PHOTO: Steven Taranto, @STaranto92
SEASON IN REVIEW
Rhinelander, Wisconsin driver Parker Retzlaff picked up his first LASTCAR XFINITY Series Championship in 2025, scoring two last-place finishes in thirty-two races during a thirty-three race season.
Retzlaff was competing in his fourth season in the XFINITY Series and his third as a full-time competitor. He made his debut at Phoenix on March 12, 2022, where he qualified an impressive 6th driving for RSS Racing. Midway through the year, with new sponsorship from shoe deodorizer company Funkaway, Retzlaff made a few more starts for Our Motorsports. This led to two full-time seasons with Jordan Anderson Racing in the #31. There, he earned his first three top-five finishes, but fell short of a first win and a Playoff berth. This led to 2025, where he made the move to Alpha Prime Racing. He’d pilot the #4, a number the team inherited from the shuttered JD Motorsports, replacing APR’s former #43 team.
Retzlaff’s first last-place finish of the season occurred on April 26th at Talladega, where a flat tire ripped out the brake lines on his #4 Keen Parts Chevrolet, forcing him behind the wall for several laps. He returned to the track, only to be collected in a multi-car accident in Turn 1 which ripped away his left-front fender (a fender which is now located at LASTCAR Headquarters). His other last-place finish didn’t come until thirteen races later Daytona on August 22nd, where his engine twice slipped its belts, resulting in both a loss of power steering the first-ever XFINITY Series last-place finish by reason of “water pump.” Retzlaff nearly doubled his last-place finish total when he was originally flagged 38th in bac-to-back races – May 24th at Charlotte, the result of a blown engine, then Nashville on May 31st, where he crashed. But both times, another driver was disqualified, bumping him out of last place. He was also classified next-to-last at Atlanta on June 27th, where he was eliminated in a multi-car accident along with Josh Williams. Both Retzlaff and Williams were credited with three laps completed, but Williams was awarded the last-place finish.
In the championship race at Phoenix, Jeb Burton fell out with crash damage after only 36 laps, scoring his first last-place run of the season. With no disqualifications, this meant the LASTCAR XFINITY Series Champion would have just two last-place finishes for a fourth straight season. This again forced a razor-thin tiebreaker, this time on Bottom Fives. Retzlaff came into the race with six bottom-five finishes, just ahead of five-time bottom-five finishers Christian Eckes and Daniel Dye, both teammates at Kaulig Racing. Once Burton finished last, Dye stood as the only remaining challenger, needing a bottom-five finish. As with his Kaulig teammate Allmendinger on the Cup side, Dye had a rough start to the weekend with a crash forcing him to a flat white backup car. But Dye recovered to finish 28th, well outside the Bottom Five, one spot behind 27th-place Retzlaff. With the lead standings unchanged, Retzlaff held on to score the LASTCAR title.
OTHER LASTCAR HEADLINES
In total, eleven different drivers scored their first XFINITY Series last-place finishes in 2025: Daniel Dye (Daytona on February 15th), Dean Thompson (Phoenix on March 8th), William Sawalich (Las Vegas on March 15th), Christian Eckes (Homestead on March 22nd), Mason Maggio (April 12th at Bristol), Justin Bonsignore (April 19th at Rockingham), Jesse Love (July 12th at Sonoma), Ross Chastain (July 19th at Dover), Logan Bearden (July 26th at Indianapolis), Vicente Salas (August 30th at Portland), and Thomas Annunziata (October 11th at Las Vegas).
On March 1st at Circuit of the Americas, Garrett Smithley was unsure if his road course skills were up to par for the SS-Green Light Racing team, so he handed the controls of his #14 Trophy Tractor Chevrolet to Cup Series regular Carson Hocevar. But Hocevar made it just three laps into the race before he nosed into a tire barrier and became stuck. Unable to hear the team on the radio, Hocevar believed he was done and climbed out, even though the car had relatively minor damage and likely could have continued. Smithley would later finish last at Watkins Glen on August 9th due to a blown engine, his first last-place run in the series since 2016.
At Bristol on April 12th, Mason Maggio wrecked in practice, and the team managed to complete repairs on his #53 ACE Hardware Rock Hill Chevrolet just in time for the race – only for the same right-front tire to go down on Lap 2, putting in the wall a second time and out of the race.
The first of three last-place finishes by disqualification for 2025 occurred in the series’ return to Rockingham for the first time since 2004, which was held on April 19th. Originally, the last-place finish went to Katherine Legge, who failed to qualify Jordan Anderson’s #32 e.l.f. Cosmetics Chevrolet, then purchased J.J. Yeley’s ride in the #53 Chevrolet which J.J. Yeley qualified 31st on the grid. Legge was holding onto a lead-lap run and was only lapped mere moments before Lap 52, when contact from the lead lap car of William Sawalich sent her crashing into the wall. Legge ultimately was classified third-from-last as both race winner Jesse Love (rear suspension) and a wrecked Justin Bonsignore (more than three loose lug nuts) were disqualified. Bonsignore’s #19 M3 Technology Toyota, the lowest classified of the two, was credited with the last-place finish.
Speaking of which, Jesse Love would go on to get his first last-place run in his 52nd series start at Sonoma on July 12th following rear gear trouble on his #2 Whelen Chevrolet. The week after, Cup Series regular Ross Chastain earned his first XFINITY Series last-place finish in his 212th series start driving JR Motorsports’ #9 Acceptance Insurance Chevrolet, completing the LASTCAR Triple Crown.
Later in the year on the Charlotte “Roval” on October 4th, Preston Pardus’ early transmission issue on the #50 Chinchor Electric, Inc. Chevrolet handed the #50 its first last-place run in the XFINITY Series since 2013.
A few races nearly had a change for last place in the closing laps, but fell just short. A Portland on August 30th, Vicente Salas had a mechanical issue in the opening laps and returned to the finish, but his #45 Prime Bites Mini Muffins Chevrolet came seven laps short of passing the next driver for 37th. Ryan Ellis faced the same issue at Bristol on September 12th, where his #71 Anew Solutions Chevrolet came within two laps of taking 37th before oil cooler issues kept him 38th. Ellis’ run was also the first XFINITY last-place run where the oil cooler was the listed cause.
Similarly, the Talladega race on October 18th saw Sam Mayer’s #41 Audibel Ford collected in a multi-car pileup, then was penalized two laps for too many crew members over the wall. Thie penalty caused Mayer’s “Crash Clock” to expire, sending him behind the wall and out of the race. At the same time, both the NASCAR.com leaderboard and the broadcast showed different drivers in last place, including Ryan Sieg, Jeremy Clements, and Brenden Queen before Mayer showed up in the official results.
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1st) Thomas Annunziata [4 B5s], Justin Bonsignore [3 B5s], Daniel Dye [5 B5s], Christian Eckes [5 B5s], Parker Retzlaff [6 B5s] (2)
2nd) Anthony Alfredo, Jordan Anderson, Logan Bearden, Christopher Bell, Jeb Burton, Ross Chastain, Dawson Cram, Ryan Ellis, Taylor Gray, Carson Hocevar, Nick Leitz, Jesse Love, Mason Maggio, Sam Mayer, Preston Pardus, Vicente Salas, William Sawalich, Ryan Sieg, Sammy Smith, Garrett Smithley, Dean Thompson, Josh Williams, Kris Wright (1)
