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

Patrick Emerling picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Call811.com Every Dig. Every Time. 200 at the Phoenix Raceway when his #07 MMI Tank & Industrial Services Chevrolet was involved in a multi-car accident after 5 of 205 laps.

The finish, which came in Emerling’s 36th series start, was his first of the season and first since October 14, 2023 at Las Vegas, seven races ago. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 16th for the #07, the 391st from a crash, and the 636th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 27th for the #07, the 1,368th from a crash, and the 1,928th for Chevrolet.

When the series last ran at Phoenix last November, Emerling concluded his two-year partnership with Joey Gase as co-owners of Emerling-Gase Motorsports. Gase finished 27th in the flagship #35 with Chris Hacker taking 35th with late-race suspension issues. Emerling has since made the move to Bobby Dotter’s team, SS-Green Light Racing, where he now pilots the #07. His new teammate is veteran J.J. Yeley, whose #14 kicked off the year as another Kaulig Racing entry for Cup regular Daniel Suarez. Emerling arrived for Saturday’s race after finishes of 17th in Daytona, 33rd in Atlanta, and 28th in Las Vegas, having completed all but eight of 489 combined laps. Emerling has also continued to race in the NASCAR Modified Series – where he also happens to run the #07 – including New Smyrna last month.

Both Emerling and Yeley received new sponsorship, each running black-and-white paint schemes. Alongside Yeley in the #14 SWAMPFOX Tactical Chevrolet came Emerling’s #07 MMI Tank & Industrial Services Chevrolet. Emerling visited MMI’s facility on Thursday, and soon welcomed Modern Grind Coffee as an associate backer. While Yeley ran 32nd in practice and qualifying, Emerling spun three laps into practice and ranked 37th, then qualified 36th with the slowest completed lap of 119.709mph (30.073 seconds), 2.693 seconds off the pole. Only C.J. McLaughlin failed to qualify after his #38 Viking Motorsports Ford ranked 34th in practice.

Emerling would also be sent to the back for a pre-race penalty for unapproved adjustments, likely stemming from his spin in practice. Also penalized for the same reason were 37th-place Ryan Vargas, a late driver announcement for Jordan Anderson Racing’s #32 Lerner & Rowe Chevrolet, and 38th-place Garrett Smithley in the #6 TeamJDMotorsports.com Chevrolet, the only two drivers to not complete a lap in qualifying. Also docked for unapproved adjustments were 6th-place Sheldon Creed in the #18 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota and 24th-place Leland Honeyman in the #42 RANDCO Chevrolet.

In the early laps, Vargas slipped to the 38th spot, showing eight seconds back of the lead by Lap 3. Three laps later, trouble broke out off Turn 2, where Josh Williams found himself in the middle of a three-wide battle, his #11 Call811.com Chevrolet flanked by Jeremy Clements’ #51 Wings, Etc. Chevrolet on the inside and Sheldon Creed’s #18 to the outside. Coming off the turn, Clements broke loose, knocking Williams into a spin. As the field checked-up behind, Emerling glanced the right-rear of his car off the Turn 2 wall and got in the rear of Dawson Cram’s #4, sending Cram into a spin. All three continued with Emerling’s damage the worst of the trio – the nose pushed inward along with the right-rear corner. He pulled behind the wall, the first car out of the race.

“There was a little bit of smoke up there,” said Emerling in his infield care center interview with Jonathan Fjeld. “But I just stopped as hard as I could and didn’t give me an opportunity to slow down and I got into him a little bit.”

Vargas took 37th after NASCAR called him to pit road on Lap 16, when something behind the right-front wheel caught fire. Up to that point, the driver reported the car had a shaky brake pedal, the water temperature up to 230 degrees with the oil gauge flashing. NASCAR reported Vargas went behind the wall for a mechanical issue on Lap 37, but the team radioed their spotter on Lap 58 that they were out. The spotter didn’t hear the message, and confirmed this on Lap 76. Three laps later, NASCAR declared Vargas out, citing suspension issues. Vargas, who now prepares for his first full-time season with 3 Friends Racing in the Whelen Euro Series (Pro), tweeted that it was an issue with the right-front hub.

The rest of the Bottom Five was completed by a massive pileup on the backstretch triggered by contact between eventual race winner Chandler Smith in the #81 QuickTie Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate John Hunter Nemechek in the #20 Safeway Toyota. Racing for the 2nd spot, Smith appeared to break loose off Turn 2 and get into Nemechek, ultimately blocking the track behind them. The most heavily damaged were Vargas’ two teammates from the Jordan Anderson team with Jeb Burton’s #27 NORMA Ammunition Chevrolet taking 36th and Parker Retzlaff’s #31 Funkaway Chevrolet in 35th. Sam Mayer, the Las Vegas last-place finisher, was also collected and took 34th in the #1 Tire Pros Chevrolet.

Moments before the wreck, Frankie Muniz pulled behind the wall in Joey Gase’s #35 The Hot Chick Ford, at which point he was at least nine laps down. Muniz returned after the wreck 18 laps down and climbed past all those involved, bumping him from 36th to 30th before he returned to the garage just before the finish, unable to pass any other cars.

Alfredo, Honeyman, Perkins, McLeod, and Leitz enjoy strong finishes at Phoenix

The big wreck, followed by race leader Justin Allgaier’s stunning wreck while leading with four laps to go, opened the door for several underdogs to capitalize on what were already solid lead-lap performances.

Anthony Alfredo finished 10th in Our Motorsports’ #5 Dude Wipes Chevrolet, already his second top-ten finish of the year following a 7th in Atlanta. Alfredo came up just short of a Top Ten in this race last year, when he charged through the field in the final laps to take 14th.

Leland Honeyman climbed from 15th to 11th in the final stages, earning his best career XFINITY Series finish and the best so far for team owner Randy Young in the series. Honeyman’s previous mark of 18th came just last week in Las Vegas.

Blaine Perkins took 13th, and was even featured by the broadcast in the final 20 laps, when he was racing Nick Leitz for 16th. Leitz finished 17th, the last car on the lead lap, one spot behind teammate Kyle Weatherman. For Perkins, it was his new season-best finish, besting his 14th from Daytona. It’s his third 13th-place finish, all of them second to his lone Top Ten at Martinsville in 2022 for his career-best. For Leitz, who started a distant 34th, his 17th was his new career-best, far exceeding his previous mark of 26th in just his fourth series start.

B.J. McLeod claimed 14th in an unsponsored #78 Chevrolet, not only a new season-best, but his third finish of 18th or better in the year’s four races. His first XFINITY Series top-ten finish remains tantalizingly close – his best career finish remains a pair of 11th-place runs at Daytona in 2017 and Bristol in 2020.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for the #07 in a XFINITY Series race since July 29, 2023, when Katherine Legge’s #07 Blast Equality Collab Chevrolet fell out with a busted fuel pump - or water pump, as radio traffic indicated – after 9 laps around Road America. The number had never before finished last in a XFINITY race at Phoenix.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

38) #07-Patrick Emerling / 5 laps / crash

37) #32-Ryan Vargas / 17 laps / suspension

36) #27-Jeb Burton / 143 laps / crash

35) #31-Parker Retzlaff / 143 laps / crash

34) #1-Sam Mayer / 143 laps / crash

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) DGM Racing, JR Motorsports, Jordan Anderson Racing (1)

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet (3)

2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP