The NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series travel to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend as the Playoffs continue. It will be the first race in the Cup Series Round of 12 as William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace continue their quest for the coveted 2023 Cup Series championship.
Following last week’s event at Bristol Motor Speedway, Cup Series drivers, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Michael McDowell were eliminated from championship contention.
The Xfinity Series heads to Texas for the second race in the Round of 12 Playoffs. Justin Allgaier won the first event at Bristol Motor Speedway and secured his spot in the following round. Joining him in the bid for the championship are drivers John Hunter Nemechek, Cole Custer, Austin Hill, Chandler Smith, Daniel Hemric, Sammy Smith, Sheldon Creed, Jeb Burton, Sam Mayer, Parker Kligerman and Josh Berry.
The CRAFTSMAN Truck Series is off but returns on Saturday, Sept. 30, at Talladega Superspeedway for the second race of the series Playoffs Round of 8.
10:35 a.m.: Xfinity Series Practice – All entries – NBC Sports App 11:05 a.m.: Xfinity Qualifying – Impound/Single Vehicle/1Lap/All Entries – NBC Sports App 12:35 p.m.: Cup Series Practice – Group A & B 1:20 p.m.: Cup Series Qualifying (Impound) Group A & B/Single Vehicle/1 Lap, 2 Rounds USA/PRN/SiriusXM/ NBC Sports App
3:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 Stages end on Laps 45/90/200 Laps = 300 miles USA/PRN/SiriusXM/NBC Sports App Purse: $1,377,593
Sunday, September 24
3:30 p.m.: AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 Stages end on Laps 80/160/267 = 400.5 miles USA/PRN/SiriusXM/NBC Sports App Purse: $8,955,060
Justin Allgaier commenced the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs in dramatic fashion by dominating and making a late charge back to the front amid a late pit stop for four fresh tires to outduel Daniel Hemric amid a late battle and win the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday, September 15.
The 37-year-old Allgaier from Riverton, Illinois, led three times for a race-high 110 of 300-scheduled laps in an event where he started 10th and battled up towards the front as he collected stage points during both stage break periods, all while leading for the first time in Lap 109. Amid late on-track chaos, Allgaier and crew chief Jim Pohlman rolled the dice by surrendering the lead and pitting for fresh tires during a late caution period with 50 laps remaining. Restarting within the top 15 during the final restart with 44 laps remaining, Allgaier methodically carved his way back to the front before engaging in a fierce battle with Daniel Hemric for the lead with 20 laps remaining. Allgaier then succeeded in reassuming the top spot from Hemric following a bold pass with 12 laps remaining and managed to pull away to win for the third time in the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season and become the first Xfinity Playoff contender to transfer from the Round of 12 to 8.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Playoff contender Cole Custer claimed pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 122.341 mph in 15.684 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Josh Berry, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 122.123 mph in 15.712 seconds.
Prior to the event, the following names that included Derek Kraus, Anthony Alfredo and Riley Herbst dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries. Jeb Burton also dropped 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 started, Custer rocketed ahead as he then transitioned his No. 00 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang from the outside lane to the inside lane to retain the lead through the first two turns. Behind, rookie Chandler Smith made his way into second over Berry followed by John Hunter Nemechek as Daniel Hemric and rookie Sammy Smith followed suit. As the field jostled for early positions amid two lanes, Custer proceeded to lead the first lap.
Through the second to fifth lap, the field running in the middle of the pack fanned out to as high as three lanes while most of the front-runners ran in a single file line behind the leader Custer. In the process, Berry, who nearly got loose while battling Nemechek for third place through Turn 2, slowly began to lose spots as he dropped out of the top five due to being stuck on the outside lane. Berry’s misfortunes allowed Nemechek, Sammy Smith and Brandon Jones to move into the top five behind Custer and Chandler Smith.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Custer was leading by more than a second over Chandler Smith followed by Nemechek, Sammy Smith and Justin Allgaier while Brandon Jones, Berry, Daniel Hemric, Trevor Bayne and Ryan Sieg were in the top 10. By then, Playoff newcomer Parker Kligerman was in 11th ahead of Sam Mayer, Jeremy Clements, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and rookie Parker Retzlaff while Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill were mired in 19th and 20th. Meanwhile, Jeb Burton was mired back in 31st.
