PHOTO: Motorsports Business Management Facebook Page
SEASON IN REVIEW
Asheville, North Carolina driver Stephen Leicht picked up his 1st LASTCAR XFINITY Series Championship in 2020, scoring four last-place finishes in twenty-four starts during a thirty-three race season. As a driver for Motorsports Business Management, he ended RSS Racing’s streak of three consecutive LASTCAR XFINITY titles.
The 2012 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year and a one-time XFINITY Series winner at Kentucky in 2007, Leicht was competing in his 11th XFINITY Series season and his first driving for Carl Long’s team Motorsports Business Management. Joining teammates Timmy Hill, the 2020 LASTCAR Cup Series Champion, and Chad Finchum, Leicht would run primarily as a “start-and-park” driver for the year, but also made full-race attempts on the season’s road courses. By season’s end, he’d finished 21st at both the Indianapolis Grand Prix Circuit and Daytona infield road course, then 24th on the Charlotte “Roval.”
Leicht’s first last-place finish came in NASCAR’s return from the COVID-19 break at Darlington on May 21. Struggling with poor handling on the copper-and-white #66 Toyota, Leicht made it just one lap into the event before citing suspension issues. At Homestead five races later, he then ran a former superspeedway car that MBM converted to an orange-and-blue downforce car. This car turned just nine laps before handling issues on the oval on June 14, then just 26 laps on July 25 at Kansas. The fourth finish came under the lights at Bristol on September 18, which was also MBM’s third-consecutive last-place finish. Timmy Hill, who scored his first three XFINITY last-place finishes since 2016, came within one finish of Leicht at Texas on October 24, but came no closer, and Leicht secured the title.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
Mason Massey, driving for B.J. McLeod Motorsports, had a gutsy performance at Bristol on June 1. Massey missed the start due to mechanical issues, but the crew got him back out there on Lap 189, letting him run the remainder of the distance and climb to 30th. Running those laps was enough to climb him from 37th to 30th, handing over last place to Michael Annett.
On June 28, Brandon Jones won the Truck Series race at Pocono, only to crash out of the XFINITY race run later on the same day. This was one of a few instances of bad luck following the good in the series. Kyle Weatherman scored Mike Harmon Racing his first ever top-ten finish as an XFINITY Series owner at Kentucky on July 9, then came back to the same track in the same car on July 10 and slapped the outside wall on the first lap, putting him last. Kyle Busch was disqualified after he was flagged the winner at Texas on July 18, and would be joined by two other DQs – Chad Finchum failed rear heights on his #61 Toyota after a 27th at Richmond on September 11, followed by Michael Annett’s runner-up finish at Talladega on October 3, for failing post-race heights.
From Pocono on June 28 through Road America on August 8, four of seven races saw the last-place finisher fail to complete a lap. The streak began with Brandon Jones’ aforementioned crash and ended with first-lap engine troubles for Bayley Currey’s #74 Repairables.com Chevrolet.
On August 15, Justin Haley was classified out by suspension on the Daytona Infield Road Course despite clearly ripping off the front splitter of his #11 Leaf Filter Chevrolet driving through the wet grass, destroying his car in a crash. Haley was also one of nine drivers in the XFINITY Series to score their first last-place finish that season.
On October 10, the rainy race on the Charlotte “Roval” saw last place decided before a single drop fell. Brett Moffitt scored the first last-place finish in 151 combined Cup, XFINITY, and Truck Series starts after a flat tire caused him to spin after two laps, then put him on the Crash Clock.
On October 17, Noah Gragson became the first NASCAR driver to finish last with the DVP as the officially listed cause after his first-lap tangle with Austin Cindric down the backstretch at Kansas. Gragson’s crew attempted repairs on pit road, but couldn’t make it back to the track in time. Gragson also became the first XFINITY Series last-place finisher to have also won the pole in the same race since 2008. Cindric’s team somehow managed repairs and would go on to win the series championship at Phoenix.
Josh Reaume scored last-place finishes in both the XFINITY and Truck Series on the same weekend in Martinsville. In the Truck Series race on October 30, his clutch failed on his own #00 during the pace laps, and suspension issues followed on RSS Racing’s #93 on October 31.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Stephen Leicht (4)
2nd) Timmy Hill (3)
3rd) Michael Annett, Landon Cassill, Joe Graf, Jr., Brandon Jones, Kody Vanderwal, Kyle Weatherman (2)
4th) Kyle Busch, Jeremy Clements, Bayley Currey, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chad Finchum, Noah Gragson, Justin Haley, Daniel Hemric, Riley Herbst, Colby Howard, John Jackson, C.J. McLaughlin, Brett Moffitt, Josh Reaume, Vinnie Miller (1)
