Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Tag: John Hunter Nemechek

  • John Hunter Nemechek caps off dominant run with overtime Xfinity victory at New Hampshire

    John Hunter Nemechek caps off dominant run with overtime Xfinity victory at New Hampshire

    A week after capturing a thrilling overtime victory at Atlanta Motor Speedway, John Hunter Nemechek doubled down with a second consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series win in overtime after marching away from the field and winning the Ambetter Health 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 15.

    Compared to a week ago where he led the final three laps en route to victory, the 26-year-old Nemechek from Mooresville, North Carolina, led four times for a race-high 137 of 206 over-scheduled laps at the Magic Mile. After assuming the lead for the first time on the ninth lap before spending the majority of the event as the leader, Nemechek assumed the lead for good with 36 laps remaining during a late caution period.

    Amid two late restarts and two caution periods due to on-track incidents, the latter of which sent the event into overtime, Nemechek capitalized in overtime by muscling away from rookie Chandler Smith and Cole Custer and started the final lap under green flag conditions just before a two-car wreck on the final lap involving Custer and Sheldon Creed concluded the event under caution and handed Nemechek his fourth Xfinity victory of the 2023 season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, July 14, rookie Chandler Smith scored his second consecutive Xfinity pole and third of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 126.291 mph in 30.159 seconds. Joining him on the front row was John Hunter Nemechek, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 126.123 mph in 30.199 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following names that included rookie Sammy Smith, Jeb Burton, Patrick Emerling, Ryan Sieg and Greg Val Alst dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Rajah Caruth also dropped to the rear of the field due to a tire change along with Kaz Grala, who started the event in a backup car after being involved in a two-car wreck with Ryan Sieg during Friday’s practice session.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Chandler Smith rocketed ahead with the lead on the outside lane while Justin Allgaier and Josh Berry attempted to go three wide on John Hunter Nemechek for the runner-up spot entering the first two turns. As the field fanned out and jostled early for positions through the backstretch and entering Turns 3 and 4, Smith fended off Allgaier to lead the first lap.

    During the second lap and amid a series of on-track battles, Allgaier made his move beneath Chandler Smith through the backstretch and claimed the lead entering Turn 3. Nemechek would then move into the runner-up spot two laps later while Berry and Cole Custer battled for fourth behind Chandler Smith. As Brandon Jones and Daniel Hemric tried to close in on the top-five runners, Allgaier was leading by two-tenths of a second over Nemechek during the fifth lap mark.

    A lap later, however, an early battle for the lead ignited between Allgaier and Nemechek as both dueled and rubbed for the top spot while the former fended off the latter for the top spot. Despite Allgaier’s efforts in retaining the lead while running the second lane and to Nemechek’s outside during the proceeding laps, Nemechek was able to assume the lead for himself by the ninth lap after Allgaier got loose in Turn 2. All in the process, Custer kept the two leaders in front of him followed by Chandler Smith and Berry while Jones and Hemric battled for sixth.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Nemechek was leading by half a second over Allgaier followed by Cole Custer, Chandler Smith and Berry while Jones, Hemric, Austin Hill, Austin Dillon and Sam Mayer were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Parker Kligerman was in 11th ahead of Sheldon Creed, rookie Parker Retzlaff, Riley Herbst and Brett Moffitt while Jeremy Clements, Anthony Alfredo, Josh Williams, Sammy Smith and Joe Graf Jr. were in the top 20.

    Ten laps later, Nemechek stabilized his advantage to four-tenths of a second over Allgaier, who started to regain ground on the former for the lead, while Custer, Chandler Smith and Berry remained in the top five. In addition, Jones, Hemric, Hill, Austin Dillon and Mayer continued to run sixth through 10th, respectively.

    Another 10 laps later, Allgaier, who reassumed the lead from Nemechek on Lap 27 amid another on-track battle and contact while navigating through lapped traffic, was leading by three-tenths of a second over Nemechek. Meanwhile, third-place Custer trailed by half a second as he tried to join the battle while Chandler Smith and Berry were in the top five. Allgaier would then slowly stretch his advantage to eight-tenths of a second by Lap 35 and to more than a second by Lap 40 while Nemechek retained second.

    On Lap 41, the first caution of the event flew when Chris Hacker spun on the backstretch. Not long after, Rajah Caruth ran into early issues after his car emerged with heavy smoke and was leaking fuel. Hacker’s incident was enough for the first stage period set to conclude on Lap 45 to conclude under caution as Allgaier claimed his fifth stage victory of the 2023 season. Nemechek ended up second while Custer, Chandler Smith, Berry, Brandon Jones, Austin Dillon, Mayer, Hemric and Hill were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Allgaier pitted. Following the pit stops, Chandler Smith exited first followed by Allgaier, Nemechek, Hill, Jones and Berry. Amid the pit stops, Sammy Smith and Joe Graf Jr. were penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, Allgaier, who opted for two fresh tires after sliding through his pit box and reversing his car followed by the audible two-tire service, would then be penalized for pitting outside his pit box while having a right-rear lug nut removed when the car was over the pit line.

    The second stage started on Lap 54 as Chandler Smith and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start, Chandler Smith received a push from Hill from the outside lane to briefly retain the lead over Nemechek through the first two turns before Nemechek made his move beneath Smith and reassumed the lead through Turns 3 and 4. With Nemechek leading Chandler Smith, the following competitors that included Hill, Brandon Jones, Berry and Custer battled for top-six spots in front of Herbst while Hemric, Austin Dillon and Mayer started to fan out and battle for eighth.

    Just past the Lap 60 mark, Nemechek was leading by seven-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith while third-place Hill trailed by more than a second. Behind, Custer and Berry were running in the top five while Brandon Jones, Herbst, Mayer, Hemric and Dillon were in the top 10.

    Five laps later and as Nemechek continued to lead ahead over Chandler Smith, Custer, Berry, Hill and Herbst, the event’s second caution flew when Chad Finchum stalled in the middle of pit road.

    Then as the field attempted to restart under green on Lap 70, the caution quickly returned when the front-runners did not launch early and stacked the field behind as Parker Kligerman sustained heavy front nose damage after running into the rear of Hemric. A multi-car wreck would then ensue on the frontstretch amid the stack up and within the middle of the pack after Allgaier rear-ended Ryan Sieg and Jeremy Clements while Anthony Alfredo collided into Allgaier as more including Blaine Perkins, Mason Massey, Parker Retzlaff, Chris Hacker, Patrick Emerling, Ryan Ellis and Alex Labbe wrecked.

    During the caution period, some including Brandon Jones, Joe Graf Jr., Creed, Sammy Smith and Dillon pitted while the rest led by Nemechek remained on the track.

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 81, Nemechek rocketed ahead with the lead from the outside lane as he retained the top spot through the first two turns while Berry battled and overtook Chandler Smith for second. In addition, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Custer and Herbst started to close in on Chandler Smith for third while Mayer and Hill battled for sixth in front of Jeb Burton and Hemric. In the process, Nemechek stretched his advantage to more than a second over Berry. The caution, however, would return on Lap 84 when Connor Mosack slipped sideways and slapped the outside wall between Turns 1 and 2.

    During the caution period, some led by Nemechek pitted while others led by Retzlaff remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Nemechek exited first followed by Berry, Chandler Smith, Herbst, Custer, Hemric and Hill.

    As the event restarted with two laps remaining in the second stage, Retzlaff and Sammy Smith dueled for the lead followed by Creed, Josh Williams and Brandon Jones while Allgaier and Joe Graf Jr. battled for sixth. Then prior to the final lap of the second stage, Sammy Smith muscled his No. 18 TMC Toyota Supra into the lead while Retzlaff battled Creed for second.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 90, Sammy Smith claimed his first stage victory of the 2023 season. Retzlaff settled in second followed by Creed while Brandon Jones, Williams, Allgaier, Graf, Nemechek, Dillon and Chandler Smith were scored in the top 10.

    During the stage break, some led by Retzlaff and including Josh Williams, Kyle Weatherman, Clements, Blaine Perkins and Ryan Ellis pitted while the rest led by Sammy Smith remained on the track.

    With 103 laps remaining, the final stage started as Sammy Smith and Creed occupied the front row. At the start, Smith and Creed briefly dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Smith gained the advantage from the outside lane and retained the lead. With Sammy Smith out in front, Nemechek battled Brandon Jones for third, and he succeeded in gaining the spot during the following lap as Nemechek battled Creed for second. Behind, Allgaier was in fifth ahead of a multi-car battle ensuing behind that involved Graf, Berry, Chandler Smith, Custer, Herbst and Dillon.

    Then with 99 laps remaining, the caution flew when Herbst, who was battling Dillon for a top-10 spot, drove across the front left-front fender of Dillon’s No. 10 LA Golf Chevrolet Camaro entering the frontstretch as Herbst squeezed and forced Dillon into the outside wall. Dillon then proceeded to turn and send Herbst spinning sideways and into the wall with Herbst sustaining damage to his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang.

    When the event restarted with 93 laps remaining, Nemechek fended off teammate Sammy Smith, who briefly got loose after receiving a push from Creed, to assume the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch. As Nemechek stabilized his advantage over teammate Sammy Smith, Creed was in third followed by a four-car battle that included Graf, Berry, Allgaier and Custer. Behind more battles ensued as Hemric was fighting to remain in 10th ahead of Mayer, Hill, Grala, Moffitt, Retzlaff, Williams and Jeb Burton.

    With 85 laps remaining, Nemechek was leading by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Sammy Smith as Creed, Brandon Jones and Graf were in the top five. Nemechek would proceed to stretch his advantage to more than a second over Smith with 80 laps remaining and to nine-tenths of a second with 75 laps remaining.

    Down to the final 60 laps of the event, Nemechek extended his advantage to more than three seconds over teammate Sammy Smith while third-place Jones trailed by more than six seconds. By then, Creed also trailed by more than six seconds in fourth while Custer and Chandler Smith were in fifth and sixth.

    Six laps later, green flag pit stops started to ensue as Creed pitted along with Kyle Weatherman, Connor Mosack and Sammy Smith pitted. Berry would also pit not long after along with teammate Jones and Custer. Then with 50 laps remaining, the race leader Nemechek pitted along with Hill, Kaz Grala and Mayer. Following his pit stop, Nemechek managed to exit pit road and blend back on the track ahead of teammate Sammy Smith while the green flag pit stops ensued.

    Then with 41 laps remaining, the caution flew when Kyle Sieg spun in front of Berry through Turns 3 and 4. By then, Austin Dillon, who had yet to pit, was leading ahead of Graf, Allgaier and Josh Williams, all of whom had yet to pit, while Nemechek, the first competitor who pitted, was in fifth followed by teammate Sammy Smith. During the caution period, however, some including Graf and Dillon pitted while the rest led by Nemechek remained on the track as Nemechek cycled his way back to the lead.

    During the proceeding restart with 33 laps remaining, Nemechek rocketed ahead with the lead as the field fanned out entering the first two turns. Behind, smoke emerged out of the left-front fender of Berry’s No. 8 Jarrett Logistics Systems Chevrolet Camaro amid contact from Creed and Jones after Jones nearly got turned by Chandler Smith in Turn 1. With the race remaining under green flag conditions and the field fanning out while jostling for late positions, Nemechek retained the lead over Custer followed by Sammy Smith, Mayer and Chandler Smith.

    With 25 laps remaining, Nemechek was leading by more than a second over Custer while Sammy Smith, Chandler Smith and Mayer continued to run in the top five. Nemechek would retain the lead by nearly a second and a half over Custer while third-place Sammy Smith trailed by more than two seconds with 20 laps remaining.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Nemechek continued to lead by a second and a half over Custer while Chandler Smith trailed in third by more than two seconds in his No. 16 Quick Tie Products Inc. Chevrolet Camaro. Behind, Sammy Smith trailed in fourth by more than seven seconds while fifth-place Mayer trailed by more than 10 seconds. A lap later, however, the caution flew when Retzlaff spun and smacked the outside wall in Turn 1 after losing a right-rear tire.

    As the event attempted to restart under green with four laps remaining, the caution quickly returned when Mayer was tapped in the rear end by Sammy Smith as he spun before getting hit by Dillon and Graf, whose car caught on fire amid heavy front nose damage to his No. 19 Rocky’s ACE Hardware Toyota Supra. The incident, which also collected Brandon Jones and Connor Mosack, was enough to send the event into overtime as Nemechek had retained the lead over Chandler Smith, Custer, Creed and Hill.

    At the start of the first overtime attempt, Nemechek received a huge push from Chandler Smith, who elected to restart on the outside lane behind Nemechek instead of next to Nemechek on the front row. Smith’s push enabled Nemechek to drive away in his No. 20 Persil Toyota Supra from the field while Chandler Smith was left to battle Creed, Custer and Hill for second as the field fanned out.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Nemechek remained as the leader by four-tenths of a second over Chandler Smith. Shortly after, Custer turned Creed across the frontstretch and into the outside wall as Custer was also sent spinning in the middle of the frontstretch, which caused the field to scatter to avoid both competitors. The incident was enough to conclude the event under caution as Nemechek cycled back to the frontstretch and claimed his fourth checkered flag of the 2023 season.

    With the victory, Nemechek became the first four-time winner of this year’s Xfinity season. He also recorded his sixth career victory in the Xfinity circuit, his first at New Hampshire, the sixth of the season for Toyota and the 199th Xfinity career win for Joe Gibbs Racing. This also marked the first time in his Xfinity career that he achieved back-to-back victories.

    “Man, I am so proud of this No. 20 team and everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing,” Nemechek said on USA Network. “Man, [sponsor] Persil ProClean, this [car] looked clean on the racetrack today. [I] Had, I think, our first clean race all year. I was a little worried there on the last restarts. We kept getting really good launch and we were able to clear [the field], but I didn’t know who was saving what. I was trying to save in front of Cole [Custer] until he started pushing there. He definitely was gonna give us a run our the money, but hats off to all the men and women at Joe Gibbs Racing, everyone at Toyota, [Toyota Racing Development]. Just blessed to have this opportunity. I’m the lucky guy that gets to sit behind the wheel of this No. 20 car every weekend.”

    With Nemechek winning the event, Chandler Smith, who led 10 laps from pole position, ended up in the runner-up spot for the first time in his career while Austin Hill, Hemric and Sammy Smith finished in the top five.

    Allgaier, who rallied from his early pit road penalty and wreck, nursed his damaged No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro in sixth while Jeb Burton, Josh Williams, Moffitt and Mason Massey finished in the top 10. Notably, Austin Dillon ended up 16th in his second Xfinity start of the season while Creed and Custer ended up 21st and 22nd, respectively, following their last lap wreck.

    There were 13 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 60 laps. In addition, 20 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    With eight Xfinity regular-season events remaining on the schedule, John Hunter Nemechek continues to lead the regular-season standings 33 points over Austin Hill, 60 over Justin Allgaier and 74 over Cole Custer.

    Results.

    1. John Hunter Nemechek, 137 laps led

    2. Chandler Smith, 10 laps led

    3. Austin Hill

    4. Daniel Hemric

    5. Sammy Smith, 18 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    6. Justin Allgaier, 27 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    7. Jeb Burton

    8. Josh Williams

    9. Brett Moffitt

    10. Mason Massey

    11. Brandon Jones

    12. Alex Labbe

    13. Kaz Grala

    14. Patrick Emerling

    15. Jeremy Clements

    16. Austin Dillon, four laps led

    17. Josh Berry

    18. Sam Mayer

    19. Ryan Ellis

    20. Riley Herbst

    21. Sheldon Creed

    22. Cole Custer

    23. Kyle Sieg, one lap down

    24. Brennan Poole, two laps down

    25. Blaine Perkins, three laps down

    26. Connor Mosack, three laps down

    27. Kyle Weatherman, four laps down

    28. CJ McLaughlin, five laps down

    29. Joe Graf Jr. – OUT, Accident, eight laps led

    30. Chris Hacker, 11 laps down

    31. Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Accident, two laps led

    32. Parker Kligerman – OUT, Accident

    33. Ryan Sieg – OUT, Accident

    34. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Accident

    35. Chad Finchum – OUT, Suspension

    36. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Suspension

    37. Rajah Caruth – OUT, Oil line

    38. Greg Van Alst – OUT, Brakes

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ lone visit of the season to Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, July 22, at 5:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • John Hunter Nemechek grabs third Xfinity victory of 2023 at Atlanta

    John Hunter Nemechek grabs third Xfinity victory of 2023 at Atlanta

    An overtime shootout amid a late on-track incident provided an opportunity for John Hunter Nemechek to capitalize against Kaulig Racing’s trio squad, which he did so as he motored his way to a thrilling victory in the Alsco Uniforms 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 8.

    The 26-year-old Nemechek from Mooresville, North Carolina, led the final three of 169 over-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row and was running up front with the front-runners before he slipped and lost the draft in the closing laps of the first stage. In spite of not finishing in the top 10 during both stage periods, a multi-car wreck at the start of the final stage drew Nemechek and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota crew back into contention.

    He was left to contend against Kaulig Racing’s triple squad and a host of Xfinity Series regulars for the victory. Then after a caution period for Austin Hill’s wreck with three laps remaining that sent the field into overtime, Nemechek received a push from Daniel Hemric to overtake Justin Haley for the lead and fend off Hemric for two laps to capture his third checkered flag of the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, rookie Chandler Smith scored his second Xfinity career pole after posting a pole-winning lap at 172.565 mph in 32.127 seconds. Joining him on the front row was John Hunter Nemechek, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 171.971 mph in 32.238 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following names that included Sheldon Creed, Austin Hill, rookie Parker Retzlaff, Greg Van Alst and Mason Massey started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Chandler Smith and John Hunter Nemechek dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Smith launched ahead through the backstretch with drafting help from Josh Berry on the outside lane. Berry then veered left and drew himself alongside Smith through Turns 3 and 4. With both competitors remaining dead even entering the frontstretch, Smith managed to lead the first lap by a hair over Berry as rookie Sammy Smith, Nemechek and Riley Herbst pursued amid the draft.

