PHOTO: Brock Beard
SEASON IN REVIEW
Tucker, Georgia driver Kyle Sieg picked up his first LASTCAR XFINITY Series Championship in 2023, scoring two last-place finishes in thirty-one races during a thirty-three race season.
Sieg’s championship bid was perhaps the most unlikely in LASTCAR history as he claimed the title by sweeping the last-place finishes in the season’s final two races, which was itself just enough to claim the title. The reason was an unusually competitive season: coming into those races, only two drivers had finished last twice. Parker Kligerman returned to full-time competition in Big Machine Racing’s #48 Spiked Light Coolers Chevrolet. Kligerman’s crash at Dover on April 29th and fuel pump issue in a calm race at Charlotte on May 29th were his only two Bottom Fives all year – and his first series last-place runs since 2010. Same went for part-timer Greg Van Alst, who finished last in his only two XFINITY starts with Alpha Prime Racing at Atlanta on July 8th and Loudon on July 15th. Van Alst, who faced a litany of struggles in ARCA, XFINITY, and Trucks in 2023, became the first driver to finish last in his first two XFINITY starts, and began a three-race last-place streak for the Alpha Prime team. This kept the title wide open until the very last race.
In fact, Kyle Sieg’s last-place run at Martinsville on October 28th was his first in the series, coming in his 49th series start driving for his family’s team, RSS Racing. After making the jump from ARCA, it was his third year competing in the XFINITY Series alongside his brother Ryan Sieg, and his first time running nearly the full campaign. A flat right-front tire was to blame for the Martinsville crash that put his #29 Night Owl Ford into the outside wall after only 40 laps. Sieg – now in the RSS team’s #38 JW Sports Cards Ford - thus became one of 16 one-time last-place finishers in 2023 who could mathematically take the LASTCAR title with a last-place run at Phoenix, of which 12 both entered and qualified for the race on November 4th. Several of those dozen drivers contended for the spot early. One was Anthony Alfredo, whose #78 RTIC Chevrolet qualified last and incurred a redundant penalty for engine issues. Another was Stefan Parsons, whose #4 Jupiter Rings Buffalo Sauce Chevrolet suffered nose damage that required several stops. Both soon moved ahead of Sieg, who on the Lap 8 restart was bumped into a spin by Kaz Grala, damaging the right-rear corner of the #38. Sieg made multiple pit stops for repairs to the right-rear and cleared the “Crash Clock.” He pulled into the garage for what seemed to be additional repairs, but the team decided to end their race.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
Early in the 2023 season, fuel pump cable failures sent a pair of drivers to the garage early. Both Joey Gase at Las Vegas on March 4th and Dawson Cram the next week at Phoenix on March 11th were ruled out from this issue. For Cram, it was his first start of the year with CHK Racing – the one-year renaming of Mike Harmon Racing – which due to both weather and bad luck had not yet qualified for a race.
At Atlanta on March 18th, a freak axle failure as the field completed the first lap caused Caesar Bacarella to wreck Alpha Prime’s #66 Prime Bites Protein Brownie Chevrolet, a car fielded by Carl Long’s Motorsports Business Management team. The team’s bad luck resurfaced at Homestead on October 21st, where Ryan Newman was running 19th in the early laps before debris struck the rear gear cooler of his #66 Generx Generators Ford, filling the car with smoke. It was the first time Newman drove for Long, against whom he competed for Rookie of the Year in 2002. Patrick Emerling had a similar issue at Las Vegas on October 14th when his unsponsored #53 Chevrolet burst an oil line while running in last place on Lap 4, putting him into the Turn 1 wall. Brennan Poole suffered minor damage to his #6 Chevrolet after he slid off at Portland’s Turn 11 on June 3rd, but by pulling behind the wall as he entered pit road had accidentally taken himself out of the race.
There were several struggles to return to the track from mechanical issues – including Big Machine’s aforementioned search for a fuel pump for Parker Kligerman at Charlotte. At Sonoma on June 10th, Parker Retzlaff’s #31 Funkaway Chevrolet was on jack stands for several laps due to a transmission issue. The driver got back behind the wheel and was about to rejoin the race, but the car lacked any drive, and so returned for repairs that continued through the checkered flag. This was the series’ first last-place run for the #31 since 2008. At Darlington on September 2nd, Cup regular Kyle Larson finisher under power despite a sputtering engine that put his fast #17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet behind the wall. This marked the first NASCAR race in Darlington history where the entire field came home under power. Larson’s one lap led was the only lap led by a XFINITY Series last-place finisher in 2023.
In all, 13 of the season’s 33 races saw a XFINITY Series driver pick up their first career last-place finishes. Joining Kyle Sieg, Parker Kligerman, and Greg Van Alst were Dawson Cram’s fuel pump issue at Phoenix on March 11th, plus Carson Hocevar at Road America on March 26th, Anthony Alfredo at Richmond on April 1st, Kaden Honeycutt at Martinsville on April 15th, Parker Chase at Talladega on April 22nd, Parker Retzlaff at Sonoma on June 10th, Katherine Legge at Road America on July 29th, Brad Perez at the Indianapolis Grand Prix Circuit on August 12th, Blaine Perkins at Watkins Glen on August 19th, Alex Guenette at Daytona on August 25th, and Patrick Emerling at Las Vegas on October 14th. For Hocevar, the Road America last-place run came in a last-minute one-off for SS-Green Light Racing after the release of a struggling Blaine Perkins, who later finished last at Watkins Glen after rejoining Our Motorsports.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Kyle Sieg [5 B5s, 10 B10s], Parker Kligerman [2 B5s, 5 B10s], Greg Van Alst [2 B5s, 2 B10s] (2)
2nd) Anthony Alfredo, Caesar Bacarella, Parker Chase, Dawson Cram, Bayley Currey, Patrick Emerling, Joey Gase, Gray Gaulding, Alex Guenette, Riley Herbst, Timmy Hill, Carson Hocevar, Kaden Honeycutt, Sage Karam, Kyle Larson, Katherine Legge, Justin Marks, Sam Mayer, Brett Moffitt, Ryan Newman, Stefan Parsons, Brad Perez, Blaine Perkins, Brennan Poole, Parker Retzlaff, Sammy Smith, Kyle Weatherman (1)
