie Chevrolet along with both Cram and Starr. Dye then incurred a tail-end penalty for pitting too soon, putting the #10 back to last on Lap 16.

On the Lap 17 restart, Dye trailed the much longer inside line, then made quick work of Cram, putting the #4 back in last place. Cram was then told that Gase was struggling in the #35, slipping from 36th back to 37th, just 0.640 second ahead of him after Starr jumped back to 36th. But instead of catching Gase, Cram steadily lost ground. The gap between these final two runners increased to 1.196 seconds on Lap 25, then 1.895 on Lap 26, 2.180 on Lap 28, 2.466 on Lap 29, 2.646 on Lap 30, 2.873 on Lap 31, then 3.233 on Lap 32. The lap after, Cram was 3.702 seconds behind Gase just moments before the leaders caught and put Cram the first car one lap down. The spotter advised the young driver to watch the leaders as they passed to try and learn from them. Chandler Smith, running 2nd at the time, passed Cram low down the backstretch on Lap 35. Gase and Starr both fell a lap down soon after.

Cram made it to the end of Stage 1 on Lap 46, when the next caution fell. He reported he was “still plowing center-off,” so the crew threw major adjustments at the #4, putting five rounds into both sides of the rear, plus a track bar adjustment. As extensive as these adjustments were, Finchum took last place for the first time on Lap 51, sent to the tail end of the field for his crew coming over the wall too soon. Cram retook last place just before the Lap 53 restart and followed Finchum, but soon discovered his window net was coming loose. Cram’s crew called him to pit road on Lap 60, where the crew spent a long time getting the window net secured again. By the time he completed his next lap on the 68th circuit, he was now five laps down. “Big ol’ test day now,” said his crew.

Cram remained between five and six laps down when the next caution fell on Lap 81, this time for Leland Honeyman, Jr.’s spin in the #42 Distributor Wire & Cable Company Chevrolet. By then, Cram was joined by his teammate Garrett Smithley, who had slipped to 37th in JD Motorsports’ #6 Trophy Tractor Inc. Chevrolet. Cram made another stop under this caution, then raced Smithley on the ensuing restart, where first Ryan Truex, then Sheldon Creed both nearly brought out the caution as they slid up the track in separate incidents. Smithley dropped Gase back to 37th by Lap 89, and two laps later Stage 2 ended with Cram still holding last place, five laps down, and all 38 starters still under power.

Coming to the Lap 98 restart, Cram was told to keep an eye on both Chandler Smith and Ryan Truex, who would each be flying through the pack from the tail end of the field in their Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas. But when the green flag dropped, the concern was ahead of Cram’s #4. A stack-up caused Finchum to run in the back of another car with his left-front, causing a significant fender rub on Finchum’s #66. With the race still under green, Finchum made it to pit road by Lap 99 with the fender dangling off the side of his car. The crew made quick enough repairs to send Finchum out four laps down in 37th, still one lap ahead of last-place Cram. The caution fell again on Lap 102 for Jeb Burton’s wreck in the #27 State Water Heaters Chevrolet, which damaged the right-rear corner of his car. Finchum received further repairs on the fender. During the stop, Carl Long got on the radio telling the team to save the car’s loosened crush panel as he planned to use it as a pattern to fabricate the next one. This stop occurred on a closed pit road, so Finchum earned a redundant tail-end penalty on Lap 105. Both Finchum and Burton still cleared minimum speed on Lap 109.

But on Lap 136, Finchum pulled behind the wall, and within the lap finally took last place from Cram once more. “Spotter you did good, man,” said Finchum. “Sorry about my mistake on the frontstretch.” The spotter answered, "It's all good - we'll get 'em on the next one.” The team then tweeted that they were done for the day, citing issues with the left-front tire cording too quickly as a result of the fender damage suffered on the restart, causing a bad vibration. NASCAR declared him the first car out on Lap 170, citing suspension issues as the cause. Cram came home 37th, nine laps down, with teammate Smithley taking 34th, three down. Between the pair came 36th-place Kyle Weatherman, whose #91 Tweaker Energy / DriveSmart Chevrolet wrecked on the frontstretch, drawing the final caution with 16 laps to go. Blaine Perkins was on the same lap as Smithley at the finish in his #29 AUTOPARKIT.com Ford.

Ryan Sieg puts on electrifying performance at Texas

Ryan Sieg came perhaps closer than he had ever before to his elusive first XFINITY Series victory in his 342nd series start. In the final 20 laps, his #39 Sci Aps Ford stormed from 10th to the lead, taking the spot from current LASTCAR XFINITY Series leader Sam Mayer. He survived the Weatherman restart to take the lead once more, and was pulling away from both Mayer and the dominant car of Justin Allgaier. But Sieg’s car began to push, and Mayer gobbled up the deficit, leading to a last-lap pass. Mayer slipped in Turn 3, opening the door for a side-by-side battle with Sieg, but Mayer prevailed in a photo finish of just 0.002 second. The result was Sieg’s third runner-up finish and his first Top Five since October 1, 2022 at Talladega. Mayer still remains the LASTCAR XFINITY leader after this, his first win of the season.

Anthony Alfredo also pulled off his third top-ten finish in just eight races this season, coming home 10th in the Botticelli Family Owned Chevrolet. Alfredo had also finished 10th just four races ago in Phoenix.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for the #66 in a XFINITY Series race at Texas.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

38) #66-Chad Finchum / 127 laps / suspension

37) #4-Dawson Cram / 191 laps / running

36) #91-Kyle Weatherman / 191 laps / crash

35) #29-Blaine Perkins / 197 laps / running

34) #6-Garrett Smithley / 197 laps / running

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Jordan Anderson Racing (2)

2nd) DGM Racing, Joey Gase Motorsports, JR Motorsports, Kaulig Racing, Motorsports Business Management (1)

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet (5)

2nd) Ford, Toyota (1)

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP