CUP: Spin within sight of the white flag only part of the story of Cody Ware’s race-long battle in Kansas
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Stephen Stumpf, @stephen_stumpf
Cody Ware picked up the 9th last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at the Kansas Speedway when his #51 True Brand Chevrolet finished under power, completing 268 of 274 laps.
The finish, which came in Ware’s 151st series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since the most recent race at Kansas on September 28, 2025, 14 races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 35th for the #51, the 46th while still under power, and the 885th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 49th for the #51, the 63rd while still running, and the 2,037th for Chevrolet.
The 2026 season marks Rick Ware Racing’s manufacturer switch from Ford back to Chevrolet, which they last campaigned at the end of the “Gen-Six” era in 2021. The change is the result of a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing, and coincides with a dramatic reduction of Ford teams in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series thanks to similar deals. Continuing to drive RWR’s flagship #51, Cody Ware debuted his new ride with a solid 17th-place showing in the Daytona 500, where he led two laps. But other than a 24th-place showing in Phoenix and a 27th in Atlanta, the team hasn’t finished better than 30th in the seven races since. They have, however, welcomed new sponsors to the sport, including water system firm BlueHighway.ai, purchasing app Super.com, and refrigerator company Yeego.
For Kansas, Ware carried a pink-and-blue paint scheme for True Brand, a Florida-based fuel additive company manufactured by Solid Start, Inc. The company previously sponsored Garrett Smithley, both during three of his starts for Ware from 2020 through 2022, and most recently last summer’s O’Reilly race at Daytona, where he finished 8th for SS-Green Light Racing. Ware was one of 37 drivers entered for 40 starting spots, and he ranked 35th in opening practice with a best lap of 30.591 seconds (176.523mph). He was fifth on track for qualifying, where he remained 35th despite a faster lap of 30.199 seconds (178.814mph).
Securing the 37th and final starting spot was Ty Dillon, who turned in the slowest lap of the session in his #10 Grizzly Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet. He’d be joined by two other drivers who incurred tail-end penalties for unapproved adjustments: 15th-place Joey Logano in the #22 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford and 28th-place Noah Gragson in the #4 Rush Truck Centers Ford.
When the green flag dropped, Logano was last across the stripe, 3.101 seconds back of the lead, with Ty Dillon now 36th with a gap of 2.776. Entering the first corner, Dillon found himself stuck behind Ware, who was running to the inside of Gragson when both split around Connor Zilisch in the #88 Choice Privileges Chevrolet. At corner apex, Zilisch moved up toward Gragson, causing the pack to stall. This gave Logano a running start at the group, passing Dillon to his left entering Turn 3, where Zilisch now held up Gragson in the high lane. Dillon cleared Gragson before the stripe, putting the #4 into last place, 3.463 seconds back of the lead. On Lap 3, Gragson made it past Zilisch, now 5.192 behind, before Zilisch dropped Ware to last on Lap 5, 7.628 seconds back of the lead.
Over the next few laps, Ware remained within sight of the other trailing cars in front of him, all while fighting a handling issue. “Every time I lift in the dirty air, this thing shuts down,” he said on Lap 9, when his gap to 36th-place Zilisch had increased to nearly a full second. By Lap 16, that gap had doubled. “Our aero balance is so bad,” he said on Lap 18, when he was 23.052 seconds back of the leaders. With the race still under green, the team could do little more than make notes and suggest he run a different line than the cars ahead of him. On Lap 27, race leader Denny Hamlin got under him off Turn 4 and just before they reached the stripe put him a lap down.
The first round of green-flag stops began on Lap 34, when 35th-place running John Hunter Nemechek pitted his lapped #42 Dollar Tree Toyota and took over the last spot, now the first car two laps down. Zilisch took the spot from Nemechek after his stop on Lap 38. Gragson’s own stop moved him to last on Lap 40 as Zilisch rushed past him to the outside coming off Turn 2. Then on Lap 41, the spot fell to A.J. Allmendinger, who pitted his #16 Celsius Chevrolet. Allmendinger had been running around 25th when he came in, but crossed the nose of an exiting Ryan Blaney, spinning him into his stall backwards. After some frantic directions to pull forward, the stop was complete, but Allmendinger was now two laps behind. “Our race is done,” he said on Lap 42. “We’re just fucked now the rest of this fucking race.” On Lap 60, the now 36th-place Ware lost a second lap, putting him on the same lap as Allmendinger, who asked his crew if he’d lost a third lap to the leaders. Allmendinger was running by himself for the rest of Stage 1, which he reached in last place, still two laps down.
On Lap 86, during the Stage 1 caution, Ware retook the last spot from Allmendinger, who took the wave-around and was now one lap down. On Lap 88, Ross Chastain dropped to 36th behind Allmendinger in his #1 Busch Light Apple Chevrolet, splitting Allmendinger from Ware. This kept Ware in last for the Lap 89 restart, though Allmendinger retook it on Lap 99 after he made a scheduled green-flag stop. As Allmendinger pulled back on the track on Lap 100, he was briefly passed by race leader Kyle Larson, then with his fresh tires fought back around him entering Turn 1 to keep himself two laps down. He also caught and passed Ware, moving under him in Turns 1 and 2 on Lap 118 to drop Ware back to last. Seconds later, Larson also got under Ware, putting him a third lap down.