    During the second lap, Chandler Smith and Berry would continue to duel early for the lead in front of Sammy Smith and Nemechek as Smith managed to pull ahead and lead the proceeding laps while running on the outside lane.

    Then on the fifth lap, Berry would manage to pull ahead on the inside lane in Turn 1 and emerge out in front of the stacked pack that fanned out through the backstretch. Berry would then lead by three-tenths of a second over a side-by-side duel between Chandler Smith and Nemechek as all 37 starters were separated within nine seconds. Berry would continue to lead as the event surpassed its Lap 10 mark. By then, Herbst moved up to third behind Chandler Smith while Nemechek was in fourth in front of teammate Ty Gibbs.

    At the Lap 20 mark, Berry continued to lead by a tenth of a second over Chandler Smith, Herbst, Nemechek, Ty Gibbs, Justin Haley, Custer, Jeremy Clements, Daniel Hemric and Justin Allgaier. By then, Austin Hill, who started the event at the rear of the field, carved his way up to 11th ahead of Brandon Jones, Parker Kligerman, Sam Mayer and Anthony Alfredo while Jeffrey Earnhardt, Brett Moffitt, Sheldon Creed, Joe Graf Jr. and Sammy Smith occupied the top 20.

    Seven laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Kligerman, who was running within the top 15, spun in Turn 2 after cutting a left-rear tire on his No. 48 Spiked Light Coolers Chevrolet Camaro. During the first caution period, some including Ty Gibbs, Custer, Moffitt, Mayer, Creed and Sammy Smith pitted while the rest led by Berry remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Ty Gibbs was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation.

    When the race restarted on Lap 34, Berry, who restarted on the outside lane, muscled ahead with a push from Herbst as he retained the lead over Nemechek, who restarted on the inside lane before he pulled even through the backstretch. Berry and Nemechek would then duel for the lead amid a stacked pack trailing behind, with the former still emerging out in front. As the laps proceeded, Nemechek then slipped up the track in Turns 3 and 4, which allowed Herbst, Chandler Smith, Hill, Haley and Clements to move up while Berry retained the lead.

    When the final lap of the first stage struck, Berry was still leading ahead of a side-by-side battle between Herbst and Chandler Smith. Then exiting the backstretch, Herbst gained a strong run to Berry’s outside amid a push from Haley. With Chandler Smith trying to draw against Berry entering the frontstretch, Herbst used the momentum from the outside lane to pull away with the lead and claim the first stage victory on Lap 40, which marked his first stage victory of the 2023 season. Berry, who led 34 of 40 laps, settled in second while Chandler Smith, Haley, Hill, Allgaier, Clements, Creed, Joe Graf Jr. and Retzlaff were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Herbst pitted while others led by Creed, who was among those who pitted during the first caution period, remained on the track. During the pit stops, Jeb Burton exited first after only opting for fuel in his car while Herbst, the first competitor who pitted for fresh tires, followed pursuit.

    The second stage started on Lap 46 as Creed and Custer occupied the front row. At the start, Creed gained a brief advantage on the outside lane until Custer drew himself into a side-by-side challenge with Creed from the inside lane. As both continued to duel, Creed would manage to lead at the start/finish line when the field returned to the frontstretch.

    By Lap 50 and with the field fanning out, Ryan Sieg made his move to the front as he battled Creed for the lead. Not long after, the caution returned for an incident involving Nemechek and Retzlaff in Turn 4. During the caution period, some including Moffitt and Daniel Hemric pitted while the rest led by Sieg remained on the track.

    During the following restart on Lap 56, Sieg and Creed dueled for the lead as Creed attempted to take the lead while restarting on the inside lane. Sieg, however, fought back on the outside lane and despite gaining a strong run through Turns 3 and 4, Creed would return to the top of the leaderboard during the following lap. Creed would continue to lead by a hair through the Lap 60 mark as Hill was lurking in the top five behind Sieg, Custer and Chandler Smith.

    Then two laps later and just as Sieg overtook Creed amid a tight battle at the front, the caution flew when Greg Van Alst, a newcomer to the Xfinity Series and winner of this year’s ARCA Menards Series opener at Daytona International Speedway, wrecked along with Mason Massey in Turn 4 as Van Alst’s No. 44 car burst into flames, with the driver able to exit uninjured. Amid an extensive caution period, some including Chandler Smith, Haley, Herbst, Mayer, Nemechek, Jeb Burton, Brandon Jones, Parker Retzlaff, Joe Graf Jr., Brennan Poole, Blaine Perkins, Garrett Smithley and David Starr pitted while the rest led by Sieg remained on the track.

    When the race restarted on Lap 71, Creed managed to overtake Sieg to reassume the lead. As Creed continued to lead during the proceeding laps, Hill then commenced his attempt to take the lead as he tried to overtake Sieg, who blocked and briefly stalled his momentum. By Lap 75, however, Hill carved his way into second as he then battled dead even against teammate Creed for the lead. While Hill would lead a lap for himself on Lap 77, he would remain stuck in a dead-even battle with teammate Creed as Sieg, Custer, Berry, Allgaier and the rest of the field pursued in close-quarters racing.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 80, Creed fended off a last-lap charge from teammate Hill to claim his fourth stage victory of the 2023 season. Hill settled in second while Sieg, Berry, Allgaier, Custer, Hemric, Chandler Smith, Kligerman and Sammy Smith were scored in the top 10. By then, the top-12 competitors were separated by nine-tenths of a second while 36 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    During the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Creed pitted for service while Joe Graf Jr., Akinori Ogata and Mason Massey remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Allgaier was the first competitor to exit pit road first followed by Clements, Haley, Mayer, Hemric and Custer. Both Allgaier and Clements, however, would return to pit road after both missed their respective pit boxes amid the pit stops with the majority of the field. This cycled Haley into second behind Graf, who remained on the track with the lead, while Mayer, Hemric and Custer were scored in the top five.

    With 77 laps remaining, the final stage started as Graf and Haley occupied the front row. At the start, Graf briefly took off with the lead through Turns 1 and 2 until Haley rocketed to the lead followed by teammates Hemric and Chandler Smith on the inside lane.

    Two laps later, the caution quickly returned for a multi-car wreck that started when Herbst, who was running within the top 12, dropped off the pace through the backstretch after losing a left-rear tire on his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang. Herbst’s tire issue ignited a stack-up and a chain-reaction wreck that involved Sieg, Mayer, Blaine Perkins, Poole, Weatherman, Alfredo, Josh Williams, Brandon Jones and Creed. The multi-car wreck on the backstretch occurred just as Ty Gibbs had also fallen off the pace and was running at the rear of the field due to a flat right-rear tire on his car.

    During the caution period, names that included Mason Massey, Berry, Mayer, Garrett Smithley, Josh Bilicki, Clements, Allgaier, Poole, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Brandon Jones, Kyle Weatherman and Alfredo pitted for adjustments and repairs while the rest led by Kaulig Racing’s trio of Haley, Hemric and Chandler Smith remained on the track.

    When the race restarted with 67 laps remaining, Haley, who restarted on the outside lane and in front of teammates Hemric and Chandler Smith, retained the lead ahead of Nemechek, who restarted on the inside lane. Haley would remain in front of teammates Hemric and Chandler Smith with the lead during the proceeding laps. The caution, however, would return with 63 laps remaining when Kyle Weatherman came to a stop at the entrance of pit road after he had made earlier contact with the wall.

    During the proceeding restart with 55 laps remaining, Haley received the upper hand amid a side-by-side duel against Nemechek through the first two turns as Haley retained the lead through the backstretch. With Haley out in front, teammate Hemric settled in second while Nemechek, Hill and Graf were in the top five.

    With 50 laps remaining, Haley was still leading by a tenth of a second over teammate Hemric as Hill motored past Nemechek for third place. By then, Graf retained fifth while Custer, Retzlaff, Sammy Smith, Kligerman and Chandler Smith were in the top 10. A few laps later, Hill navigated his way around Hemric for second place as he ignited his pursuit of Haley for the lead.

    Down to the final 40 laps of the event, Haley continued to lead by a tenth of a second in his No. 10 Campers Inn RV Chevrolet Camaro over Hill while Chandler Smith made a bold, aggressive move from the inside to the outside lane to move up to third in front of teammate Hemric and Nemechek while Custer, Retzlaff, Kligerman, Moffitt and Graf were in the top 10. By then, the top-14 competitors were separated by two-and-a-half seconds with the top seven separated within a second.

    Three laps later, Hill, who tried to make an early move on Haley for the lead, was unable to execute his move for the lead and lost the draft towards the front with no one electing to draft with him as Chandler Smith, Hemric, Nemechek and Custer all overtook him, which dropped Hill to sixth on the leaderboard.

    Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Kaulig Racing’s trio led by Haley and followed by teammates Chandler Smith and Hemric were at the top of the leaderboard followed by Nemechek and Custer while Hill was still mired back in sixth. Meanwhile, Kligerman, who was a lap down following his early incident, was back up to seventh followed by Retzlaff, Moffitt and Allgaier while Sammy Smith, Ty Gibbs, Clements, Graf and Mayer were in the top 10.

    With 15 laps remaining, Haley was still leading by a tenth of a second ahead of teammates Smith and Hemric while Hill carved his way back to fourth as he then tried to challenge Hemric for third. By then, the top-six competitors that included Hill, Nemechek and Allgaier were separated by seven-tenths of a second as the leaders were also starting to approach lapped traffic. With some of the lapped traffic that included Berry were lapped, Haley would retain the lead ahead of his Kaulig Racing teammates with 10 laps remaining.

    Then with three laps remaining, Hill, who moved up to third as he along with Nemechek and Kligerman overtook Hemric, had his hopes of winning at his home track three consecutive times evaporate after the air off of Kligerman’s front nose of the car caused Hill’s No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet Camaro to get loose as he slipped sideways and made rear end contact with the outside wall in between Turns 3 and 4 with the caution flying and the event being sent into overtime.

    With the field restarting in overtime, Chandler Smith and Kligerman both ran out of fuel, which caused the field to fan out and scatter as Nemechek rocketed his No. 20 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra to the lead over Haley with Hemric pushing Nemechek out in front. Through the backstretch and with the field still being scattered, Nemechek led a four-car breakaway that involved Hemric, Haley and Custer, all of whom were separated by three-tenths of a second.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Nemechek remained the leader by a tenth of a second over Hemric as Haley tried to make a move beneath Hemric for second. With Nemechek retaining the lead in front of the field through Turns 1 and 2, Hemric retook the runner-up spot from teammate Haley entering the backstretch and tried to gain a run amid the draft on Nemechek with Custer following suit. Nemechek, however, blocked Hemric’s No. 11 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro entering Turn 3, which stalled Hemric’s momentum and was the difference maker as Nemechek was able to muscle away entering the frontstretch and claim the checkered flag by two-tenths of a second.

    With the victory, Nemechek, who last won at Martinsville Speedway in April, notched his third victory of the 2023 Xfinity season and the fifth of his career as he joined Austin Hill as three-time race winners of this season. He also achieved his second NASCAR national touring series victory at Atlanta after winning the Truck Series event at Atlanta in February 2016 and the fifth of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing.

    “I got a huge push from [Hemric in overtime], so thanks to Daniel for giving me that huge push,” Nemechek said on USA Network. “Early on in the race, if you would’ve said that we would’ve won the race, I definitely would’ve told you that wasn’t going to be the case. We didn’t have the fastest car tonight. I’m really proud of this whole No. 20 team. We just had to keep making our Mobil 1 Toyota GR Supra better all night. [Crew chief] Ben [Beshore] and the guys did awesome. They made the right adjustments all night, got us to where we needed to be. It came down to an overtime finish and luckily, we were able to execute on that restart. Proud to be the one holding the wheel of this No. 20 car.”

    Meanwhile, Hemric settled in second place for a second consecutive time at Atlanta after also finishing second at Atlanta earlier in March. In between his two runner-up results at Atlanta, he has finished in the top 10 six times in 11 events. Despite coming up one spot short of winning, he has moved up to 10th place in the Xfinity regular-season standings and is 41 points above the top-12 cutline to make the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs.

    “I showed some super amount of frustration at the end when I got out of the car,” Hemric said. “I felt like I’d backed up to [Nemechek] there and thought I was gonna have the run down the front to at least give myself an opportunity to get [Nemechek] back. It’s frustrating. Obviously, we all want to bring back Kaulig [Racing] some trophies. For sure, [I] let one get away here tonight. I probably couldn’t be as aggressive as I wanted to there throughout the last 20 laps, even trying to hold [Hill] off there for our organization. When the dust started to settle, I thought we were gonna have an opportunity to do something special there. Hate it for [sponsor] Cirkul. I wanted to get them to Victory Lane, but fell short.”

    Custer settled in third after edging Haley, who led a race-high 80 laps, in a photo finish while Sam Mayer came home in fifth.

    “I think just leading all those laps, [I was] just short on fuel there,” Haley said. “I thought, obviously, we had [the race] won. Things just don’t work out sometimes.”

    Ty Gibbs, Kyle Sieg, Kligerman, Josh Williams and Sammy Smith completed the top 10. Notably, pole-sitter Chandler Smith ended up 20th after running out of fuel during the overtime attempt and never recovering his pace.

    There were 14 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 50 laps. In total, 17 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    With nine Xfinity regular-season events remaining on the schedule, John Hunter Nemechek leads the regular-season standings by 16 points over Austin Hill, 45 over Cole Custer and 54 over Justin Allgaier.

    Results.

    1. John Hunter Nemechek, three laps led

    2. Daniel Hemric

    3. Cole Custer

    4. Justin Haley, 80 laps led

    5. Sam Mayer

    6. Ty Gibbs

    7. Kyle Sieg

    8. Parker Kligerman

    9. Josh Williams

    10. Sammy Smith

    11. Brett Moffitt

    12. Austin Hill, one lap led

    13. Jeb Burton

    14. Kaz Grala

    15. Jeremy Clements

    16. Parker Retzlaff

    17. Justin Allgaier

    18. Josh Bilicki, one lap down

    19. Josh Berry, one lap down, 34 laps led

    20. Chandler Smith, one lap down, five laps led

    21. Joe Graf Jr., two laps down, four laps led

    22. David Starr, two laps down

    23. Jeffrey Earnhardt, two laps down

    24. Mason Massey, two laps down

    25. Ryan Ellis, two laps down

    26. Garrett Smithley, two laps down

    27. Parker Chase, two laps down

    28. Brennan Poole, four laps down

    29. Akinori Ogata – OUT, Tranmission

    30. Mason Maggio – OUT, Electrical

    31. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Accident

    32. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Accident

    33. Brandon Jones – OUT, Dvp

    34. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Dvp

    35. Sheldon Creed – OUT, Accident, 24 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    36. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident, three laps led, Stage 1 winner

    37. Ryan Sieg – OUT, Accident, 15 laps led

    38. Greg Van Alst – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ lone visit of the season to New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, July 15, at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Custer awarded victory in inaugural, rain-delayed Xfinity Chicago Street Course event

    Custer awarded victory in inaugural, rain-delayed Xfinity Chicago Street Course event

    Cole Custer took home the title of being named the inaugural winner of The Loop 121 at the Chicago Street Course in a highly anticipated weekend that commenced with a steady start before the event was pitted against an extensive battle and delay against Mother Nature on Saturday, July 1, before NASCAR conceded and declared the event official on Sunday, July 2.

    The 25-year-old Custer from Ladera Ranch, California, led all 25 laps prior to the delay from the pole position. Since the start of the event on Saturday, he muscled away from the field through a total of three restarts and he retained a steady advantage throughout the 12-turn circuit through Lap 24 of 55 when the event was placed under a caution period due to a lightning strike.

    A lap later, the field led by Custer was directed to pit lane and placed under a sustained lightning hold that eventually resulted in NASCAR postponing the event to early Sunday in the hope that the field could reach its halfway or scheduled-distance mark to deem the event official. With rain increasing throughout Sunday and amid another delay spanning more than two hours, NASCAR made the final decision to conclude the event three laps shy of its halfway mark and award Custer and the No. 00 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team their second Xfinity victory of the 2023 season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, July 1, Cole Custer notched his fourth Xfinity pole of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 87.590 mph in 90.421 seconds. Sheldon Creed, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 87.573 mph in 90.439 seconds, was scheduled to start alongside Custer on the front row, but he dropped to the rear of the field prior to the event in a backup car after wrecking his primary car during the qualifying session. As a result, John Hunter Nemechek, who posted the third-best qualifying lap at 87.308 mph in 90.713 seconds, started alongside Custer on the front row.

    In addition to Creed, the following names that included Sam Mayer, Brandon Jones, Josh Williams, Blaine Perkins and Spencer Pumpelly started the event at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced on Saturday, Custer launched ahead with a strong start as he maintained the lead through the first left-hand turn ahead of John Hunter Nemechek while Austin Hill battled Connor Mosack for third. As the field navigated its way through the 12-turn circuit for the first time around the streets of Downtown Chicago, Custer proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Nemechek while Hill, Mosack and Justin Allgaier followed suit in the top five. By then, Sage Karam, who started and was running the opening lap in the top 10, made an early unscheduled pit stop under green due to a flat right-front tire.

