PHOTO: @sam_mayer
SEASON IN REVIEW
Franklin, Wisconsin driver Sam Mayer picked up his first LASTCAR XFINITY Series Championship in 2024, scoring two last-place finishes in thirty-three races during a thirty-three race season.
Mayer was competing in just his fourth XFINITY Series season, his third full-time effort in JR Motorsports’ #1 Chevrolet. He’d just come off a career-best season in 2023 where he scored his first four series victories, beginning with a home track win at Road America, and thanks to a win at Homestead made his way to the Championship Four where he ranked third behind his teammate Justin Allgaier and series champion Cole Custer. For 2024, he this time wouldn’t run his familiar blue-and-black scheme for sponsor Accelerate Pros Talent, which had stepped away, and would instead welcome various backers for his next championship bid. He scored another three wins – most notably a photo finish over hard-luck driver Ryan Sieg at Texas on April 13th. He also was on the verge of returning to the Championship Four, but fell short after a lackluster “Round of 8.”
Mayer also found himself in a tight battle for the LASTCAR XFINITY Series Championship, just as he had been a year before. This time, no driver on the circuit finished last more than twice, forcing a tiebreaker on bottom-five finishes. Mayer’s first last-place run occurred at Las Vegas on March 2nd, where his #1 Club Car Chevrolet was clipped by a spinning Parker Retzlaff off Turn 4. What at first appeared to be cosmetic damage was soon revealed as suspension issues on the right-front wheel, forcing him behind the wall and out of the race. The other last-place run didn’t come until Talladega on October 5th, twenty-five races later, where Mayer’s #1 First Bank of Alabama Chevrolet finished 16th, only to be disqualified for his car being too low in the rear. This saved Nick Leitz from his first career last-place finish. While team owner Dale Earnhardt, Jr. objected, saying the measurement was due to bump-drafting, the disqualification stood. Mayer managed to win the next week’s elimination event at the Charlotte “Roval,” which propelled him to the “Round of 8,” where his title run ended.
By the Phoenix finale on November 9th, Mayer was one of seven drivers to have scored two last-place finishes in the 2024 season. That list then shrank to five after contenders Kyle Weatherman and Akinori Ogata were not entered – Ogata after a sponsorship deal to run the race fell through. Coming into the race, Mayer had two last-place finishes, eight bottom-five finishes, and ten bottom-ten finishes. His closest contender was Dawson Cram, who trailed by just one Bottom Five, but had one more Bottom Ten, meaning he could take the title with a Bottom Five, depending where Mayer finished. Matt DiBenedetto, Patrick Emerling, and Riley Herbst could only take the title with a last-place finish, so all three were eliminated when Stefan Parsons wrecked out his #45 Prime Bites Mini Muffins Chevrolet on Lap 62.
At the time of Parsons’ accident, Mayer was firmly on the lead lap while Cram’s #92 Trade With The Pros Chevrolet was laps down and just outside the 34th spot he needed to take the title. Parsons remained the only driver out, but steadily, those final few spots were filled by retirees. When the race went into its first overtime finish, Cram was just one spot and one lap ahead of Josh Williams for the 34th spot. But on that restart, Parker Retzlaff wrecked, and the resulting laps were just enough to drop Retzlaff to 34th, locking Cram out of the bottom-five finish he needed. Mayer finished 11th with Cram 32nd, giving Mayer the title by that single Bottom Five.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
The only other disqualification besides Mayer’s in 2024 was handed to Matt DiBenedetto, whose #38 Sci Aps Ford had finished 17th at Loudon on June 22nd, but was found with three loose lug nuts on the right-rear wheel. He thus took last place from Leland Honeyman, Jr., whose #42 Randco Industries Chevrolet crashed under caution in Turns 3 and 4.
