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

Kyle Weatherman picked up the 6th last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Mission 200 at the Glen at Watkins Glen International when his #36 DriveSmartWarranty.com Chevrolet fell out with rear end trouble after 15 of 90 laps.

The finish, which came in Weatherman’s 134th series start, was his second of the season and first since the season opener at Daytona, 24 races ago. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 17th for the #36, the 31st from rear end issues, an the 648th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 50th for the #36, the 108th for the rear end, and the 1,957th for Chevrolet.

Just last Saturday in Atlanta, Weatherman charged from 37th and last to finish 11th, coming just short of his third top-ten finish of the season, but securing his seventh finish of 20th or better in 2024. He finished a season-best 8th at Dover, then 10th last month in Daytona, bouncing back from the wreck that left him in last place in February. In his three previous XFINITY starts at Watkins Glen, Weatherman improved his finish each time with three different teams, capped by a 13th-place run for JD Motorsports last year, where he led 2 laps.

This year at The Glen, Weatherman was one of 41 entries for 38 spots, and despite his full-time campaign found himself in a potential “go-or-go-home” position in qualifying. For the first time all year, he wouldn’t be driving DGM’s #91, which would go to Josh Bilicki with sponsorship from Chemung Supply Corporation. Instead, Weatherman would run DGM’s part-time #36 entry, which had made only three starts this year and none since the Chicago Street Course, where Daniel Suarez claimed 27th. The orange-and-white car, which Weatherman’s wife nicknamed “Pumpkin Spice,” was also without primary sponsorship, though DriveSmartWarranty.com continued as backer, their logo on the TV panel.

Weatherman ran 31st in practice, then ran 17th of 21 drivers in Qualifying Round 1B with a lap of 72.763 seconds (121.215mph). This secured him 29th on the grid, joining teammates Bilicki in 26th and Sunday’s polesitter Ross Chastain 21st in the #92 Protect Your Melon Chevrolet. Missing the race were Blaine Perkins in the #29 AutoParkit.com Ford, Jade Buford in the #07 Frog Alley Brewing Chevrolet, and Kyle Keller, who attempted his NASCAR national series debut in Motorsports Business Management’s unsponsored #13 Ford.

Securing the 38th and final starting spot was Josh Williams, whose #11 Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet didn’t complete a lap in qualifying due to a transmission issue. Also not taking a lap was Ed Jones, who lost an engine on his #26 Toyota Genuine Parts Toyota, but secured the inside of Row 19 alongside Williams in 37th. Jones and Williams would incur redundant tail-end penalties: Jones for an engine while Williams incurred an unapproved adjustments penalty along with teammate Chastain, plus Joey Logano for brake issues on the #15 Panini Ford, Jeb Burton for a throttle problem on the #27 Heartbeat Hot Sauce / Norma Chevrolet, and Shane van Gisbergen in the #97 WeatherTech Chevrolet.

When the race started, Ed Jones was last across the stripe, 3.913 seconds back of the lead and nearly three-tenths back of new 37th-place runner Logano at a 3.678. By the end of Lap 1, the stop fell to R.C. Enerson, who qualified SS-Green Light Racing’s #14 Lucas Oil School of Racing Chevrolet while teammate Jade Buford missed the show. That time by, Enerson was 11.518 seconds back of the lead, but just 0.446 behind new 37th-place runner Kyle Sieg in the #28 Lotze Ford. The gap grew to 0.778 second on Lap 3, but Enerson remained within sight of Sieg’s car. The interval stood at 0.513 on Lap 4, 0.385 on Lap 5, 0.484 on Lap 6, 0.362 on Lap 7, 0.277 on Lap 8, 0.251 on Lap 10 and 0.379 on Lap 11. Through this stretch, Enerson’s crew tried to have him move his microphone closer to his mouth as they couldn’t hear him over the noise of the engine.

Regardless, on Lap 12, Enerson caught and passed Kyle Sieg, opening a gap of 0.505 second. After the pass, Sieg and team mentioned the #27 of Jeb Burton, relaying a possible brake issue. Burton sounded dismayed on his own channel, saying “I’m used to it – it’s always fucking something.” As Burton’s team talked him through it, Sieg dropped Burton to last on Lap 14, when Sieg had already opened a gap of 1.295 seconds. The next driver with issues was Leland Honeyman, Jr., whose #42 RandCo Chevrolet slipped to 37th on Lap 15 with a possible track bar issue. “Last time through here it looked kind of weird,” said Honeyman’s spotter. “I couldn’t tell if it was the front or rear.” On that 15th lap, Burton closed to within 0.959 of Honeyman. But before Burton could pass the #42, both passed Weatherman, who came down pit road. At the start of Lap 16, Weatherman was now in last, 2.651 seconds behind Burton – and the Weatherman went behind the wall. “The housing is snapped on the tube,” said Weatherman’s team, who coordinated bringing the car back to their hauler. NASCAR ruled Weatherman out of the race on Lap 30.

Kyle Sieg was the next retiree, out of the event after axle issues. Next came Alon Day, who bounced back from his practice crash at the Chicago Street Course, but fell out with brake issues on Saturday in his #45 JSSI Chevrolet. Matt DiBenedetto was running around 14th place when the rear gear failed on his #38 Rema Ford exiting The Esses, causing his car to stop in the breakdown lane for the chicane. Rounding out the group was Anthony Alfredo, whose #5 Ferguson Chevrolet collided with Austin Hill’s #21 Global Industrial Chevrolet during a stack-up on the Lap 81 restart. As Alfredo limped his way back to pit road, he bounced off the wall again entering the chicane.

As for Weatherman’s two teammates, each finished in the Top 10 with Ross Chastain taking 6th ahead of Josh Bilicki in 10th.

Zilisch continues to build impressive resume at record pace

Just six months after winning the pole for his Craftsman Truck Series debut at COTA, where he overcame a first-lap overdriving of Turn 1 to finish 4th, and just one day after winning the ARCA Menards Series race at the same Watkins Glen track – not to mention his LMP2 class wins in both this year’s 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring – 18-year-old Connor Zilisch won Saturday’s pole, led half the 90-lap distance, won Stage 1 by 11 seconds, nearly lapping Shane van Gisbergen, and survived multiple restarts to win in his first-ever NASCAR XFINITY Series race.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for both Weatherman and the #36 in a XFINITY Series race at Watkins Glen.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

38) #36-Kyle Weatherman / 15 laps / rear end

37) #28-Kyle Sieg / 54 laps / axle

36) #45-Alon Day / 57 laps / brakes

35) #38-Matt DiBenedetto / 75 laps / rear gear

34) #5-Anthony Alfredo / 80 laps / crash

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Joey Gase Motorsports (4)

2nd) DGM Racing, JR Motorsports (3)

3rd) AM Racing, Jordan Anderson Racing, Mike Harmon Racing, SS-Green Light Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing (2)

4th) Alpha Prime Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, Kaulig Racing, Motorsports Business Management, RSS Racing (1)

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet (16)

2nd) Ford (6)

3rd) Toyota (3)

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP