CUP: Another blown engine sends A.J. Allmendinger behind the wall early in Kansas

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

A.J. Allmendinger picked up the 12th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at the Kansas Speedway when his #16 Action Industries Chevrolet lost the engine after 6 of 267 laps.

The finish, which came in Allmendinger’s 458th series start, was his second of the season and first since the Daytona 500 on February 16th, 11 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 22nd for the #16, the 726th from the engine, and the 869th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 45th for the #16, the 1,155th from the engine.

Allmendinger is the first repeat last-place finisher in the 2025 Cup Series season and takes a one-finish lead in the standings over Cody Ware.

It was a blown engine coming off Turn 4 that handed Allmendinger his last-place finish in February, an inauspicious start to his return to full-time Cup Series racing. The results since then haven’t been that spectacular, leading two laps at COTA before he tumbled back to 30th, then finished 8th in Las Vegas, 7th in Homestead, and 9th in Bristol. Still, he arrived in Kansas 20th on the Playoff grid, 23 points back of the bubble, buoyed by earning the new XFINITY Fastest Lap bonus twice – once at Atlanta, and again in Bristol.

Allmendinger had a rough start to his weekend when he ranked slowest of the 38 entrants with a lap of 30.852 seconds (175.029mph). He then improved in qualifying with a lap of 30.160 seconds (179.045mph), but this was only enough to take 33rd on the grid.

Taking the 38th and final starting spot was Josh Berry in the #21 Motorcraft / Quick Lane Ford, which was also one of seven to incur a tail-end penalty for unapproved adjustments. Berry’s was for a bent toe link after bouncing off the wall in qualifying. Many of the others were due to flat left-rear tires, which were a big issue during practice on Saturday. Docked along with Berry were 6th-place Ty Gibbs in the #54 Monster Energy Toyota, 18th-place Zane Smith in the #38 Horizon Hobby Ford, 19th-place Chase Briscoe in the #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 29th-place Ty Dillon in the #10 Sea Best Chevrolet, 34th-place Shane van Gisbergen in the #88 Safety Culture Chevrolet, and 36th-place Brad Keselowski in the #6 Kroger / Allegra Ford.

When the green flag dropped, Berry was last across the stripe, 2.710 seconds back of the lead to Keselowski’s 2.485. By the end of Lap 1, the spot fell to Cody Ware, whose #51 Parts Plus Ford had qualified 37th, and ran on the rear bumper of Kyle Busch’s #8 Rebel Bourbon Chevrolet at the start, moved from 37th to 33rd at the green flag. Heading into Turn 1 on Lap 1, Briscoe and Van Gisbergen passed Ware up high, then Keselowski halfway down the backstretch moved in front of him entering turn 3. Finally, Ty Dillon and Berry shot past off Turn 4, dropping Ware to last, 3.546 behind. By Lap 3, Ware was 5.359 behind, then 7.163 on Lap 4.

But on Lap 6, Allmendinger in 30th started to slow off Turn 4 as white smoke billowed from behind his Chevrolet. He pulled to the apron, decrying his blown engine that let go so similarly to Daytona. “Hey ECR, you guys fucking suck,” he said. “Lose the engine?” the team asked. “Yeah, shockingly.” Allmendinger made it to pit road under the ensuing caution, then coasted behind the wall at the first opening on the Turn 4 side. Crew members started to arrive, helping him to Garage Stall 22 in the infield. The crew worked under the hood for some time, even as the onboard camera was shut off on Lap 40. NASCAR declared him the first car out on Lap 57.

The rest of the Bottom Five was completed by others with terrible luck. Taking 37th was Brad Keselowski, who briefly challenged a dominant Kyle Larson for the lead and was still running 2nd on Lap 195 when he cut down a right-front tire and smashed the wall in Turn 1, requiring a tow to the garage. Moments later, Denny Hamlin’s #11 Progressive Toyota suffered a drivetrain failure exiting pit road after trying to nurse a failing clutch for nearly the entire race distance, leaving him 36th. Taking the final two spots were Ty Dillon in the #10 Sea Best Chevrolet and Daniel Suarez in the #99 Choice Privileges Chevrolet, both swept up in a restart crash with Cody Ware, who managed to finish under power in 30th.

Berry, Preece, and Nemechek look fast in Kansas

Josh Berry, who not only qualified last but incurred a redundant tail-end penalty to keep him there, rallied into the Top 5 in the middle stages of the race and took the checkered flag in 6th, continuing the strong early season run for the Wood Brothers. Taking 7th was Ryan Preece in the #60 Body Guard Ford, his first top-ten finish since he was also 7th at Martinsville (not counting his disqualification at Talladega from finishing 2nd). John Hunter Nemechek in the #42 Dollar Tree Toyota earned the Lucky Dog battling for 20th on Lap 196, then climbed from 14th to 10th by the checkered flag, scoring his second-consecutive top-ten finish and fourth of the year – already matching his season total from 2024.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for both the #16 and Allmendinger in a Cup race at Kansas.

*Curiously, the five laps completed by Allmendinger is only tied for the seventh-fewest in 39 Cup races at Kansas. Three of those seven runs saw the driver fail to complete a single lap, including Josh Berry’s lengthy trip to the garage after a first-lap spin last September.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

38) #16-A.J. Allmendinger / 6 laps / engine

37) #6-Brad Keselowski / 194 laps / crash

36) #11-Denny Hamlin / 196 laps / drivetrain / led 2 laps

35) #10-Ty Dillon / 197 laps / crash / led 4 laps

34) #99-Daniel Suarez / 201 laps / crash

2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Kaulig Racing (2)

2nd) 23XI Racing, Garage 66, Joe Gibbs Racing, Legacy Motor Club, NY Racing Team, Penske Racing, RFK Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Spire Motorsports, Trackhouse Racing (1)

2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Chevrolet (5)

2nd) Ford (4)

3rd) Toyota (3)

2025 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP