With the Cup Series returning to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend, one of the biggest headlines heading into Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 is the debut of John Hunter Nemechek. He will be filling in for Front Row Motorsports rookie Matt Tifft, who has been sidelined for the remainder of the 2019 season with medical issues.
Although Nemechek’s primary obligation is finishing up his rookie XFINITY Series campaign with the No. 23 GMS Racing Chevrolet group, there are rumors circulating that this could be a tryout for the 22-year-old driver since he has no plans for next season. FRM staple David Ragan is set to retire after this season, leaving one of the three seats open in the organization.
At this moment, Nemechek has made it clear that all he wants to do is go out and earn the respect of the other Cup drivers, telling SiriusXM Speedway’s Dave Moody:
“The storyline is we want to go and have a quiet weekend for us, just run as many laps as we possibly can and gain as much experience and just have a solid weekend. That’s our goal. It’s all new for me, I’ve never driven a Cup car before so it’s going to be a whole new process and whole new learning curve.”
However, should Nemechek go and do just that in the final three races, he could be a possible option for a vacant seat in an FRM Ford. That would mean that FRM would have two drivers under 25-years-old, and with Michael McDowell planning on being at FRM in 2020 despite the plan not being set in stone just yet, the organization may very well be on a renewed path instead of just being a home for drivers late in their Cup career.
Granted, that may not have been the case. But since the team’s inception in 2005, they’ve only won two events. At Talladega Ragan led a 1-2 finish in the 2013 Aaron’s 499 with David Gilliland close behind. Chris Buescher won a fog-shortened Pocono event in 2016 and made one Playoff appearance. This is after the team had been home to drivers such as Gilliland, Travis Kvapil, Josh Wise, and John Andretti.
But as in Buescher’s case, FRM has shown itself to be a good place for drivers looking to learn the rank-and-file of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup racing. Buescher has gone on to record strong runs with JTG-Daugherty Racing and now finds himself going to the No. 17 Roush-Fenway Ford in 2020. Tifft has established himself as a solid driver in the No. 36 with a top-10 at Daytona in July and 15 top-25 finishes in 32 starts.
Adding Nemechek to the FRM stable could put the team into a renewed position, where instead of being an organization housing Cup drivers who weren’t established as well elsewhere, they could become an organization that builds (or rebuilds) itself around the future stars of the sport. FRM has become an organization that continues to grow over the years, and not even the expansion to three full-time teams is enough to slow the team down.
Should Nemechek go for a full rookie campaign with FRM in 2020, there’s going to be no guarantee of success with the team. But there will be ample opportunity for both Nemechek and FRM to continuously grow in Cup racing, and FRM may be the step Nemechek needs to take to earn both respect and success as he advances in his NASCAR career.
Kansas City, KS – By finishing seventh at the Charlotte Roval and eighth at Dover, John Hunter Nemechek came into Kansas looking to keep that consistency going into Kansas.
Nemechek has faced an up and down season throughout most of the Xfinity Series season in 2019, earning four top fives and 16 top-10 finishes but with five DNFs along the way. He had some especially bad luck in July at Daytona that continued through Loudon.
Nemechek was once again hoping for a solid effort with his No. 23 Fire Alarm Services Chevrolet. The GMS Racing driver started 15th and finished ninth in the first stage. However, things got interesting for Nemechek during the second stage.
A few laps after the restart on Lap 74, Austin Cindric accidentally made contact with Nemechek which almost sent Nemechek spinning but he did get sideways coming out of Turn 4. As a result of the contact, Nemechek was unable to earn a top-10 finish in Stage 2 and barely missed out on getting stage points.
The No. 23 GMS Racing team fought their way back up after changes made to the car and ultimately came home with another top-10 finish by finishing eighth.
“We needed more speed,” Nemechek said. “We fought handling all day, spun out and went a lap down and recovered from that. That’s about the way our season has gone, just trying to rebound from things. It’s a good day to rebound to eighth. We didn’t really think we were going to finish there. Overall, a solid day. Thanks to all the Fire Alarm Services people that are here. All of our GMS Racing crew for giving me this opportunity.”
Despite finishing eighth at Dover International Speedway Saturday afternoon, pit stop mistakes prevented John Hunter Nemechek and his No. 23 GMS Racing team from making it to the next round of the playoffs.