Speaking of DiBenedetto, the 2024 XFINITY Series season saw several other drivers score their first last-place finishes in years. On February 24th at Atlanta, Jordan Anderson’s collaborative effort with Mike Harmon Racing resulted in steering issues on his #43 Easy Care Chevrolet after 98 laps, handing him his first last-place run since 2017. Chad Finchum earned his first since 2020 when his suspension failed on the #66 HART HVAC & Electric Ford after 127 laps around Texas on April 13th. Justin Allgaier, who went on to win his first series championship, scored his first since 2022 after a brutal hit to the inside wall at Talladega in his #7 BRANDT Chevrolet on April 20th. A.J. Allmendinger, locked into the Championship Four with a win in Las Vegas, crashed his #16 Amarr Chevrolet after 13 laps at Martinsville on October 26th, handing him his first since 2019. And Ryan Ellis’ driveshaft failure at Darlington on May 11th – while piloting a “Days of Thunder” throwback scheme, the #43 Classic Collision Chevrolet - was his first since 2015, dating back to another race on the Darlington track when he drove for Rick Ware Racing.
Mario Gosselin’s team, DGM Racing, only entered their #36 Chevrolet in a few races, but was handed a pair of last-place finishes due to freak mechanical failures. At Portland on June 1st, Preston Pardus was driving the #36 Danus Utilities, Inc. Chevrolet when the chassis broke after 9 laps, unhooking the rear of the car so badly that the crew could move it with their bare hands. Another road course run at Watkins Glen on September 14th saw Kyle Weatherman’s #36 DGM Racing Chevrolet out after fifteen laps, citing a broken housing tube.
Bad luck also followed Mike Harmon Racing, whose #74 10 Mil Brewing Co. Chevrolet at Pocono on July 13th lost the brakes going into Turn 1 on Lap 2, sending Dawson Cram hard into the wall. The same driver and team lost the engine after 18 laps of the September 7th race at Atlanta.
But the worst luck belonged to AM Racing, which had a rough start to the year with Hailie Deegan in the #15 Ford, then a pair of last-place runs with veteran drivers. On July 20th at Indianapolis, Josh Berry was swept up in a first-lap multi-car wreck in his #15 Klutch Vodka Ford, handing him his first last-place run in his 97th series start. Joey Logano, who had been Deegan’s first replacement, also scored his first last-place run in his 179th start at Darlington on August 31st, the result of a blown engine on his #15 Panini Ford after only 12 laps.
Berry, Logano, and Pardus were among the eight first-time last-place finishers in the 2024 season, joined by Akinori Ogata of Japan (April 6th at Martinsville), whose brake issues on the #35 Kyowa-Eidemiller Machining Toyota put him out just moments before he could have gained spots due to a multi-car wreck; Glen Reen (June 15th at Iowa), whose debut in the #53 Eternal Fan / Save-A-Lot Food Stores Chevrolet was moved up from New Hampshire; Austin Green (September 20th at Bristol) in his first oval track start after five straight finishes of 15th or better on the road courses aboard the #32 3Dimensional.com Chevrolet (a partnership with Green’s Trans-Am ride with Peterson Racing Group); plus Taylor Gray (September 28th at Kansas) in the #19 Operation 300 Toyota.
Also scoring their first last-place finish was Shane Van Gisbergen (October 19th at Las Vegas) in the #97 WeatherTech Chevrolet. This recurring fuel pump issue was the first for the #97 in a XFINITY Series race since 2003. When Van Gisbergen won on the Chicago Street Course on July 6th, Chandler Smith picked up his second last-place finish after early engine trouble for the Joe Gibbs Racing team, giving the #81 its first last-place run since 1995. Jordan Anderson’s aforementioned steering issue at Atlanta on February 24th was the first in the series for the #32 since 2007.
There was also a potential scoring error on new broadcast partner TheCW’s coverage of the Charlotte “Roval” race on October 12th. While Brennan Poole was officially credited with the last-place run following a multi-car pileup that involved his #44 Macc Door Systems Chevrolet, the broadcast credited the spot to 37th-place Ed Jones, involved in the same incident in his #26 Toyota Racing Development Toyota.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Dawson Cram [7 B5s], Matt DiBenedetto [5 B5s], Patrick Emerling [4 B5s], Riley Herbst [4 B5s], Sam Mayer [8 B5s], Akinori Ogata [3 B5s] Kyle Weatherman [4 B5s] (2)
2nd) Justin Allgaier, A.J. Allmendinger, Jordan Anderson, Josh Berry, Ryan Ellis, Chad Finchum, Shane van Gisbergen, Taylor Gray, Austin Green, Brandon Jones, Joey Logano, Preston Pardus, Stefan Parsons, Brennan Poole, Glen Reen, Chandler Smith, Ryan Vargas, Josh Williams, J.J. Yeley (1)
