O’REILLY: Loose wheel to blame for both Brandon Jones’ hard crash and disqualification
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
SCREENSHOT: CW Sports, @TheCW_Sports
Brandon Jones picked up the 8th last-place finish of his NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career in Saturday’s Focused Health 302 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway when his #20 Menards / NIBCO Toyota finished 35th after an early crash after completing 54 of 201 laps, then was later disqualified for a lug nut violation.
The finish, which came in Jones’ 363rd series start, was his first of the season and first in an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race since June 8, 2024 at Sears Point, 80 races ago. In the O’Reilly Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 13th for the #20, the 22nd by disqualification, and the 174th for Toyota. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 66th for the #20, the 69th by disqualification, and the 443rd for Toyota.
Dawson Cram picked up the 8th last-place finish of his NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Part Series career in Saturday’s Focused Health 302 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway when his #47 Hoods Home Center Chevrolet fell out with transmission issues after he completed 13 of the race’s 201 laps.
The finish, which came in Cram’s 53rd series start, was his fourth of the season and second in three races, his first since Gateway, two races ago, on September 12th. In the O’Reilly Series rankings, it was the 20th for the #47, the 57th from the transmission, and the 699th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 62nd for the #47, the 184th from the transmission, and the 2,065th for Chevrolet.
For all the success that JR Motorsports has enjoyed in recent years, it’s surprising that Brandon Jones struggled so much while piloting JRM’s #9 Chevrolet from 2023 to 2024, when he was last featured on this site. After a string of top-ten performances in the point standings, Jones endured back-to-back 14th-place seasons and went winless. He reunited with Joe Gibbs Racing last year and immediately turned things around, winning at both Darlington and Kansas. Then just this year, he won in the series’ return to Chicagoland on Fourth of July weekend. A solid but unspectacular start to the Chase, however, kept him just 11th in the standings heading into Las Vegas, a full 114 points back of the lead.
Running the same paint scheme he ran at Sears Point this past summer, Jones was one of just 36 drivers entered for 38 available starting spots. He showed tremendous speed in opening practice, ranking 2nd on the charts with a lap of 30.325 seconds (178.071mph), just 0.329 second off the session’s fastest lap clocked by Jeremy Clements in his #51 Pounds Pickle Company / Inception Energy Solutions Chevrolet. The 27th car on track for qualifying, Jones defended his strong lap in time trials, taking 3rd on the grid with a lap of 29.918 seconds (180.493mph), outpaced only by point leader Sheldon Creed and polesitter and eventual race winner Corey Day.
Holding the 36th and final starting spot was William Sawalich, one of Jones’ teammates, whose #18 Soundgear Toyota had mechanical issues that prevented him from taking a timed lap in qualifying. Sawalich incurred a redundant tail-end penalty for unapproved adjustments, to be joined by the #0 Zonie Chevrolet of Garrett Smithley, who had been slated to start 31st. During the pace laps, Sawalich’s crew encouraged their driver, who happened to be celebrating his 20th birthday. “All right, bud,” they said. “Let’s go get a win on your birthday.”
Once again, the Las Vegas race began with issues before the cars even rolled off pit road. This time, they involved 33rd-place starter Joey Gase, who climbed from his #55 NFPA Fire Prevention Week Ford and ran back to the team’s hauler. The fan on his cool suit had malfunctioned, and Gase returned to the infield to swap suits for the start. This surprised the crew, who said the suit was working when the car was in the garage. Aware of the issue, NASCAR had the rest of the field roll off pit road, making the last few cars drive around Gase. They also delayed the pit road speed test before he returned to the driver’s seat. Gase was allowed to return to his 33rd spot on the grid, which was now 31st as he was instructed to pull ahead of the penalized Smithley. Gase returned just before the pit road speed test, about two laps before the start.
