PHOTO: Stephen Stumpf, @stephen_stumpf
SEASON IN REVIEW
High Point, North Carolina driver Ryan Blaney picked up his first LASTCAR Cup Series Championship in 2024, scoring three last-place finishes in thirty-six races during a thirty-six race season.
Blaney was competing in his eleventh season in Cup Series competition, and entered the 2024 campaign as its newest series champion. During that 2023 season, Blaney ended a 59-race winless streak in the Coca-Cola 600 in May, then won a pair of critical Playoff races at Talladega and Martinsville to put him into the Championship Four. Though Ross Chastain beat Blaney for the win in the Phoenix finale, Blaney secured the title. At the time, he had ten series wins – nine of them earned with Team Penske after he left the Wood Brothers, who he brought to victory lane at Pocono in 2017.
In 2024, Blaney won another three Cup Series races – the inaugural Cup race at Iowa on June 16th, Pocono on July 14th, then defended his fall Martinsville victory on November 3rd, placing him into the Championship Four once again. But by then, he’d also earned three last-place finishes – more than any other driver that year.
Blaney’s first last-place run of the season occurred at Darlington on May 12th, when his #12 Menards / Maytag Ford was clipped by Martin Truex, Jr. as the field checked-up off Turn 2. Blaney slammed the outside wall, then made it to pit road with at least one bent toe link in the right-rear. He returned to the track, only to be told his “Crash Clock” expired, forcing him behind the wall, out of the race. This marked the first time the #12 finished last in a Cup Series race at Darlington since 1952, when Jim Paschal lost the engine early in the third-ever running of the Southern 500.
Blaney’s second last-place run occurred in NASCAR’s return to Darlington on September 1st, thirteen races later, where he was again involved in an early crash with Truex while racing in Turns 1 and 2. This time, it occurred on Lap 3, when Truex made a mistake and snapped to the right, crossing the front of Blaney’s car and putting both into the outside wall. Blaney appeared to favor his right arm as he climbed from the car, which was towed behind the wall. This marked the first time a driver swept both last-place finishes at Darlington since 1976, when Darrell Bryant crashed in the spring race, then lost the engine in the fall.
NASCAR’s “Damaged Vehicle Policy” came into play for Blaney’s third last-place run just three races later at Watkins Glen on September 15th. This time, he suffered damage heading through the backstretch chicane on the opening lap, stranding his #12 Menards / Pennzoil Ford at the entrance to Turn 5. As a tow truck came to bring him back to the pit road, it was reported his steering had broken, so the truck brought him to the garage instead. Blaney protested this, but later agreed with the decision under the letter of NASCAR’s rules.
When the Cup Series arrived at Phoenix to settle the championship, no other driver had tied Blaney in last-place finishes. The only two in mathematical contention were J.J. Yeley, who scored his second last-place run two rounds earlier at Homestead on October 27th, and Josh Berry for the closing Stewart-Haas Racing, whose own second last-place run took place September 29th in Kansas (and, like Blaney, saw Berry towed to the garage after a first-lap incident). When Ty Gibbs’ #54 Monster Energy Toyota clobbered the Turn 1 wall on just the second lap of the race - incurring the first last-place run for the #54 in Cup since 2003 - Blaney secured the LASTCAR Championship, pending post-race inspection (which was later cleared with no issues). At that point, Blaney now had a strong chance to defend his NASCAR championship, and in so doing become the first to win both a NASCAR and LASTCAR title in the same year. On the final restart, Blaney didn’t get through traffic as quickly as teammate Joey Logano, but did get to second place and steadily reeled Logano in during the closing laps. By just 0.330 second, he finished second to Logano, missing out on the unprecedented sweep. Blaney did, however, complete the first father-son duo of LASTCAR Cup Series Champions, joining father Dave Blaney, who won the title in 2009.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
The dramatic three-wide photo finish at Atlanta on February 25th was preceded by a record-setting pileup in Turn 1 on Lap 3. Somehow, the only driver immediately retired from that wreck was Josh Williams, whose #16 Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet was first declared behind the wall for mechanical issues before NASCAR deemed them out due to crash damage.
The same Atlanta track on September 8th saw Chase Briscoe go from a walk-off win into the Playoffs in the regular season finale at Darlington on September 1st to an early crash in his #14 Mahindra Compact Tractors Ford after Kyle Larson wrecked in front of him 55 laps into the Playoff opener. The “penthouse to outhouse” experience also came for Ross Chastain at Talladega on October 6th, where one week after a win in Kansas, his #1 Busch Light Camo Chevrolet was collected in a wreck at the end of Stage 2.
Despite changes made to NASCAR’s NextGen car, fire remained a troubling issue which also led to a couple of the season’s last-place finishers. On April 28th at Dover, Ryan Preece noticed smoke in the cockpit of his #41 Morton Buildings Ford, which was traced to foam in the right-side door. Preece was able to make it safely to the garage before he climbed out, but the crew had to wait for the car to cool off before loading it onto the hauler. The other incident occurred on pit road at Daytona on August 24th, where the rear of Daniel Suarez’ #99 Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Chevrolet was set ablaze by spilled fuel ignited by a backfiring Denny Hamlin in the stall behind his. Suarez returned to the track, where the flames spread into the trunk of his car before he escaped on pit road.
The March 31st race at Richmond saw perhaps the most intense last-place battle of the season, where eleven drivers traded the spot twenty-seven times. The reason was extremely low attrition as everyone took the checkered flag within three laps of the winner. Even more incredibly, this was in a race that saw an overtime finish, which meant the last-place finisher – Corey LaJoie in the #7 Gainbridge Chevrolet – still completed 404 laps, four laps over the scheduled distance. The October 27th race at Homestead nearly set a record of its own as J.J. Yeley’s #44 Urban Youth Racing School Chevrolet completed 223 laps before crash damage ended his race – the second-most laps of any of the track’s last-place finishers.
At Nashville on June 30th, Chad Finchum was holding down last place during a nearly two-hour rain delay. Some of the rain got into the electrics of Finchum’s #66 Cooper & Hunter Ford, causing an engine issue that sent him behind the wall and out of the race. Due to the red flag, timing and scoring showed his final lap time at 5,022.355 seconds, which equated to just 0.953mph.
There were also two disqualifications this season. The first occurred at the Circuit of the Americas on March 24th, where Justin Haley’s #51 Fraternal Order of Eagles Ford failed post-race weights in inspection, handing Haley his second last-place finish in the first four runnings of this event. Haley took the spot from Michael McDowell, who lost the power steering on his #34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford. McDowell did not add to his series record of thirty-six last-place finishes in 2024, and did part ways with Front Row Motorsports at the end of the year – but only after also earning his first six career poles, a season-best.
The season’s other disqualification had massive implications on the Playoffs. On October 13th, Corey LaJoie looked to be the last-place finisher at the Charlotte “Roval” after he blew an engine on the #51 Schluter Systems Ford just three laps into the event. But in post-race inspection, Alex Bowman’s #48 Ally Chevrolet was found too light in post-race inspection, handing him a disqualification that cost him a spot in the “Round of 8.” It was believed, but not confirmed, that an early hit to the rumble strips in the newly reconfigured frontstretch chicane led to the critical loss of weight. However, the Hendrick team decided to not appeal the decision.
Just six drivers scored their first Cup Series last-place finishes in the 2024 season:
On March 17th during a particularly wild Bristol race plagued by tire issues, Zane Smith scored the first last-place run for the #71 since 2010 when he was involved in three separate incidents before the engine let go on his battered #71 Focused Health Chevrolet after 192 laps.
David Starr earned his at Martinsville on April 7th, where he struggled for 311 laps with a failing power steering unit on Motorsports Business Management’s #66 ConnectUS / Amptricity Ford. The finish also made Starr the 43rd different driver to complete the “LASTCAR Triple Crown.”
Josh Berry’s first last-place run came at Gateway on June 2nd, just days after Stewart-Haas Racing announced they would close at the end of the year. Berry’s #4 Overstock.com Ford crashed out after 109 laps.
Shane van Gisbergen returned to the Chicago Street Course on July 7th looking to defend his landmark win. Van Gisbergen won Stage 1 in his #16 Wendy’s Saucy Nuggs Chevrolet and was still up front on the Lap 25 restart, when he was clipped by a sliding Chase Briscoe exiting Turn 6. The contact was just enough to send Van Gisbergen into the outside wall, ending his race. Curiously, that race was won by Alex Bowman, who finished last in the 2023 inaugural that Van Gisbergen won.
Todd Gilliland earned his first last-place finish in his 96th start – and in 190 NASCAR national series starts – at Michigan on August 18th. Gilliland’s #38 Grillo’s Pickles Ford was trapped in heavy traffic when Kyle Larson lost control in the high lane off Turn 4. Gilliland rear-ended a slowing Chris Buescher, then also clipped the cars of Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe before sliding down the track. Gilliland completed 114 laps.
The final first-time last-place finisher on the Cup side for 2024 was Kaz Grala, whose #15 Meat ‘n Bone Ford was one of many cars to suffer steering issues in the night race at Bristol on September 21st. Grala was already five laps down on Lap 294 when he made an extended pit stop, then a trip to the garage. The crew couldn’t clearly find the issue, but soon found they didn’t have enough time to replace the steering rack. This left Grala with his first last-place run in his 26th series start.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Ryan Blaney (3)
2nd) Alex Bowman, Josh Berry, J.J. Yeley (2)
3rd) A.J. Allmendinger, Christopher Bell, Josh Bilicki, Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Chad Finchum, Ty Gibbs, Todd Gilliland, Shane van Gisbergen, Noah Gragson, Kaz Grala, Justin Haley, Denny Hamlin, Austin Hill, Carson Hocevar, Jimmie Johnson, Corey LaJoie, B.J. McLeod, Ryan Preece, Zane Smith, David Starr, Daniel Suarez, Martin Truex, Jr., Josh Williams (1)