    With the event proceeding under green flag conditions for the second lap, Custer stretched his advantage to more than a second over Nemechek as Hill, Mosack and Allgaier remained in the top five. Behind, Daniel Hemric was in sixth ahead of Brett Moffitt, rookie Sammy Smith, Parker Kligerman and Justin Marks while Riley Herbst, Preston Pardus, rookie Chandler Smith, Miguel Paludo and Alex Guenette were in the top 15.

    Then on the third lap, the first caution flag of the event flew when the No. 10 Jockey Chevrolet Camaro piloted by Justin Marks, owner of Trackhouse Racing, went up in smoke before the car came to a spin and a terminal rest in Turn 11.

    When the race restarted under green on the ninth lap, Custer launched ahead with another strong restart in his No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang as he fended off Nemechek’s No. 20 Yahoo! Toyota Supra to lead the first through the first left-hand turn before entering a brief straightaway on E. Ballbo Dr. to Turn 2 and a right-hand turn onto S. Lake Shore Dr. towards Turns 3 to 5.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps and after the field navigated its way through S. Columbus Dr., S. Michigan Ave. and E. Jackson Dr. through more left- and right-hand turns from Turns 6 to 12, Custer extended his advantage to more than a second over Nemechek while Hill, Allgaier and Mosack were in the top five. Behind, Moffitt was in sixth while Hemric, Smamy Smith, Kligerman and Chandler Smith were running in the top 10.

    At the conclusion of the first stage period on Lap 15, Custer claimed his fourth stage victory of the 2023 season. Nemechek settled in second followed by Hill, Allgaier and Mosack while Moffitt, Sammy Smith Hemric, Kligerman and Chandler Smith were scored in the top 10.

    With the event proceeding into the start of the second stage under green, Custer continued to lead by more than two seconds over Nemechek as Hill, Allgaier and Mosack remained in the top five. With Moffitt and Sammy Smith running sixth and seventh, Hemric was slowly being challenged by Kligerman and teammate Chandler Smith for eighth while Miguel Paludo trailed in 11th.

    Then on Lap 16, the event’s second caution flew when Andre Castro, a USF Juniors championship competitor from New York City who was running within the top 20 during his series debut, rammed into the tire barriers on the driver’s left-hand side in Turn 1. During the caution period, a total of 17 competitors pitted while the rest led by Custer remained on the track.

    When the event restarted under green on Lap 20, Custer retained the lead over Nemechek and Allgaier as the field began to bump and jostle for positions around the 12-turn circuit. Among those who were involved in the bumps and jostles included Hemric, Moffitt and Hill while Custer remained out in front.

    Then on Lap 24, the caution flew due to a lightning strike reported near the course. The field would then be brought down to pit road during the following lap and placed in a 30-minute hiatus period due to the sustained lightning. With the event being delayed further as even light precipitation began to fall on the course, the event would be postponed by NASCAR to resume the following day on Sunday. By then, Custer, who has led all 25 scheduled events from pole position, was scored the leader ahead of Nemechek, Allgaier, Moffitt and Hill while Sammy Smith, Hemric, Chandler Smith, Kligerman and Kaz Grala were scored in the top 10.

    When NASCAR returned on Sunday, the event was still placed under a weather delay, this time due to heavy precipitation as the course was flooded with rain. Initially planning for an 11 a.m. ET start time, the event would be delayed an extra two hours as the on-track workers attempted to drain the water out of the course. Then amid the delay, NASCAR made the call to declare the event official three laps shy of the halfway mark instead of anticipating a later start to the day or postponing the event a second time. As a result, Custer, who retained the lead since the start of the event, was awarded the victory.

    Following the call, NASCAR released a statement regarding the decision to terminate the event just shy of the halfway mark:

    “With standing water and flooding a significant issue at the racetrack and throughout the city, there was no option to return to racing prior to shifting to NASCAR Cup Series race operations. Throughout the entire planning process for the Chicago Street Race, our relationship with the City of Chicago has been strong and among the most valuable assets in reaching this historic weekend. In the spirit of that partnership, returning on Monday for the completion of a NASCAR Xfinity Series event two laps shy of halfway was an option we chose not to employ. Based on several unprecedented circumstances, NASCAR has made the decision to declare Cole Custer the winner of the race.”

    With the victory in the inaugural, rain-shortened Chicago Street Course, Custer became the third different competitor to achieve multiple Xfinity victories this season alongside John Hunter Nemechek and Austin Hill. He also racked the second Xfinity victory of the season for Stewart-Haas Racing and the 12th of his racing career.

    “[That was] The wildest win I’ve even been a part of, for sure,” Custer said in Victory Lane. “This is definitely not the way we want to get it. We want to run all the laps. We want to win it the proper way, but at the end of the day, we’re racers. We’ll take it how it comes. It’s just awesome. Everybody’s that’s a part of this team. We’re really hitting our stride here. We’re really running up front. We got everything working how we need to. Just got to keep it rolling.”

    “[This win] means a lot because I think we did have a really fast car,” Custer added. “It’s not like [the win] was given to us. It wasn’t just pure luck. It means a lot to still have a little bit of respect there. At the end of the day, we still want to run all the laps, but it’s not always gonna play out like that. [This event]’s the wildest thing I’ve ever been a part of and then, having this whole rain delay, this is just the wildest weekend I’ve ever been a part of.”

    With Custer being awarded the victory, Nemechek ended up in second place for the fourth time this season. Allgaier ended up in third for his ninth top-five result of the season followed by Brett Moffitt, who was making his 100th Xfinity career start. Hill settled in fifth while Sammy Smith, Hemric, Chandler Smith, Kligerman and Kaz Grala finished in the top 10.

    There were no lead changes for a single leader, that being the race winner Custer. The race featured three cautions for nine laps. In total, 35 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    With 10 Xfinity regular-season events remaining on the schedule, John Hunter Nemechek leads the regular-season standings by 16 points over Austin Hill, 44 over Cole Custer and 45 over Justin Allgaier.

    Results.

    1. Cole Custer, 25 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    2. John Hunter Nemechek

    3. Justin Allgaier

    4. Brett Moffitt

    5. Austin Hill

    6. Sammy Smith

    7. Daniel Hemric

    8. Chandler Smith

    9. Parker Kligerman

    10. Kaz Grala

    11. Sheldon Creed

    12. Preston Pardus

    13. Miguel Paludo

    14. Kyle Weatherman

    15. Alex Guenette

    16. Parker Chase

    17. Blaine Perkins

    18. Sam Mayer

    19. Jeb Burton

    20. Jeremy Clements

    21. Alex Labbe

    22. Sage Karam

    23. Josh Berry

    24. Riley Herbst

    25. Ryan Sieg

    26. Brennan Poole

    27. Anthony Alfredo

    28. Spencer Pumpelly

    29. Parker Retzlaff

    30. Brandon Jones

    31. Ryan Ellis

    32. Brad Perez

    33. Joe Graf Jr.

    34. Brent Sherman

    35. Connor Mosack

    36. Josh Williams, three laps down

    37. Andre Castro – OUT, Accident

    38. Justin Marks – OUT, Engine

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’s second and final trip of the season to Atlanta Motor Speedway. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, July 8, at 8 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Allmendinger rolls to a chaotic Xfinity victory at Nashville

    Allmendinger rolls to a chaotic Xfinity victory at Nashville

    AJ Allmendinger survived a series of caution periods and on-track chaos, including one that involved him at the start of the second stage, to muscle his way to the front, assume a late lead and fend off the field during two late-race restarts to win the Tennessee Lottery 250 at Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday, June 24.

    The 41-year-old Allmendinger from Los Gatos, California, led three times for 25 of 196 over-scheduled laps in an event where he rolled off the starting grid in 11th place. After settling in third place at the conclusion of the first stage, he was then involved in a multi-car wreck at the start of the second stage that eliminated a handful of front-runners that included Cup Series rookie Ty Gibbs.

    Following a methodical drive back to the front for the remainder of the event, he then muscled his way into the lead with 46 laps remaining. Despite losing ground amid a slow pit service under green during the proceeding laps, Allmendinger then managed to reassume the lead from Parker Kligerman with 11 laps remaining. Despite having to endure two late-race restarts, including an overtime attempt, Allmendinger did not relent as he fended off the field of Xfinity Series regulars to grab his second checkered flag of the 2023 season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Cole Custer notched his third pole position of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 157.020 in 30.493 seconds. Joining him on the front row was rookie Chandler Smith, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 156.302 mph in 30.633 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Connor Mosack and Zane Smith dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Joey Gase also dropped to the rear of the field as he started the event in a backup car and as a result of a driver change, where he replaced CJ McLaughlin.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, early trouble struck through Turns 1 and 2 when Jeb Burton and Kyle Sieg made contact and triggered a multi-car wreck that included Ryan Sieg, his brother Kyle and Stefan Parsons while the rest of the field veered to the bottom lane to avoid the carnage. Also involved was Justin Allgaier, winner of last year’s event at Nashville, after he collided into Parsons sideways while Parsons smacked the outside wall head-on. Despite suffering cosmetic damage to his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro, Allgaier managed to continue while remaining on the lead lap along with the Sieg brothers and Jeb Burton while Parsons retired.

    During the following restart on the eighth lap, Custer, who retained the lead through the event’s start and early caution period, continued to lead ahead of rookie Sammy Smith while Chandler Smith and Ty Gibbs battled for third. Entering the backstretch, Gibbs and Smith made contact, which caused the field behind Custer and Sammy Smith to fan out to three lanes. Then entering Turns 3 and 4, Austin Hill, who tried to overtake Gibbs and Chandler Smith for third amid three lanes, made contact beneath Gibbs and was sent spinning up the track as he barely clipped Jeb Burton before lightly backing his No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet Camaro into the outside wall while the rest of the field managed to dodge Hill’s incident. The incident was enough to draw the event’s second caution period.

    At the start of the proceeding restart on Lap 14, Sammy Smith and Custer dueled for the lead as the field fanned out. With Ty Gibbs also fanning out and overtaking teammate Smith for second, Custer retained the lead as the field navigated its way through a full lap under green flag conditions. With Custer leading, Carson Hocevar, winner of Friday night’s Craftsman Truck Series event at Nashville, muscled his way into third while Sammy Smith and Riley Herbst occupied the top five ahead of AJ Allmendinger.

    Three laps later, the event’s third caution flew when Chad Chastain, who was running in the middle of the pack, got loose entering Turns 3 and 4 and spun backward toward the outside wall as he also collected Ryan Ellis, who veered sideways and scrubbed the wall, while the rest of the field escaped unscathed.

    When the race restarted on Lap 21, Custer and Ty Gibbs dueled for the lead as the field fanned out to three lanes entering Turn 1. Through the turns, Gibbs started to peek ahead with the lead ahead of Custer before he assumed the spot with full authority during the following lap. With Gibbs leading Custer, Sammy Smith was in third followed by Hocevar and Allmendinger while Herbst was in sixth ahead of Chandler Smith, Parker Kligerman, Brandon Jones and rookie Parker Retzlaff.

    At the Lap 30 mark, Ty Gibbs was leading by more than a second over Custer followed by Sammy Smith, Allmendinger and Hocevar while Chandler Smith, Herbst, Parker Kligerman, Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer were in the top 10. Behind, Brandon Jones was in 11th ahead of John Hunter Nemechek, Josh Berry, Allgaier and Hill while Retzlaff, Zane Smith, Brett Moffitt, Daniel Hemric and Kaz Grala occupied the top 20.

    Nearing the Lap 40 mark, Ty Gibbs extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Custer while third-place Sammy Smith trailed by more than four seconds. Behind, Allmendinger and Hocevar remained in the top five while Chandler Smith was in sixth ahead of Herbst.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Ty Gibbs, who was making his fourth Xfinity start of the season and swept both stages at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, claimed his third Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Custer trailed in second place by more than a second while Allmendinger, Hocevar, Sammy Smith, Chandler Smith, Herbst, Mayer, John Hunter Nemechek and Kligerman were scored in the top 10.

    Under the first stage break, the lead lap field led by Ty Gibbs pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Hill exited first after only opting for fuel to his car followed by Gibbs. During the pit stops, Nemechek was penalized for having too many crew members over the pit wall.

    The second stage started on Lap 52 as Hill and Gibbs occupied the front row. At the start, trouble struck for the front-runners when Hill made contact with Gibbs and sent Gibbs’ No. 19 He Gets Us Toyota Supra spinning through the first two turns, where he clipped Allmendinger and sent him spinning with damage before being hit by Hocevar’s No. 77 Premier Security Chevrolet Camaro against the outside wall as the rest of the field turned to the bottom of the track to avoid the carnage. In the midst of the carnage, Custer escaped with the lead followed by Mayer, Chandler Smith, Herbst and Creed while Gibbs and Hocevar retired.

    During the proceeding restart on Lap 59, Custer and Mayer battled dead even for the lead until Custer, who restarted on the outside lane, prevailed to retain the lead ahead of Mayer. The caution, however, quickly returned during the following lap when Connor Mosack slid sideways toward the outside wall in Turn 2. While trying to straighten his car, his car then jerked back across the wall and smacked the wall before emerging with extensive damage on both the front and rear ends.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 65, Mayer peeked ahead to lead a lap for himself, but Custer reassumed the top spot amid a fierce battle between himself, Chandler Smith and Mayer. On Lap 67, Chandler Smith made his move to the front and emerged as the new leader while Mayer, Custer and Herbst battled for second. During the following lap, the caution flew again when Sammy Smith, who was battling Sheldon Creed for fifth place, was bumped by Creed through Turns 1 and 2. The contact sent Smith back hard against the outside wall as the rear end of Smith’s No. 18 Pilot Flying J Toyota Supra was left destroyed while Creed, who veered sideways amid the contact, was hit by an oncoming Brandon Jones, who veered sideways with left-front damage to his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro.

    As the event restarted under green on Lap 75, Chandler Smith retained the lead ahead of Mayer while Custer rocketed his way up to third followed by Hemric, Herbst and Zane Smith.

    By Lap 80, Chandler Smith was leading by more than a second over Mayer followed by Custer, Hemric and Herbst while Zane Smith, Nemechek, Josh Berry, Brett Moffitt and Retzlaff were in the top 10 ahead of Kligerman, Ryan Sieg, Allgaier, Hill and Grala.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 90, Chandler Smith claimed his second stage victory of the 2023 season. Custer settled in second followed by a hard-charging Hemric while Mayer, Herbst, Nemechek, Zane Smith, Berry, Retzlaff and Moffitt were scored in the top 10.

    During the second stage break, where the event surpassed its halfway mark, the lead lap field led by Chandler Smith pitted. Following the pit stops, Chandler Smith retained the lead after exiting first followed by Custer, Hemric, Herbst, Nemechek and Zane Smith. Amid the pit stops, Herbst was penalized and sent to the rear of the field for an uncontrolled tire violation. In addition, Mayer, who pitted from fourth place, exited just outside of the top 10 amid a slow pit service, where he had to back his car while trying to leave his pit box after being blocked by Blaine Perkins.

    With 91 laps remaining, the final stage started as Chandler Smith and Custer occupied the front row. At the start, Chandler Smith retained the lead following a push from teammate Hemric while Hemric challenged Custer for second. With Custer retaining the runner-up spot over Hemric, Chandler Smith continued to lead while Nemechek charged his way in fourth followed by Zane Smith and Allmendinger.

    Six laps later, the caution returned when Kligerman spun in Turn 4 after receiving a bump by Kaz Grala, though Kligerman managed to quickly straighten his car below the apron and proceed without sustaining any significant damage.

    With the race restarting under green with 79 laps remaining, Chandler Smith retained the lead ahead of Custer and Hemric, with Hemric launching his charge for the lead as he overtook Custer for second. Then two laps later, Hemric assumed the lead over teammate Chandler Smith. Smith, however, reignited another charge on his Kaulig Racing teammate as he reassumed the top spot during the following lap with Custer rechallenging Hemric for second. Behind, Nemechek and Allmendinger battled for fourth as Chandler Smith stabilized his advantage to half a second.

    With 70 laps remaining, Chandler Smith was leading by four-tenths of a second over Custer and by more than a second over teammate Hemric while Nemechek and Allmendinger trailed in the top five. Smith would continue to lead with 60 laps remaining, but his advantage decreased to a tenth of a second over Custer as Custer methodically caught and challenged Smith for the lead. By then, Allmendinger, Hemric and Berry were in the top five while Nemechek, who was running in the top five a few laps earlier, made an unscheduled pit stop after reporting a vibration to his No. 20 Pye Barker Fire and Safety Toyota Supra.

    Five laps later, the battle for the lead intensified as Custer drew his No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang into a side-by-side battle against Chandler Smith’s No. 16 Quick Tie Products Chevrolet Camaro. While Custer had the advantage on the inside lane, Smith refused to relent as he remained on the gas and maintained the momentum with a narrow lead on the outside lane. With both continuing to duke for the lead, Allmendinger joined the battle as he gained massive ground on the two leaders in his No. 10 Bailey Zimmerman – Religiously Chevrolet Camaro. The battle amongst Smith, Custer and Allmendinger soon narrowed down to six-tenths of a second with the trio still dueling for the lead with 50 laps remaining.