Ten laps later, Custer continued to lead by two seconds over Nemechek followed by Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith and Allgaier. Behind, Berry lost a spot to eighth place over Brandon Jones and Bayne while Kligerman cracked the top 10 as he was in 10th ahead of Mayer and Hemric. Meanwhile, Earnhardt Jr. was in 13th while teammates Creed and Hill were still mired in 18th and 19th, respectively. In the process, Burton gained three spots to 28th as Custer’s lead decreased to a second over Nemechek by Lap 25.
At the Lap 35 mark, Custer stabilized his lead by a second over Nemechek while Allgaier, Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith continued to run in the top five. Behind, Brandon Jones, Bayne, Berry, Ryan Sieg and Mayer completed the top 10 while Kligerman, Hemric, Earnhardt Jr., Jeffrey Earnhardt and Retzlaff trailed in the top 15. Meanwhile, Hill and Creed were in 17th and 18th while Jeb Burton was in 25th. Custer’s lead would increase again to more than two seconds over Nemechek at the Lap 40 mark.
By Lap 50, Custer’s advantage stabilized to more than two seconds over the new runner-up competitor, Allgaier, while Nemechek fell back to third in front of Jones and Sammy Smith. By then, Playoff contenders Chandler Smith, Mayer and Kligerman were in the top 10 while Berry and Hemric trailed in 11th and 12th in front of Earnhardt Jr. In addition, Hill was in 16th, teammate Creed trailed in 19th and Burton, who would lose a lap to the leaders, was in 23rd.
Fifteen laps later, Custer extended his lead by nearly three seconds over Allgaier while Nemechek, Jones and Sammy Smith were scored in the top five. With Bayne, Chandler Smith, Mayer, Kligerman and Ryan Sieg running in the top 10, Earnhardt Jr. moved up to 11th in front of Hemric, Berry, Retzlaff and Riley Herbst. Custer would proceed to stretch his advantage to more than two seconds over Allgaier just past the Lap 75 mark.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 85, Custer claimed his sixth Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season. Allgaier settled in second as he trailed by more than a second while Brandon Jones, Nemechek, Bayne, Chandler Smith, Kligerman, Mayer, Earnhardt Jr. and Sammy Smith were scored in the top 10. By then, Playoff contenders Hemric, Hill, Berry, Creed and Burton were mired within the top 20 on the track, but they did not claim the first round of stage points. In addition, 16 of 38 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Custer pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Custer retained the lead after exiting first while Allgaier, Jones, Nemechek, Earnhardt Jr. and Bayne followed suit.
The second stage started on Lap 95 as Custer and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, Custer rocketed ahead and retained the lead from the outside lane while Jones and Allgaier battled for second through Turns 1 and 2. Then in Turn 3, Allgaier nearly got loose after battling dead even and making slight contact with Jones. Their contact allowed Earnhardt Jr. to close in from fourth before Jones would succeed and clear Allgaier for the runner-up spot. Amid the battles, Custer proceeded to lead by the Lap 100 mark as Nemechek settled in fifth.
Not long after, the battle for the lead intensified between Custer and Allgaier, who reclaimed the runner-up spot from teammate Jones during Lap 101 before using the inside lane to gain ground on Custer. After a brief dueling match, Allgaier gained the lead from the inside lane by Lap 109. With Allgaier leading, Custer, who remained on the outside lane, retained second in front of Earnhardt Jr. Behind, Jones, who had a small tire rub towards the left-rear fender of his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro, was in fourth in front of Nemechek while Sammy Smith, Herbst, Chandler Smith, Bayne and Mayer were in the top 10 by Lap 115.
At the Lap 125 mark, Allgaier was leading by a second over Custer while Earnhardt Jr., Jones and Nemechek continued to trail in the top five. Behind, Sammy Smith was in sixth ahead of Herbst, Bayne, Chandler Smith and Mayer while Hill, Kligerman, Hemric, Berry, Jeb Burton and Creed were in 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 18th and 21st, respectively. Allgaier would continue to lead by more than a second over Custer by Lap 135. By then, Jones regained third place from Earnhardt Jr. while Nemechek retained fifth in front of teammate Sammy Smith.
