CUP: After two near-identical wrecks in the same weekend, A.J. Allmendinger scores walk-off win over Herbst for first LASTCAR championship
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
ALL PHOTOS: Brock Beard
A.J. Allmendinger picked up the 14th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship at the Phoenix Raceway when his #16 Celsius Chevrolet crashed after 146 of 319 laps.
The finish, which came in Allmendinger’s 482nd series start, was his series-leading fourth of the season and first since Dover, 15 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 24th for the #16, the 700th from a crash, and the 880th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 47th for the #16, the 1,441st from a crash, and the 2,023rd for Chevrolet.
Allmendinger joined Josh Berry and incoming standings leader Riley Herbst in a three-driver battle to win the 2025 LASTCAR Cup Series Championship. Allmendinger’s only path to the title was a last-place finish, combined with Herbst not finishing in the Bottom Five (for this race, 34th or worse). Following Allmendinger’s last-place run, Herbst came home on the lead lap in 23rd, locking up his first LASTCAR title.
Sunday’s race was part of a frustrating season for Allmendinger, who since his most recent last-place run in Dover has only twice finished in the Top Ten. He earned a strong 5th-place finish in the Southern 500, at a Darlington track where he’d never finished better than 13th in his long career. Then at the Charlotte “Roval,” which he has dominated in the XFINITY Series, he led 13 laps led on his way to a 9th. But in those same 14 races, he’s finished outside the Top 20 on eight occasions, and nearly finished last at Talladega, where a grinding crash left him 37th.
Allmendinger’s car towed into the garage after his wreck in Friday’s practice session.
Last weekend’s race in Phoenix ended up even more frustrating. On Friday, he ranked just 31st of the 38 entrants in practice with a best lap of 27.749 seconds (129.734mph), and was involved in two incidents. Early in the session, he blew a left-rear tire and made it to pit road, then entering Turn 3 blew a left-front that sent him hard into the outside wall, destroying the right-front of his car. The team rolled out the backup as the primary was towed to the garage, and Allmendinger was checked and released from the infield care center with a bruised elbow. While team owner Chris Rice tweeted he was helping the team wrap the backup car, the #16 wasn’t ready in time for Saturday’s qualifying session, and was the only car sitting on jack stands. This meant he’d have to start 38th, where he’d incur a redundant tail-end penalty for the backup.
Work on Allmendinger’s backup car continues into Saturday, and the team misses qualifying.
Both cars carried logos for beverage sponsor Celsius’ limited edition Spritz Vibe flavor, described as “winter-kissed citrus” and “snowball frost” for the upcoming winter season. The scheme carried a slightly different version of Celsius’ simple white paint scheme, including a blue roof and mutli-colored stripes along the side. This distinguished Allmendinger’s car from the #60 Ford driven by RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece, which carried associate backing from local grocery chain Fry’s.
Just before the start, Allmendinger pulled ahead of 37th-place qualifier Michael McDowell in the #71 Tide Chevrolet. By the time both entered the backstretch on Lap 1, each had dropped J.J. Yeley to last place in the NY Racing Team’s #44 Fanatics Sportsbook Chevrolet. The field remained fast and tightly-bunched, meaning Yeley was already outside of Cody Ware’s #51 Mighty Fire Breaker Ford in a battle for 37th. By Lap 3, Ware had cleared Casey Mears in Garage 66’s #66 S.I. Yachts Ford, which Yeley now battled for the position. On Lap 4, Yeley cleared Mears, who trailed the field by open track.
Over the next several laps, the gaps between Ware, Yeley, and Mears continued to grow. Mears dropped off faster than the other two, falling at least a second back of Yeley by Lap 8. By Lap 19, Mears was just seven seconds ahead of then-leader Denny Hamlin, and 22.498 seconds back of the lead on Lap 22. After making moves in the first three laps, Mears was now hanging on, vocally frustrated with his car’s poor handling. On Lap 26, he radioed to team owner Carl Long that it felt like he was “at the wrong racetrack,” and on Lap 34 said, “What the hell am I doing here?” By then, Mears was the first driver lapped as Hamlin cleared him on Lap 29, but it wouldn’t be until Lap 37 that Hamlin caught the tightening battle for 36th between Ware and Yeley. On Lap 38, Hamlin pulled under Yeley to lap him entering Turn 3, and Ware was lapped by the 42nd circuit.
