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

Glen Reen picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s HyVee Perks 250 at the Iowa Speedway when his #53 Eternal Fan / Save-A-Lot Food Stores Chevrolet fell out with a loss of fuel pressure after 20 of 253 laps.

The finish came in Reen’s series debut. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 2nd from the carburetor, the 6th for the #53, and the 643rd for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 15th by the carburetor, the 31st for the #53, and the 1,944th for Chevrolet.

The 39-year-old from Wilbraham, Massachusetts is an experienced short track racer, scoring several wins at the Stafford Speedway and the 2017 championship in late models. He’s been particularly prolific in the NASCAR Modified ranks, claiming a win at Thompson in 2011. In the stock car ranks, his lone start came in 2016 in what was then the K&N Pro Series East, where while driving for Ted Marsh, he finished 19th of 21 starters at Watkins Glen.

On Tuesday, the plan had been for Reen to make his NASCAR XFINITY Series debut next week in New Hampshire, where he’s made nine starts in the Whelen Modified Tour with a best finish of 19th in 2009. The Loudon track has seen many modified stars make their break into NASCAR, including Ted Christopher and Ryan Preece, and will also see Justin Bonsignore make his XFINITY debut for Joe Gibbs Racing. But, perhaps due to three consecutive DNQs for Joey Gase Motorsports – each with a different driver – those plans were moved up a week, putting Reen into a second entry, the #53, with Gase in the #35. The deal came together so late that the #53’s driver was listed as “TBA” through the posting of the qualifying order.

While Reen’s own company New Wave Bath was set to sponsor him at Loudon in addition to Rocky’s Ace Hardware, Gase’s backer Eternal Fan had its logo on the hood of the #53 while Save-A-Lot Food Stores backed the quarter-panels. “A couple times I tried to chase this dream and every time it just kept being a dead end,” Reen told Shawn Courchesne in an interview for Race Day Connecticut.

In opening practice, where Gase ran 15th, Reen was slowest of the 38 entries. A brief rain shower on Saturday morning cancelled qualifying, so Reen would also line up in the 38th and final starting spot. Joining him was Shane van Gisbergen, winner of the last two consecutive races, who in practice broke loose and hit the outside wall off Turn 2 with the right-rear corner of his #97 Kubota Chevrolet. This sent van Gisbergen to one of Kaulig Racing’s white backup cars, incurring him the only tail-end penalty of the race.

During the final few pace laps, van Gisbergen pulled to the outside lane, surrendering what would have been the outside-pole alongside his road racing rival Austin Hill. But after an additional pace lap for NASCAR to retrieve a piece of debris 25 feet past the starting line, van Gisbergen was 34th across the starting line with Reen again in last, 3.602 seconds back of the lead. Based on intervals, the 35th spot went to 32nd-place qualifier Patrick Emerling in the #07 Hoker Trucking LLC Chevrolet, then 35th-place Garrett Smithley in the #6 Teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet, then 37th-place Daniel Dye in the #10 Race to Stop Suicide Chevrolet, running a Rusty Wallace 1991-1995 “throwback” scheme in honor of the track’s designer.

At the end of Lap 1, Reen remained in 38th, and was now tracking down Smithley’s #6. By Lap 3, Smithley climbed to 36th, dropping Hailie Deegan to 37th in her #15 AirBox Ford. In just one lap, Reen made up the 0.230 second gap and was door-to-door with the #15, who had also caught Smithley, forming a three-wide battle. At the line, Reen was just 0.066 behind Deegan with Smithley also just a few hundredths ahead of the #15. Both Reen and Smithley dropped Deegan to last on Lap 5, when she was 0.171 behind the #53. But Deegan retaliated, pulling alongside Reen and beating him to the line on Lap 8 by 0.015 second. The two remained door-to-door for the next three laps with gaps of 0.076, 0.024, 0.044, and 0.019 until Deegan finally dropped Reen back to last on Lap 15. That time by, she’d already opened up a gap of 0.316, but was still 1.326 seconds behind 36th-place Smithley.

As Deegan continued to pull away, Reen reported he had an issue. “I don’t know what’s going on,” he said, “Sounds like the fuel.” Already 1.627 seconds back of Deegan, he came down pit road on Lap 18 and was first to lose a lap. The crew looked under the hood and topped off his fuel tank, telling him to feel things out on the track. Now five laps down, he ran the inside line, but radioed, “It’s still messing up.” His crew responded, “If it can’t do better than that, let’s just park it.” The crew then called him back down pit road, and NASCAR officials relayed directions through the team’s spotter to help the #53 pull up to the hauler. As the crew headed to the garage to look over the car, A.J. Allmendinger cut down a right-front tire on his #16 Cirkul Chevrolet and pounded the Turn 4 wall. Just 12 laps behind Allmendinger, now climbing out of his car and done for the day, Reen and crew attempted to return. But they didn’t turn another lap.

