CUP: Zane Smith prevails in race-long last-place battle with ill-handling cars of Connor Zilisch and Cody Ware
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
SCREENSHOT: USA Sports
Zane Smith picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s South Point 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway when his #38 Losi RC Cars Ford finished under power after he competed 262 of 267 laps.
The finish, which came in Smith’s 111th series start, was his second of the season and first since September 13, 2026 at Gateway, three races ago. In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 22nd for the #38, the 50th while still running, and the 777th for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 67th while running, the 69th for the #38, and the 1,108th for Ford.
Despite the severity of his Turn 1 accident following brake failure at Gateway, Zane Smith has not missed a single race. He returned the following week at Bristol to finish in 28th, then last Sunday in Kansas finished 31st, just one lap down to race winner Kyle Larson. He still found himself in the midst of a difficult stretch of five consecutive finishes of 25th or worse following his 13th-place showing in Loudon. Las Vegas was a good place for a turnaround, as he’d run 14th in the spring race this past March.
For the third time in the last four Cup races, only the 36 Chartered entries occupied the garage area for Sunday’s race. This marked just the second time that Losi RC Cars joined as primary sponsor, following Smith’s 15th-place showing in this year’s Brickyard 400. He stated the weekend ranking 25th in practice with a speed of 30.099 seconds (179.408mph). The seventh car on track for qualifying, he picked up speed with a lap of 29.788 seconds (181.281mph), but fell to just 30th on the grid, 0.878 seconds off Denny Hamlin’s pole position.
A pair of hard accidents off Turn 2 during practice led to two Ford drivers not taking a lap during qualifying. These were Josh Berry, whose #21 eero Ford clobbered the wall with the driver’s side, and Noah Gragson, whose #4 Rush Truck Centers Ford blew a right-rear tire and spun into the wall. Berry lined up 35th with Gragson holding 36th and last. This lifted Cody Ware, who turned in the session’s slowest qualifying lap at 30.259 seconds (178.459mph) to the 34th spot in his #51 The Evel Knievel Experience Chevrolet. “Hometown race,” said Gragson before the start. “Good race for us.”
Gragson’s unapproved adjustments and Berry’s backup car, rewrapped from Ryan Blaney’s paint scheme, incurred both drivers redundant tail-end penalties, meaning the field of 36 took the green in the same order they qualified. As Gragson accelerated toward the green flag, however, the field suddenly slowed in front of him. Gragson swerved to the right, but couldn’t avoid bumping Ware’s car in the right-rear corner just a few hundred feet from the starting line. This sent Ware hard to the left, directly in the path of a trailing Berry, who had fortunately taken the green well back of the field as the last car on the inside line. Ware spun just as he crossed the stripe in 34th, showing 2.575 seconds back of the lead, while 35th-place Gragson was 2.693 behind in the high lane and a slowing Berry in last place at 2.978. Berry pulled to the high lane as he cleared Ware, who steered his car off the apron and continued without noticeable damage. NASCAR didn’t throw the caution, so at the end of Lap 1, Ware was already 13.836 seconds back of the lead, around seven seconds back of 35th-place Berry.
With four flat-spotted tires and no caution during which to change them, Ware had no choice but to hang on through the opening green-flag run. On Lap 4, he was 14.575 seconds back of the lead to 35th-place Berry at 7.873 and 34th-place John Hunter Nemechek, whose #42 Pye-Barker Fire & Safety Toyota was 5.791 behind. By Lap 6, Berry had caught Nemechek for 34th, but Ware was continuing to lose ground. On Lap 7, he was 17.449 seconds back of the lead, then 18.448 on Lap 8, and 21.147 on Lap 10. Ware radioed his car was falling off significantly during this run, and he was noticeably loose coming off Turn 4. He asked how much longer he needed to run these tires. The crew told him their pit window would open around Lap 20, which Ware reluctantly agreed to do. On Lap 16, he was now handling so badly that the crew called him in, but he stayed out, even after Lap 17, when race leader Denny Hamlin got to his outside in Turn 4 to put him the first car one lap down. On Lap 20, Ware’s crew called him in for his first stop, during which he lost a second lap. When he returned to the track on Lap 22, he tried merging into traffic down the backstretch, only to be split on both sides by Gragson’s #4 in the low lane and Ty Dillon’s #10 Patriot Mobile Chevrolet up high. With fresh tires, however, Ware found himself trapped behind both Gragson and Dillon as the three entered Turn 3.
Cody Ware makes his first pit stop after riding on four flat-spotted tires. (PHOTO: LASTBRO)
By Lap 28, the 35th spot fell to Connor Zilisch, whose #88 WeatherTech Chevrolet was struggling with tight condition that shifted to a loose condition though each run. That time by, he was 27.648 seconds back of the lead, though he passed teammate Ross Chastain in the #1 Tootsies Orchid Lounge Chevrolet for 34th before both were lapped by Hamlin on Lap 31. With green-flag stops underway, both Chastain and Zilisch pulled ahead of A.J. Allmendinger, who took over 35th after pitting his #16 Celsius Chevrolet. Chastain’s own stop on Lap 35 cost him a second lap, putting the #1 back to 35th, and lengthy repairs to the upper right-front suspension of Kyle Larson’s #5 HendrickCars.com / Kyle Busch Tribute Chevrolet dropped him a lap down in 33rd.