    Two laps later, Allmendinger made his way into the runner-up spot after overtaking Custer before he proceeded to challenge his Kaulig Racing teammate Chandler Smith for the lead. With Custer losing ground on the two leaders, Allmendinger, who had managed to methodically carve his way back to the front following his Stage 2 incident, assumed the lead for the first time with 46 laps remaining while their third teammate, Hemric, was trailing in fourth place by more than three seconds.

    Then with under 45 laps remaining, green flag pit stops commenced as Allgaier pitted along with Custer, Chandler Smith and Jeremy Clements. The race leader Allmendinger and teammate Hemric would also pit with 43 laps remaining as Berry cycled his way into a brief lead. Amid the pit stops, Smith and Custer managed to cycle ahead of Allmendinger, who endured a slow pit stop.

    Down to the final 30 laps of the event and with nearly the entire field having made a pit stop under green, Kligerman, who had yet to pit, was leading followed by Allmendinger, who had overtaken teammate Chandler Smith, who was dealing with an ill-handling race car amid a slide, on the track while Brandon Jones, Smith and Custer were in the top five.

    With 20 laps remaining, Kligerman, who remained on the track and was trying to conserve fuel to finish, continued to lead by more than six seconds in his No. 48 Spiked Light Coolers Chevrolet Camaro and over a hard-charging Allmendinger with third-place Custer trailing by more than nine seconds. Kligerman would proceed to lead by more than two seconds over Allmendinger with 15 laps remaining.

    Then with 11 laps remaining, Allmendinger, who methodically gained ground and drew himself alongside Kligerman during the proceeding lap, overtook Kligerman for the lead entering Turn 1. Allmendinger would proceed to stretch his advantage to more than two seconds over Kligerman, who continued to run on fuel-conserve mode, with 10 laps remaining while third-place Custer trailed by more than three seconds.

    Then with six laps remaining, the event’s 10th caution period flew when Chad Chastain spun in Turn 4. The caution period stalled Allmendinger’s progress as he was leading by more than two seconds over Custer while Kligerman was in third. During the caution period, six competitors that included the leader Allmendinger, Chandler Smith, Hill, Herbst, Berry and Hemric remained on the track while the rest led by Custer and Kligerman pitted.

    With the race restarting under green with two laps remaining, Allmendinger was drafted into the lead with help from Hill as the front-runners fanned out, among which included Herbst as he bolted his way towards the front. Then in Turns 1 and 2, trouble struck for Chandler Smith after contact with Berry amid a tight four-wide action that also included Custer and Hemric sent Smith spinning up the track while the rest of the field scrambled to the bottom of the track to avoid Smith’s incident. Amid the incident, Allmendinger remained as the leader followed by Herbst, Hill, Hemric, Berry and Kligerman, but the return of the caution sent the event into overtime.

    At the start of the first overtime attempt, Allmendinger managed to rocket away from Herbst and the field. The field behind would then fan out to multiple lanes through the backstretch as Allmendinger continued to muscle away with the lead entering Turns 3 and 4.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allmendinger remained as the leader by eight-tenths of a second over Herbst, who was trying to fend off Hemric. Then just past the start/finish line, Hemric veered sideways, but he managed to straighten his car without triggering a wreck. Hemric’s loose moment, however, cost him a bevy of spots as Herbst, Hill and Mayer went by him. By then, Allmendinger was long gone with an advantage of more than a second through the backstretch. With the field battling amongst one another for as high as second, Allmendinger was able to cycle his way back to the finish line uncontested and score his second Xfinity victory of the 2023 season just as a multi-car wreck in the middle of the field erupted.

    With his first victory at Nashville, Allmendinger scored his 17th career win in the Xfinity Series, his second of the season after winning at Circuit of the Americas in March and his first oval, superspeedway venue victory since winning at Talladega Superspeedway in October 2022. In addition, this marked the third victory of the season for Kaulig Racing’s No. 10 “all-star” entry: twice made by Allmendinger and once by Kyle Larson at Darlington Raceway in May.

    “All thanks to all the men and women at Kaulig Racing,” Allmendinger said on USA Network. “We got [country artist] Bailey Zimmerman. He flew in from Chicago this morning. [It’s] Awesome to have him here and win a race for him. The car was really good. [I] Got caught up in that wreck on that one restart. [I] Thought at least our chance to win was over, but the guys did such a great job of fixing [the car]. This is one of those iconic trophies [Gibson guitars] you wanna win. What a cool way to do it.”

    “All these wins are amazing,” Allmendinger added. “I love winning on ovals because I know a lot of people doubt me being on an oval. What a great time.”

    Herbst, racing for the first time with new crew chief Davin Restivo, settled in a career-best second place for the third time in his career and after coming off eight consecutive events of finishing no higher than 14th. Mayer ended up third while Hill and Berry finished in the top five.

    Nemechek came home in sixth place while Zane Smith, Hemric, Custer and Retzlaff finished in the top 10. Behind, Kligerman, Moffitt and Allgaier, all of whom wrecked approaching the finish line, ended up 11th, 14th and 15th, respectively, while Chandler Smith rallied his way to 12th.

    There were 17 lead changes for 11 different leaders. The race featured a record-tying 11 cautions for 58 laps. In total, 16 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    With 11 Xfinity regular-season events remaining on the schedule, John Hunter Nemechek leads the regular-season standings by nine points over Austin Hill, 41 over Justin Allgaier and 51 over Cole Custer.

    Results.

    1. AJ Allmendinger, 25 laps led

    2. Riley Herbst

    3. Sam Mayer, six laps led

    4. Austin Hill, three laps led

    5. Josh Berry, one lap led

    6. John Hunter Nemechek

    7. Zane Smith

    8. Daniel Hemric, one lap led

    9. Cole Custer, 32 laps led

    10. Parker Retzlaff, three laps led

    11. Parker Kligerman, 22 laps led

    12. Chandler Smith, 74 laps led, Stage 2 winner

    13. Jeb Burton

    14. Brett Moffitt

    15. Justin Allgaier

    16. Kaz Grala

    17. Sheldon Creed, one lap down

    18. Kyle Weatherman, one lap down

    19. Ryan Sieg, one lap down

    20. Brennan Poole, one lap down

    21. Joe Graf Jr., one lap down

     22. Jeremy Clements, one lap down

    23. Anthony Alfredo, one lap down

    24. Brandon Jones, one lap down

    25. Kyle Sieg, one lap down

    26. Blaine Perkins, two laps down

    27. Jeffrey Earnhardt, two laps down

    28. Ryan Ellis, two laps down

    29. Chad Chastain, two laps down

    30. David Starr, three laps down

    31. Joey Gase, three laps down

    32. Mason Massey, 10 laps down

    33. Josh Williams – OUT, Alternator

    34. Sammy Smith – OUT, Accident, one lap led

    35. Connor Mosack – OUT, Dvp

    36. Carson Hocevar – OUT, Accident

    37. Ty Gibbs – OUT, Accident, 28 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    38. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ inaugural event at the Chicago Street Course in Downtown Chicago, Illinois. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, July 1, at 5 p.m. ET on USA Network.

  • Almirola wins inaugural Xfinity Series event at Sonoma

    Almirola wins inaugural Xfinity Series event at Sonoma

    In a race dominated by Kyle Larson, a late opportunity presented itself for Aric Almirola and it resulted in the Floridian veteran fending off road ringers AJ Allmendinger and Larson to win the inaugural DoorDash 250 at Sonoma Raceway on Saturday, June 10.

    The 39-year-old Almirola from Tampa, Florida, led twice for 17 of 79 scheduled laps in a weekend where he was one of eight competitors pulling double-duty roles between the Xfinity and Cup Series divisions in Wine Country. Initially appearing to settle for a top-five result, a late caution period with 19 laps remaining followed by a restart with 15 laps remaining enabled Almirola to carve his way into the lead amid a scramble between Daniel Suarez and Alex Labbe.

    In the proceeding laps, however, Almirola found himself being pressured by hometown hero Kyle Larson through every corner and turn. A mistake, however, by Larson, where he clipped a tire barrel in Turn 11 and briefly lost control of his steering with eight laps remaining, allowed Almirola to place a reasonable gap between himself and Larson as Allmendinger joined the battle. With Allmendinger and Larson battling for second, Almirola was able to drive away and retain the lead through the final seven laps as he claimed his first Xfinity checkered flag in six years.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Kyle Larson notched his sixth career Xfinity Series pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 91.393 mph in 78.387 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Justin Allgaier, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 90.562 mph in 79.106 seconds.

    Prior to the event, Anthony Alfredo was the only competitor to drop to the rear of the field in a backup car after wrecking his primary car during Friday’s practice session.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Larson rocketed away with the lead entering the first two turns. Larson would continue to lead through Turns 3 and 4 while Allgaier was trying to fend off Aric Almirola for second. As the field fanned out and jostled early for positions, Larson would cruise to lead the first lap while Almirola was up in second after overtaking Allgaier entering Turn 8.

    During the second lap, Larson stabilized his advantage to a second-and-a-half over Almirola followed by Allgaier, Sheldon Creed and AJ Allmendinger while Ty Gibbs was in sixth after nearly turning Sam Mayer in Turn 7, with Mayer settling suit in seventh. Daniel Hemric was in eighth followed by John Hunter Nemechek and rookie Sammy Smith while Parker Kligerman, Alex Labbe, Austin Hill, Ross Chastain and Brett Moffitt were running in the top 15. Behind, rookie Parker Retzlaff, Daniel Suarez, rookie Chandler Smith, Josh Berry and Kyle Weatherman occupied the top 20.

    As the race proceeded through the third lap, Larson extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Almirola while Allmendinger moved up to third. Allgaier, meanwhile, was being challenged by Creed for fourth while Ty Gibbs retained sixth. Larson would continue to lead by more than two seconds over Almirola as the event reached its Lap 5 mark.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Larson continued to lead by more than two seconds over Allmendinger while third-place Almirola trailed by more than five seconds. Allgaier and Ty Gibbs were in the top five followed by Hemric while Mayer moved up to seventh after overtaking Creed, who locked up his tires in Turn 7. Kligerman and Nemechek filled out the top 10 on the track while Sammy Smith, Austin Hill, Chastain, Brett Moffitt and Retzlaff were mired in the top 15.

    Three laps later, on-track troubles occurred for a pair of RSS Racing competitors as Ryan Sieg spun in Turn 7. At the same time, teammate Joe Graf Jr. spun prior to entering the chute corner between Turns 4 and 7. In spite of both incidents, the race remained under green flag conditions as Larson continued to lead by more than two seconds over Allmendinger.

    Then on Lap 18, Chastain bumped and sent Nemechek’s No. 20 Yahoo Toyota Supra for a spin in Turn 11 while both were battling with Austin Hill in the top 15. With Nemechek falling back to 18th and the race remaining under green, Larson stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over Allmendinger.

    At the conclusion of the first stage on Lap 20, Larson captured the stage victory after leading all the laps within the stage. Allmendinger trailed by more than two seconds while Almirola, Allgaier, Ty Gibbs, Hemric, Mayer, Kligerman, Creed and Sammy Smith were scored in the top 10. By then, Riley Herbst and Retzlaff had pitted under green a lap ago.

    Not long after, the first caution of the event flew when Josh Berry stalled his No. 8 Tire Pros Chevrolet Camaro in between Turns 7 and 8. Prior to the caution being displayed for Berry’s issue, Nemechek, Hill and Sage Karam pitted.

    During the caution period, nearly the entire field led by Larson pitted while the rest that included Hill, Nemechek, Karam and Herbst remained on the track. Following the pit stops and amid the field cycling past Berry’s car that was slowly limping onto pit road, Larson exited first followed by Allmendinger, Allgaier, Ty Gibbs, Mayer and Kligerman. Amid the pit stops, Berry returned to the track in spite of being scored two laps down following early mechanical issues to his car while Retzlaff’s car was being pushed behind the pit wall.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 25, where Hill and Nemechek occupied the front row, Hill and Nemechek dueled for the lead through the first two turns. As the field bumped and jostled for positions through the first two turns before entering Turns 3 and 4, Hill managed to pull ahead with the lead followed by Nemechek and Herbst while Larson carved his way up to fourth in front of Karam and Allmendinger. With the field continuing to fan out and jostle for positions through a series of right- and left-hand turns through Turns 7 to 10 before entering a sharp right-hand turn in Turn 11, Hill retained the lead by four-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Larson while Nemechek, Allmendinger and Herbst were scored in the top five. By then, Ty Gibbs was in sixth while Allgaier, Karam, Kligerman and Creed were scored in the top 10.

    A lap later, Larson overtook Hill’s No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet Camaro entering Turn 7 to reassume the lead while Allmendinger pressured Nemechek for third. Allmendinger would then succeed and overtake Nemechek entering Turn 11 as Ty Gibbs muscled his way into the top five after overtaking Herbst’s No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang in Turn 11.

    By Lap 30, Larson was leading by more than two seconds over Allmendinger while Hill fell back to third, though he trailed by more than two seconds. Ty Gibbs moved his No. 19 He Gets Us Toyota Supra into fourth after bumping and overtaking teammate Nemechek in Turn 11 while Allgaier was in sixth ahead of Herbst, Kligerman, Karam and Almirola.

    At the halfway mark between Laps 39 and 40, Larson retained the lead by more than six seconds over Allmendinger and more than seven seconds over third-place Ty Gibbs while Hill and Allgaier were scored in the top five. Almirola, Nemechek, Herbst, Kligerman and Mayer trailed in the top 10 while Sammy Smith, Chandler Smith, Creed, Hemric, Custer, Brett Moffitt, Daniel Suarez, Chastain, Alex Labbe and Josh Bilicki were mired back in the top 20. By then, 35 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    At the conclusion of the second stage on Lap 45, Larson remained dominant as he claimed his second consecutive stage victory of the day with an advantage of more than nine seconds. Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs followed suit in second and third while Allgaier, Hill, Almirola, Nemechek, Herbst, Kligerman and Mayer were scored in the top 10. By then, Cole Custer pitted his No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang a lap earlier.

    With the event proceeding under the final stage with 34 laps remaining, Allmendinger, who was engaged in a tight battle with Gibbs to retain second during the closing laps of the second stage, pitted a lap later followed by Allgaier, Mayer, Hemric and others. Larson then surrendered the lead to pit under green with 33 laps remaining followed by runner-up Gibbs, Hill, Nemechek and more competitors as Almirola cycled into the lead.

    With 30 laps remaining, Almirola pitted from the lead along with Sammy Smith as Larson cycled back into the lead. By then, he was more than 10 seconds ahead of Allmendinger, who was strapped in third behind Suarez, who trailed Larson by more than four seconds despite needing a pit stop. Meanwhile, Ty Gibbs was back in fifth as he trailed by more than 14 seconds.

    Two laps later, Suarez surrendered second place to pit under green as Allmendinger cycled back into second, though he trailed Larson by more than 10 seconds. In the process, Ty Gibbs moved up to third as he trailed the lead by more than 14 seconds while Allgaier and Hill were running in the top five. Following his pit stop after leading a handful of laps prior to the final 30-lap mark, Almirola was in sixth.

    With less than 25 laps remaining, Larson stretched his advantage to more than 11 seconds over Allmendinger and more than 15 seconds over third-place Ty Gibbs while Allgaier and Hill retained their spots in the top five. Almirola also retained sixth while Nemechek, Mayer, Herbst and Kligerman were running in the top 10. Behind, Cole Custer was back in 11th while Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith, Creed and Brett Moffitt were running in the top 15.

    Five laps later, Larson continued to extend his advantage as he now led by more than 13 seconds over Allmendinger while third-place Ty Gibbs trailed by more than 16 seconds. Meanwhile, Almirola carved his way up to fourth followed by Allgaier while Hill was back in sixth ahead of Nemechek, Kligerman, Herbst and Mayer.

    A lap later, the caution flew when Jeffrey Earnhardt got loose, spun and wrecked his No. 45 ForeverLawn Chevrolet Camaro against the tire barriers in Turn 10. The incident all but erased Larson’s advantage of more than 13 seconds over Allmendinger. During the caution period, Alex Labbe and Suarez remained on the track while the rest of the lead lap field led by Larson pitted. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategy, Larson, who opted for no fresh tires during his pit stop, exited first followed by Allmendinger, who opted for two fresh tires. Almirola followed suit in third along with Allgaier, Hill and Nemechek while Ty Gibbs exited seventh after losing four spots on pit road.

    Down to the final 15 laps of the event, the race restarted under green. At the start, Labbe and Suarez dueled for the lead entering the first two turns. Suarez then slipped up the track in Turn 2, which allowed Almirola, driving the No. 28 Michael Roberts Construction Ford Mustang, to move into the lead amid the scramble. Through Turns 3 and 4, Suarez got loose again as Allmendinger and Larson quickly moved up to second and third. Behind, a series of bumps and jostles ensued within the middle of the pack from the Chute corner towards the entrances of Turns 7, 8 and 9 while Almirola continued to lead ahead of a fierce battle for second place between Allmendinger and Larson.

    A lap later, Larson overtook Allmendinger for second as he began his charge on Almirola for the lead. Amid a series of late jostles and fierce battles around the circuit, trouble struck for Brandon Jones as he spun within the middle of the pack in Turn 8, but the race remained under green flag conditions. In the midst of the battles, Daniel Suarez was black-flagged for a restart violation.

    With 10 laps remaining, Almirola continued to lead by three-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Larson while third-place Allmendinger trailed by more than a second. Behind, Ty Gibbs cycled his way back into fourth while Allgaier was in fifth ahead of Hill, Kligerman, Custer, Mayer and Sammy Smith.

