PHOTO: NASCAR
SEASON IN REVIEW
Concord, North Carolina driver Corey LaJoie picked up his first LASTCAR Cup Series Championship in 2018, scoring five last-place finishes in twenty-three starts during a thirty-six race season. LaJoie led the 2018 LASTCAR standings through all 36 races, and claimed the title by a single finish over runner-up Timmy Hill.
The second-generation driver, son of two-time Busch Grand National Series Champion Randy LaJoie, made his Cup Series debut on September 21, 2014, when he finished 41st at Loudon for the now-defunct Randy Humphrey Motorsports. At the time, he’d earned a Whelen Southern Modified victory at Atlanta in 2010, in 2012 claimed five wins in the K&N Pro Series East and finished runner-up to Kyle Larson, and took three ARCA Racing Series wins during a partial schedule in 2013. He didn’t return to Cup again until 2017, when he was tabbed to drive for BK Racing. LaJoie made his first Daytona 500 that year after he tangled with Reed Sorenson in his Duel race for the final transfer spot and closed out the year 34th in points with a best finish of 11th in the July race at Daytona.
The 2018 season saw LaJoie share the TriStar Motorsports #72 Chevrolet with Cole Whitt, who would ultimately retire from racing at the end of the season. LaJoie would again start the year in the Daytona 500 on February 18, which came at the end of a frustrating week. The TriStar team didn’t make it to the track for signing day the Friday before qualifying, and in fact didn’t arrive until late that night. Though assured a starting spot in his second Daytona 500 due to a 40-car entry list, LaJoie’s #72 Schluter Systems Chevrolet ended up out of the race after just 8 laps with a blown engine, securing his first last-place finish.
Engine problems continued to plague LaJoie through the spring, securing him a second last-place run at Phoenix on March 11 and a third at Dover on May 6. Both times, he completed no more than 23 laps, and since he shared the ride with Whitt, his first three finishes came in his first four starts in 2018. The fourth finish didn’t come until Michigan on August 12, again due to engine failure, this time after 37 laps. His fifth and final run came with just two races to go at Texas on November 4, where the Gas Monkey Garage joined as sponsor. This time, LaJoie managed to make it back on track after lengthy repairs to his fuel cell, completing 269 of 337 laps to finish under power.
LaJoie’s closest pursuer, Timmy Hill, trailed the next week at Phoenix, and with the overall lead in Bottom Fives and Bottom Tens, was in position to take the title from LaJoie if Hill finished last at Homestead. In the November 18th finale, no one fell out of the race, and last-place fell to Regan Smith, the very first of his career in his 224th start. Smith had fallen 27 laps down due to an oil leak discovered during the pace laps, forcing him to miss the start. While Smith closed within 14 laps of a struggling Hill, he advanced no further, and LaJoie secured the title by the night’s final restart.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
Of the seven drivers who earned their first career Cup Series last-place finishes in 2018, none were more significant than Kevin Harvick. Entering the Coca-Cola 600 on May 27, Harvick’s #4 Mobil 1 / Busch Beer Ford was heavily favored to win. Harvick had stormed to three wins early in the year, and though the streak ended with a crash at Fontana on March 18, his crew somehow got him back on track before the “Crash Clock” expired, avoiding a last-place finish. He arrived in Charlotte as the winner of a competitive All-Star Race without a single last-place finish in 1,089 combined Truck, XFINITY, and Cup Series points races dating back to 1995. But on Lap 84, a tire went down in Turn 3, sending Harvick into the wall. He pulled into the garage under caution, last for the very first time.
Regan Smith’s aforementioned last-place finish in the season finale came in the final race relieving Kasey Kahne, who was forced into early retirement following extreme heat exhaustion suffered at Darlington. Smith’s #95 Dumont Jets Chevrolet missed the start of the race on the November 18 race at Homestead when an oil leak was discovered, costing him 26 laps on the track. He’d lose just one more circuit before the checkered flag, and with no one else going to the garage, the last-place finish was his, his first in his 224th start. The 240 laps complete were the most of any Cup last-placer at Homestead, besting Stacy Compton’s 2001 record of 222 laps.
Ross Chastain made headlines in 2018 when he earned a part-time seat in Chip Ganassi Racing’s XFINITY Series car, then stormed to victory in just his second start with them in Las Vegas. Chastain also split time between JD Motorsports’ XFINITY Series team in the #4 Chevrolet, several part-time efforts in the Truck Series, and most of the Cup schedule in Jay Robinson’s #15 Chevrolet fielded by Premium Motorsports. It was in this car that Chastain earned his first Cup Series last-place run at Bristol on April 16, where a crash just 3 laps in ended his run.
