XFINITY: In just over a month, Sammy Smith experiences the best and worst of a disqualification
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: JR Motorsports, @JRMotorsports
Sammy Smith picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s BetMGM 300 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #8 Pilot Chevrolet finished 5th, but was disqualified after completing all 205 laps.
The finish, which came in Smith’s 88th series start, was his first of the season and his first in a XFINITY Series race since August 5, 2023 at Michigan, 58 races ago. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 15th for the #8, the 20th from a disqualification, and the 663rd for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 53rd for the #8, the 64th from a disqualification, and the 1,990th for Chevrolet.
Parker Retzlaff picked up the 3rd last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Saturday’s BetMGM 300 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #4 Dr. Teal’s Chevrolet fell out with engine issues after 52 of 205 laps.
The finish, which came in Retzlaff’s 87th series start, was his second of the season and first since Talladega, two races ago. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 23rd for the #4, the 411th from an engine, and the 663rd for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 65th for the #4, the 1,417th from an engine, and the 1,990th for Chevrolet.
Curiously, it was the series’ most recent disqualification just three races ago at Rockingham – then at the cost of race winner Jesse Love – which handed then runner-up Smith his first win of the season, his third season in a row with at least one victory. He ran double-duty with the Truck Series that weekend, finishing 16th, then took 10th just last week at North Wilkesboro – both with Spire Motorsports. These have been the highlights of a year that’s also seen Smith be the subject of controversy. After an exceptionally physical race at Martinsville, where his last-lap spin of leader Taylor Gray handed the win to Austin Hill, Smith was “not proud,” but unapologetic on the need to drive aggressively in today’s NASCAR. This led to a pair of penalties – 50 points and a $25,000 fine.
At Charlotte, Smith’s was one of 40 entrants contesting the 38-car entry list. In practice, he ranked 17th with a lap of 31.406 seconds (171.942mph). He then improved in qualifying with a lap of 30.951 seconds (174.469mph), raking him 13th on the starting grid. Sent home were both Dawson Cram, who missed the cut by just 0.081 second in Mike Harmon’s #74 Realty.com Chevrolet, and Carson Ware, unable to make a qualifying run due to an engine issue on Joey Gase’s #35 Costa Oil Chevrolet.
Securing the 38th and final starting spot was C.J. McLaughlin, returning to the series in DGM Racing x JIM’s #91 Shopmonkey Chevrolet. Prior to the cars rolling off pit road, there was also a momentary delay for both Kyle Sieg in the #28 Foremost Pest & Wildlife Ford and Chase Briscoe in the #19 Lance Snacks Toyota, but both retained their starting spots. Justin Allgaier also retained his 10th spot after not rolling away at first as he was addressing a safety issue on the #7 Hellmann’s / Commissary Chevrolet. However, three others incurred tail-end penalties for unapproved adjustments: 30th-place Ryan Ellis in the Zeroes Beverage Chevrolet, 32nd-place Katherine Legge in the #32 e.l.f. Cosmetics Chevrolet, and 34th-place Parker Retzlaff, whose #4 Dr. Teal’s Chevrolet cut down a tire after he ran over a screw during his qualifying lap, costing him speed after ranking 15th in practice.
When the green flag dropped, the 38th spot went to 37th-place starter Nick Leitz, whose #07 Priority Tire Chevrolet crossed the stripe 4.116 seconds back of the lead to Retzlaff’s 4.024. On that start, the outside line stacked up back to 16th-place Matt DiBenedetto in Viking Motorsports’ #99 Sci Aps Chevrolet. Shortly after, DiBenedetto’s car started trailing smoke from what looked to be a left-rear tire rub. Curiously, it was DiBenedetto’s team which prior to the start alerted their driver to the #53 Zero Prostate Cancer Chevrolet of J.J. Yeley, which they believed wouldn’t run long due to engine trouble.
At the end of Lap 1, Legge held the spot, 7.204 back of the lead, but by Lap 3, DiBenedetto was on pit road, 19.478 back at the stripe. The team attempted repairs and sent him back out on Lap 5, but the issue persisted. “It’s still rubbing. Something's wrong, it’s smoking like crazy,” said DiBenedetto, now two laps down. “It’s just filling the cockpit completely with smoke. I didn’t touch anybody.” Back on pit road by Lap 8, the team soon determined they had to go behind the wall, which they did on Lap 9. DiBenedetto had been pitted in Stall 14, which had an entrance to the garage directly behind him. There, attention turned to a faulty track bar mount. There was still so much smoke in DiBenedetto’s cockpit that on Lap 15, the team called for a fan to blow it out, and asked about removing the passenger-side window.
Back on track on Lap 19, Kris Wright spun his #5 F.N.B. Corporation Chevrolet off Turn 2. He avoided any visible damage, but lost two laps on pit road for extensive adjustments to both rear tires and the track bar. On Lap 24, soon after the restart, Brad Perez’ #45 KeenParts.com Chevrolet slowed from 24th after – according to his spotter – he lost power, then ran over debris and bounced off the outside wall. Perez made it to pit road, then lost power again as he returned to the track, stalling at pit exit and drawing the yellow. The team checked with NASCAR to make sure they weren’t on the “Damaged Vehicle Policy” (DVP). They weren’t, allowing the crew to push the car backward from Stall 20 into the garage. This gave Wright one of his two laps back.
