XFINITY: Justin Bonsignore wrecks out, gets a long tow through the garage, then is disqualified over lug nuts
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
ALL PHOTOS: Brock Beard
Justin Bonsignore picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Sunday’s North Education Lottery 250 at the Rockingham Speedway when his #19 M3 Technology Toyota finished 36th after a crash, but was then disqualified after completing 157 of 256 laps.
The finish came in Bonsignore’s fifth series start. In the XFINITY Series last-place rankings, it was the 19th by disqualification, the 34th for the #19, and the 169th for Toyota. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 61st by disqualification, the 88th for the #19, and the 422nd for Toyota.
Jesse Love picked up the 1st last-place finish of his NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Sunday’s North Education Lottery 250 at the Rockingham Speedway when his #2 Whelen Chevrolet finished 1st, but was then disqualified after completing all 256 laps.
The finish came in Love’s 43rd series start. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 6th for the #2, the 19th by disqualification, and the 661st for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 41st for the #2, the 61st by disqualification, and the 1,986th for Chevrolet.
Katherine Legge picked up the 2nd last-place finish of her NASCAR XFINITY Series career in Sunday’s North Education Lottery 250 at the Rockingham Speedway when her #53 e.l.f. Cosmetics / ACE Rock Hill Chevrolet crashed after 50 of 256 laps.
The finish, which came in Legge’s sixth series start, was her first in a XFINITY Series race since July 29, 2023 at Road America, 56 races ago. In the XFINITY Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 8th for the #53, the 410th from a crash, and the 661st for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 33rd for the #53, the 1,415th from a crash, and the 1,986th for Chevrolet.
Bonsignore is one of the many exciting new drivers to compete in the XFINITY Series, but is anything but inexperienced. The 37-year-old from Wading River, New York arrived last year as an accomplished competitor on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, where he’s earned 45 victories – second on the all-time series wins list – and four of the last seven championships. His title streak coincides with the rise of powerhouse Kenneth Massa Motorsports, which brought Bonsignore to full-time competition after racing for his family-owned team from go-karts through his top rookie honors at Riverhead Raceway and early days in the modifieds.
This latest venture into closed-fendered stock cars began last year in Daytona, where he qualified 6th for his first ARCA 200 before a ruptured oil line left him a disappointing 32nd. Undaunted, he then made his XFINITY Series debut that summer at Loudon – one of the most revered tracks on the modified circuit. With his longtime backer M3 Technology’s and a part-time effort in Joe Gibbs Racing’s #19 Toyota, Bonsignore finished 22nd and even led three laps. This came the same day he scored his third modified victory at the same Loudon track, pacing the field for 76 of 100 laps.
This year, Bonsignore again shares time in the JGR #19, seeking his fortune on some of the series’ most difficult tracks. He returned to Daytona and finished 25th, thought here laps down to the leader. He then qualified 7th at Homestead, where he ran the fastest lap of the race until the closing stages, where he finished a season-best 16th. He then took 17th just last week at Bristol, though again still sought his first lead-lap finish of 2025.
For Rockingham, Bonsignore was one of the 40 entrants attempting to make the 38-car field for the first XFINITY Series race held at the track since 2004. In practice, he ranked 16th with a best lap of 23.357 seconds (144.882mph), then qualified 19th with an even faster lap of 23.015 seconds (147.035mph).
After withdrawing from Bristol in order to focus on this week’s action in Rockingham, Dawson Cram came up short of getting the #74 DriveTanks.com Chevrolet into the main event, marking the fifth straight race the team has missed since their last start in Las Vegas. Also missing the cut was Katherine Legge, who was entered in a fourth Jordan Anderson Racing entry, the #32 Chevrolet sponsored by e.l.f. Cosmetics. Legge’s lap of 23.397 seconds (144.634mph) was just 0.093 second slower than teammate Austin Green in the #87 Overplay Chevrolet (which still carried Peterson Racing’s logo on the nose), sending Legge home due to her part-time team ranking lower than the other trailing cars in Owner Points.
J.J. Yeley in the #53 he qualified into the race at Rockingham.