    Then with eight laps remaining, Larson, who kept putting pressure on Almirola for the lead, made the slightest of contact against a tire barrel in Turn 11, which caused him to slip wide and lose his momentum briefly as he tried to steer his No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro straight. This allowed Allmendinger to move his No. 10 Gabriel Glas Chevrolet Camaro into second while Larson fell back to third as Almirola was now leading by more than two seconds.

    Down to the final five laps of the event, Almirola continued to lead by more than two seconds over Allmendinger and Larson, with Larson still trying to navigate his way around Allmendinger for second. With Ty Gibbs retaining fourth and trailing by more than five seconds, Allgaier was engaged in a fierce battle with Kligerman for fifth.

    A lap later, Larson gained a run on Allmendinger and overtook him for second in Turn 7. Allmendinger, however, was able to execute a crossover move on Larson to reassume the spot while Almirola was still leading by nearly three seconds.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Almirola remained as the leader by less than three seconds over Allmendinger with Larson still stuck in third. With both Allmendinger and Larson unable to close the deficit throughout the 12-turn circuit, Almirola was able to smoothly cycle his way back to the finish line and claim the checkered flag for an upset victory in Northern California.

    By becoming the inaugural Xfinity Series winner at Sonoma, Almirola notched his fourth career victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in his 104th series start, his first on a road course venue and his first since winning at Talladega Superspeedway in May 2017. He also recorded the first NASCAR career win for RSS Racing.

    SONOMA, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 10: Aric Almirola, driver of the #28 Michael Roberts Construction Ford, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series DoorDash 250 at Sonoma Raceway on June 10, 2023 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images).

    “This [win] is so special,” Almirola said on FS1. “It’s hard to explain. I know it’s an Xfinity win. It’s not a Cup win, but after [Circuit of the Americas], I was like, ‘Man, I really don’t think I should run any more road course races in the Xfinity car.’ I lose self-confidence going into Sunday, but I knew that this racetrack; this is one that I can run good at. I’ve run good here my whole career. I don’t know what it is about this place, but I love racing here. Just so thankful to everybody on this race team. It’s been a really tough year on the Cup side and to come out here, get a win and get to celebrate,…[my kids]’re gonna get to go to Victory Lane. That is so special. So excited to share this Victory Lane here. Man, this is awesome. I can’t wait to get to Victory Lane.”

    Allmendinger, who led two laps, came home in second place as he trailed Almirola by more than a second followed by Larson, who led a race-high 53 laps compared to Almirola’s 17 but was unable to claim another victory at his home track.

    “I just got too greedy,” Larson said. “If you can get your rights [tires] below the rumbles, into the paint, it’s a lot of grip. I got it good a couple of times and then, I was just tucked up behind [Almirola] and clipped the tire [barrel]. It knocked the wheel out of my hand and after that, the toe [link] was off. I was really tight in the lefts and really loose on the rights, so we couldn’t make runs at it. I hate it for [crew chief] Kevin Meendering and everybody. They deserve a win so badly with his No. 17 car. Just bummed and mad at myself.”

    Ty Gibbs finished in fourth place as the top-four finishing spots were occupied by Cup Series regulars. Parker Kligerman was the highest-finishing Xfinity Series regular in fifth place while Custer, Allgaier, Austin Hill, rookie Sammy Smith and Sam Mayer finished in the top 10.

    Notably, John Hunter Nemechek ended up 16th, Ross Chastain finished 18th in his 100th Xfinity career start and Suarez ended up 27th following his late penalty.

    There were 10 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured two cautions for eight laps. In total, 31 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    With 12 Xfinity regular-season events remaining on the schedule, John Hunter Nemechek leads the regular-season standings by four points over Austin Hill, 25 over Justin Allgaier and 59 over Cole Custer.

    Results.

    1. Aric Almirola, 17 laps led

    2. AJ Allmendinger, two laps led

    3. Kyle Larson, 53 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    4. Ty Gibbs

    5. Parker Kligerman

    6. Cole Custer

    7. Justin Allgaier

    8. Austin Hill, four laps led

    9. Sammy Smith

    10. Sam Mayer

    11. Sheldon Creed

    12. Brett Moffitt

    13. Daniel Hemric

    14. Chandler Smith

    15. Riley Herbst

    16. John Hunter Nemechek

    17. Jeremy Clements

    18. Ross Chastain

    19. Josh Bilicki

    20. Kaz Grala

    21. Brandon Jones

    22. Kyle Weatherman

    23. Ty Dillon

    24. Dylan Lupton

    25. Alex Labbe, two laps led

    26. Jeb Burton

    27. Daniel Suarez

    28. Ryan Sieg

    29. Brad Perez

    30. Blaine Perkins

    31. Joe Graf Jr.

    32. Connor Mosack, one lap down

    33. Josh Berry, three laps down

    34. Sage Karam – OUT, Transmission

    35. Josh Williams – OUT, Suspension

    36. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Accident

    37. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Suspension

    38. Parker Retzlaff – OUT, Transmission

    The NASCAR Xfinity Series teams and competitors enter a one-week break period before returning to action at Nashville Superspeedway on June 24. The event’s air coverage is scheduled to occur at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, which will launch USA’s and NBC’s coverage for the remainder of this year’s Xfinity season.

  • Custer grabs dramatic Xfinity victory in overtime at Portland

    Custer grabs dramatic Xfinity victory in overtime at Portland

    From starting at the rear of the field to muscling his way to the front, Cole Custer found himself at the right spot at the right time to steal the spotlight and drive to an overwhelming victory in the second annual running of the Pacific Office Automation 147 at Portland International Raceway on Saturday, June 3.

    The 25-year-old Custer from Ladera Ranch, California, led two times for five of 77 over-scheduled laps as he methodically carved his way to the front despite starting at the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments to his car. Then after spending the majority of the event running towards the front, where he claimed the second stage victory in a photo finish, Custer seized an opportunity during an overtime shootout when Parker Kligerman collided against the leaders Justin Allgaier and Sheldon Creed entering the first turn. This caused Kligerman to lose his momentum as both Allgaier and Creed took the chicane before blending back onto the circuit while Custer muscled into the lead. Once he had the lead, the Californian spent the final two laps fending off a late charge from Allgaier to claim his first Xfinity victory of the 2023 season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Sheldon Creed notched his first career pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 95.694 mph in 74.111 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Cole Custer, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 95.398 mph in 74.341 seconds.

    Prior to the event, however, Custer joined Blaine Perkins, Sam Mayer, Garrett Smithley, Brandon Jones, Joe Graf Jr., Parker Kligerman, Jeremy Clements, Patrick Emerling, Anthony Alfredo and Josh Williams as a host of competitors who started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Stefan Parsons also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change made to his car.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Creed and John Hunter Nemechek, who moved up to the front row, dueled for the lead entering the first two sets of sharp turns. Then as Creed fended off an early challenge from Nemechek, where Nemechek bumped Creed through the first two turns, rookie Chandler Smith spun in the middle of the turn after getting hit by Connor Mosack while running in the top 10. This caused the rest of the field to scatter and fan out across the chicane and the turns while Creed maintained the lead. After navigating his way through the 12-turn circuit, Creed proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Nemechek as Jordan Taylor, Josh Berry, Justin Allgaier and Austin Hill followed suit.

    During the second lap, rookie Sammy Smith pitted to address a shifter issue to his No. 18 Pilot Flying J Toyota Supra that was stuck in second gear. Amid Smith’s issues, Creed retained the top spot with a steady advantage over Nemechek while Jordan Taylor retained third.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Creed was leading by half a second over Nemechek followed by Taylor, Berry and Allgaier while Austin Hill, Daniel Hemric, Myatt Snider, Kaz Grala and Jeb Burton in the top 10. By then, Connor Mosack was in 11th ahead of Riley Herbst, Alex Labbe, Brett Moffitt and Dylan Lupton while Cole Custer, Anthony Alfredo, Leland Honeyman, rookie Parker Retzlaff and Ryan Sieg occupied the top 20. Two laps earlier, Parker Chase, who was running towards the rear of the field, had plummeted below the leaderboard after spinning in Turn 1.

    Just past the Lap 10 mark, Creed continued to lead by more than eight-tenths over Nemechek while Allgaier, Taylor and Berry were in the top five. By then, Custer had cracked the top 15 after starting at the rear of the field. A lap later, Ryan Sieg and Leland Honeyman spun in Turn 4 after making contact and going off the course.

    On Lap 16 and while Creed retained the lead by more than a second over Nemechek, Brennan Poole ran into early issues after he went off the course in Turn 11. He would then take his JD Motorsports entry to the garage without drawing a caution.

    Nearing the Lap 20 mark, however, the first caution of the event flew when Stefan Parsons came to a stop in Turn 3 Then prior to a restart with five laps remaining in the first stage, Hemric, who was in the top 10, pulled his No. 11 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro that was on fire off the course as his event came to an early end.

    With the restart occurring with two laps remaining in the first stage, Creed and Nemechek dueled for the lead entering the first turn as Myatt Snider, who restarted in the top 10, fanned out in an attempt to gain spots. In spite of the bumps that were ongoing amid the front runners, the field navigated smoothly through the first two tight turns as Creed retained the lead over Nemechek and Berry while Allgaier, Hill and Taylor were in the top six.

    Prior to the final lap, Nemechek made his move beneath Creed entering the frontstretch as he assumed the lead entering the first two turns. Creed quickly responded back through Turns 4 and 5 before Nemechek fended off Creed’s run and maintained the top spot. Then after fending off Creed’s attacks through Turns 5 to 7, Nemechek appeared to pull away through Turns 8 to 10. In Turn 11, however, Nemechek went wide, which allowed Creed to draw beneath him and lightly rub fenders with Nemechek before he reassumed the lead. With the lead back in his grasp, Creed managed to pull away and conclude the first stage scheduled on Lap 25 with his second stage victory of the season. Nemechek ended up second followed by Allgaier, Hill and Berry while Taylor, Custer, Snider, Parker Kligerman and Herbst were scored in the top 10. With the rest of the field making its way to the start/finish line, Joe Graf Jr. spun off the course in Turn 11.

    During the first stage break, all competitors pitted for non-competitive pit stops, with each given three minutes to make any changes. Amid the pit stops, Brad Perez replaced Leland Honeyman as Honeyman had been under the weather.

    The second stage started on Lap 27 as Creed and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start, Creed launched ahead with the top spot over Allgaier and Nemechek while Custer, who restarted seventh, fanned out to three lanes as he managed to move up to fourth entering the first turn. As the field navigated its way through the first two sharp turns, trouble struck for Berry as Hill hit and sent Berry’s No. 8 Tire Pros Chevrolet Camaro for a spin. With Berry spinning his car off the course, the event remained under green flag conditions as Creed retained the lead while the field behind scrambled and jostled for positions.

    Then on Lap 33, Allgaier gained a run and battled dead even with Nemechek, who briefly lost his momentum while challenging Creed for the lead, through Turns 7 and 8 before gaining second place. In the process, Creed managed to maintain the top spot by nearly half a second. During the following lap, the battle for the lead became a six-car battle as Custer, Kligerman and Jordan Taylor closed in for the battle of the lead.

    By Lap 40, Creed continued to lead by two-tenths of a second over Allgaier followed by Nemechek, Custer and Kligerman while Taylor, Myatt Snider, Hill, Herbst and Sam Mayer were in the top 10. Behind, Alex Labbe was scored in 11th over Jeb Burton, Chandler Smith, Connor Mosack and Brett Moffitt while Anthony Alfredo, Retzlaff, Kaz Grala, Brandon Jones and Josh Williams were running in the top 20.

    Two laps later, trouble struck for Preston Pardus, who spun in Turn 10 and briefly stalled his car before he limped it back to pit road. With the event remaining under green, Creed maintained the lead as Allgaier, Nemechek and Custer engaged in a fierce battle for second place. Kligerman would close in to join the battle as the top-five competitors were separated by less than two seconds.

    Another four laps later, Chandler Smith, who served an early pass-through penalty for missing the chicane, spun in Turn 11 while running within the top 15, but he continued despite plummeting to 20th. Not long after, Snider spun his No. 19 Tree Top Toyota Supra in between Turns 8 and 9 while running in the top 10, but he also continued as he dropped to 12th. In the process, the battle for the lead ignited between the top six as Creed remained out in front ahead of Allgaier, Nemechek, Custer, Kligerman and Taylor.

    Prior to the final lap of the second stage, Nemechek made his move beneath Allgaier through Turns 10 and 11 as he overtook him for second. Custer would then follow suit and move up to third entering Turn 1 as Allgaier slipped to fourth while Creed retained the lead. Then after trailing Creed for nearly the entire final lap, Nemechek put the front bumper to Creed’s rear bumper and sent Creed’s No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro spinning off the course in Turn 11. This allowed Custer to draw even beneath Nemechek entering the frontstretch as he and Nemechek dueled for the stage victory. At the start/finish line, Custer managed to peek ahead and edge Nemechek in a photo finish to capture the second stage victory on Lap 50, which also marked Custer’s third stage victory of the season. Nemechek ended up in second followed by Allgaier, Kligerman and Taylor while Creed was able to salvage sixth. Mayer, Herbst, Hill and Jeb Burton were scored in the top 10.

    During the second stage break, all competitors led by Custer pitted for non-competitive pit stops as they all retained their respective spots from the second stage’s conclusion.

    With 23 laps remaining, the final stage started as Custer and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start, Custer had appeared to pull ahead from the field until he went wide and missed the first turn as he was forced to take the chicane. With Custer off the track and pulling a stop-and-go move to avoid a penalty, Allgaier assumed the lead followed by Nemechek, Kligerman and Creed through the first three turns and entering a series of right and left-hand turns in Turns 4 and 5. As the field behind jostled, Allgaier managed to maintain the top spot by a steady margin over Nemechek while Creed battled Kligerman for third.

    A few laps later, Sam Mayer carved his way to the front as he battled and overtook Kligerman for fourth while Allgaier remained as the leader over Nemechek and Creed.

    With 20 laps remaining, Allgaier was leading by six-tenths of a second over Nemechek followed by Creed, Mayer and Kligerman while Taylor, Hill, Custer, Snider and Herbst were in the top 10. Behind, Mosack was in 11th ahead of Brett Moffitt, JEb Burton, Labbe and Alfredo while Jones, Berry, Retzlaff, Chandler Smith and Dylan Lupton were mired in the top 20.

    Then approaching the final 19 laps of the event, Creed delivered payback to Nemechek as he tapped and sent Nemechek’s No. 20 Red Bird Farms Toyota Supra for a spin in Turn 11 while the rest of the field scattered to avoid hitting Nemechek. With the race remaining under green and as Nemechek continued, Kligerman overtook Creed for second as Hill, Taylor, Custer and Mayer joined the battle for second. In the process, Allgaier retained the lead by nearly three seconds.

    Down to the final 15 laps of the event, Allgaier maintained the lead by more than two seconds over Creed and more than three seconds over third-place Kligerman while Hill and Custer were scored in the top five. Meanwhile, more trouble struck for Nemechek as he got slammed by teammate Sammy Smith, who overshot the first turn and had to take the chicane. Shortly after continuing, Nemechek ran into the side of Smith to express his displeasure as both sustained tire rub and damage to their cars. Both Joe Gibbs Racing teammates would pit simultaneously for repairs.

    With 10 laps remaining, Allgaier continued to lead by more than four seconds over Kligerman while Creed, Hill, Custer and Mayer occupied the top six on the track. Behind, Taylor was in seventh followed by Snider, Mosack and Labbe. By then, Nemechek, who returned to the track, was lapped by the leaders.

    Two laps later, the caution flew when Herbst, who was running a lap down in the top 30 amid overheating issues, pulled his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang off the course in Turn 9 as the car went up in smoke and flames. The caution erased Allgaier’s advantage of more than four seconds over Kligerman.

    Down to the final five laps, the race restarted under green. At the start, Allgaier and Kligerman dueled for the lead entering the first turn. Then entering the first sharp turn, Allgaier managed to pull ahead while Creed quickly followed suit in second. Meanwhile, Kligerman locked up the tires and slipped to battle with Custer for third while Mayer and Snider pursued. Through Turns 4 to 7, Allgaier maintained the lead over Creed while Custer and Kligerman battled for third.

    As the field returned to the frontstretch to hit the final four-lap mark, Alfredo and Retzlaff spun in Turn 11, but the race remained under green as the field scrambled and jostled for spots. Shortly after, Jeb Burton spun in Turn 4 after getting hit by Chandler Smith whom he had a run-in with through the frontstretch. Then with three laps remaining, the caution returned for debris on the backstretch. The caution period was enough to send the event into overtime.

    At the start of the first overtime attempt, Allgaier peeked ahead of Creed while receiving a push from Kligerman before Kligerman tried to make his move beneath Allgaier entering Turn 1. Through the turn, however, Kligerman locked up the front tires and could not steer his No. 48 Big Machine Racing entry to make the turn as he collided against Allgaier and Creed, sending both into the chicane while Kligerman was trying to regain his momentum on the track. Amid the chaos, Custer came out on top in his No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang with the lead while Allgaier and Creed managed to blend back onto the track in second and third with Mayer joining the battle. With the field behind jostling for late positions through Turns 4 to 7, Custer ran away from the field as Allgaier, Mayer and Creed continued to battle for second. Through Turns 8 and 9, Allgaier claimed second while Mayer dueled Creed for third.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Custer remained as the leader ahead of a hard-charging Allgaier. By then, Mayer had shoved Creed off the course in Turn 11 as Creed fell back to seventh behind Hill, Snider and Berry while Mayer moved up to third. Back at the front, Allgaier narrowed the deficit to six-tenths of a second as Custer retained the lead through the first three turns and entering Turn 4. Then after fending off Allgaier’s No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro through Turn 9, Allgaier gained more momentum into Turn 10 and got to Custer’s rear bumper approaching the final set of turns. He then tried to bump and overtake Custer entering the frontstretch, but it was not enough as Custer managed to fend off Allgaier by 0.142 seconds to grab his first checkered flag of the 2023 season in dramatic fashion.