Nemechek qualified the No. 23 Chevy 17th for the Xfinity Series race and had some ground to make up in the beginning. Like other drivers though, it didn’t take him too long to get up there in the top-10 before Stage 1 finished. For the first stage, Nemechek finished ninth and he finished seventh in the second stage. Unfortunately, having to make a few extra pit stops at the end hurt his chances of making it to the next round of the playoffs.
However, Nemechek was still upbeat even though failing to make the Round of 8.
“It’s awesome to make the playoffs for Maury Gallagher and the GMS Racing team,” Nemechek said to MRN Radio. “It came down to mistakes. We had a guy down on pit road making a mistake and had a loose wheel. It is what it is, had to pit there again. Came out third or fourth, we were going to be in great shape. It just wasn’t meant to be.”
Normally at the Charlotte Roval, you expect chaos and an action-packed race for most of the drivers. For John Hunter Nemechek, it was an uneventful day although he did have a few close calls in the No. 23 Fire Alarm Services Chevrolet.
Nemechek qualified 14th, placed sixth in Stage 1 and 11th in the second stage. Hoping to do a little better than last week’s finish at Richmond, the GMS Racing driver was able to come home in the seventh position in his first-ever Charlotte Roval race.
“First time at the Roval, it was a fun experience, good day for us,” Nemechek told PRN Radio. “Battle back from adversity and ended up seventh. Every point matters in this situation. Didn’t have a very good second stage, but had a decent first stage. The last stage we ended up fairly well. Proud of the guys, proud of the effort, Fire Alarm Services and everyone involved.”
“The owner of Fire Alarm actually texted me today, asked me where I thought we could run and I said, I hope we get a top-eight today and we did it, finished seventh. Huge shout out to them for being a huge supporter of mine and Maury Gallagher (Owner) for the opportunity, I’m blessed to be able to come out here and run full time.”
With the conclusion of the Round of 12 at Dover Motor Speedway next Saturday, Nemechek and the No. 23 currently sit ninth, 11 points behind the cut-off.
Chase Briscoe and his No. 98 Stewart-Haas Racing team found himself with a shot at the win late in the going after the mishap with race leader Justin Allgaier. Briscoe went to second when Allgaier had a flat tire go down with less than 10 to go.
Briscoe tried to catch Tyler Reddick but was not fast enough to do so and fell .655 seconds short of winning at Bristol. However, despite finishing second, the No. 98 driver isn’t pleased with the finish.
“We had such a good Ford Performance Mustang,” Briscoe said to PRN Radio. “On the last restart, I just didn’t fire off good, I was really loose getting in, then I would get really tight. Those last five laps, it finally started coming to me, I was definitely running him down, just ran out of laps.”
“Man that one stings, you don’t get very many opportunities to win at a place like Bristol. I really want to win here bad. I felt like we had a Mustang to do it, just didn’t get it done.”
For John Hunter Nemechek and the GMS Racing team, it was a hard fought third-place finish after all the troubles they had early. On Lap 52, Nemechek’s tire went down and caused him to spin out in Turn 2 to bring out the caution. The GMS driver rallied to finish fifth in Stage 2 before ultimately finishing third.
“I don’t know how many times I went to the back and came to the front,” Nemechek told PRN Radio. “Good showing for our Midnight Moonlight Moonshine Chevrolet. Overall, a pretty good night. Looking forward to keeping this momentum into the Playoffs. The third-place finish shows what our car had tonight. I just wish I wouldn’t have sped on pit road, wouldn’t have had a tire go down, and starting in the back, just builds character.”
Nemechek started ninth and finished third for his fourth top-five of the season.
LAS VEGAS – Kyle Busch recovers from an early race issue to win the Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Since winning Friday night’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Strat 200, Busch will now go for the triple sweep at Vegas in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“It was really tough to come back from one of those setbacks,” Busch said after an eventful day in his No. 18 Extreme Concepts / iK9 Toyota. “I wasn’t sure how we were going to be able to do it down a set of tires. We got a lucky break with a caution during the second stage. That kind of got us back on cycle, and we were able to put the first set (of tires) back on with fresh wheels so we didn’t have any more issues there.”
John Hunter Nemechek tried everything he could with the late race position he had, but came up just 0.192 seconds short of victory.
“We gave him a run for his money,” Nemechek said. “I’ve been beaten by Kyle (Busch) too many times, in late model races and now in the Xfinity Series. Hopefully, we can come out on top and build momentum off of this.”
Noah Gragson was the highest finishing rookie in his No. 9 Switch Chevrolet after an aggressive three-wide pass on the final lap to finish in third. Austin Dillon helped Kaulig Racing earn their best career finish of fourth in the No. 10 Stitched Chevrolet. Daytona 500 champion Michael Annett rounded out the top five.
Ryan Sieg, Ross Chastain, Chase Briscoe, Cole Custer and Justin Haley (one lap down) completed the top 10.
Custer Sets the Pace in Stage One
Qualifying was rained out, so the field was set by the order of owners’ points. Stephen Leicht and Christopher Bell started at the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments to their cars prior to the start of the race. Cole Custer started on the front row and led the opening eight laps. Austin Cindric, for a brief moment was out front on Lap 9, but Custer reclaimed the top spot for the rest of the first stage.
On Lap 3, Donald Theetge spun through Turn 3 and slowly drifted up the track, collecting Joey Gase. A few drivers did elect to come down pit road, but all the leaders stayed out.
Tyler Reddick leads Brandon Jones and John Hunter Nemechek on the front stretch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Photo by Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.
After 15 laps into the race, Kyle Busch, who was working on his triple sweep at Vegas, came down pit road after feeling a vibration. He went a lap down early, and faced an uphill battle early in the race as a few others were already a lap down. This also put him at a disadvantage as he was down a fresh set of tires. Tyler Reddick radioed in saying that something might be breaking, and had trouble getting onto pit road as he was stuck in the outside lane. However, he stayed out on track to keep the lead lap position.
The rest of the stage finished under green with Custer collecting the stage points. At this point, four cars retired from the race and one had not yet joined the race. During pit stops, Custer lost three spots while Tyler Reddick gained the lead leaving pit road. Three penalties were handed out during this pit cycle. Jeff Green’s crew members were over the wall too soon, and both Timmy Hill and Josh Williams had uncontrolled tire issues.
Stage Two Dominated by Dirt Racers
As the field restarted the race, Tyler Reddick wasted no time and pulled away from the field to lead all the laps in the second stage. Christopher Bell had also worked his way up toward the front after starting at the rear of the field to finish in second at stage end, as the two dirt racers put on a great show racing together.
The one notable event that was a major turning point was on Lap 60 when the yellow was displayed after Austin Cindric and Zane Smith collided on the exit of Turn 2. Cindric went for a long slide, and barely made contact with the outside wall, if any. Both were able to continue the race, but this allowed Kyle Busch to put on the scuff set of tires from the first stage, putting him on the same tire strategy as the rest of the field. He was still a lap down, but it put him in much better position for either a lucky dog or a wave around.
Two drivers received penalties during pit stops. Ryan Sieg was caught speeding on pit road, and Vinnie Miller had a crew member over the wall too soon.
Kyle Busch Surges Back to the Front in the Final Stage
Most of the third stage was uneventful, aside from Busch charging through the field toward the front. He first claimed the lead from Tyler Reddick on Lap 112, and kept the top spot until 20 laps remaining.
Bell and Reddick worked together to reel in Busch, and Bell eventually was able to get by Busch. He led for a lap, but brushed the wall in Turns 3 and 4, giving the lead back to Busch. Bell and Reddick also collided a few times, allowing Busch to pull a gap. On Lap 190, Ja Junior Avila spun off Turn 4 into the infield grass to bring out the caution flag. All drivers had one set of fresh tires, and elected to come to pit road with only six drivers on the lead lap. Before the yellow flag, Busch, Jones and Reddick had over a 20 second lead on the fourth place driver. The top three positions stayed the same after pit stops, but Brandon Jones gained two spots to start in the fourth position.
On the restart, Bell and Reddick attempted to work together to get by Busch who didn’t have quite the perfectly handling car at this point in the race. Bell had briefly stepped out in front before, and Reddick was attempting to do the same.
Before the leaders could take the white flag, Cole Custer had a run on Brandon Jones out of Turn 2. Jones attempted to block, and the two made contact on the back stretch. Jones over-corrected and turned hard into the outside wall. His window net went down and he was able to walk away uninjured, and was evaluated and released from the infield care center shortly after.
Most of the leaders crashed during the first overtime attempt on the exit of Turn 4. Photo by Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.