But that DNQ list soon changed as arrangements were made for Legge to drive in place of J.J. Yeley, who qualified 31st in Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen’s #53 Ace Hardware Rock Hill Chevrolet, one spot ahead of Green. Yeley was himself a late addition to the entry list, which showed “TBA” in the driver’s column at first publication. With hours until the race, Jordan Anderson himself helped replace nearly all the graphics on the flat black #53. The result had Yeley’s name covered on the windshield with white tape, removed his signature from the roof rails to make way for Legge’s, and Legge’s last name was on the rear glass. Incidentally, Mason Maggio – the driver of the #53 last week in Bristol, who was also on standby at Rockingham – confirmed this was not the same car that suffered two wrecks that weekend. That car, which suffered an upper control arm failure in the right-front during practice, then a right-front spindle failure in qualifying, was still being repaired at the shop.
Katherine Legge’s re-decaled #53 on the grid for Saturday’s race.
The driver change incurred Legge a tail-end penalty for Saturday’s race, one of four sent to the rear of the field. Joining her on the final pace lap were polesitter Connor Zilisch, whose #88 WeatherTech Chevrolet pulled out of the inside line exiting Turn 4 while 34th-place Anthony Alfredo’s #42 Randco Chevrolet moved to the high lane, each due to unapproved adjustments. Incurring a redundant penalty was 38th-place starter Greg Van Alst, Legge’s teammate at the Gase team, whose #35 CB Fabricating Chevrolet needed an engine change after an oil pump issue led to the slowest completed lap in qualifying at just 24.713 seconds (136.932mph), just over two seconds off the pole and just over one second off the next-slowest car.
When the green flag dropped, Van Alst and Legge were in the final row, and Van Alst pulled ahead by open track. By Lap 3, the two were in a race of their own with Legge gradually closing on her teammate. She made up the gap by Lap 7, then dropped Van Alst to last place on Lap 8. On Lap 13, the first caution fell as Vicente Salas, making his NASCAR national series debut, spun and backed into the wall with the right-rear of his #45 Miramar Financial Group Chevrolet. Moments before the incident, Salas made a daring pass to the inside of a tight pack of traffic off Turn 4, their group just ahead of the trailing Legge and Van Alst. Salas pitted on a closed pit road, incurring him a penalty, and after a second stop had not only taken last place, but was two laps down.
Vicente Salas’ #45 comes down pit road for repairs after the first caution.
The race restarted on Lap 18, and the Alpha Prime Racing team informed Salas he had no smoke coming off his damaged fender. Ahead of him, Van Alst had already lost touch with the field just one lap after the restart, and Salas caught and passed him two laps later. The struggles for the #35 continued on Lap 32 when Van Alst lost a lap to the leaders in 37th, taking the “Lucky Dog” spot from Salas. During the 35-lap green-flag run until the next caution fell, it appeared Van Alst would lose a second lap on pace, putting him in danger of dropping to last place behind the damaged Salas. But before this could happen, trouble broke out on Lap 52.
Legge’s #53 in the garage shortly after her tangle with Sawalich.
Despite the last-minute driver swap with Yeley and the struggles encountered by her teammate Van Alst, 37th-place Katherine Legge remained on the lead lap until around Lap 50, when race leader Jesse Love caught both her and the #14 Molly Strong Chevrolet of Garrett Smithley. Heading into Turn 1 on Lap 52, Legge was caught by 3rd-place Nick Sanchez in the #48 Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers Chevrolet and the #18 Soundgear Toyota of William Sawalich. Legge held her line in the middle of the track, allowing Sanchez past. But Sawalich, still running the high lane, came up on her too fast and hit Legge’s car in the left-rear. This sent Legge spinning to her left, where she was clipped by a passing 5th-place car of a returning Kasey Kahne in the #33 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, sending Legge veering to the right and head-on into the outside wall. The wreck forced both Kahne and Sawalich to pit road for extensive repairs while Legge – now in last place – climbed from her car uninjured. Both Legge and team owner Joey Gase were critical of Sawalich as they blamed the Joe Gibbs Racing driver for the accident.