    With the victory, Custer claimed his 11th career win in the Xfinity Series, his first since winning at Auto Club Speedway in February 2022 and his first on a road course venue. He also recorded the first Xfinity victory for Stewart-Haas Racing since Chase Briscoe won at Kansas Speedway in October 2020, the first NASCAR victory for crew chief Jonathan Toney and he became the seventh Xfinity regular to win and be guaranteed a spot for the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs.

    Ironically, Custer’s Portland victory occurred as the Californian achieved his seventh consecutive top-seven finish in recent weeks. This occurred after Custer finished no higher than ninth during the first six-scheduled events on this year’s schedule.

    “[I was telling myself] Just try and not make mistakes [on the restarts],” Custer said on FS1. “I saw [Kligerman] drive in there so deep. I did the same thing like two restarts ago. Man, I’m just so happy. I’ve never won a road course race before. I’ve been so close so many times and it’s just awesome to win this. I can’t thank Haas Automation, everybody at Stewart-Haas [Racing] in the Xfinity program and the Cup program. This is just a great day. It’s awesome to get this trophy and get that out of the way. I’m pumped for the rest of the year. We got fast cars and we’re starting to put it all together.”

    Allgaier, coming off last week’s victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway, finished second after leading 23 laps while Mayer, Berry and Hill finished in the top five. Myatt Snider came home in sixth place in his second start of the season while Creed, who led a race-high 47 laps ended up seventh. Connor Mosack, Chandler Smith and Nemechek completed the top 10 on the track.

    There were five lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 10 laps. In total, 27 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    With the 2023 Xfinity Series regular-season stretch reaching its halfway mark, John Hunter Nemechek leads the regular-season standings by 14 points over Austin Hill, 44 over Justin Allgaier, 65 over Cole Custer and 91 over Josh Berry.

    Results.

    1. Cole Custer, five laps led, Stage 2 winner

    2. Justin Allgaier, 23 laps led

    3. Sam Mayer

    4. Josh Berry

    5. Austin Hill

    6. Myatt Snider

    7. Sheldon Creed, 47 laps led, Stage 1 winner

    8. Connor Mosack

    9. Chandler Smith

    10. John Hunter Nemechek, two laps led

    11. Alex Labbe

    12. Brett Moffitt

    13. Brandon Jones

    14. Parker Kligerman

    15. Blaine Perkins

    16. Josh Williams

    17. Parker Retzlaff

    18. Ryan Sieg

    19. Jeffrey Earnhardt

    20. Patrick Emerling

    21. Anthony Alfredo

    22. Jeremy Clements

    23. Joe Graf Jr.

    24. Garrett Smithley

    25. Jeb Burton

    26. Kaz Grala

    27. Jordan Taylor

    28. Leland Honeyman – OUT, Accident

    29. Dylan Lupton, one lap down

    30. Sammy Smith, two laps down

    31. Preston Pardus, five laps down

    32. Riley Herbst – OUT, Engine

    33. Daniel Hemric, 30 laps down

    34. Kyle Sieg – OUT, Rear gear

    35. Parker Chase – OUT, Tie rod

    36. Mason Maggio – OUT, Transmission

    37. Stefan Parsons – OUT, Overheating

    38. Brennan Poole – OUT, Accident

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ inaugural event at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, June 10, at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Allgaier gambles for first Xfinity victory of 2023 at Charlotte

    Allgaier gambles for first Xfinity victory of 2023 at Charlotte

    In an event that was delayed for two days and more than nine hours, the early season wait for Justin Allgaier and JR Motorsports evaporated under the lights at home turn after Allgaier made a late fuel strategic call work to perfection by winning the rain-postponed Alsco Uniforms 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Monday, May 29.

    The 36-year-old Allgaier from Riverton, Illinois, led three times for a race-high 83 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he started on pole position, led early and ran up front throughout the event that was scheduled to start on Saturday, May 27, but was postponed to Monday and delayed yet again for another nine hours amid ongoing precipitation and steady rain.

    Once the racing resumed nearing the one-quarter mark, Allgaier, who remained in contention as the race proceeded, seized upon an opportunity to pit for a final time with less than 70 laps remaining during a caution period. Then during the final 66-lap dash to the finish, Allgaier swapped the lead with John Hunter Nemechek before assuming it for good with 33 laps remaining. He then stretched his low fuel tank to the absolute distance as he managed to coast across the finish line and claim his first elusive Xfinity victory of the 2023 season.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Justin Allgaier notched his first Xfinity pole of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 181.172 mph in 29.806 seconds. Joining him on the front row was John Hunter Nemechek, who clocked in the second-best qualifying lap at 180.246 mph in 29.959 seconds.

    Prior to the event, the following names that included Josh Berry, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Stefan Parsons, Parker Retzlaff and Kyle Sieg dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Ryan Sieg also dropped to the rear of the field due to an engine change to his RSS Racing entry. Then with the event being postponed to Monday, Justin Haley also dropped to the rear of the field due to a driver change as he replaced Kyle Busch in the No. 10 Kaulig Racing entry, with Busch setting his focus on the Cup Series’ Coca-Cola 600 that occurred prior to the Xfinity Charlotte event.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced amid a two-day delay due to the ongoing precipitation, Allgaier launched ahead on the inside lane and assumed an early command through the first two turns while teammates Nemechek and Ty Gibbs battled dead even for second. As the field fanned out to three and four lanes through the backstretch and in Turns 3 and 4, Allgaier proceeded to lead the first lap. Allgaier then managed to extend his advantage to half a second over Nemechek while Ty Gibbs settled in third and trailed by less than eight-tenths of a second.

    Through the first five scheduled laps, Allgaier was leading by more than a second over Gibbs while Nemechek, who got loose in Turn 1, fell back to third as Brandon Jones and Cole Custer were in the top five. Behind, Sheldon Creed was in sixth ahead of Daniel Hemric and rookie Chandler Smith while Jeb Burton and Riley Herbst were battling in the top 10. Meanwhile, Carson Hocevar was in 11th in his No. 77 Premier Security Chevrolet Camaro ahead of Brett Moffitt and Austin Hill while rookie Sammy Smith, Sam Mayer and Anthony Alfredo battled within the top 16.

    At the Lap 10 mark, Allgaier continued to hold a steady advantage over a hard-charging Gibbs, who cut the deficit to within half a second in his No. 19 He Gets Us Toyota Supra, while Nemechek trailed by more than a second in third place. Behind, Creed moved up to fifth place behind Custer while Brandon Jones fell back to sixth. Jones would then slip to ninth as Hemric, Chandler Smith and Moffitt overtook him for spots while Gibbs tried to challenge Allgaier for the lead.

    When a scheduled competition caution flew on Lap 20, Allgaier fended off Gibbs’ challenges on the outside lane to maintain the lead. By then, Nemechek, Custer and Creed were scored in the top five ahead of Hemric, Chandler Smith, Moffitt, Hocevar and Brandon Jones.

    During the competition caution period, nearly the entire field led by Allgaier pitted, except for Ryan Sieg as Sieg remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Nemechek exited pit road first ahead of Gibbs, Custer, Creed, Allgaier and Hemric.

    Not long after, the field was brought down to pit road and the race was placed in a red flag period on Lap 25 due to a steady increase of mist. Nearly 27 minutes later, the red flag lifted and the field led by Ryan Sieg returned to the track under a cautious pace.

    When the race restarted under green on Lap 31, Nemechek quickly assumed the lead in his No. 20 Mobil 1 Toyota Supra followed by teammate Gibbs as the field fanned out entering the first turn. As Ryan Sieg began to slip and lose spots while on worn tires, Nemechek assumed a steady advantage over teammate Gibbs followed by Creed, Hemric and Allgaier while Custer, who tried to launch to the front during the restart and ended up with a tire rub, was mired back in seventh behind Chandler Smith.

    At the Lap 40 mark, Nemechek was leading by two-tenths of a second over teammate Gibbs, with both Joe Gibbs Racing teammates battling close for the lead, while Hemric trailed in third place by more than two seconds. Behind, Allgaier was in fourth ahead of Creed and Chandler Smith while Custer slipped to eighth behind Austin Hill.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Ty Gibbs, who assumed the lead from teammate Nemechek on Lap 42 after Nemechek scrubbed the outside wall between Turns 1 and 2, captured the stage victory. Teammate Nemechek settled in second while trailing by more than a second while Allgaier, Hemric, Creed, Chandler Smith, Hill, Josh Berry, Custer and Riley Herbst were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, the field led by Gibbs returned to pit road and the race was placed under a second red flag period on Lap 48 due to the return of the mist that eventually resulted in an increase of rain. Not long after and with the precipitation increasing, NASCAR declared that the event would resume at the conclusion of the Cup Series’ Coca-Cola 600 which was scheduled to commence within 3 p.m. ET.

    More than nine hours later and moments after Ryan Blaney withstood a long, chaotic and delayed Coke 600 event to emerge victorious, the red flag period for the Xfinity Series competition was lifted and the field returned to track under a cautious period. During the caution period, the field led by Gibbs returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Gibbs retained the lead ahead of teammate Nemechek, Allgaier, Hemric, Creed and Chandler Smith.

    The second stage started on Lap 55 as Gibbs and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start, Gibbs retained the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns. With Gibbs maintaining the lead, teammate Nemechek retained second in front of Allgaier as Hemric fended off Creed, Chandler Smith and Hill for fourth.

    Just past the Lap 60 mark, Gibbs was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Nemechek while Hemric moved up to third after he overtook Allgaier for position. Hemric, however, shortly pitted under green after reporting concerns of a loose wheel to his No. 11 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro. The move dropped Hemric out of the lead lap category as Gibbs continued to lead by six-tenths of a second over teammate Nemechek and more than two seconds over Allgaier.

    By Lap 70, Gibbs stretched his advantage to more than a second over teammate Nemechek while third-place Allgaier trailed by nearly four seconds. Behind, Richard Childress Racing’s Hill and Creed occupied fourth and fifth while Chandler Smith settled in sixth in front of Mayer, Brandon Jones, Hocevar and Sammy Smith.

    At the Lap 80 mark, Gibbs continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over teammate Nemechek while Allgaier, Hill and Creed remained in the top five.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 90, Ty Gibbs notched his second consecutive stage victory of the night after cruising to the start/finish line with an advantage of more than a second. Teammate Nemechek settled in second while Allgaier, Hill, Creed, Chandler Smith, Sam Mayer, Brandon Jones, Cole Custer and Carson Hocevar were scored in the top 10. By then, 27 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap. In addition, Brett Moffitt was scored out of the lead lap category after making contact against the wall a few laps earlier and pitting under green.

    Under the stage break, the field led by Gibbs returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, however, Nemechek emerged with the lead after exiting first followed by Creed, Allgaier, Hill, Chandler Smith and Custer. Meanwhile, Gibbs was mired back in 28th amid an extensive pit service to resolve a radio issue.

    With 103 laps remaining, the final stage started as Nemechek and Creed occupied the front row. At the start, Nemechek launched ahead with a strong start while Creed and Allgaier dueled for second. With Allgaier moving up to second, Custer challenged Creed for third as the field fanned out and jostled for late positions.

    At the halfway mark with 100 laps remaining, Nemechek was leading by four-tenths of a second over Allgaier while Custer, Creed and Brandon Jones trailed in the top five. Meanwhile, Ty Gibbs, who restarted just outside the top 20, had carved his way up to 13th while Josh Berry overtook Creed for fifth. In addition, Hill was in seventh ahead of Chandler Smith, Mayer and Sammy Smith while Justin Haley carved his way up to 11th.

    Ten laps later, Nemechek continued to lead by more than a second over Allgaier while third-place Custer also trailed by more than a second. With JR Motorsports’ Brandon Jones and Berry trailing in the top five, Ty Gibbs re-entered the top 10 as he was in ninth behind Creed, Hill and Chandler Smith. Gibbs would then get bottled within a tight battle involving himself, Mayer, Sammy Smith and Hocevar as his fast charge to the front stalled.

    Another 15 laps later, Nemechek stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Allgaier followed by Custer, Brandon Jones and Berry while Hill, Ty Gibbs, Creed, Chandler Smith and Mayer were scored in the top 10. As Sammy Smith, Hocevar, Haley, Herbst and Kaz Grala were scored in the top 15, Hemric was still mired a lap behind in 28th.

    With 73 laps remaining, the caution flew when Mayer, who was running 10th, spun off of the Turn 2 outside wall, slid down to the track and pounded the inside wall as he limped to pit road with a shredded right-front fender as a result of a flat tire. During the caution period, the field led by Nemechek returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Nemechek retained the lead after exiting first ahead of Allgaier. During the pit stops, Creed pitted for a second time for repairs after making contact with Berry on pit road.

    As the race proceeded under green with 66 laps remaining, Nemechek and Allgaier dueled for the lead as Allgaier tried to peek ahead through the backstretch. Then as Hill launched himself into the picture and made it a three-wide battle at the front, Allgaier assumed the lead during the following lap while Hill battled Nemechek for second. Nemechek would fend off Hill for second as Custer tried to challenge Hill for third in front of Berry and Brandon Jones.

    With less than 60 laps remaining, Allgaier maintained the lead by nine-tenths of a second over Nemechek while Hill trailed in third by a second and a half. With Custer and Brandon Jones running in the top five, Chandler Smith was in sixth followed by Ty Gibbs while Berry fell back to eighth. Behind, Hocevar was in ninth ahead of a battle between Sammy Smith and Haley while Kaz Grala, Jeb Burton, Connor Mosack and Kyle Weatherman battled inside the top 15.

    Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Allgaier’s advantage evaporated to a tenth of a second over Nemechek as he re-ignited his battle for the lead. Not long after, they both made contact, but both competitors continued to run straight as Allgaier retained the lead by nearly half a second while third-place Hill trailed by more than a second. Meanwhile, Custer occupied fourth while Brandon Jones and Ty Gibbs battled for fifth.

    With less than 40 laps remaining, Allgaier and Nemechek re-ignited their battle for the lead before Nemechek reassumed the top spot off of Turn 4 with 36 laps remaining. Then just as Alfredo pitted under green with 33 laps remaining, Allgaier muscled his Chevrolet back to the top of the leaderboard. He would maintain the lead over Nemechek under the final 30-lap and 25-lap marks of the event.

    Then with 20 laps remaining and as Allgaier continued to lead by four-tenths of a second, Hill surrendered third place to pit his No. 21 Alsco Chevrolet Camaro. He would then be followed by Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith and Ty Gibbs, who had worked his way up towards the front. By then, Allgaier, who was leading, started to back off his pace in an attempt to save fuel under the direction of his team.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Allgaier stretched his advantage to more than a second over Nemechek while trying to stretch his fuel tank to the finish. By then, Nemechek, who was trying to pounce on Allgaier, started to back off on his pace to have enough fuel to finish. Nearing the final five-lap mark, more names that included third-place Hocevar, Brandon Jones and Haley pitted, but Allgaier continued to run under power with the lead. As runner-up, Nemechek trailed by more than five seconds with third-place Custer trailing by more than nine seconds, Hill, who pitted earlier and had enough fuel to finish under full power, was in fourth, but trailing by more than 25 seconds.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allgaier, who continued to run under a conservative pace on the track, remained as the leader by more than seven seconds over Nemechek, who too was still remaining on the track while on low fuel. Despite being overtaken by lapped competitors while managing his throttle through the turns and straightaway, Allgaier was able to make the low fuel tank last to perfection as he cycled his No. 7 Unilever Military DeCA RCPT Chevrolet Camaro back to the frontstretch and streaked across the finish line for his first victory of the season.

    With the victory, Allgaier notched his 20th career victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and his first at Charlotte. He also returned to Victory Lane for the first time in the Xfinity circuit since winning at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July 2022. By recording his 17th victory as a driver for JR Motorsports, the Illinois veteran recorded the first NASCAR victory of the season and the second consecutive victory at Charlotte for JRM. In addition, Allgaier, who became the ninth different winner of this year’s Xfinity season, achieved his first victory with new crew chief Jim Pohlman.

    Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

    “I’m speechless, man,” Allgaier said on FS2. “You fans that stuck it out here tonight, thank y’all so much. I just cannot say enough about [crew chief] Jim Pohlman, everybody on this No. 7 team. It’s not been for lack of speed this year. We’ve battled. Tonight was kind of the opposite. We had to go slow to go fast. I’m speechless, man. I really am…I didn’t know how much [fuel] to save. Just lucky we had enough.”

    Nemechek, who led 57 laps and was pursuing his third Xfinity victory of the season, settled in second place for the third time this season as he trailed Allgaier by seven seconds to the finish.

    “It was definitely tough to not push as hard as you could there at the end when trying to run Allgaier back down,” Nemechek said. “We raced each other really hard, really clean. Overall, our Mobil 1 Toyota GR Supra was fast as Xfinity 10G [Internet]. I didn’t do us any favors by stuffing [the car] in the fence before we had our whole rain delay today. Just hats off to all the guys, the effort at this Joe Gibbs Racing organization. Man, if consistency is key to win a championship, then we are pretty consistent. Just gotta keep plugging on and we’ll go click off some more wins.”

