XFINITY: Sudden driveshaft failure stops Ryan Ellis’ “Days of Thunder” car
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: David Schildhouse, @SchildhouseD
Ryan Ellis picked up the 5th last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Crown Royal Purple Bag Project 200 at the Darlington Raceway when his #43 Classic Collision Chevrolet fell out with a busted driveshaft after he completed 71 of 147 laps.
The finish, which came in Ellis’ 109th series start, was his first of the season and first in a XFINITY Series race since September 5, 2015 also at Darlington, 284 races ago. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 3rd from driveshaft issues, the 10th for the #43, and the 640th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 29th for the driveshaft, the 51st for the #43, and the 1,939th for Chevrolet.
Nine years ago, when a then 25-year-old Ellis was last featured in a XFINITY Series article on this site, he was running a piecemeal schedule in the XFINITY Series for four different underfunded teams, including Rick Ware Racing and Obaika Racing. He was also about to make his Cup debut that fall at Phoenix, where he’d battle his childhood hero in a then-retiring Jeff Gordon, and could be seen making the occasional start in the Truck Series. But by 2017, those starts had become particularly hard to secure.
Determined to stay involved in the sport, Ellis would work in public relations and continue his search for both sponsorship and laps behind the wheel. Soon, Ellis’ patience paid off – first a part-time ride with B.J. McLeod, then joining forces with Tommy Joe Martins at what is now Alpha Prime Racing. In his 2022 debut at Las Vegas, Ellis came home a career-best 13th. In the ten starts that followed that year, he matched that finish again in Charlotte, two of five finishes of 20th or better. This opened the door for a near full-time season in 2023, most often in Alpha Prime’s #43, though it was in the #45 that he improved his career-best run again by taking 11th in Talladega. Despite two races where he wasn’t entered, Ellis came home 24th in points.
This year, Ellis has so far made every race, beginning with a career-tying 11th-place run in the opener at Daytona – a race where he also led 11 laps, his first since 2015. Heartbeat Hot Sauce Company backed him that day, one of several enthusiastic sponsors to have joined him including Southern Elevator, Cota Oil, Four Loko, and Classic Collision. His most recent series start at Dover two weeks ago saw him finish 13th.
For Darlington, both Ellis and teammate Brennan Poole would carry dazzling “throwback” paint schemes. Poole’s #44 C & Sons Infrastructure Chevrolet won “Best In Show” for resembling Kyle Petty’s iconic Hot Wheels Pontiac from 1997 – a personal favorite of team co-owner Tommy Joe Martins. Ellis would harken back to the iconic green-and-yellow #46 City Chevrolet from the film “Days of Thunder.” Similar to previous incarnations of the scheme run by both Kurt Busch and William Byron, the only major changes being the car number to the #43 and sponsor Classic Collision integrated into the scheme. In the lead-up to the race, Ellis and crew member Gabe Wood posted a funny video that referenced the film. In the film, this paint scheme saw Cole Trickle score his first career victory. Unfortunately, such was not to be for Ellis on Saturday.
Heavy rain and hail forced the cancellation of both practice and qualifying for the XFINITY Series, placing Ellis 20th on the grid of 38. No teams were sent home, nor did any drivers incur pre-race penalties. The 38th and final starting spot went to William Byron, whose strong #17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet cued up last as a part-time entry. Coming to the green flag on Saturday, he’d be joined by JD Motorsports teammates Dawson Cram in the #4 Prolube Oil Chevrolet and Garrett Smithley in the white #6 TeamJDMotorsports.com Chevrolet. This placed Byron in 36th, 3.351 seconds back of the lead to Cram’s 3.76 and Smithley’s 4.021.
At the end of Lap 1, Smithley remained in 38th, showing 5.916 seconds back of the lead and 0.274 behind Cram. Just prior to that, scoring had shown Chad Finchum holding 38th in his #35 Garrison Homes Chevrolet, which was decorated to resemble the white-and-red GM Goodwrench Chevrolet that Kevin Harvick piloted in 2001. On Lap 3, the spot fell to Jeremy Clements, whose #51 Alliance Driveway Solutions resembled the iconic #59 entry piloted by Robert Pressley in the Busch Series. That time by, Clements was already 9.689 seconds back of the lead and 0.708 behind 37th-place Finchum. Clements reported a possible track bar issue and wanted to pit, but the team told him to hang on until the Lap 20 competition caution. Despite his issues, Clements steadily closed the gap on 37th, which had again fallen to Smithley. The gap dropped from 1.217 seconds on Lap 8 to 0.891 the next time by and 0.429 the lap after.