The first overtime attempt had many unknowns, including who would push who and if there would be a four-wide pass going into the first turn. Many of the other drivers had better handling cars, as more started to charge for the win. Going into Turn 3, Reddick lost control of his car as he was to the inside of Busch. As he slid up the track, he collided into Bell and the two went spinning on the exit of Turn 4. Both Austin Cindric and Zane Smith crashed into the sides of both cars heavily, ending the day for all four drivers. The yellow flag was displayed before Busch could take the white flag.
Kyle Busch chose the outside lane on all the final restarts, including the one for the last overtime attempt. John Hunter Nemechek stayed to Busch’s inside until Turn 4 when Busch could clear his car. Noah Gragson made a 3-wide pass in Turns 1 and 2 to recover from an early ill-handling race car, but Busch had too much of a lead for anyone to get a run on him. This was Busch’s second career NASCAR Xfinity win at Vegas, and made him one win away from completing the triple sweep.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series competes next at ISM Raceway in Phoenix, Arizona on March 9.
Race Results for the 23rd Annual Boyd Gaming 300 – Saturday, March 2, 2019, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Christopher Bell fought his way into the Championship 4 finale, winning the Whelen Trusted to Perform 200 at ISM Raceway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Cole Custer, Tyler Reddick and Daniel Hemric will join him for the 2018 Xfinity Championship at Homestead Miami Speedway.
“We’re going to Homestead baby!” Bell exclaimed over the radio in celebration with his team.
Bell started the day by failing inspection three times during qualifying. According to the NASCAR rule book, the No. 20 Gamestop Toyota would lose their car chief and be forced to start in the rear. They did not get a qualifying time set, and started 38th for the race. However, they did not give up and took the lead just past halfway through the race, easily becoming the car to beat. It was Bell’s seventh win in his rookie season, a new Xfinity Series record.
“Man, that’s never sounded sweeter before in my life,” Bell said with a feeling of relief on the frontstretch in front of all the fans. “I’ll be honest, after Kansas and Texas, I accepted that we weren’t going to be able to get there [to the Championship 4]. I knew this thing was fast. It feels good to give Gamestop a win.”
The early parts of the race saw Justin Allgaier winning both stages, but a late-race collision with John Hunter Nemechek forced his team to make repairs, blocking the brake ducts. Later in the final run, Allgaier’s right front caught fire and he lost a lap, and eventually, his spot in the Championship 4.
”Disappointment,” Allgaier shared. “At the end of the day we did everything right this year. We had a great season. Today we did everything right at the beginning part of the race. That was probably the most frustrating part. We led a lot of laps. We won both stages. All things considered, it was going to be a great day. Ultimately at the end, getting ourselves in that bad position, getting caught up in that little of a crash and losing brakes. At that point it was survival, gain as many points as we can gain.”
Elliott Sadler, Austin Cindric and Matt Tifft were the others eliminated from the Playoffs for the Xfinity Series.
Field Fights for Every Spot in Stage 1
John Hunter Nemechek and Cole Custer battle for position in the Whelen Trusted to Perform 200 at ISM Raceway. Photo by Rachel Schuoler for Speedway Media.
As the field took the green flag, they were put under yellow for the third race in a row. Akinori Ogata in the No. 66 Toyota lost a deck lid and spun before the field could complete a lap. The team for the Japanese rookie was able to make repairs and continue in the race.
On the restart, Justin Allgaier and Ryan Preece were able to get by the outside rows and put themselves into the second and third positions respectively. Further along in the run, Preece’s car fell off pace with the leaders, but Allgaier was able to get by about 30 laps into the race.
With about five laps to go, Elliott Sadler made slight contact with the No. 40 Toyota of Chad Finchum. There was no visible tire smoke or rub, but Sadler did lose a few spots. While his teammate Allgaier would go on to win the stage, Sadler would be the only Playoff driver to finish outside of the top-10 and not collect any stage points.
Sadler would spend a lot of time on pit road as his team made repairs. He would stay on the lead lap. Austin Cindric beat Allgaier and Nemechek off pit road to claim the lead starting the second stage. Matt Tifft was caught speeding on pit road, and Brandon Jones was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation. Both drivers had to restart at the rear.
Allgaier Makes a Statement, Sweeps Both Stages
On the restart, Cindric chose the outside. As we saw in most cases during yesterday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck series, the inside was the preferred line with the extra room of the dogleg and the least risk going into Turn 1 fighting a 3-wide move. Allgaier was able to get by easily and reclaim the lead. He would lead all the laps and take the win in the second stage in a yellow-free stage.