At the start, 36th-place Sawalich did get a jump on 35th-place Dawson Cram, whose #47 Hoods Home Center Chevrolet was already trailing the field by two car lengths of open track as the green flag dropped. In this, Cram’s latest start for Mike Harmon Racing, Cram was driving what appeared to be the same car that finished last two rounds ago at Gateway, where a mechanical issue on the starting grid prevented him from even rolling off pit road. At the line, Cram was scored 3.752 seconds back of the lead to a now 35th-place Sawalich at 3.185 and 34th-place Smithley at 3.126.
At the end of Lap 1, Cram was 5.242 seconds back of the lead, then 6.848 at the end of Lap 2, 8.408 at the end of Lap 3, and 9.809 at the end of Lap 4. By then, Cram was now 1.6 seconds behind the now 35th-place Gase. “All good here, man,” said Cram’s team. “All out front.” On Lap 6, Gase pulled alongside the #07 Movember Chevrolet of Josh Bilicki in a tight battle for 34th. The two were just a few thousandths of a second apart, then matched to the thousandth the next time by, each 10.596 back of the lead. Gase inched back ahead by Lap 8, when Cram knocked a few tenths off his deficit to Bilicki.
Cram pulls behind the wall for the fuel pump cable issue. (PHOTO: Jonathan Fjeld @Jonathan_Fjeld)
Then on Lap 10, Cram radioed his team that his car was “starting to bog down off the corner, it’s got good fuel pressure, I mean, oil pressure. . .It started bogging off of Turn 2, but it has good oil pressure. I don't have a fuel pressure gauge, but it was all but shutting off.” The team immediately told him to go to the garage. Cram lost a lap to the leader before he came to pit road on Lap 11. He didn’t go to the garage right away, but stopped in his stall, Stall No. 9 on the Turn 1 side near pit exit. There, the crew didn’t see anything amiss under the hood. Cram added he was using a lot of brakes during that run, but it “felt like it was bogging down like it was running out of gas.” On Lap 12, Cram’s crew discovered the fuel pump cable came off, so they pushed the car backwards into the nearest garage entrance. The crew called for a special tool they had set aside for this specific issue, put the car on jack stands, and removed the air cleaner.
Mason Maggio’s #91 joins Cram in the garage after an engine issue. (PHOTO: Jonathan Fjeld @Jonathan_Fjeld)
Moments later, around Lap 16, Mason Maggio dropped off the pace in his #91 Success Unlocked Chevrolet, then joined Cram behind the wall. His car was parked to Cram’s right and facing the exit onto pit road. The crew reported an issue with the engine, at least one crew member from the DGM Racing x JIM crew climbing through the passenger window. After some issues with the driver’s window net, Maggio returned to the track on Lap 36. Now 23 laps down in 35th place, Maggio completed his next lap at 759.665 seconds, or just under 13 minutes. NASCAR immediately penalized Maggio for too many crew members over the wall, dropping him a 24th lap down. By then, the leaders had caught the next two cars in line, lapping 34th-place Blake Lothian, whose #53 Nevada Donor Network Chevrolet had just been passed by Bilicki for 33rd before he too was caught by the leaders down the backstretch.
A DGM Racing x JIM crew member climbing into Maggio’s car. (PHOTO: Jonathan Fjeld @Jonathan_Fjeld)
Meanwhile, Cram’s crew was still having issues reattaching the cable. They found a rounded bolt, and said it would have to be taped back in place. On Lap 41, Cram’s crew reattached the airbox, and by Lap 43, the engine re-fired, allowing Cram to return to the track with just three laps to go in Stage 1. When Cram finally completed his first lap since repairs, it clocked in at 1,122.506 seconds, or just under 19 minutes. He came up to speed 34 laps down, ten full laps behind 35th-place Maggio, with all 36 starters once again under power. At the time, everyone else in the field was within just one lap of the leader with 34th held by Lothian, and 24 cars were on the lead lap, trailed by a returning Matt DiBenedetto in the #42 MP Wheels Chevrolet.
But under caution on Lap 48, Cram reported his “transmission seems to be getting worse,” remarking that it was slipping out of third gear. At that point, Harmon came on the radio and said, “Take it to the garage – I’ve had enough.” Cram pulled behind the wall on Lap 49, which surprised someone on the team. “Mike told me to take it to the garage,” said Cram. “Transmission’s acting up.” The crew asked Harmon if they were going to attempt another round of repairs, but Harmon responded, “No, I’ve had all the fun I can stand.” NASCAR didn’t declare Cram out of the race until Lap 71 – the same lap Jones was also declared out.
During that same opening stage, Jones had remained among the leaders, and held on to finish fourth when Stage 1 ended. He then got a fast pit stop, putting him up front for four laps, including the Lap 54 restart. But Jones was quickly swarmed by Sam Mayer to his inside and Rajah Caruth to his outside, dropping him back to the fourth spot. Reporting a vibration, Jones tried to fight back in the middle lane through Turn 3, but ended up stuck in even more traffic. Then, entering Turn 1 on Lap 55, the back end of Jones’ car broke loose. For a moment, the car stopped short of spinning, then snapped to the right – directly into the path of Justin Allgaier’s #7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet. Jones slammed the wall head-on as both cars careened down the banking and onto the apron. Allgaier tried to drive away, only to be ordered to stop by NASCAR as he was trailing fluid. Both were brought to the garage, though only Jones was declared out with Cram on Lap 71.
Allgaier returned to the track on Lap 117, 61 laps down, with the nose of his car removed and much of the remaining bodywork held together by tape. Allgaier completed just two more laps – enough to climb past Jones into 34th place – but at a pace nowhere near fast enough to meet minimum speed, and was soon parked under the “Damaged Vehicle Policy.” As these were the only three DNFs of the evening, Maggio and Lothian completed the Bottom Five, and Cram was in position to extend his lead in the 2026 LASTCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Championship by one finish over J.J. Yeley. Yeley had just tied Cram with a last-place run last time out in Bristol, but neither he nor RSS Racing’s #38 Ford were entered in Las Vegas.
Then, later that night, NASCAR reported Jones’ wrecked car had four or more lug nuts not safe and secure, resulting in his disqualification. Similar to Justin Bonsignore at Rockingham last year, a disqualification following Jones’ crash didn’t make a significant difference to his result, but it did cost him the stage points earned in Stage 1. Jones’ interview revealed the loose wheel was the reason he felt a vibration before his crash. Since he was already in the Bottom Five, Jones took the last-place finish from Cram, and the Bottom Five remained otherwise unchanged.
Sawalich and Clements rally back into Top 10
Last-place starter William Sawalich didn’t quite get a win on his birthday, but did manage to lead five laps and finish 8th, ranking third among the non-Chase drivers in the field. Also impressive was Jeremy Clements, who after running the fastest lap in practice, then slipping to 21st in qualifying, climbed back to 7th at the checkered flag.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #20 in an O’Reilly race since June 29, 2019, when Christopher Bell was also disqualified when his #20 Toyota was found to be too low in the front and too high in the right-rear after he finished 3rd at Chicagoland. The number had never before finished last in an O’Reilly race at Las Vegas.
*Jones is the first driver since J.J. Yeley at Nashville on May 30, 2026 to lead at least one lap and be classified last in the same O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race. These are the only two occurrences during the 2026 season.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
36) #20-Brandon Jones / 54 laps / disqualified
35) #47-Dawson Cram / 13 laps / transmission
34) #7-Justin Allgaier / 56 laps / dvp
33) #91-Mason Maggio / 175 laps / running
32) #53-Blake Lothian / 192 laps / running
2026 LASTCAR O’REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) RSS Racing (6)
2nd) Mike Harmon Racing (3)
3rd) DGM Racing x JIM, Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen, Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport, Young’s Motorsports (2)
4th) AM Racing, Big Machine Racing, Haas Factory Team, Hendrick Motorsports, Hettinger Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, JR Motorsports, Sam Hunt Racing, SS-Green Light Racing, Viking Motorsports (1)
2026 LASTCAR O’REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (18)
2nd) Ford (7)
3rd) Toyota (2)
2026 LASTCAR O’REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
