PHOTO: Rick Ware Racing, @RickWareRacing
SEASON IN REVIEW
Wauchula, Florida driver B.J. McLeod picked up his first LASTCAR Cup Series Championship in 2019, scoring three last-place finishes in eighteen starts during a thirty-six race season. McLeod prevailed on a bottom-five tiebreaker ahead of three drivers who matched his three last-place finishes coming into Homestead. He clinched when a fourth, Kyle Larson, scored his own third finish in the season finale.
The 2019 season marked McLeod’s fourth in Cup Series competition. Prior to that, he’d been a part-time driver in the Truck Series and developed his own XFINITY Series team, B.J. McLeod Motorsports. He went full-time XFINITY racing for his own team in 2016 with a best finish of 19th at Dover, Iowa, and Bristol. By 2019, he’d expanded this operation to three cars and largely stepped out of driving his own cars, racing instead for Johnny Davis’ team JD Motorsports.
On the Cup side, where he made his debut in 2015 at Loudon driving for Joe Falk, McLeod had since driven for Rick Ware Racing, following the team’s own expansion into a multi-car operation. His first start for the team came at Kentucky in 2017, his first of eight starts that year. He increased his commitment to Cup in 2018, making fourteen starts, then expanded further to the eighteen starts he ran in 2019. In so doing, McLeod drove for three of Ware’s four teams – cars #51, #52, and #53. The only car he didn’t drive was #54, introduced in August.
McLeod’s 2019 season began with a difficult SpeedWeeks in Daytona, where he and teammate Cody Ware finished last in their respective qualifying races. In the 500 itself, McLeod and Ware collided as they checked-up for slowing traffic coming down pit road. Even then, McLeod managed a 19th-place finish. Incidentally, McLeod would also finish last in the non-points Monster Energy Open at Charlotte on May 18, this time after engine woes on the #53 Enlisted Nine Flight Company Chevrolet.
The first last-place finish of the season in a points race came May 6 at Dover, where the #52 Belmont Classic Cars Chevrolet lost an engine after 96 laps. He then trailed eight races later at Kentucky on July 13, this time electrical woes the cited reason to stop his #52 Jacob Companies Chevrolet. The third came six races after on September 1 at Darlington, where his #51 Jacob Companies “Stroker Ace” throwback Chevorlet honoring the late Burt Reynolds was damaged in a tangle with Matt Tifft off Turn 2, then crashed into the Turn 4 wall after 194 laps.
The Darlington finish allowed McLeod to take the LASTCAR lead from Michael McDowell, who had three last-place finishes of his own in the spring races at Atlanta, Phoenix, and Talladega, but trailed McLeod by a single bottom-five finish. By the end of the month, Erik Jones finished last in back-to-back races at Richmond and the Charlotte Roval, joining his Coca-Cola 600 last-place finish to bring his own total to three. In the penultimate round at Phoenix on November 10, Chase Elliott scored his third last-place finish in fifteen races. Thus, heading into the season finale at Homestead, McLeod, Jones, Elliott, and McDowell all led the series with three last-place finishes apiece. If the other three didn’t finish last in the race, McLeod would take the title on the bottom-five tiebreaker.
The November 17 finale saw a last-place battle that wasn’t settled until just 31 laps to go. However, out of the championship four, only McLeod ever spent any time in the 40th and final spot. In the end, the spot went to Kyle Larson, who incidentally had two last-place finishes of his own at Texas and Richmond. Larson joined the five-way tie, though he’d already been mathematically eliminated at Phoenix based on his insufficient number of Bottom Fives, allowing McLeod to take the title.
Regardless, the result was a dramatic showdown at Homestead, perhaps the closest LASTCAR battle in series history.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
McLeod’s three last-place finishes were just one-third of the series-leading nine last-place runs earned in 2019 by Rick Ware Racing. Included were a pair of first-time last-place finishers – Kyle Weatherman, who crashed his #51 Jacob Companies Ford after 69 laps at Michigan on June 10, and Spencer Boyd, who scored his first of two last-place runs in the second Michigan race on August 11, where his #53 Chelle Corporation Ford crashed out 123 laps into his Cup debut. Boyd’s second finish came in the fall race at Talladega on October 13, one day after he scored his first Truck Series victory at the same track.