However, it was not uneventful. With a handful of laps left, Bell was attempting to pass Cindric when the two made slight contact multiple times. The last bit of contact was coming out of Turn 2. Bell was not happy, shaking his fist out the window net at Cindric, and said over the radio to his team, “I so wanted to wreck him!”
During pit stops, Allgaier lost four positions as Nemechek reclaimed the lead.
Championship Hopes Flip in Final Stage
Bell clawed his way to the front and with 100 laps to go, claimed the top spot. Allgaier made a few adjustments on pit road to make his car a little faster, but lost track position and ran in the fourth position at this time.
During the run before their potential last pit stop, Cindric drove hard into Turn 1 but slid up in Turn 2, colliding into Allgaier. It was the second time Cindric collided into a Playoff drive. Allgaier held his hand out the window net, palm up, but was able to stay focused and drive forward to get around Nemechek for the third position. Cindric lost his fifth position to Matt Tifft, fighting his way back to the front after a pit road speeding penalty after Stage 1. By this time, the bottom four drivers were now in a must-win situation, so nerves and aggression were starting to get the best of some of those drivers.
With about 65 laps to go, Tyler Hill in the No. 13 spun right in front of a few championship drivers, but no other cars were collected. The yellow flag was displayed, and everyone came down pit road for what may be the final time. Bell won the battle off pit road and all Playoff contenders were in the top 11 at this point.
Tifft fought his way up into the second position on the restart, but a few laps into the run, there were two separate incidents. Ty Majeski spun in Turn 3 to officially bring out the yellow, but Nemechek got loose on the exit of Turn 4. Tyler Reddick inadvertently helped spin out Nemechek with slight contact, but the heaviest contact actually corrected his car when he dove to the inside and hit Allgaier, causing massive damage to the right front fenders. During the yellow, Allgaier came to pit road and his crew made repairs, and surprisingly, it did not affect the handling.
The field took the restart, and Allgaier was able to climb back up into the top-10. Tifft and Bell were both in must-win scenarios, and with both drivers running up front for the potential win, that forced Allgaier to start considering a must-win situation to ensure a chance for the championship at Homestead. With about 48 laps to go, the No. 8 Chevrolet of Tommy Joe Martins went up in smoke to bring out the yellow. He would retire from the race, as no front runners elected to visit pit road.
The Xfinity Series drivers would see yet another restart where most of the field panned out through the dogleg to fight for as many positions as possible. With some contact and beating and banging, Bell emerged as the leader with a hungry and hard-chargin Tifft.
With about 25 laps remaining, Allgaier had a fire in the right-front corner as he lost brakes, making his championship hopes go up in smoke. There was no damage to the tire, so he was able to continue without visiting pit road, but was much slower having no brakes in the right front. No other incidents occurred in the closing laps, as Bell secured his spot for the Championship 4 at Homestead.
The final championship race will be held at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Coverage for the Ford EcoBoost 300 begins at 3:30pm ET on Saturday, November 17.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Unofficial Race Results for the 20Th Annual Whelen Trusted To Perform 200 – Saturday, November 10, 2018 ISM Raceway – Avondale, AZ – 1 Mile Paved
John Hunter Nemechek claims his first career pole in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at ISM Raceway, setting a time of 26.970 seconds at 133.482 mph.
Nemechek edged Cole Custer by 17-thousandths of a second, as both drivers were the only two to run in the 26-second bracket. Austin Cindric, Justin Allgaier and Ryan Preece completed the top-five.
“It feels good,” Nemechek told NBCSN. “We came here with the mindset to try and qualify on the pole. We unloaded not really good yesterday so we only got to do one mock (qualifying) run and it wasn’t that great.”
Most of the other Playoff drivers will start in the top-10. Elliott Sadler qualified in sixth, Daniel Hemric in eighth and Matt Tifft in 10th. Tyler Reddick had a slip in the second round, preventing him from putting down a fast enough lap to get into the final round. He will start 14th. The biggest news with those in the championship hunt was Christopher Bell failing inspection three times. He will start 38th.
Round one had about half of the Playoff contenders waiting until the last few minutes before turning a lap. Austin Cindric was fastest and most Playoff contenders held top-15 lap times. All but one made it through to the second round. Christopher Bell and Ty Majeski failed inspection three times, so they will start at the rear of the field. Neither was able to turn a lap, along with Josh Bilicki.
