XFINITY: Dotter and Clements teams rally to get Nick Leitz back on track in Kansas
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Nick Leitz’ Twitter account, @NickLeitz_
Nick Leitz picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s Kansas Lottery 300 at the Kansas Speedway when his #07 Motoplex of Nebraska Chevrolet finished under power, completing 138 of 200 laps.
The finish came in Leitz’ 17th series start. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 9th while finishing under power, the 19th for the #07, and the 675th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 31st for the #07, the 61st while under power, and the 2,015th for Chevrolet.
Leitz was last featured here in 2022, when he was making his second Truck Series start at Richmond driving for Reaume Brothers Racing. He’s since made another six, most recently a return to Richmond just last month where he finished 27th for Young’s Motorsports. Many of those entries have been sponsored by land surveying firm Precision Measurements, Inc. (PMI), where Leitz has also worked as a surveyor in his native Virginia. PMI also sponsored Leitz in some of his first XFINTY starts in 2024, including a career-best 17th in Phoenix.
This year, Leitz has further expanded his XFINITY schedule driving for Bobby Dotter’s team SS-Green Light Racing, piloting the #07 with various backers. His best run of the current ear came in his season debut in Atlanta this past February, where he finished 22nd. Saturday would see his return to Kansas in a XFINITY car for the first time since his series debut in 2023, when he ran 31st in a one-off for RSS Racing in the #38 Support a Teacher Ford. This time, he carried sponsorship from Motoplex of Nebraska, an off-road and motorcycle sales and service company.
Leitz was among the 39 entrants attempting to qualify for the 38-car field, and he ranked a solid 21st with a best lap of 32.022 seconds (168.634mph). He was tied to the thousandth of a second with Blaine Perkins’ #31 Easycare Chevrolet, which was credited with 20th. In qualifying, he managed just 35th with a lap of 32.704 seconds (165.117mph), meaning he had to fall back on Owner Points. Sent home was Glen Reen, who had a mechanical issue on his slowest qualifying lap of the session at just 33.550 seconds (160.954mph), sending home his unsponsored #35 Ford for Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen.
The 38th and final starting spot fell to Daniel Dye, whose #10 Fox Factory Vehicles Chevrolet also had to rely on Owner Points. A mechanical issue after practice sent Dye to the garage, and he wound up the only driver unable to complete a timed lap in qualifying. Repairs incurred him a redundant tail-end penalty for unapproved adjustments. The same penalty was handed to 18th-place Harrison Burton in the #25 AirBox Ford and 37th-place Garrett Smithley in the #14 ThermoTech Chevrolet.
In the early laps of the race, Smithley fell to last place and by Lap 19 was already 29.627 seconds back of the lead. On Lap 23, then-leader Justin Allgaier caught and passed him on the high side, putting Smithley the first car one lap down. Leitz, still running 36th at the time, was lapped on the 29th circuit, two laps after 37th-place Joey Gase in the #53 NFPA Chevrolet, which slipped to that spot on Lap 4.
On Lap 41, just before the end of Stage 1, Leitz dropped off the pace, crept along the apron, and made an unscheduled stop on pit road, which by Lap 42 dropped him to last behind Smithley. His last completed lap was shown as 183.707 seconds, or just over three minutes. The team reported a fuel pressure and possible engine issue, and the driver said his car was way too loose. On Lap 47, during the caution that ended Stage 1, Leitz’ car was pushed behind the wall for repairs. His crew looked over the fuel pump and by Lap 76 changed the battery. He was still in the garage as Stage 2 ended on Lap 92, and one lap later was a full 50 laps down to the leaders. The team reported that members of Jeremy Clements’ crew were helping with the repairs.
Finally, on Lap 97, Leitz re-fired the engine and returned to the track a full 54 laps down. “Let’s go,” said the team. “I don’t know if you had a fuel problem or that switch went bad.” When he completed his next lap on track, the elapsed time showed 2,853.570 seconds, or around 48 minutes. The team had also tightened up the car significantly to fix the loose condition, and now looked to use the rest of the race to prepare this car for its next race at Las Vegas in two weeks. But on Lap 102, Leitz again pulled onto the apron and came in for tires, dropping him 57 laps down.
Back on track on Lap 131, Leitz was warned by his team to hold his line and not get in the way of the leaders, dropping him a 58th lap down. He relayed his water temperature at 225 degrees. Leitz then had an incident with Jeb Burton’s #27 BG Products Chevrolet which may have caused the damage he sustained to the right-front fender. The team calmed him down on the radio, and on Lap 152, he came in for a track bar adjustment and tires. Now out of contention, the team no longer called for sticker tires and instead bolted on scuffs. He merged back into heavy traffic a full 59 laps down. With no one more than four down, he was practically assured the last-place finish.
On Lap 161, the field was under caution for Justin Bonsignore, whose #19 M3 Technologies Toyota spun head-on into the inside wall off Turn 2 after contact from Nick Sanchez. Bonsignore ended up the only driver out of the race, his car towed to the garage, but remained 55 laps ahead of Leitz with less than 40 laps to go. Leitz came in for minor fender repairs and then a second time to top off his fuel cell. He incurred a penalty for driving through too many pit boxes, a redundancy as he was already at the tail end of the pack. The leaders lapped Leitz a 60th time with five to go and he crossed the finish line under power in 38th place, 16 laps behind the wrecked Bonsignore.
Completing the Bottom Five were three drivers who each fell seven laps down in the run to the finish. In 36th came Blaine Perkins, whose #31 was noticeably off the pace in the closing stages, followed by 35th-place Kole Raz in the #76 Cyclum Next Gen Travel Centers Ford and 34th-place Smithley.
Kaulig teammates impress, including newcomer Queen
Daniel Dye, who started last after his issues in practice, recovered nicely to finish in 12th. Brenden “Butterbean” Queen, Dye’s teammate in the #11 Action Industries Chevrolet, finished 9th in only his second series start. Combined with a 14th-place finish for Christian Eckes, who saved his #16 Celsius Chevrolet from crashing during a battle with Rajah Caruth, it was a solid afternoon for the Kaulig Racing effort.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #07 in a XFINITY Series race since July 26, 2025, when Logan Bearden had electrical issues from the start at Indianapolis. The number had never before finished last in a XFINITY race at Kansas.
*The 138 laps Leitz completed were the most by a non-disqualified XFINITY Series last-place finisher this season. The previous mark was 118 laps by Taylor Gray at Atlanta on February 22nd.
*This also marked the first time the last-place finisher of a XFINITY Series race at Kansas finished the race under power, thus shattering the previous laps completed mark of 51 set by Jeb Burton on September 10, 2022.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #07-Nick Leitz / 138 laps / running
37) #19-Justin Bonsignore / 154 laps / crash
36) #31-Blaine Perkins / 193 laps / running
35) #76-Kole Raz / 193 laps / running
34) #14-Garrett Smithley / 193 laps / running
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Kaulig Racing (5)
2nd) Joe Gibbs Racing, SS-Green Light Racing (4)
3rd) Alpha Prime Racing (3)
4th) JR Motorsports, Sam Hunt Racing (2)
5th) DGM Racing x JIM, Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen, Jordan Anderson Racing, Mike Harmon Racing, Our Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, RSS Racing, Young’s Motorsports (1)
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (21)
2nd) Toyota (6)
3rd) Ford (1)
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