    Custer, who also gambled late on fuel, came home in third place while Hill ended up fourth after narrowing the gap to only 16 seconds. Ty Gibbs ended up in fifth after leading 52 laps followed by rookie Parker Retzlaff and Jeb Burton, all of whom rounded out the top-seven lead lap finishers. Carson Hocevar, the first competitor to finish a lap down, ended up eighth while Brandon Jones and Sammy Smith completed the top 10 on the track.

    There were eight lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 31 laps. While all but one of 38 starters finished the race, seven finished on the lead lap.

    Following the 12th event of the 2023 Xfinity Series season, John Hunter Nemechek leads the regular-season standings by 10 points over Austin Hill, 50 over Justin Allgaier, 74 over Cole Custer and 85 over Josh Berry.

    Results.

    1. Justin Allgaier, 83 laps led

    2. John Hunter Nemechek, 57 laps led

    3. Cole Custer

    4. Austin Hill

    5. Ty Gibbs, 52 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    6. Parker Retzlaff

    7. Jeb Burton

    8. Carson Hocevar, one lap down

    9. Brandon Jones, one lap down

    10. Sammy Smith, one lap down

    11. Kyle Sieg, one lap down

    12. Justin Haley, one lap down

    13. Chandler Smith, one lap down

    14. Riley Herbst, one lap down

    15. Josh Berry, one lap down

    16. Kaz Grala, one lap down

    17. Joe Graf Jr., one lap down

    18. Josh Williams, one lap down

    19. Jeremy Clements, two laps down

    20. Kyle Weatherman, two laps down

    21. Jeffrey Earnhardt, two laps down

    22. Daniel Hemric, two laps down

    23. Connor Mosack, two laps down

    24. Ryan Sieg, two laps down, eight laps led

    25. Rajah Caruth, three laps down

    26. Stefan Parsons, three laps down

    27. Ryan Ellis, three laps down

    28. Sheldon Creed, three laps down

    29. Brett Moffitt, three laps down

    30. Brennan Poole, three laps down

    31. Patrick Emerling, five laps down

    32. Anthony Alfredo, five laps down

    33. Garrett Smithley, five laps down

    34. Natalie Decker, five laps down

    35. Sam Mayer, seven laps down

    36. Dawson Cram, seven laps down

    37. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Engine

    38. Parker Kligerman, 56 laps down

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is a trip back to the West Coast for the series’ second-ever event at Portland International Raceway in Portland, Oregon. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, June 3, at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • Kyle Larson wins NASCAR Xfinity Series Darlington Duel

    Kyle Larson wins NASCAR Xfinity Series Darlington Duel

    Darlington Raceway lived up to its Too Tough to Tame moniker as Kyle Larson battled John Hunter Nemechek for the win in the Xfinity Series Shriners Children’s 200 Saturday afternoon.

    It all came down to the end of the race with Nemechek in the lead as a relentless Larson finally overtook him on the final lap to win in the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet.

    Larson’s victory was hard fought after a penalty for speeding on pit road relegated him to the back of the field for the final stage of the race.

    I knew we were going to have time to get to the front if we had a caution,” Larson said. “We were picking off cars really fast and had some lane selections work out for me. We were just bouncing off each other a little bit. I don’t know what happened in (Turn) 3. It seemed like he (Nemechek) tried to get behind me to shove me into the corner. It kind of hooked me right, and I hit the wall, and I was trying to stay away from him and get off of (Turn) 4.” 

    Nemechek, who lead a race-high 57 laps, was understandably disappointed after his contact with Larson resulted in a fifth-place finish, but indicated that he will use it as motivation moving forward and learn from his mistakes.

    “I feel like we both had dominant race cars at times,” Nemechek said. “I feel like him and I were definitely the class in the field as the day went on, and I don’t know if he wouldn’t have got a speeding penalty how we would’ve ended up but I felt like we were really good for portions of the run, and he was really good other portions of the run.

    “So ultimately, he probably should’ve won the race. He shouldn’t have been that close to me, come the white-flag lap, but he was fast, and he’s one of the best in the sport. There’s a reason that he’s a NASCAR Cup Series champion and wins a lot. So we’ll take it and move on with it. I learned a lot today for when we come back here in the fall and just got to be a little bit smarter about it.”

    Justin Allgaier finished second followed by Cole Custer in third and Austin Hill in fourth, with Nemechek rounding out the top five.  

    Nemechek currently leads the Xfinity Series driver standings with 424 points, followed by Austin Hill (-1), Allgaier (-53), Josh Berry (-57) and Cole Custer (-9).

    Next up for the Xfinity Series is the Alsco Uniforms 300 on Saturday, May 27 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It will be televised on FS1 with radio coverage provided by PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

    Results:

  • Ryan Truex dominates for first NASCAR Xfinity victory at Dover

    Ryan Truex dominates for first NASCAR Xfinity victory at Dover

    In his 188th start across NASCAR’s top three national touring series, Ryan Truex silenced his doubters and emerged triumphant for the first time after claiming his first Xfinity Series career victory in the A-GAME 200 at Dover Motor Speedway on Saturday, April 29, following a dominant run from start to finish.

    The 31-year-old Truex from Mayetta, New Jersey, led seven times for a race-high 124 of 200-scheduled laps, including the final 11, and swept both stages en route to a long-awaited first career victory at the Monster Mile, his home race track. The victory occurred in Truex’s fifth start of this season in the Xfinity circuit, all in Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 “all-star” entry, and in his 89th series start overall.

    With on-track qualifying that was scheduled to occur on Friday being canceled due to rain, the starting lineup for the main event was determined through a metric formula per the NASCAR Rule Book. As a result, Parker Kligerman was awarded the pole position and was joined on the front row by Cole Custer. The only competitor to drop to the rear of the field was Timmy Hill, who did so due to unapproved adjustments to his entry.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Kligerman and Custer dueled for the lead through the first turn until Custer muscled ahead on the inside lane. He then proceeded to lead the first lap ahead of Kligerman and Sheldon Creed as the rest of the field jostled early through two lanes for positions.

    On the fifth lap, the first caution flew when Jeremy Clements, who was running in the top 10, spun his car toward the apron between Turns 1 and 2. By then, Custer was leading by half a second over Creed while Kligerman fell back to third. Austin Hill and rookie Chandler Smith were in the top five while Jeb Burton, Brandon Jones, Ryan Truex, Herbst and Justin Allgaier occupied the top 10.

    During the following restart on the ninth lap, Creed gained a strong start on the inside lane as he assumed the lead from Custer. Behind, teammate Hill battled and overtook Custer for the runner-up spot as Custer fell back to third. As the field behind continued to jostle for early positions, Creed started to pull away from the field with the lead.

    At the Lap 15 mark, Creed was leading by a second over teammate Hill followed by Custer, Truex and Kligerman while Riley Herbst, Justin Allgaier, Brandon Jones, Chandler and Brett Moffitt Moffitt were running in the top 10.

    Two laps later, Ryan Ellis spun off of Turn 2, but the race remained under green flag conditions as Ellis managed to steer his car and proceed below the apron. By Lap 19, however, the caution flew when Anthony Alfredo, who lost a brake rotor through the backstretch earlier, stalled his car up the high lane in Turn 2. Alfredo’s caution served as the competition caution initially planned for Lap 20. By then, Creed was ahead by a second over teammate Hill while Truex, Custer and Kilgerman were in the top five. In addition, Josh Berry was up in ninth, Nemechek was in 11th, Hemric was back in 14th ahead of Jeb Burton, rookie Sammy Smith was scored in 16th ahead of Sam Mayer and Derek Kraus was in 19th.

    During the competition caution, select names led by Creed remained on the track while the rest of the field pitted. Following the pit stops, Allgaier was penalized for speeding on pit road.

    When the race restarted on Lap 24, Creed fended off teammate Hill while restarting on the outside lane to retain the lead, though Hill kept his Richard Childress Racing teammate close within his sights. Behind and amid the on-track battles, Custer was in third while fending off Berry and Truex while Nemechek was up in sixth.

    Just past the Lap 30 mark, Creed was leading by three-tenths of a second over teammate Hill, who had Truex, Custer and Berry hounding him for the runner-up spot. Behind, Nemechek retained sixth ahead of Jones, Kligerman, Sammy Smith and Clements while Chandler Smith, Hemric, Jeb Burton, Sam Mayer and Ryan Sieg were in the top 15.

    Soon after, the battle for the lead between Creed and a hard-charging Truex ignited as Truex tried to assume the top spot over Creed, but the latter maintained his ground and the top spot. Behind, Nemechek carved his way up to third followed by Hill and Berry while Custer fell back to seventh behind Jones. In addition, Kligerman, who was awarded the pole, was slowly dropping below the leaderboard and out of the top 10.

    Then on Lap 34, Truex, who pitted during the competition caution, assumed the lead for the first time over Creed. Another four laps later, teammate Nemechek, who also pitted during the competition caution, moved up to second as Creed fell back to third in front of teammate Hill and Berry.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Ryan Truex, who despite being mired in lapped traffic, claimed the stage victory after retaining the lead by more than three seconds over teammate Nemechek. Creed settled in third followed by Hill and Berry while Brandon Jones, Sammy Smith, Custer, Hemric and Chandler Smith were scored in the top 10. By then, Kligerman fell back to 12th and Allgaier was mired back in 18th as 31 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Truex pitted. Following the pit stops, Truex exited first followed by Hill, Nemechek and Allgaier, who only opted for two fresh tires to gain a bevy of spots, while Sammy Smith and Jones exited in the top six. Back on the track, however, Kyle Weatherman opted to remain on the track as he inherited the lead. Amid the pit stops, rookie Parker Retzlaff and Herbst were penalized for speeding on pit road.

    The second stage started on Lap 53 as Weatherman and Truex occupied the front row. At the start, Weatherman briefly jumped ahead, but Truex rocketed past him to reassume the lead in Turn 1. Hill quickly followed pursuit in second along with Nemechek while Weatherman was trying to retain fourth ahead of Allgaier, Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones, Chandler Smith and the rest of the field.

    By Lap 60, Truex was leading by more than a second over Hill and more than three seconds over Nemechek as Allgaier navigated his way past Weatherman for fourth. Behind, Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith were in sixth and seventh while Custer, Berry and Creed were scored in the top 10.

    Nearly three laps later, the caution returned when Kligerman got turned by newcomer Corey Heim entering the backstretch, which sent Kligerman’s No. 48 Big Machine Racing Chevrolet Camaro spinning before he slammed the inside wall. The incident spoiled Kligerman’s opportunity of both winning the race and claiming the final Dash 4 Cash prize as he sustained significant damage to both the front and rear of his car. The incident also prompted Kligerman to express his displeasure to Heim on the track with an obscene gesture.

    During the following restart on Lap 69, Truex and Hill dueled for the lead for nearly a lap until Truex managed to pull ahead on the outside lane entering the frontstretch to retain the lead. As Truex fended off Hill for the lead, Nemechek battled Allgaier for third as Chandler Smith moved up to fifth in front of Custer and Sammy Smith. Meanwhile, Creed was back in eighth ahead of Berry and Mayer.

    Just past the Lap 75 mark, Truex was leading by nearly two seconds over Hill followed by Nemechek and Allgaier while Custer battled and overtook Chandler Smith for fifth. By then, Creed was in seventh in front of Sammy Smith while Berry, who went up the track a few laps ago, fell back to 10th in front of Hemric.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 90, Truex, who approached and carved his way through lapped traffic, claimed his second consecutive stage victory of the day. Hill trailed in second place by more than four seconds while Nemechek, Allgaier, Custer, Chandler Smith, Creed, Sammy Smith, Mayer and Berry were scored in the top 10. By then, 27 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, the leaders led by Truex returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Hill exited with the lead ahead of Truex and followed by Nemechek, Custer, Chandler Smith and Creed.

    With 101 laps remaining, the final stage started as Hill and Truex occupied the front row. At the start, Hill fended off Truex on the outside lane to maintain the lead. Shortly after, Nemechek battled and overtook teammate Truex for second as the field fanned out and battled for positions. Then just as the field surpassed its halfway mark, the caution returned when Creed got loose amid a three-wide battle for sixth with Allgaier and Sammy Smith as he spun in the middle of the track in Turn 3. Despite the incident, Creed managed to continue without sustaining any damage to his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro as the rest of the field dodged him.

    During the following restart with 94 laps remaining, Hill fended off Nemechek on the outside lane to maintain the lead. Truex, however, followed pursuit in second as he then set his sights on Hill for the lead. Then with 88 laps remaining, Truex seized an opportunity as he side-drafted Hill to reassume the lead.

    With 80 laps remaining, Truex was leading by more than a second over Hill as third-place Nemechek trailed by more than two seconds. Behind, Custer was in fourth ahead of Allgaier while Sammy Smith, Berry, Hemric, Jones and Mayer were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Chandler Smith was in 11th ahead of Herbst, Jeb Burton, Kraus and Moffitt while Kaz Grala, Creed, Ryan Sieg, Weatherman and Clements were in the top 20.

    Ten laps later, Truex continued to lead as he extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Hill. He then extended his advantage to more than three seconds over Hill with 60 laps remaining and more than four seconds with 50 laps remaining. By then, Allgaier was in fourth ahead of Berry and behind Nemechek.

    With less than 40 laps remaining, Truex retained the lead by more than five seconds over Allgaier while Hill fell back to third, trailing by more than six seconds. Berry and Custer were in the top five while Sammy, Jones, Mayer, Creed and Hemric were in the top 10. By then, green flag pit stops commenced as Nemechek and Sammy Smith pitted. A host of names, including Truex, would pit as the laps dwindled past the final 30-lap mark.

    Back on the track and with 27 laps remaining, Creed cycled into the lead followed by Herbst and select names while Truex was back in fifth and awaiting the fate of those who had yet to pit.

    Then with 11 laps remaining, Creed, who was vying for his first victory and the final Dash 4 Cash prize, surrendered the lead to pit under green. Herbst would also pit, though he would eventually be penalized for speeding on pit road. Their pit stops allowed Truex to cycle his No. 19 Toyota Genuine Accessories Supra back to the lead as he was leading by more than five seconds over Berry.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Truex, who led by more than five seconds with five laps remaining, remained as the leader by more than four seconds over Berry. Having a clear path in front of him and with no challengers closing in, Truex managed to cycle around his home track smoothly for a final time and return to the frontstretch to claim his first elusive checkered flag in the Xfinity circuit and across NASCAR’s top three national touring series.

    With the victory, Truex, whose previous best result in the series was second three times, became the 174th different competitor to win in the Xfinity circuit and the third first-time winner of this season in the series alongside teammate Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith. He became the 22nd different competitor to win an Xfinity event for Joe Gibbs Racing as he also recorded the fourth victory of the season for both the JGR organization and for the Toyota nameplate.

    The victory was also redemption for Truex, who was within striking distance of winning his first Xfinity event at Dover in 2012 until his advantage was erased amid lapped traffic, which enabled Joey Logano to overtake Truex with six laps remaining as Truex ended up in a disappointing second place. Ironically, Truex’s first NASCAR career victory at Dover, his home track, occurred nearly 16 years after his brother and former Cup Series champion, Martin Truex Jr., recorded his first Cup career victory at the Monster Mile.

    “I’m out of breath, man,” Truex said on FS1. “Oh my god. Just so thankful. All these fans, my team, everybody that stuck behind me. Most people didn’t believe in me and I still did. Just so thankful to be here. This is amazing. [With] Twenty [laps] to go, I was just waiting for something to happen and I was just praying, ‘Please, guys. Just keep everything straight. Let’s get to the end of this. What a car. What an amazing GR Supra. I’m speechless. I thought I’d be more emotional right now but when I crossed the flag [finish line], I couldn’t even talk on the radio. I’m not an emotional guy. This is for everyone that doubted me.”

    “I belong here,” Truex added. “I just proved that. I’ve known it for a while. People around me have known it for a while. Now, everybody in this garage area knows it. My goal is to drive one of these cars full-time next year. Hopefully, we can make it happen.”

    Berry finished in second place followed by teammate Allgaier while Hill and Nemechek completed the top five. Nemechek, Sammy Smith, Custer, Brandon Jones and Hemric finished in the top 10.

    With today’s Xfinity event serving as the fourth and final Dash 4 Cash event of the 2023 season, the final $100,000 prize from the initiative went to Custer, who claimed the prize for a second consecutive week after finishing eighth.

    There were 11 lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 32 laps. Only 10 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Following the 10th event of the 2023 Xfinity Series season, Austin Hill leads the regular-season standings by four points over John Hunter Nemechek, 38 over Chandler Smith, 43 over Josh Berry and 49 over Justin Allgaier.

    Results.