Much of the front bodywork removed from Legge’s car.
Meanwhile, Bonsignore had a difficult day of his own. On Lap 109, he snapped loose in Turn 4, pinching Sheldon Creed’s #00 Road Ranger Ford into the outside wall, cutting the right-front tire on Creed’s car and tearing a gouge in the bodywork. Creed briefly stopped in Thomas Annunziata’s pit stall before he moved forward into his own, then ultimately went behind the wall, done for the day. Bonsignore’s own race would end on Lap 158, when he spun off Turn 2 and nosed into the inside wall on the backstretch. Bonsignore made it back to the garage, pulling in at the second entrance, where he climbed out. The tow truck then towed him back to the first garage entrance, then pulled a u-turn before towing him back to the opposite end of the garage closer to the start / finish line.
Bonsignore’s car towed into the far end of the garage on the Turn 4 side, near the Gase team’s haulers.
By now, there were just 90 laps to go, and as Legge’s car was being loaded onto the team’s hauler, the Gase crew was working on Van Alst’s #35. It first appeared the team was out of the race following a spin on Lap 138, but Van Alst drove back onto the track. He climbed past the wrecked Legge, Creed, and Bonsignore before pulling off the track again in the final 20 laps, leaving him 35th with brake issues as the reported cause. Ryan Ellis completed the Bottom Five after crash damage suffered to his #71 Southern Elevator Chevrolet.
Greg Van Alst returns to the track after further repairs.
But as night fell, that running order changed. First came the stunning news that race winner Jesse Love had been disqualified as his #2 Whelen Chevrolet was found with too much space between the mating surfaces of the rear axle and truck trailing arms. The disqualification briefly placed Love in last place, handing the race win to runner-up Sammy Smith. But that again changed when Bonsignore’s wrecked #19 was found with more than three lug nuts improperly secured, incurring him his own suspension. And since Bonsignore’s crash ranked him lower in the finishing order than race winner Love, this gave Bonsignore the last-place finish. As of this writing, Love’s team plans to appeal their penalty, but Bonsignore’s will not.
The disqualifications of both Love and Bonsignore lifted Legge out of last place (averting the second-straight last-place run for the Gase #53 team), bumped both Ryan Ellis and Blaine Perkins out of the Bottom Five, and lifted both Kris Wright and Matt DiBenedetto out of the Bottom Ten.
Alpha Prime shines at The Rock
Love’s disqualification in particular improved an already spectacular day for Alpha Prime Racing. While Vicente Salas salvaged a 24th-place finish despite his damage suffered early in the event, Parker Retzlaff defended his impressive outside-pole in the #4 Scentsy Chevrolet to finish in the 2nd spot, and was joined by teammate Brennan Poole’s #44 Macc Door Systems Chevrolet in the 4th spot. This marks the first time in team history that two of Alpha Prime’s cars finished in the Top Five, and also handed Retzlaff a new career-best, improving on his 3rd-place finish in last year’s Daytona opener.
Parker Retzlaff (#4) in the mix late in the race.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #19 in a XFINITY Series race since September 28, 2024, when Taylor Gray lost the engine after 45 laps at Kansas. The number hadn’t finished last in a XFINITY race at Rockingham since February 26, 1994, when Kirk Shelmerdine’s #19 Levin Racing Chevrolet lost the engine after 5 laps.
*This is also the first time the last-place finisher of a XFINITY race at Rockingham was due to disqualification.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #19-Justin Bonsignore / 157 laps / disqualified
37) #2-Jesse Love / 256 laps / disqualified / led 53 laps / won the race
36) #53-Katherine Legge / 50 laps / crash
35) #00-Sheldon Creed / 109 laps / crash
34) #35-Greg Van Alst / 171 laps / brakes
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Joe Gibbs Racing (3)
2nd) Kaulig Racing (2)
3rd) Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen, Our Motorsports, Sam Hunt Racing, SS-Green Light Racing, Young’s Motorsports (1)
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (6)
2nd) Toyota (4)
2025 LASTCAR XFINITY SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