On Lap 11, before Clements could pass Smithley, both moved ahead of Leland Honeyman, Jr., whose #42 Randco Industries Chevrolet was redecorated to resemble another classic Kyle Petty paint scheme, the Mello Yello Pontiac run from 1991-1994. Honeyman had slipped to 26.222 seconds behind the lead and 0.443 behind Clements. But he only held the spot for a moment. Further ahead, William Byron had climbed from 36th to 28th when he blew a right-front tire and bounced off the Turn 3 wall. By Lap 14, Byron had made it to pit road and taken last from Honeyman, becoming the first to lose a lap. The crew made repairs and changed tires, and the driver said the tire must have had a slow leak before it let go. By Lap 16, Byron was back on track, three laps down, and cleared the “Crash Clock” the next time by. His spotter radioed that the car looked tight in Turns 1 and 2, but seemed okay on the other two corners. The competition caution fell on Lap 20, but Byron was denied the “Lucky Dog” as Honeyman had been lapped moments before the yellow. Byron instead took the wave-around, putting him two laps down.
The race resumed on Lap 26 with Byron now the only driver off the lead lap. Meanwhile, Clements’ issues continued. He dropped to 37th on Lap 30, then bounced off the wall as well, forcing him to pit road the next time by. The driver radioed he had no brake pedal, and the crew looked behind the left-front wheel to try and find a leak. On Lap 33, when Clements took last from Byron, the crew was told they were not on the “Crash Clock,” and thus could go to the garage to make repairs. This was done on Lap 34, when the crew pushed the #51 behind the wall past pit exit using the entrance at Turn 1. After NASCAR officials told him to park around the corner from the entrance, Clements’ crew called for more brake fluid. On Lap 42, they discovered they needed a new brake line, and so Clements had to drive back to the hauler parked on the backstretch. This was further delayed by a locked gate that needed to be reopened. The Lap 46 caution to end Stage 1 put Byron just one lap down in 37th place, and saw Clements now over 15 laps behind as the only car in the garage.
Ellis entered the last-place battle on Lap 74, when he pulled behind the wall at the entrance to the Cup garage by the start / finish line. The driver reported something exploded beneath the car, and the crew estimated it was the transmission. With the car on jack stands, someone on the radio said, “About every fucking part fell off the race car. Fucking unreal.” By Lap 78, Ellis’ crew reported fluid coming out of the transmission, and on Lap 81 radioed “Ryan, we’re done. . .transmission, drive shaft, you name it.” At that exact moment, Clements returned to the track with his new brake line installed, his #51 showing 53 laps down. By Lap 84, Clements had lost a 54th lap, but was back up to speed. The Stage 2 caution fell on Lap 90 with the final two cars separated by 34 laps. NASCAR declared Ellis the first car out on Lap 113, and Clements finally climbed past Ellis into 37th on Lap 126.
Clements climbed no further, though he did finish the race under power. Just ahead in 35th came Hailie Deegan, whose #15 Airbox Ford was redecorated into the Bud Moore Engineering Ford once driven by Dale Earnhardt. A blown left-rear tire ripped apart the bodywork around her car’s fuel inlet, ending her afternoon. This caution put Byron back on the lead lap for the first time since his Lap 11 incident, allowing Byron to salvage an 11th-place finish. Taking 35th was A.J. Allmendinger, whose run in the Top 10 ended with an issue on pit road that left his #16 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet limping around the track. Rounding out the Bottom Five was Sammy Smith, whose #8 TMC Chevrolet was the final car one lap down.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was only the third XFINITY last-place finish by reason of driveshaft failure, and the first since July 3, 2009, when Johnny Chapman’s unsponsored #90 MSRP Motorsports Chevrolet fell out after 2 laps of the Subway Jalapeno 250 Powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #43-Ryan Ellis / 71 laps / driveshaft
37) #51-Jeremy Clements / 94 laps / running
36) #15-Hailie Deegan / 102 laps / crash
35) #16-A.J. Allmendinger / 126 laps / running / led 1 lap
34) #8-Sammy Smith / 146 laps / running
2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Joey Gase Motorsports, Jordan Anderson Racing, JR Motorsports (2)
2nd) Alpha Prime Racing, DGM Racing, Kaulig Racing, Motorsports Business Management (1)
2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (7)
2nd) Toyota (2)
3rd) Ford (1)
2024 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