Weatherman and Boyd’s last-place finishes bookended the six first-time last-place finishers in the series, all of them coming during the summer months. On June 30, rookie driver Quin Houff became the first driver to be classified last due to a track bar issue, exiting after 100 laps at Chicagoland in the #77 Sleep6 Chevrolet. Along with Reed Sorenson’s last-place run at Watkins Glen on August 4, these were the only last-place finishes by new team Spire Motorsports, who pulled an upset in the rain-shortened race at Daytona on July 7, won by XFINITY regular Justin Haley. That Daytona race saw Daniel Suarez score his first last-place finish in his 90th series start, his #41 Haas Automation Ford collected in a crash after 83 laps.
Rookie of the Year driver Daniel Hemric crashed out at Loudon on July 21, exiting after 110 laps in his #8 Okuma Chevrolet.
At Pocono on July 21 came the first of Chase Elliott’s three aforementioned last-place runs, a crash after 83 laps putting his #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet behind the wall. This finish came in Elliott’s 134th series start, ending another of the longest streaks without a last-place finish. Elliott’s last-place run at Dover on October 6 came after a bizarre start to the race where both Joey Logano pulled into the garage with an axle failure before the start, then Reed Sorenson for an axle failure right after. Elliott’s engine blew moments after that, and dropped to last when Sorenson and Logano’s cars were repaired. The November 10 last-place run at Phoenix which put Elliott into LASTCAR contention also took him out of NASCAR’s Championship 4 at Homestead.
Brad Keselowski once again escaped the season without a last-place finish, bringing his active streak to 377 races. This did not come easy. At Daytona on July 7, he was collected in Suarez’ accident, but the crew managed to piece the car together just enough to turn two extra laps, putting him in 39th. At Texas on November 3, Keselowski broke loose in Turn 3 and slapped the outside wall, destroying his #2 Ford. Had Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., running behind him at the time, not crashed in the same corner at the exact same moment, Keselowski would have seen his streak end. Instead, Stenhouse took the finish.
Michael McDowell came just short of the LASTCAR title, but his three finishes tied him with the Joe Nemechek for the most last-place finishes in Cup Series history at 33 apiece.
Erik Jones, who also joined McLeod in the LASTCAR Cup Series showdown at Homestead, claimed a couple of firsts during the season. In May, he became the first Cup driver to finish last in both the All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600 in the same year. And on September 21, following a 4th-place finish in a Joe Gibbs Racing sweep of the top four spots, Jones’ #20 Craftsman Toyota was disqualified for a rear toe end infraction. Thanks to NASCAR bringing back disqualifications for serious technical infractions in 2019, Jones became the first Cup driver classified last by disqualification since Bobby Hillin, Jr. on October 11, 1992. The disqualification lifted Reed Sorenson out of last place.
Las Vegas on March 3 saw a bizarre situation play out in Joey Gase’s last-place finish due to engine trouble. After his #66 Donate Life Nevada Toyota pulled behind the wall after just ten laps, the Motorsports Business Management crew couldn’t find their engine person, who they believed was back at the hotel. The crewman showed up on Lap 94, at which point the team found the engine issue was terminal, ending their day. Gase also finished last in the XFINITY race the day before, this time from an accident.
On September 15, when the series returned to Las Vegas, Kurt Busch was handed his first last-place finish since the 2008 season finale at Homestead
At Bristol on August 17, Kevin Harvick completed 244 laps before a locker in the rear gear failed, leaving him last in another competitive last-place battle. He also led the only laps of any Cup last-place finisher in 2019, pacing the field for 28 circuits.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Chase Elliott [5 B5s], Erik Jones [5 B5s], Kyle Larson [5 B5s], Michael McDowell [5 B5s], B.J. McLeod [6 B5s] (3)
2nd) Spencer Boyd, Cody Ware (2)
3rd) Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Landon Cassill, Austin Dillon, Joey Gase, Kevin Harvick, Daniel Hemric, Quin Houff, Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears, Ryan Newman, Reed Sorenson, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Daniel Suarez, Kyle Weatherman, J.J. Yeley (1)