On Lap 88, NASCAR officials in the garage relayed, “9 car out, engine. 16 out---” but this message was cut off when Shane van Gisbergen wrecked his backup car off Turn 2, chasing Blaine Perkins’ #29 AutoParkIt.com Ford into the outside wall, then glancing off the right-front of a passing Kyle Weatherman in the #91 DriveSmartWarranty.com Chevrolet. All three drivers were done for the day with Perkins and van Gisbergen completing the Bottom Five. The aforementioned “9 car” referred to a struggling Brandon Jones, the Sonoma last-place finisher, whose #9 Menards / Pelonis Chevrolet lost battery power, then trailed smoke from the exhaust pipes as he pitted during the Allmendinger caution. Jones is now tied with teammate Sam Mayer for the 2024 LASTCAR XFINITY Series lead. Ironically, Mayer was also Saturday’s winner.

While fuel pressure was the mentioned issue for Reen’s exit in the #53, NASCAR didn’t relay his reason out until the results were posted. By then, the reason was listed as the carburetor.

Joey Gase among those with much-needed strong finishes in Iowa

Reen’s teammate Joey Gase, whose #35 Iowa Donor Network Chevrolet carried several fan-supported sponsors on the rear decklid, plus painted handprints on the hood in his continuing efforts with Donate Life, climbed from 36th at the start to run 14th in the final 23 laps, still on the lead lap. He finished a season-best 16th, even improving on the 18th-place showing at Talladega – his most recent start as a driver – where he was spun out of a possible victory in the final corner. This came in Gase’s 18th series start at his home track, a much-needed boost for his team.

Truck Series standout Corey Heim finished a career-best 3rd in Sam Hunt Racing’s #26 Yahoo! Toyota, improving on his previous mark of 4th at Richmond earlier this year. He’s only made 11 series starts.

Matt DiBenedetto prevailed in the low lane during a four-wide battle across the stripe to take home 7th, improving on his own season-best 8th in Talladega, piloting the vibrant #38 Rema Ford. Among those DiBenedetto beat in the final moments was 8th-place Chandler Smith, who led a race-high 131 laps. Interestingly, his #38 entry at RSS Racing was the most recent last-place finisher of a XFINITY race at Iowa, when J.J. Yeley fell out after 5 laps.

Daniel Dye climbed from 37th on the grid to take home 10th, battling Parker Kligerman for the spot in the race’s final stages. This marks Dye’s own career-best in only his sixth series start, improving on his previous mark of 17th in his series debut last fall in Texas.

Similar to Phoenix earlier this year, Leland Honeyman, Jr. was battling inside the Top 10 in the final laps, reaching the 9th spot heading into the green-white-checkered finish. He slipped to 13th by the finish in the unsponsored #42 Randco Industries Chevrolet, which is still his best finish since he was 4th in Talladega.

Ryan Ellis in the #43 Shine Water Chevrolet inherited the 3rd spot when he and two other drivers stayed out on old tires during an early caution. After the Lap 42 restart, he managed to hang onto the Top 10 for most of the ensuing run, and even gained back a couple spots. He remained on the lead lap to the end without needing the Lucky Dog, securing a 14th-place finish. This stands as Ellis’ best finish since he was 13th at Dover.

Finally, David Starr missed out on a double-duty effort at Iowa after sponsorship forced Motorsports Business Management to withdraw their Cup entry. Nevertheless, Starr made the most of his XFINITY run for SS-Green Light Racing, taking home 17th in the #14. This was the 56-year-old Starr’s best finish in his five starts this year, improving n his previous mark of 24th at both Talladega and Darlington.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This was the first last-place finish for the #53 in a XFINITY Series race since October 14, 2023, when Patrick Emerling’s #53 Chevrolet burst an oil line and hit the Turn 1 wall in Las Vegas. That day, NASCAR declared him out by reason of engine failure.

*This marked the first time a XFINITY Series driver finished last due to carburetor issues since April 28, 1984, when Darrell Waltrip’s #17 Hodgson Pontiac started 6th, but fell out after 9 laps of the Nashville 200 at the Nashville (Fairgrounds) Speedway. This happened to be Waltrip’s first last-place finish in what is now the XFINITY Series.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

38) #53-Glen Reen / 20 laps / carburetor

37) #16-A.J. Allmendinger / 32 laps / crash

36) #9-Brandon Jones / 38 laps / engine

35) #29-Blaine Perkins / 86 laps / crash

34) #97-Shane van Gisbergen / 88 laps / crash

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Joey Gase Motorsports (3)

2nd) DGM Racing, Jordan Anderson Racing, JR Motorsports (2)

3rd) Alpha Prime Racing, Kaulig Racing, Motorsports Business Management, Stewart-Haas Racing (1)

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet (9)

2nd) Ford, Toyota (2)

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP