XFINITY: Patrick Emerling prevails in exhausting race-long last-place battle
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Steven Taranto, @STaranto92
Patrick Emerling picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Tennessee Lottery 250 at the Nashville Superspeedway when his #07 70 Acre Farm Motorsports Chevrolet finished under power after completing 183 of 188 laps.
The finish, which came in Emerling’s 45th series start, was his second of the season and first since Phoenix, 13 races ago. As the first repeat last-place finisher of 2024, he now takes the lead in the 2024 LASTCAR XFINITY Series rankings. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 7th while finishing under power, the 17th for the #07, and the 644th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 28th for the #07, the 57th where the car was still running, and the 1,948th for Chevrolet.
Since Phoenix, Emerling has remained the primary driver for Bobby Dotter’s #07, qualifying for every race except one-off entries by four different drivers: Daniil Kvyat (at COTA), Myatt Snider (Martinsville), Logan Bearden (Portland), and Alex Labbe (Sonoma). Through it all, Emerling’s 17th-place finish in this year’s Daytona opener still remains the team’s best finish, though Labbe, Snider, and Kvyat rank second through fourth. Eight of Emerling’s starts resulted in finishes of 30th or worse, including the most recent round at Loudon. Running double-duty with the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, where he finished a strong 4th, his XFINITY ride ended up 34th, a full six laps down.
For Saturday’s race, Emerling welcomed a new marketing partner in Matts Marine & Powersports, LLC, which according to the team’s press release used the race to promote two of its brands. On the hood was the logo for 70 Acre Farm Motorsports, a youth racing effort involving three Bandolero drivers from the Nashville area, each aged from 9 to 12. Also sponsoring the team was East Port Marina, which is currently being renovated on Dale Hallow Lake in Alpine, Tennessee. Returning backers included sim racing company SimForge, and San Diego area sunglass brand Frontline Optics, which is owned by a retired firefighter.
In practice at Nashville, Emerling ranked 35th of the 38 entries, then qualified 33rd on the grid with a lap of 31.687 seconds (151.103mph), the slowest car to not rely on Owner Points. In reality, there had been 39 entries, but multiple failures in qualifying cost the team pit selection and, most critically, prevented them from qualifying. Thus, in both practice and qualifying, Jade Buford never turned a lap in the #74 Frog Alley Brewing Company Chevrolet and was the lone team sent home.
Securing the 38th and final starting spot was Talladega race winner Jesse Love, whose debut of sponsor C4 Ultimate Energy began when he, too, was unable to qualify. The team discovered a hole in the radiator, requiring a new one. Thus, he was one of five drivers docked for unapproved adjustments, joined by 5th-place Austin Hill in the #21 Global Industrial Chevrolet, 14th-place Sheldon Creed in the #18 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota, 19th-place Jeb Burton in the #27 Hawkins Homes / Screaming Eagle Chevrolet, and 34th-place Blaine Perkins in the #29 AutoParkit.com Ford. NASCAR instructed Hill, Burton, and the #15 AirBox Ford of 31st-place Hailie Deegan to complete the inside lane while Creed, Perkins, and Love completed the outside, keeping Love in the 38th spot.
What ensued was a tight last-place battle that wasn’t settled until the checkered flag.
When the green flag dropped, Love remained in last place, 3.809 seconds back of the lead to Deegan’s 3.764. By Lap 2, Love had completed the first two of his 65 green-flag passes en route to a 3rd-place finish, dropping Deegan to last, 4.489 seconds behind the leader, and now 0.290 behind 37th-place Logan Bearden in Joey Gase Motorsports’ #35 Key Heating and Cooling Chevrolet. Deegan kept Bearden within her sights, allowing her to pull alongside on Lap 5, just 0.057 apart at the stripe, then completing the pass the next time by. In so doing, Deegan had climbed to 36th, also passing Chad Finchum, Emerling’s teammate in the #14 Ted Russell Ford of Knoxville Ford. Bearden pulled alongside Finchum on Lap 7, the pair 0.063 apart, then Finchum fell to last on Lap 8. By then, Bearden had already lost 1.125 seconds on the 36th-place Deegan.
Finchum’s crew urged him onward, telling him he was two-tenths faster than Bearden, and on Lap 12 that the now 36th-place Garrett Smithley was falling back in his #6 Trophy Tractor Chevrolet. Finchum’s deficit to Bearden remained about two-tenths, but on Lap 16, said the #35 was holding him up. As the leaders caught and lapped them both on the 25th circuit, Finchum’s team told him Bearden was struggling off the corner. The next time by, Finchum followed the faster traffic past Bearden, dropping the #35 to 38th once more.
Around this time, then-leaders Ty Gibbs and Cole Custer split Emerling on either side on their approach to Turn 3, putting the #07 a lap down. By Lap 32, Emerling had dropped from 36th to 37th, splitting the lapped cars of Finchum and Bearden. Thee circuits later, the USA cameras showed Bearden catching Emerling for position, but he couldn’t get by before the caution fell on Lap 46 to end Stage 1. During the yellow, Smithley took the spot from Bearden on Lap 50, then Emerling on Lap 51, and back to Finchum for the restart on Lap 52. Finchum then caught and passed Emerling on Lap 60 with Smithley falling to 37th by Lap 68. Emerling remained in last place for the remainder of Stage 2, remaining there when the Stage 2 caution fell on Lap 91.
Once again, the spot changed under yellow. This time, Dawson Cram took the spot for the first time on Lap 93, his #4 Wilderness at the Smokies Chevrolet a JD Motorsports team car to Smithley’s #6. Emerling retook the spot on Lap 96, then on Lap 97 it fell to Blaine Perkins, his #29 one of the penalized cars before the start. Perkins remained in 38th for the Lap 98 restart to begin the final stage, his Ford showing two laps down. Perkins soon caught and passed Emerling again on Lap 101, the same lap Sammy Smith pitted for a tire issue on his #8 Pilot / Flying J Chevrolet. Smith only fell to 32nd, keeping Emerling in last.
As the race wore on, Emerling radioed on Lap 113 that he was tight in the center and loose off, then on Lap 117 reported his engine was only running 7200rpms. On Lap 127, Bearden reassumed the 38th spot after a green-flag stop, and by now was reporting brake issues. The Gase team told Bearden to save his brakes as best he could to reach the finish, now just over 50 laps away. When the final caution fell on Lap 135, Bearden was then told to save fuel, and Perkins retook the spot under yellow on Lap 140.
Back under green three laps later on Lap 143, Perkins was shown nearly four laps down, on the same lap as 37th-place Finchum with Emerling, Smithley, and Cram in the next three spots all one lap ahead. On Lap 147, Perkins dropped Finchum to last, during which time the spotter said at least two cars made contact with the outside wall. The caution didn’t fall, and Finchum and Perkins remained in the final two spots.
On Lap 158, the 36th-place Emerling was caught by eventual race winner John Hunter Nemechek in Turn 1. The resulting draft caused a crushed water bottle to come loose from Nemechek’s grille. On Lap 163, Cram fell a fourth lap down after a late-race pit stop, but was then called in for a penalty for improper fueling. This allowed Cram to take last from Finchum with just over 20 laps to go, and by Lap 167, the #4 was the only car five laps down. That time by, Smithley pitted for fuel and dropped to 37th, now on the same lap as his teammate. On Lap 172, Emerling fell a fifth lap down, dropping him to 37th between Smithley and Cram, and frontrunner Sheldon Creed pitted his #18 for a voltage issue. Creed returned to the track three laps down in 33rd, setting up a three-way last-place battle between Smithley, Emerling, and Cram.
Then on Lap 180, Cram managed to crawl past Emerling, dropping the #07 to last place. “Just won’t steer at all,” said Emerling. “Tires are really old,” answered the crew. “Just put some more laps on them for me.” With just over two laps to go, Emerling felt a tire was going down, but the crew told him to stay out and limp it to the finish. He succeeded, finishing in the 38th and final position, and still on the same lap as both JD Motorsports cars of Smithley and Cram. “That was the worst thing I’ve ever done,” said Emerling on the cool-down lap, remarking that he had no grip in the final laps. Perkins and Finchum, both one lap ahead of the final trio, completed the Bottom Five.
Gragson continues strong debut for Rette’s XFINITY effort
In just the second XFINITY Series start for Rette Jones Racing, Noah Gragson, still uncertain of his plans for 2025, earned a solid 5th-place finish in the #30 Preistly Demolition Ford, successfully following up his 10th-place run in the team’s series debut at Charlotte.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first XFINITY Series race where the entire field finished under power since September 2, 2023 at Darlington, where Kyle Larson finished last after returning from engine issues.
*This was the second-straight last-place finish for the SS-Green Light Racing #07 at Nashville, following Stefan Parsons’ opening-lap crash last year. Parsons, the last-place finisher of two of the last three XFINITY races at Nashville, was not entered, and ran Friday’s Truck Series race instead, finishing 26th.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #07-Patrick Emerling / 183 laps / running
37) #4-Dawson Cram / 183 laps / running
36) #6-Garrett Smithley / 183 laps / running
35) #29-Blaine Perkins / 184 laps / running
34) #14-Chad Finchum / 184 laps / running
2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Joey Gase Motorsports, JR Motorsports (3)
2nd) DGM Racing, Jordan Anderson Racing, SS-Green Light Racing (2)
3rd) Alpha Prime Racing, Kaulig Racing, Motorsports Business Management, RSS Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing (1)
2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (12)
2nd) Ford (3)
3rd) Toyota (2)
2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
