XFINITY: Kyle Weatherman unable to avoid a crashing Mayer in Daytona pileup
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
SCREENSHOT: @NASCARonFOX
Kyle Weatherman picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Monday’s United Rentals 300 at the Daytona International Speedway when his #91 DriveSmartWarranty.com Chevrolet was involved in a multi-car accident after 22 of 120 laps.
The finish, which came in Weatherman’s 110th series start, was his first of the season and first in a XFINITY Series race since September 9, 2023 at Kansas, eight races ago. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 33rd for the #91, the 389th from a crash, and the 633rd for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 58th for the #91, the 1,364th from a crash, and the 1,924th for Chevrolet.
Weatherman remains among the series’ most consistent journeyman drivers. Last season, he pieced together deals to run 25 of the year’s 33 races driving for underdog teams Our Motorsports, SS-Green Light Racing, JD Motorsports, and DGM Racing. He also gave a brand-new team - FRS Racing – their first series start at Martinsville, rebounding from a DNQ at Richmond to qualify 27th. The results included ten finishes of 20th or better on a combination of ovals and road courses. His season-best 13th came at Watkins Glen.
This year, Weatherman and DGM Racing have reunited as teammate Josh Williams embarks on his new ride with Kaulig Racing. As Josh Bilicki took Williams’ place in the #92 for Daytona, Weatherman moved to the #91. With practice cancelled by the weekend’s persistent threat of rain, Weatherman was among those needing a strong run in qualifying as 44 drivers were entered for 40 spots. He succeeded, securing 25th on the grid with a lap of 179.429mph (50.159 seconds).
Also in the field was David Starr’s #66 GreenLightPP.com Ford, which originally secured 29th on the grid. Starr was then disqualified due to an improper track bar height, which the team says was a change made by mistake made after the car passed inspection. This bumped in Dawson Cram’s #4 FIRMAN Power Equipment Chevrolet and sent Starr home along with Joey Gase in the #53 NCPC Race Against Crime Chevrolet, Caesar Bacarella in the #45 Prime Bites Chevrolet, C.J. McLaughlin in the #38 Viking Motorsports Ford, Kyle Sieg in the #28 Night Owl Companies Ford, and Stanton Barrett in the #74 Save22 Chevrolet.
Securing the 38th and final starting spot was B.J. McLeod, who bounced back from barely missing the Daytona 500 field on Thursday to get his #78 Kales Truck Heavy Equipment Chevrolet into the show. Based on intervals, McLeod rolled across the stripe in 35th (3.133 seconds back of the lead) ahead of new 36th-place runner Garrett Smithley in the #6 Z&M Harley Davidson Chevrolet (3.366), Leland Honeyman, Jr. in the #42 Ohio Logistics Chevrolet (3.59), and Cram’s #4 (3.615). Cram and McLeod incurred tail-end penalties for unapproved adjustments while Sage Karam, docked for an engine change on his #26 CRC Brakleen Toyota, lined up further ahead in 33rd (2.94).
While NASCAR.com’s leaderboard incorrectly showed Parker Kligerman last in the #48 Big Machine Spiked Coolers Chevrolet, the intervals correctly showed Cram in last, 0.025 second behind 37th-place Frankie Muniz, making his XFINITY Series debut in the #35 Ford Performance Ford. Cram dropped Muniz to last on Lap 3, and the #35 was now 0.265 behind new 37th-place runner Ryan Ellis in the #43 Heartbeat Hot Sauce Co. Chevrolet. Muniz dropped 0.580 second back of Ellis over the next lap, then held the high lane to reel him back in by Lap 5. By then, the field was nearly single-file from end to end, and the final four cars were beginning to break away into a trailing pack of their own.
On Lap 7, Muniz dropped Blaine Perkins to last in the #29 AUTOPARKIT.com Ford, but Perkins stayed within 0.158 second and pulled alongside, the pair just 0.083 apart at the line the next time by. On Lap 9, both Muniz and Perkins worked their way past Jordan Anderson, who immediately dropped 0.433 second behind the pair in his #32 Capital City Towing / Bommarito Chevrolet. “Damn – we should be able to suck up better than this,” said Anderson. “It won’t go.” But over the next five laps, Anderson did reel in the tail end of the field, drawing back to 0.140 behind Perkins on Lap 14.
McLeod took last place by Lap 17 after he was shaken out of line from around the 31st position. That time by, he was now the one trailing by 0.535 second behind Anderson and now 10.651 behind the leader. Anderson leap-frogged Perkins on Lap 18, and as McLeod lost the draft, his spotter told him where the leader was. On the 21st circuit, McLeod had fallen a full 3.874 seconds back of 37th-place Perkins, 15.686 back of the lead, when the caution came out for a wreck ahead of him in Turn 1. At the moment of that caution, McLeod was 19.931 behind the lead and 6.694 behind Muniz, who had reclaimed 37th.
Heading into the corner, contact between Daniel Suarez’ #14 Wendy’s Chevrolet suddenly turned right, striking the wall with the right-front, then lost control and clipped the right-rear of a passing Sam Mayer. Mayer’s #1 Carolina Carports Chevrolet then careened up the track and smashed the wall nearly head-on. Suarez spun back up the track, where he was rear-ended by Hailie Deegan’s #15 Klutch Vodka Ford, while further ahead Mayer slid back down on the track. Closing in from behind was Weatherman, whose #91 was racing teammate Bilicki in the #92 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet. Both cars slowed and Weatherman tried to find a hole as he pulled down the banking, but could not avoid running into Mayer’s spinning car. Deegan, too, slid to a stop after bumping into the back of Weatherman’s wrecked car.
On Lap 24, Weatherman took over last place from McLeod with Deegan in 37th and Mayer in 36th, all three out of the race. Suarez, now 35th, made it to pit road for repairs, but the team found that damage too severe, and he rolled behind the wall, done or the night. Completing the Bottom Five was DGM’s former driver Josh Williams, whose #11 Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet was collected in the following accident on the backstretch triggered by John Hunter Nemechek in the #20 Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota, who bumped fellow frontrunner Jesse Love in his first race running the #2 Whelen Chevrolet.
Underdogs from Jordan Anderson Racing and other teams share spotlight in Daytona
On an emotional week following his mother’s cancer diagnosis and an illness suffered by his mother-in-law, Jordan Anderson overcame his early drafting issues to earn a career-best 4th-place finish, leading six laps in the process. His only previous top-five finish in the XFINITY Series was a 5th at Talladega in 2021. Anderson crossed the line one spot behind teammate Parker Retzlaff, who after qualifying a fast 9th came home 3rd – his own career-best run since a 4th-place finish in this same Daytona race last year.
Much like Anderson, Blaine Perkins was battling for last place in the early laps, then rocketed to a battle for the lead, at one point heading the inside line. He came home 14th, three spots behind Ryan Ellis, whose #43 Heartbeat Hot Sauce Co. Chevrolet led 11 laps while stretching his fuel in the late stages. Among those drafting with Ellis during this run were 16th-place finisher Garrrett Smithley in the #6 Z&M Harley Davidson Chevrolet for JD Motorsports and Natalie Decker, who claimed 18th in the #36 Amped Fitness Chevrolet after leading 7 laps of her own – her first in her 11th XFINITY Series start.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the second-straight last-place finish for the #91 in a XFINITY Series race at Daytona. Last August, Alex Guenette’s #91 EVIRUM / BKFC Chevrolet crashed after 41 laps. It’s Weatherman’s first last-place run at Daytona.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #91-Kyle Weatherman / 22 laps / crash
37) #15-Hailie Deegan / 22 laps / crash
36) #1-Sam Mayer / 22 laps / crash
35) #14-Daniel Suarez / 23 laps / crash
34) #11-Josh Williams / 37 laps / dvp
2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) DGM Racing (1)
2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (1)
2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