“Well the good thing is (Miami) doesn’t decide on where we start, it decides on where we finish,” Bell told NBCSN. “We got 200 laps, which is an eternity, especially from what I grew up doing in sprint car racing. Got a bunch of pit stops in there and a fast car to make it up. We’ll be fine.”
Bell also shared that this was the same car that won both times at Richmond Raceway.
“This is probably the fastest car we’ve brought to the race track all year-long compared to the field,” Bell said.
In round two, one more Playoff contender was eliminated. Tyler Reddick car got loose in Turn 4, which hurt his first and second attempts at improving his qualifying time. He will start 14th in the afternoon’s event. John Hunter Nemechek was fastest over Cole Custer, as the two were the only drivers to run just one lap in qualifying.
For the final round, the remaining Playoff drivers hold top-10 starts, and despite some last second laps by Cindric, Nemecheck was the one holding the top starting position, ahead of Custer, Cindric, Allgaier and Preece. Coverage for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at ISM Raceway will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon on NBC.
Starting Line Up
ISM Raceway
20th Annual Whelen Trusted To Perform 200
The Xfinity Series hit the track at Kansas Speedway for the Kansas Lottery 300 and what an interesting race it turned out to be. Two drivers would stay up front and battle for the lead, but only one driver could win. John Hunter Nemechek, in his No.42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, grabbed his first career Xfinity Series win after battling hard with Daniel Hemric.
Although Nemechek isn’t eligible for the Playoffs, he’s looking for a ride for next year and today’s win may make the difference he needs. It was also a special win for him as his father, Joe Nemechek, swept the Xfinity Series race and the Cup Series race in 2004. Nemechek was a little boy back then but knew it was a special day for his father.
“It means a lot especially in Kansas in 2004, I forget how old I was, my dad swept the weekend in the Xfinity Series and Cup Series,” Nemechek told reporters. “It’s pretty special,” Nemechek added. “Huge thank you to Fire Alarm Services and Chip Ganassi Racing and Chip for giving me this opportunity.”
Stage 1 had a wild start to the race when pole sitter Hemric took the green flag. Justin Allgaier got loose and spun taking out several Playoff contenders, not to mention himself. Also involved in the crash were Christopher Bell, Austin Cindric, Cole Custer, Michael Annett, Ryan Truex, Spencer Gallagher, and Chase Briscoe. Custer was the only Playoff driver able to continue, however, he didn’t have any power steering. There were a couple of minor cautions after the big one but they were only one car accidents. Hemric led every lap in the stage and took the stage win.
During Stage 2 the drivers settled down into the race and there were only a couple of minor cautions. During the race, the strong wind blew off the hood of Ross Chastain’s car and was demolished when the drivers behind him ran over it. Midway through the stage Nemechek and Hemric battled for the lead and Nemechek would take the lead. The stage ended under caution after driver Ryan Preece hit the wall. Nemechek was the winner of Stage 2.
The final stage of the race started with Hemric’s No.21 Richard Childress Chevrolet back in the lead with Nemechek right behind him. It looked as if it would be an easy win for Hemric who had a good lead over Nemechek when the caution came out for the stalled car of Vinnie Miller.
Matt Tifft didn’t pit under the yellow to take the race lead with Elliott Sadler behind him. Sadler’s team strategy was to take two tires only getting him on the front row on the restart. However, both drivers strategies failed as Nemechek quickly took the lead and didn’t look back. Hemric led a total of 128 of the 200 laps and finished in the runner-up spot. At the end of the race, there were only eight cars on the lead lap.
“I thought the restart wasn’t really that bad,” stated Hemric. “I had a vibration the last fifteen laps. I don’t know if the tires equalized or what. It’s frustrating. I just didn’t have what he had, that last run it was unbelievable how fast that thing was taking off.” He ended by saying, “its all gonna work out the way it’s supposed to.”
Sadler driving his No.1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet ended the race in third place, after the call for two tires only.
“It was a wild race which we’ve seen in the Xfinity Series the last couple of years,” Sadler commented. “Always the first race of a round gets kinda crazy, everything happens so quick and so fast. We’ve put our best foot forward and we’ll build on this going to Texas. Being in second place is great but we still have a lot of work left to do.”
Shane Lee and Tyler Reddick would round out the top five. Matt Tifft, Ryan Reed, Ty Majeski, Ryan Sieg and Jeremy Clements finished sixth through 10 respectively.