On Lap 32, after using the restroom, DiBenedetto was told his car was nearly ready to return to the track. The team said a track bar mount broke below the bottom of a truck arm, causing the rub. Not far away, but scored a full 23 laps ahead in 37th, Perez’ crew was trying to diagnose their electrical issue. Retzlaff then entered the picture on Lap 35, when he made an unscheduled stop of his own, then incurred a pass-through penalty for running too fast in Sections 13 and 14. The first stop dropped him off the lead lap while the second put him two down in 36th. On Lap 39, DiBenedetto fired his engine and returned to the track 36 laps down, still in last place. To the team’s relief, the car was no longer smoking, though the driver reported the car was bottoming out as it had at Rockingham. On Lap 46, just as the caution fell to end Stage 1, Perez also returned to the track, showing 21 laps down. Retzlaff remained ahead of them in 36th, two down, but now in the “Lucky Dog” spot as Wright in 35th was now on the lead lap.
On Lap 58, Retzlaff was on pit road with the hood up, the engine compartment filled with smoke. Sitting in Stall 32 near the Turn 4 end of pit road, the crew pushed their car into the Cup garage, then had to be directed to the XFINITY garage. By the time they reached that garage, NASCAR with some difficulty confirmed Retzlaff was out on Lap 74. Perez dropped his teammate to 37th by Lap 78, and after DiBenedetto lost a 37th lap around Lap 90, he dropped Retzlaff to last on Lap 91. It was a rough day for Retzlaff’s teammates at Alpha Prime Racing as, on top of Perez’ electrical issues, teammate Brennan Poole’s 250th career NASCAR start ended with a violent last-lap accident with Jeb Burton. Poole was soon checked and released from the infield care center.
Retzlaff in the garage. (PHOTO: Steven Taranto, @STaranto92)
DiBenedetto only made it 81 laps before he exited the race with suspension issues, retaining the 37th spot. Perez finished the race under power, but came up just seven laps short of passing the wrecked Legge, whose #32 collided with Yeley’s #53 in the final laps. Rounding out the group was Kyle Sieg, whose #28 was collected in a wreck with Leland Honeyman, Jr.’s #70 DWC Chevrolet, Sieg’s #28 backing into the inside wall after the collision.
Smith, meanwhile, finished the race in 5th after taking 10th in Stage 2. But in post-race inspection, NASCAR found his car to be below minimum weight. JR Motorsports has decided not to appeal the decision, citing “a miscalculation on our end.” Smith was disqualified, classifying him 38th. This bumped Retzlaff out of last place, Kyle Sieg out of the Bottom Five, and J.J. Yeley out of the Bottom Ten.
Thompson earns new career-best run; Ellis earns first career top-ten finish
During the final stage of Saturday’s race, Dean Thompson climbed as high as 2nd during an intense battle for the lead, and ultimately came home in the 6th spot in his #26 Thompson Pipe Group Toyota. That finish alone would have tied Thompson’s career-best 6th at Martinsville earlier this year. But when Smith was disqualified, Thompson inherited the 5th spot, a new career-best and his first top-five finish in only his 15th series start. In fact, as reported by TheCW, the finish came just one year after Thompson’s XFINITY Series debut in the same race.
Congratulations also to Ryan Ellis, who despite the tail-end penalty prior to the start of the race, then nearly losing a lap during a long green-flag run midway through the event, came out with a career-best 9th-place finish – a run improved to 8th after Smith’s disqualification. This marked Ellis’ first career top-ten finish in his 144th series start, and came in his 13th season in the series. Prior to Saturday, his best XFINITY finish was a pair of 11th-place showings on the superspeedways of Daytona and Talladega, though he also finished 13th at Charlotte three years ago. He’d also finished no better than 16th this season, which came at both COTA and Talladega.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Smith is the first XFINITY Series driver to be classified last at Charlotte by disqualification.
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #8 in a XFINITY Series race since September 5, 2020, when Daniel Hemric’s #8 Poppy Bank John Andretti 1996 Tribute Chevrolet crashed after 2 laps at Darlington. The number hadn’t finished last in a XFINITY Series race at Charlotte since May 28, 1994, when Kenny Wallace’s #8 TIC Financial Systems Ford lost the engine after 25 laps.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #8-Sammy Smith / 205 laps / disqualified
37) #4-Parker Retzlaff / 52 laps / engine
36) #99-Matt DiBenedetto / 81 laps / suspension
35) #45-Brad Perez / 182 laps / running
34) #32-Katherine Legge / 188 laps / crash
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Joe Gibbs Racing, Kaulig Racing (3)
2nd) Alpha Prime Racing, Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen, JR Motorsports, Our Motorsports, Sam Hunt Racing, SS-Green Light Racing, Young’s Motorsports (1)
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (9)
2nd) Toyota (4)
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