    1. Ryan Truex, 124 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    2. Josh Berry

    3. Justin Allgaier

    4. Austin Hill, 18 laps led

    5. John Hunter Nemechek

    6. Sammy Smith

    7. Cole Custer, 13 laps led

    8. Brandon Jones

    9. Sam Mayer

    10. Daniel Hemric

    11. Sheldon Creed, one lap down, 41 laps led

    12. Kaz Grala, one lap down

    13. Chandler Smith, one lap down

    14. Kyle Weatherman, one lap down, four laps led

    15. Brett Moffitt, one lap down

    16. Ryan Sieg, one lap down

    17. Parker Retzlaff, one lap down

    18. Jeb Burton, two laps down

    19. Jeremy Clements, two laps down

    20. Derek Kraus, two laps down

    21. Riley Herbst, two laps down

    22. Joe Graf Jr., two laps down

    23. Josh Williams, two laps down

    24. Brennan Poole, three laps down

    25. Ryan Ellis, three laps down

    26. Rajah Caruth, four laps down

    27. Gray Gaulding, four laps down

    28. Stefan Parsons, four laps down

    29. Kyle Sieg, five laps down

    30. Timmy Hill, five laps down

    31. Garrett Smithley, five laps down

    32. Chad Chastain, seven laps down

    33. Patrick Emerling, eight laps down

    34. CJ McLaughlin, eight laps down

    35. Corey Heim – OUT, Engine

    36. Anthony Alfredo – OUT, Brakes

    37. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Engine

    38. Parker Kligerman – OUT, Accident

    With the 2023 Dash 4 Cash initiative concluded, the next regular-season event on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ first of two scheduled visits to Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. The event is scheduled to occur on May 13 at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

  • John Hunter Nemechek clocks in for dominant Xfinity victory at Martinsville

    John Hunter Nemechek clocks in for dominant Xfinity victory at Martinsville

    Two weeks after having a victory at Richmond Raceway slip out of his grasp in the late stages, John Hunter Nemechek doubled down with resilience and rose to the occasion after scoring a dominant victory in the Call811.com Before You Dig. 250 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, April 15.

    The 25-year-old Nemechek from Mooresville, North Carolina, led three times for a race-high 198 of 250-scheduled laps, including the final 33, as he also capitalized on the final restart with 18 laps remaining to beat teammate Sammy Smith and Cole Custer by more than a second to claim his second checkered flag of the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season in an event where he swept both stages. As an added bonus, Nemechek claimed the second Dash 4 Cash bonus with his victory at the Paperclip-shaped short track.

    With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Cole Custer notched his second Xfinity pole of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 94.411 mph in 20.057 seconds. Joining him on the front row was John Hunter Nemechek, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 94.331 mph in 20.074 seconds.

    Prior to the event, names that included Sheldon Creed, Jeremy Clements, Kaden Honeycutt, Anthony Alfredo and Alex Labbe dropped to the rear due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.

    When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Custer launched ahead with a strong jump on the inside lane as he cleared Nemechek and assumed the lead for a full circuit, where he proceeded to lead the first lap. Behind, the field fanned out to three tight-packed lanes as rookie Parker Retzlaff, who qualified fourth, was getting shuffled out of the racing groove while rookie Sammy Smith and Samy Mayer moved up and battled for third in front of Riley Herbst and Josh Berry.

    Three laps later, Nemechek launched his bid for the lead as he drew his No. 20 Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota Supra beneath Custer’s No. 00 Haas Ford Mustang through Turns 1 and 2. After dueling with Custer amid a tight side-by-side battle during the following lap, Nemechek became the new leader of the event on the sixth lap after clearing Custer in Turns 3 and 4 while Sammy Smith trailed behind in close distance.

    Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Nemechek was leading by more than half a second over Custer followed by Sammy Smith, Sam Mayer and Riley Herbst while Berry, rookie Chandler Smith, Justin Allgaier, Daniel Hemric and Parker Retzlaff were in the top 10. Behind, Austin Hill was in 11th over Brandon Jones, Ryan Sieg, Brett Moffitt and Derek Kraus in the top 15 while Ryan Truex, Connor Mosack, Parker Kligerman, Kaz Grala and Josh Williams occupied the top 20.

    Fifteen laps later, Nemechek continued to lead by half a second over Custer while third-place Sammy Smith trailed by more than a second. With Herbst and Mayer remaining in the top five, Berry also remained in sixth followed by Chandler Smith, Allgaier, Hemric and Retzlaff.

    Another 11 laps later, the first caution of the event flew when Moffitt got loose while battling Austin Hill through Turns 3 and 4 as he spun without getting hit by the oncoming field. By then, Nemechek and Custer had reignited their early battle for the lead amid lapped traffic while 30 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap. During the caution period, some like Josh Berry, Hill, Jeb Burton, Brennan Poole, Dawson Cram, Kaden Honeycutt, Gray Gaulding and Anthony Alfredo pitted while the rest led by Nemechek remained on the track.

    During the following restart on Lap 43, Nemechek retained the lead and pulled ahead of Custer after receiving a bump and shove from teammate Sammy Smith on the inside lane amid a stacked-up restart. With Nemechek out in front, teammate Sammy Smith battled and fended off Custer to assume second while the field behind jostled amid tight-quarter lanes for positions.

    At the Lap 50 mark, Nemechek was leading by half a second over teammate Sammy Smith while third-place Custer trailed by more than a second along with Mayer and Herbst.

    When the first stage concluded on Lap 60, Nemechek captured his second stage victory of the 2023 Xfinity season after fending off teammate Sammy Smith by more than six-tenths of a second. Custer trailed the two Joe Gibbs Racing competitors in third while Mayer, Herbst, Allgaier, Hemric, Chandler Smith, Retzlaff and Brandon Jones were scored in the top 10.

    Under the stage break, a majority of the field led by Nemechek pitted while others led by Hill and Berry, both of whom pitted on Lap 39, remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Nemechek exited pit road first followed by Sammy Smith, Hemric, Chandler Smith and Herbst.

    The second stage started on Lap 71 as Hill and Berry occupied the front row followed by Dawson Cram and Jeb Burton. At the start, Hill rocketed with the lead on the inside lane followed by Berry as the field fanned out and stacked up through the turns and the straightaways. With Berry trying to close back towards Hill’s rear bumper for the lead, Nemechek shoved his way up to fourth on fresh tires behind Jeb Burton while Cram was shuffled out and falling below the leaderboard. In the process, Hemric carved his way up into the top five while Sammy Smith was mired in sixth as he battled Custer to retain the spot.

    Three laps later, Berry moved his No. 8 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro into the lead as the front-runners settled in a single-file line. This kept Nemechek in fourth behind Jeb Burton while Hemric was in fifth ahead of Custer and Sammy Smith. By Lap 78, however, Nemechek navigated his way into second as Hemric and Custer joined the battle while Berry continued to lead.

    Nearing the Lap 85 mark, the second caution of the event flew when smoke billowed out of the No. 74 entry piloted by Kaden Honeycutt exiting the frontstretch and entering Turn 1, with the driver proceeding to park his car towards the outside wall in Turn 1 as he became the first retiree of the event. During the pit stops, names that included Moffitt, Parker Kligerman, Josh Williams, Joe Graf Jr., Ryan Ellis and Brennan Poole pitted while the rest led by Nemechek opted to remain on the track.

    Following an extensive caution period amid Honeycutt’s mechanical issue, the race restarted on Lap 100. At the start, Berry and Nemechek dueled for the lead entering Turn 1 before the former managed to pull ahead of the latter. Then entering Turn 3, Sammy Smith vaulted his No. 18 Pilot Flying J Toyota Supra past Nemechek as he challenged Berry for the lead on the outside lane, which he succeeded. During the following lap, Berry made contact with Smith in Turn 1, but Smith returned the favor entering Turn 3 as he bumped and moved Berry out of his path, which moved Smith back into the lead after Berry got loose and slipped up. In the process, teammate Nemechek moved into second while Berry fell back to third in front of Custer and Hemric. Meanwhile, Hill, who was stuck on the outside lane, was also locked in a side-by-side battle with Brandon Jones for sixth.

    Not long after, a side-by-side battle for the lead ignited between teammates Nemechek and Sammy Smith as Nemechek, who drew himself beneath Smith, peeked ahead to lead Lap 107. Nemechek then managed to pull ahead of Smith and assume full control of both lanes with the top spot while Berry tried to close in on Smith for second.

    Just past the Lap 110 mark, Berry and Sammy Smith were locked in a tight side-by-side battle for second in front of Custer through every corner and straightaway. This, however, allowed Nemechek to pull away by nearly a second with the lead.

    When the second stage concluded on Lap 120, Nemechek, who extended his advantage to more than two seconds, claimed the second stage victory of the night and the third of this season. Berry muscled his way into second followed by Custer, Sammy Smith and Hemric while Brandon Jones, Ryan Truex, Herbst, Chandler Smith and Derek Kraus were scored in the top 10. By then, 32 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.

    Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Nemechek pitted while Brennan Poole remained on the track. Following the pit stops, Nemechek exited first followed by teammate Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones, Custer, Berry and Hemric.

    With 119 laps remaining, the final stage started as teammates Nemechek and Sammy Smith occupied the front row. At the start, Nemechek, who restarted on the outside lane, rocketed ahead with a strong start entering Turn 1 while Sammy Smith, who restarted on the inside lane, engaged in a side-by-side duel with Custer, who battled Smith hard on the outside lane, for second. In the process, JR Motorsports’ Brandon Jones and Berry battled for fourth in front of Kaulig Racing’s Hemric and Chandler Smith. It would only take three laps, however, for the caution to return when Joe Graf Jr. and Ryan Ellis made contact and wrecked up against the Turn 1 outside wall. During the caution period, Berry, who initially reported his spoiler was delaminated pitted as his pit crew later determined he had a right-front tire going down.

    During the following restart with 108 laps remaining, Nemechek, who restarted on the inside lane on this occasion, muscled away from teammate Sammy Smith with the lead while Custer drew himself alongside Sammy Smith in his bid for second. It would only take one lap for the caution to return for a multi-car wreck that erupted on the backstretch that involved Dawson Cram, Ryan Ellis, Alex Labbe and Kyle Sieg.

    At the start of the following restart with 95 laps remaining, Nemechek retained the lead on the inside lane while Sammy Smith and Custer reignited their side-by-side battle for second in front of Hemric and Brandon Jones. Following a heated side-by-side battle for second for two laps, Custer made contact with Smith and moved him up the track as he managed to peek ahead and grab second place. Sammy Smith, however, came under attack from Hemric and Herbst for third while Nemechek was pulling away with the lead. Then as Hemric battled and cleared Sammy Smith for third place with Herbst joining the battle, the caution returned with 89 laps remaining when Josh Williams spun between Turns 1 and 2 after cutting a right-rear tire.

    During the following restart with 82 laps remaining, Nemechek pulled ahead of Custer on the inside lane to retain the lead through the first two turns. In the process, Custer, who restarted on the outside lane, fended off Hemric for second while Sammy Smith trailed in fourth in front of Chandler Smith and Herbst.

    With less than 75 laps remaining, Nemechek was leading by six-tenths of a second over Custer followed by Sammy Smith, Hemric and Herbst while Chandler Smith, Brandon Jones, Kraus, Jeb Burton and Mayer were in the top 10. Behind, Creed, Retzlaff, Ryan Truex, Grala and Ryan Sieg were in the top 15 while Berry and Hill were mired back in 17th and 19th.

    Down to the final 60 laps of the event, Nemechek continued to lead by a second over Custer while Sammy Smith Hemric and Brandon Jones trailed in the top five. By then, Creed cracked the top 10 in 10th, Berry moved his way up in 12th and Hill had fallen back to 20th.

    Ten laps later, Nemechek stabilized his advantage to seven-tenths of a second over Custer while third-place Sammy Smith trailed by more than two seconds.

    Then with 42 laps remaining, the caution flew when Jeremy Clements, who nearly made contact with the wall a few laps earlier, slapped the outside wall between Turns 1 and 2. By then, Nemechek retained the lead by a second over Custer despite encountering lapped traffic while Berry had worked his way up to eighth, though he had no fresh sets of tires for another pit stop for the remainder of the event. During the pit stops, the leaders led by Nemechek pitted and Nemechek retained the lead after exiting first followed by Custer, Hemric, Sammy Smith and Berry, who pitted for scuffed tires. Back on the track, however, a handful of competitors led by Patrick Emerling and Allgaier, who was also out of fresh tires, remained on the track. While Emerling would eventually surrender the lead to pit, Allgaier remained on the track alongside Labbe while Nemechek lined up in third place and as the first competitor on fresh tires.

    During the following restart with 33 laps remaining, Allgaier, Nemechek and Custer launched ahead on the inside lane while Labbe, who restarted on the front row and on the outside lane, struggled to launch ahead of Hemric on old tires as the field stacked up. With the field fanning out to three lanes amid a stacked-up restart, Nemechek dueled and overtook Allgaier during the following lap. Sammy Smith quickly followed suit in second while Custer battled Allgaier for third. Then as Sammy Smith tried to close in on teammate Nemechek for the lead, the caution returned with 29 laps remaining when Ryan Truex turned and sent Mayer into Herbst as the latter two spun. While Herbst backed his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang into the Turn 1 outside wall, Mayer came back down the track and collided with Jeb Burton as he emerged with extensive nose damage. The incident prompted Mayer to display an obscene gesture to Truex after emerging from his wrecked car.

    Following an extensive caution period for the wreckage to be cleared, the race restarted with 18 laps remaining. At the start, Nemechek, who restarted alongside Custer on the front row, rocketed away with the lead as teammate Sammy Smith quickly vaulted himself into second. Behind, Custer battled and fended off Allgaier for third with Berry joining the battle.

    Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Nemechek was leading by six-tenths of a second over Custer, who overtook Sammy Smith for the runner-up spot four laps earlier, while Berry moved his way up to fourth. Meanwhile, Allgaier settled in fifth as he was locked in a battle with teammate Brandon Jones for the spot while Creed, Hemric, Kraus and Moffitt were mired back in the top 10.

    With five laps remaining, Nemechek retained the lead by six-tenths of a second over a hard-charging Custer, who continued to try and close in for his bid for the victory while third-place Sammy Smith trailed by a second. By then, fourth-place Berry trailed by two seconds while Brandon Jones was in fifth ahead of Allgaier and Hemric.

    When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Nemechek remained as the leader by nearly a second over Custer as Sammy Smith tried to close in on Custer for second. Amid the battles within the field, Nemechek was able to cycle his way around the Paperclip-shaped circuit for a final time and claim the checkered flag for his second victory of the season just as the caution flew when Sheldon Creed wrecked on the backstretch while vying for a top-15 finish.

    With the victory, Nemechek, who delivered the third victory of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing, claimed his fourth career victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, his first since winning at Auto Club Speedway in February and his second national touring series win at Martinsville after winning the Truck Martinsville race in 2018. He also became the second multi-race winner of this year’s Xfinity season as he pocketed the second Dash 4 Cash bonus of $100,000, which was also his first in the series, to go along with the race-winning grandfather clock trophy.

    “I’m just grateful for [sponsor] Pye Barker Fire & Safety,” Nemechek, whose car caught on fire while performing his victorious burnout across the frontstretch wall, said on FS1. “Martinsville Speedway, actually, uses Pye Barker Fire & Safety fire extinguishers. Thank you to them for all the safety equipment, for that amazing burnout that caught on fire. I can’t say enough about this whole team. If you would’ve asked me yesterday if we would’ve won, I thought we were a 10th-place car in practice, didn’t think we were very good. Just grateful that the guys made the right adjustments and gave me a Pye Barker Toyota GR Supra as fast as Xfinity 10G. Let’s celebrate. We’ll go celebrate with [family]. [Wife] Taylor, we got another grandfather clock to bring home.”

    Behind, Sammy Smith pulled a bump-and-run move on Custer on the final turn to claim second place as Custer fell back to third. Berry navigated his way through the scuffed tires to finish fourth while Brandon Jones claimed his first top-five finish of the season by finishing fifth. The top-four finishers that include Nemechek, Sammy Smith, Custer and Berry will contend for the third Dash 4 Cash bonus next weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.

    “[I] Just a little bit more drive off,” Smith said. “Congrats to [Nemechek]. They were the best car all night. We just needed a couple more adjustments to get our Pilot Flying J Toyota GR Supra in Victory Lane, but close. We’ll get’em next week.”

    Like Berry, teammate Allgaier navigated his way through worn tires to finish sixth while Hemric, Kraus, Moffitt and Chandler Smith finished in the top 10.

    There were seven lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 82 laps. In total, 27 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.

    Following the eighth event of the 2023 Xfinity Series season, John Hunter Nemechek leads the regular-season standings by 21 points over Austin Hill, 34 over Chandler Smith, 38 over Riley Herbst and 43 over Josh Berry.

    Results.

    1. John Hunter Nemechek, 198 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

    2. Sammy Smith, six laps led

    3. Cole Custer, five laps led

    4. Josh Berry, 27 laps led

    5. Brandon Jones

    6. Justin Allgaier, six laps led

    7. Daniel Hemric

    8. Derek Kraus

    9. Brett Moffitt

    10. Chandler Smith

    11. Parker Retzlaff

    12. Ryan Truex

    13. Blaine Perkins

    14. Jeb Burton

    15. Kaz Grala

    16. Austin Hill, eight laps led

    17. Parker Kligerman

    18. Ryan Sieg

    19. Josh Williams

    20. Jeffrey Earnhardt

    21. Patrick Emerling

    22. Matt Mills

    23. Gray Gaulding

    24. Anthony Alfredo

    25. Leland Honeyman

    26. Alex Labbe

    27. Sheldon Creed

    28. Ryan Ellis, one lap down

    29. Brennan Poole, four laps down

    30. Riley Herbst – OUT, Accident

    31. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident

    32. Jeremy Clements – OUT, Accident

    33. Connor Mosack, 45 laps down

    34. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Suspension

    35. Kyle Sieg – OUT, Accident

    36. Dawson Cram – OUT, Accident

    37. Joe Graf Jr. – OUT, Accident

    38. Kaden Honeycutt – OUT, Engine

    Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ lone visit of the season to Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama, which will serve as the site of the third Dash 4 Cash event of this season. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, April 22, at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.