The Playoff Standings after today’s race are as follows: Hemric +23, Sadler +14, Reddick +11, Bell +1, Tifft -1, Allgaier -5, Custer -23, and Cindric -43
The Xfinity Series is off next week. They head next to Texas Motor Speedway Nov. 3.
The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series begin their Playoffs this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. This track has been a unique addition to the Truck Series since its first race in 2013. Every year, there has been a last-lap pass for the win.
What will be unique this time around is that CTMP will be the first road course in the Playoffs where it had previously been held before the Playoffs start.
Currently, there are 31 trucks on the preliminary entry list.
Here’s a look at who might wind up in victory lane this weekend in the annual running of the Chevrolet Silverado 250.
John Hunter Nemechek – While he may not be competing in the Playoffs, Nemechek has competed here since 2014 earning him four starts at the 2.459-mile road course. His first start was not the greatest as he finished 25th after starting 16th. Since then, however, Nemechek earned a win in 2016 after a controversial finish with Cole Custer that saw them go off the race course coming to the finish line. After the race, the two tangled with each other but Nemechek still got the win. At Canada, he has earned one win, one top five and two top-10 finishes, along with an average start of 12.0 and an average finish of 13.8, and 20 laps led. When stages were implemented in 2017, he finished fourth in the first stage but ultimately finished 20th, one lap down. He looks to turn things around this weekend and secure his second victory at CTMP.
Johnny Sauter- Sauter is coming off his win at Bristol where he was crowned regular season champion. He has made five starts at CTMP since 2013. In those five starts, Sauter has collected four top-10 finishes, with an average start of 11.4 and an average finish of 11.0, with four laps led. His first outing, Sauter had a gas line issue which saw him finish 28th for a DNF. Since 2014, he has collected finishes of eighth, sixth, seventh, and sixth, respectively. In 2017, he did not finish in either stage.
Noah Gragson – Gragson made his track debut last season. In his track debut, the No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports driver started sixth and wound up finishing second. He finished sixth in Stage 1 but did not finish in the top-10 at all in the second stage. Prior to the 2018 race, Gragson competed in the NASCAR Pinty Series event at CTMP, where he started 13th and finished third. KBM has visited victory lane before at Canada, where the team won with Erik Jones in 2015.
Ben Rhodes – Rhodes has started in the last two races at CTMP. In 2016, he finished 30th due to a crash on Lap 6 but had a much better outing in 2017 where he finished 10th after starting ninth. He has an average start of 9.0, but with the crash, he has an average finish of 20.0. With the stages last year, Rhodes finished 10th and third, respectively, in both stages. He’ll look to up his average finish this year.
Matt Crafton – This weekend could be the weekend Crafton winds up in victory lane. He has five starts dating back to the first race in 2013. His finishes at CTMP has been up and down. In 2013, he finished 10th but in the previous race, Crafton had engine issues that relegated him to a 25th place finish. Crafton had a best-finish of second in 2015 after starting third that year. With that said, he has two top fives and four top-10 finishes, with an average start of 9.8 and an average finish of 9.4.
The CTMP has held five races since its inception in 2013 and has had five different winners. The list of winners includes Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones, John Hunter Nemechek, and Austin Cindric. Each race has seen a last-lap pass for the win.
There will be some drivers making their track debut at CTMP this year. Those include Justin Kunz, Austin Hill, Myatt Snider, Wendell Chavous, Max Tullman, Jason White, Jesse Iwuji, Justin Fontaine, Ray Ciccarelli, Harrison Burton, Stewart Friesen, Bo LeMastus and Roger Reuse.
Iwuji will be making his NASCAR Truck Series debut, along with Kunz for Jennifer Jo Cobb. Alex Tagliani’s best finish was fifth in 2015 and he does have two poles at the road course. Spencer Gallagher will return in the Truck Series competing in GMS Racing’s No. 25 machine.
The lowest a race winner has come from to win is 14th set by Ryan Blaney in 2014. The highest a finisher has ever started from was first and that came last year by Austin Cindric.
The first practice is slated for Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. ET and the final practice is scheduled for 11:35 a.m. ET with no live TV coverage. Qualifying is set for 6 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 2.
The Chevrolet Silverado 250 is slated to take place Sunday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 and MRN Radio, with the approximate green flag at 2:46 p.m. ET. Stage 1 will end on Lap 20, Stage 2 on Lap 40 and the checkered flag is scheduled to fall on Lap 64, barring any overtime finishes.
This will be the first race in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Playoffs with the Round of 8.