Ware finally climbed out of last on Lap 43, when Ty Dillon took over the spot following his stop, which dropped him two laps down. Ware made up one of his two laps as he continued in 35th with Zilisch in 34th. The next time by, the caution fell for Smith, who was running on the lead lap in 28th when he blew a right-rear tire and spun his Ford off Turn 4. Smith’s car grazed the outside wall with the right-rear corner, just enough to push in the body work, and he pulled down pit road during the ensuing caution. He returned to the track two laps down, and promptly took last from Dillon on Lap 46. Dillon briefly retook it on Lap 48 before Smith took it back again on Lap 49 after the field addressed the “Choose Cone.” This left Smith in last for the Lap 50 restart.
Zane Smith pits after his encounter with the Turn 4 wall. (PHOTO: LASTBRO)
Smith remained the last-place runner for the rest of Stage 1, including Denny Hamlin’s Lap 78 spin from 4th in his #11 National Debt Relief Toyota – another incident that didn’t warrant a caution. When the stage finally ended on Lap 81, Smith radioed “It never recovered – I’m just bouncing all over the place.” The team later expressed frustration over the blown tire, saying, “What do we gotta do to change our luck, buddy?” By Lap 86, Zilisch had fallen a second lap down and retaken the 35th spot, but Smith remained in last place for the Lap 88 restart. The next time by, Zilisch lost ground in the high lane off Turn 4, allowing Smith to make it by entering the tri-oval, and dropping Zilisch to last.
The next caution then fell for a piece of metal debris on Lap 93, during which Zilisch said, “Still nothing - I have zero grip at all. . .I can't do anything. I don't get it! I entered (Turn) 3 on Lap 1 at the bottom and just slid up the entire race track. I mean, what is our teammate doing differently from us?” Zilisch’s crew completed a lengthy stop under yellow, then climbed to 35th after Smith was penalized for pitting on a closed pit road. Sent to the tail end of the longest line, Smith retook last place for the Lap 99 restart. On Lap 101, Zilisch again slid up the track in Turn 4, letting Smith past for 35th and returning Zilisch to last place. Zilisch tried to respond on Lap 103, but Smith cleared him off the corner. The next time by, Ware hooked bumpers with Nemechek as both pulled to the low lane entering Turn 3 at the same time. Nemechek got on the apron and slid up the track, nearly colliding with Ty Dillon. But all three continued around the track without wrecking.
On Lap 126, race leader Chase Briscoe got under Zilich off Turn 4 to put the #88 a third lap down. Zilisch’s car was handling as bad as ever, forcing him to lift off the gas exiting Turn 2. Smith made a green-flag stop on Lap 132, dropping him a third lap down and allowing him to retake last from Zilisch. Zilisch then pitted on Lap 136 and retook the spot by Lap 138, now showing four laps down. He still wasn’t making up any ground. “I can’t even pass the guy with 30 lap fresher tires,” he said as Carson Hocevar rolled past in his #77 Spectrum Chevrolet. “I don't understand how I go from fucking plowing tight to wrecking loose in one run.” By Lap 167, during the caution that fell to end Stage 2, Zilisch was at a complete loss when asked what his car needed to run faster. He could say little more than it was still too loose.
The final stage went green on Lap 172 with all 36 cars still running. On Lap 188, Smith lost a fourth lap after making his next stop, but this time remained in 35th with Zilisch still 36th. On Lap 213, Briscoe got under Zilisch through Turns 1 and 2, putting him a fifth lap down. Three laps later, Zilisch radioed his right-front tire was coming apart, but the crew asked him to run another lap since William Byron was pitting already in Stall No. 40, the first stall past the entrance, which was just in front of Zilisch’s Stall No. 39. Zilisch ultimately didn’t make his stop until 45 to go, by which point many of the leaders had pitted, putting him four laps down on the same lap as both 35th-place Smith and 34th-place Ware. Zilisch returned to the track five down again, still in last, and with 41 laps to go was finally starting to run faster. That time by, the team told him he’d run his fastest lap of the race at 30.541 seconds. “We’re gonna be racing that 38 that just came off pit road behind you,” said Zilisch’s crew on Lap 229, when Zilisch had just dropped Smith to last again. With 30 laps to go, Zilisch was exiting the tri-oval as Smith was entering it, and the gap remained the same for several laps. On Lap 246, 34th-place Ware lost a fourth lap, putting him just one lap ahead of this battle for last place. With 15 to go, Zilisch extended his gap over Smith, who was now in the middle of Turns 3 and 4 as Smith was between Turns 1 and 2. That gap stabilized again in the final laps as Zilisch crossed the line in 35th, about a straightaway ahead of last-place Smith.
Just like in the spring race at Vegas, all 36 starters finished under power within 5 laps of the race winner. Ware remained a lap ahead in 34th while 33rd went to Todd Gililand in the #34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford and 32nd to Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. in the #47 Jack Links Chevrolet.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #38 in a Cup Series race at Las Vegas.
*The 262 laps completed by Smith tied the Las Vegas track record for most laps completed by a Cup Series last-place finisher, which was set this past March 15th by Shane Van Gisbergen, who also finished under power. Van Gisbergen returned for a much better performance on Sunday when he came home in 9th in the #97 Red Bull Chevrolet.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #38-Zane Smith / 262 laps / running
35) #88-Connor Zilisch / 262 laps / running
34) #51-Cody Ware / 263 laps / running
33) #34-Todd Gilliland / 264 laps / running
32) #47-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. / 264 laps / running
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Trackhouse Racing (6)
2nd) Front Row Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing (4)
3rd) Hendrick Motorsports (3)
4th) 23XI Racing, Garage 66, Kaulig Racing, Live Fast Motorsports, RFK Racing (2)
5th) Rick Ware Racing, Spire Motorsports, Wood Brothers Racing (1)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (15)
2nd) Ford (9)
3rd) Toyota (5)
2026 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