By now, Mears was counting the laps until the end of Stage 1. On Lap 52, he pulled to the low lane on the backstretch, letting a group of cars rush past, including the leaders, putting him a second lap down. By Lap 61, when the Stage 1 caution fell, he’d been passed by the first 28 cars in the field, clear down to Cole Custer’s #41 Haas / Bonanza Ford.
After several discussions over adjusting a car that was “plowing” tight in the corner, extremely loose at exit, and with no drive off the corner, Mears pitted with the other lapped cars on Lap 67. But during the tire change, a crew member knocked the bleeder of the left-rear brakes, and Mears lost all brake pressure. According to Long, the same crew member made the same mistake last week in Martinsville. Immediately, Long called for Mears to pull into the garage. Pitted in Stall 19, closer to pit exit, he first tried one of the two openings in front, but was told those weren’t the proper entrance. Instead, Mears had to come around another lap before using the main entrance between Stalls 28 and 29 not far past pit entry.
Mears pulled behind the wall on Lap 68, then into Garage Stall 21 facing Turns 1 and 2. Long ran there with the rest of his crew, who removed the left-rear wheel, revealing a puddle on the floor. Long called for more brake fluid and the crew spent the next several laps bleeding the brake system. This – along with further adjustments to the cars handling – was done on Lap 98, when Mears returned to the track still in last place, now 34 laps down.
Mears was still running on Lap 105, when Bubba Wallace’s #23 McDonald’s Toyota pulled into the garage area and parked in Stall 17. Wallace had unexpectedly slowed on the track around Lap 90, his exhaust note sounding flat. Now the crew looked under the rear decklid, bringing out a box of shop towels and a drop cloth to place under the rear wheels. The crew brought more equipment from the pit box on Lap 111, and on Lap 134 appeared to remove the fuel pump from the rear of the car. By then, Wallace was now in last place as Mears made his way past on Lap 129.
On Lap 149, Allmendinger was running in a pack of traffic. After the early laps, he’d struggled to gain many more positions, though at one point he’d battled door-to-door with teammate Ty Dillon in the #10 Alpine Partners Chevrolet. Entering Turns 1 and 2, Allmendinger’s right-front tire blew. He got on the brakes, but still struck the outside wall at nearly the exact same point he had in practice, the car sliding to a stop on the apron. Understandably angry over the radio, Allmendinger climbed out and was again checked and released from the infield care center. On Lap 152, Allmendinger’s crew pushed one of their equipment carts back to the team’s hauler, where on Lap 157, the tow truck brought his car. NASCAR official David Green signaled for the tow truck to come to the garage building next to where Bubba Wallace’s car was still being serviced, but the car remained at the hauler. The right-front wheel was pushed in hard against the bodywork, and the track’s tell-tale blue paint of the wall was streaked across the right side and embedded in the wheels.
On Lap 186, Wallace re-fired his engine and returned to the track 88 laps down, a full 50 laps behind the now 36th-place Allmendinger. By Lap 191, Mears had climbed past Allmendinger into 36th, meaning the spot would be Allmendinger’s if Wallace ran enough laps. In between, the 23XI Racing crew still had Wallace make additional pit stops to keep giving his pit crew practice, treating the rest of the race like a test session. On Lap 235, Wallace finally climbed past Allmendinger, putting the #16 in last place.
The 23XI Racing crew works on repairing the #35 for Sunday’s race.