Another round of green-flag stops began on Lap 123, and again the last spot changed hands. Ty Dillon retook the spot on Lap 123 followed by Zilisch on Lap 127, then Ware again on Lap 128. Ware hadn’t yet pitted that time by and was instead passed by Zilisch on track off Turn 2. Free on entry, Ware was told to stay out longer to see if they could gain an advantage. He finally pitted on Lap 133 and remained three laps down. But now he radioed he may be down on power. Ware relayed his data to the team, reporting water and oil temperatures holding at 190 and that his voltage looked good. Ahead of him, Michael McDowell dropped to 36th on Lap 142 when his #71 Delaware Life / Triad Partners Chevrolet fell a third lap down. Zane Smith made a stop on Lap 146, dropping his #38 Speedy Cash Ford three laps down into 34th. Smith used his tires to get one of his laps back, so when Stage 2 ended on Lap 166, Ware remained in last, though now on the same lap as both 35th-place Allmendinger and 34th-place McDowell.
Under the yellow, Ware reported the last run was his best of the day, saying it was free on entry and exit, but not as tight in the center as it had been earlier. He also said the car “fired off bad.” While saving fuel, Ware took the wave-around on Lap 170 along with several others, hoping for a quick caution on the restart. Still under caution on Lap 173, Kyle Busch’s #8 Nicokick x zone Cranberry Chevrolet dropped off the pace on the frontstretch and took over the last spot from Ware. Busch had already lost time when one of his tires came apart in the early laps, and now he reported issues with his brakes. The team offered to bring him to the garage, but Busch chose to stay out for the Lap 175 restart, where he dropped Ware back to last place. Busch got his brakes to work, but reported his car was now “really, really tight” as it had been at the start, then on Lap 181 reported, “Something's broke - this thing's not even close to what it was.”
Meanwhile, Ware gain fell a third lap down on Lap 190 when leader Christopher Bell made it past on the frontstretch just before the line. Ross Chastain then made an unscheduled stop for a right-front tire coming apart, dropping him to last on Lap 191. Chastain then caught and re-passed Ware on Lap 194 and climbed to 34th by Lap 198. Allmendinger’s next stop on Lap 199 dropped him to last place again, four laps down, followed by Ware after his stop on Lap 202 that put him five laps down, one behind Allmendinger. On Lap 203, Ware pulled onto the track ahead of now 5th-place Larson, then by Lap 217 managed to climb past race leader Bell to get that lap back. By then, he was four down, on the same lap as 36th-place McDowell, 35th-place Busch, and 34th-place Logano.
On Lap 224, during green-flag stops, Ware jammed on the brakes entering Turn 1 when Daniel Suarez slid up the track from an apparent flat tire on his #7 NationsGuard Chevrolet. Ware narrowly avoided a collision, but now felt like he had a tire going down. He remained on the track while, on Lap 234, Busch made a pit stop and retook the last spot, putting him four laps down. This same sequence saw Smith incur a penalty for an uncontrolled tire, dropping him four laps down to 34th on Lap 240. That time by, Busch was about to lose a fifth lap to leader Denny Hamlin, who had caught Busch’s ire for criticizing his struggles on his podcast. “Let’s be smart here,” said Busch’s spotter as he fought Hamlin for position, then ultimately let him pass. Ware then lost a fifth lap on Lap 249, putting him back on Busch’s lap, and with just 12 laps to go, Busch caught and passed Ware on track, putting Ware in last once more. A replay showed Ware brush the wall off Turn 2 around this time. Van Gisbergen lost his own fifth lap with just six to go, setting up a three-car last-place battle between Ware, Van Gisbergen, and Busch.
But within sight of the white flag as he came off Turn 4 some distance ahead of leaders Denny Hamlin and a stumbling Tyler Reddick, Ware’s right-rear tire blew, sending him spinning to the apron. The caution fell before Hamlin could reach the stripe, forcing the race into overtime. Though Ware had spun at pit entrance, he stayed on the track for at least another lap before he finally pitted for tires and locking of the flap under his rear bumper. “I think the right-rear finally gave up” he said, remarking that his car felt free during that run. Since the leaders lapped Ware the instant before the caution fell off Turn 4, Ware was now six laps down. He remained in that spot, two laps behind 36th-place Van Gisbergen, as the checkered flag fell. Busch, McDowell, and Dillon completed the Bottom Five.
In all, there were 22 changes for the last spot among 9 drivers, which was more competitive than when everyone finished under power in Las Vegas this past March (20 times among 8 drivers), but not as competitive as when it also happened at Richmond on April 1, 2024 (27 times among 11 drivers).
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Ware set a new record for most laps completed by a Cup Series last-place finisher at Kansas, breaking the previous mark of 250 laps by Josh Bilicki on May 2, 2021. In so doing, Ware became just the third Cup Series last-place finisher to compete more than the scheduled number of laps. The first was Jimmie Johnson, who was disqualified after he finished 2nd at Charlotte on May 24, 2020, where he completed 405 laps. The second was Corey LaJoie, who on March 31, 2024 ran 404 laps at Richmond, three laps down to the leaders.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
37) #51-Cody Ware / 268 laps / running
36) #97-Shane Van Gisbergen / 270 laps / running
35) #8-Kyle Busch / 270 laps / running
34) #71-Michael McDowell / 271 laps / running
33) #10-Ty Dillon / 271 laps / running
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Joe Gibbs Racing (2)
2nd) Hendrick Motorsports, Garage 66, Kaulig Racing, Live Fast Motorsports, Rick Ware Racing, Trackhouse Racing, Wood Brothers Racing (1)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (5)
2nd) Ford, Toyota (2)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