Ty Dillon secured his first last-place finish with just 3 laps to go at Kansas on May 12. His #13 Twisted Tea Chevrolet wrecked moments after Ryan Blaney’s #12 DEX Ford was eliminated in a wreck while battling for the lead. Since Dillon was laps down, however, he was classified just below Blaney. Even then, Dillon wasn’t assured the last-place finish until the final three laps, when the lapped machine of Timmy Hill finally climbed past him.
Bubba Wallace made headlines of his own as the first African-American driver to compete in NASCAR’s elite division since Bill Lester in 2006, then very nearly won the season-opening Daytona 500, finishing 2nd. Wallace also became the first African-American to finish last in a Cup race since the late Wendell Scott in 1970 following engine trouble late in the race at Pocono on June 3. His #43 Weis Markets Ford, fielded by Richard Petty with technical support from Richard Childress Racing, exited after 108 laps.
XFINITY Series regular Garrett Smithley finished last in his Cup debut at Michigan when his #99 Victory Lane Quick Oil Change Chevrolet suffered sudden transmission failure on the very first lap of the June 10 race. Smithley, one of Ross Chastain’s teammates at JD Motorsports, would fare better in his next two starts, running 36th at Kentucky and 32nd in the August return to Michigan.
Veteran owner-driver B.J. McLeod continued to drive for Rick Ware Racing in 2018, and on July 29 at Pocono finished last for the first time in the #51 Jacob Companies Chevrolet. McLeod continued to field his own three-car operation in the XFINITY Series in 2018 with a variety of drivers, including Tommy Joe Martins, Stephen Leicht, and Ray Black, Jr.
For the first time since 2014, not all of the starters of a Cup race at Chicagoland finished under power. The unlucky driver was Timmy Hill, the same driver who most closely challenged Corey LaJoie for the LASTCAR title. Driving for Carl Long’s team Motorsports Business Management, Hill ruptured an oil cooler late in the July 1 race and took last from David Ragan’s ailing #38 Ford with just three laps to go.
Furniture Row Racing closed its doors at the end of the season due to skyrocketing costs, but not before scoring two more last-place finishes. The first came at Texas on April 8, where driver Martin Truex, Jr. was involved in an early crash after just 80 laps. The second at Indianapolis on September 10 came just six days after the announcement that the team was closing, this time a catastrophic brake failure that sent the #78 Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota into the outside wall.
Gray Gaulding’s last-place finish in Rick Ware’s second car, the #52 Ford, came on September 22 at Richmond. It was the first for the car #52 since the 1996 season finale at Atlanta, when Jack Sprague was driving a Pontiac fielded by Rick Hendrick.
Stanton Barrett entered his first Cup Series race since he last attempted the Daytona 500 field unsuccessfully in 2008. His return came in the much-anticipated Charlotte “Roval” race held on September 30, where he drove Rick Ware’s #51 Jacob Companies Ford. Barrett struggled in the early laps with brake trouble before he struck a barrier in the new first corner, nicknamed “Heartburn Turn” by sponsor Tums. Barrett was uninjured, but out of the race – his first last-place finish since October 23, 2005 at Martinsville.
Also returning from an extended absence was driver-turned-broadcaster Hermie Sadler, who on October 28 earned his first last-place finish since June 2, 2006 at Dover. This year’s last-place finish occurred at Martinsville while driving Premium Motorsports’ #7 Chevrolet sponsored by the Virginia Lottery. Brake issues forced Sadler behind the wall, and the team later called it a day. The gap between Sadler’s two most recent last-place finishes (2006-2018) ranked 4th on the current list, one spot behind Barrett’s finish at the Roval (2005-2018). The leaders remained Joe Ruttman (1988-2004) followed by Mark Martin (1982-1996).
Joey Logano took his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship in 2018, but also broke a long streak without a last-place finish. This occurred at Watkins Glen on August 5, where he rear-ended another car at the start of the race in Turn 5, then ran off the course shortly after. While Logano made it to pit road, the moment he pulled behind the wall, he was eliminated from the race under NASCAR’s “Crash Clock.” It was Logano’s first last-place finish in a Cup points race since the 2009 Daytona 500 – the second-ever article posted on LASTCAR.info.
There were also a number of short fields in 2018, including the second race at Atlanta, whose 36-car field was the shortest in the series since 1996 and the shortest for a Cup race at the track since 1976. Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Fontana saw their shortest fields ever. Texas’ spring race was the first-ever short field at the track. And the spring race at Dover, which saw 38 cars, was the track’s shortest since 1993.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Corey LaJoie (5)
2nd) Timmy Hill (4)
3rd) Gray Gaulding (3)
4th) Landon Cassill, Michael McDowell, Martin Truex, Jr. (2)
5th) A.J. Allmendinger, Stanton Barrett, Trevor Bayne, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain, Ty Dillon, Joey Gase, Kevin Harvick, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, B.J. McLeod, Hermie Sadler, Regan Smith, Garrett Smithley, Reed Sorenson, David Starr, Bubba Wallace (1)