However, the title battle still wasn’t over. Riley Herbst, tied with Allmendinger with four last-place finishes on the season, could take the title back with a finish of 34th or worse, thus matching Allmendinger’s eight bottom-five finishes on the season. If that happened, Herbst would win the bottom-ten tiebreaker 14-10. But on a weekend where Herbst also cut a tire and suffered damage in practice – damage the crew repaired after a late night on Friday – the rookie stayed on the lead lap all day and finished in 23rd. After post-race inspection was completed, Allmendinger earned his first LASTCAR Cup Series title in a walk-off, prevailing on Bottom Fives with a tiebreaker of 8-7.
Wallace pulled off the track just 11 laps after dropping Allmendinger to last place, citing brake trouble as the issue. Mears finished the race under power after the crew made further gains on the car’s handling. He lost just one more lap by the finish, coming home 35 laps behind in 36th. Taking 35th was Ty Dillon, Allmendinger’s teammate, who one lap shy of the end of Stage 2 cut down a tire and slapped the wall with the right side of his #10. Dillon returned to finish 23 laps down. Completing the Bottom Five was Austin Cindric, who after running a solid 3rd in the early laps hit the outside wall with the right-rear of his #2 Discount Tire Ford, then made several pit stops in the closing laps. Looking to stay out of the way of the Playoff contenders, Cindric fell 18 laps down by the checkered flag, but took the flag on track.
In surprising fashion, the race was won by Ryan Blaney, who last year came within three-tenths of a second of becoming the first driver to clinch a NASCAR and LASTCAR championship in the same season. The NASCAR Cup Series Championship went to Kyle Larson – the second of his career – after teammate William Byron’s crash caused by a cut tire forced the race into overtime. The caution’s resulting pit stops and strategy calls stripped the lead from a dominant Denny Hamlin, who led 208 of 319 laps, only to finish second among the “Championship Four.” Hamlin continues to search for his first Cup Series title.
Michael McDowell, who started alongside Allmendinger in the 37th spot, recovered nicely to finish 8th in the #71 Tide Chevrolet. The run was particularly timely as Tide returned to the sport with a massive brand activation at the Phoenix Raceway. A group of three painters ensured their logos were painted and repainted along the entire length of pit road after each race.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Allmendinger is the first driver to finish last in both the first points-paying race and the last points-paying race of the same season (excluding the Duels at Daytona). Allmendinger lost an engine after 42 laps of this year’s Daytona 500.
*This marked the first time the #16 finished last in a Cup Series race at Phoenix.
LASTCAR LAPS COMPLETED STATISTICS
*The last-place finishers of the 36 races in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season completed a combined 4,077 of the year’s 9,481 laps, roughly 43% of the total laps run. Among these were just four races where the last-place finisher completed fewer than 10 laps, resulting in an average of 112.89 laps turned by the Cup Series’ last-place finishers in each race this season.
*The last-place finishers of the 33 races in the 2025 NASCAR XFINITY Series season completed a combined 1,837 of the year’s 5,323 laps, or roughly 34.51% of the total laps run. Among these were nine races where the last-place finisher completed fewer than 10 laps, resulting in an average of 55.67 laps completed per race.
*The last-place finishers of the 25 races in the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season completed a combined 846 of the 3,946 laps, roughly 21.44% of the total laps run. Among these were 12 races where the last-place finisher completed fewer than 10 laps, dropping the average number of laps completed per race to just 33.84.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #16-A.J. Allmendinger / 146 laps / crash
37) #23-Bubba Wallace / 165 laps / brakes
36) #66-Casey Mears / 284 laps / running
35) #10-Ty Dillon / 296 laps / running
34) #2-Austin Cindric / 301 laps / running
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL
1st) 23XI Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Kaulig Racing, Trackhouse Racing (4)
2nd) Penske Racing, Wood Brothers Racing (3)
3rd) Garage 66, Joe Gibbs Racing, Legacy Motor Club, Rick Ware Racing (2)
4th) Front Row Motorsports, Hyak Motorsports, NY Racing Team, RFK Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Spire Motorsports (1)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL
1st) Chevrolet (16)
2nd) Ford (12)
3rd) Toyota (8)
2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP – FINAL