On Lap 146, the caution flew when Joe Graf Jr. got bumped by Connor Mosack before he spun exiting the frontstretch and through Turn 1 as he nearly collected Custer, Jones and Earnhardt Jr. while spinning towards the Turn 1 outside wall before he spun below the apron and proceeded. The incident occurred laps later after Playoff contender Kligerman took his No. 48 Spiked Light Coolers Chevrolet Camaro to the garage due to a wheel bearing issue.
During the caution period, a bevy of names that included Jones, Earnhardt Jr., Bayne, Herbst, Mayer, Chandler Smith, Hemric and Berry pitted while the rest led by Allgaier remained on the track.
When the race restarted on Lap 153, Allgaier fended off Nemechek to retain the lead as the field jostled for positions. Seven laps into the restart, Allgaier was leading by a tenth of a second over Custer followed by Hill, Bayne and Earnhardt Jr. while Nemechek was battling Hemric for sixth place. By then, Jones was in ninth ahead of Herbst while Berry was in 11th and Sammy Smith was back in 15th.
Then on Lap 166, the caution flew when Berry, who was battling teammate Mayer in the top 10, raced up the track in Turn 1 and clipped Mayer’s No. 1 Huck’s Market Chevrolet Camaro, with the ensuing contact resulting with Mayer spinning and slapping the outside wall while Berry got hit and collided into the outside wall by teammate Jones, thus knocking out three JR Motorsports competitors from contention and hindering Mayer and Berry’s start to the Playoffs, as Ryan Sieg also spun and collided into Jones’ No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro from the carnage. The caution for the multi-car wreck was enough to conclude the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 170 under caution as Allgaier claimed his ninth Xfinity stage victory of 2023. Custer settled in second followed by Hill, Earnhardt Jr. and Bayne while Nemechek, Hemric, Herbst, Chandler Smith and Jeffrey Earnhardt were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, various pit strategies ensued as Earnhardt Jr., Bayne, Chandler Smith, Parker Retzlaff and Herbst remained on the track while the rest led by Allgaier and Custer pitted.
With 121 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Earnhardt Jr. and Chandler Smith occupied the front row. At the start, Earnhardt Jr. and Chandler Smith dueled for the lead for a full lap until Earnhardt Jr. rocketed his No. 88 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro ahead of Smith and clear of the field with both lanes to his control. With Earnhardt Jr. leading, Bayne moved his No. 19 He Gets Us Toyota Supra into second as Allgaier would follow suit a few laps later. The caution, however, would return with 116 laps remaining after Jeremy Clements and Joe Graf Jr. wrecked in Turn 1. Following the incident, Jeb Burton ran into the side of Jeffery Earnhardt to express his displeasure over being put into the wall by Earnhardt prior to the caution period.
During the ensuing restart with 110 laps remaining, Earnhardt Jr. retained lead and moved from the outside to the inside lane to fend off teammate Allgaier. By then, Bayne trailed closely along with Herbst, Chandler Smith and Nemechek as Earnhardt Jr. continued to lead.
With 100 laps remaining, Earnhardt Jr. was leading by a second over Bayne followed by Allgaier, Custer and Nemechek while Herbst, Hill, Ryan Sieg, Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith were in the top 10. By then, Creed and Hemric were mired in the top 15.
Fifteen laps later, Earnhardt Jr. continued to lead by more than a second over Custer while Allgaier, Nemechek and Bayne trailed in the top five ahead of Ryan Sieg, Sammy Smith, Hill, Creed, Herbst, Chandler Smith, Hemric, Retzlaff, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Derek Kraus as Jeb Burton followed suit in 16th.
Shortly after, the caution flew when Creed slid up the track and made contact with teammate Hill entering the frontstretch as Hill, the 2023 Xfinity regular-season champion, spun and hit the inside wall. The damage to the No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet Camaro was enough to terminate Hill’s run late in the event. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Earnhardt pitted while Allgaier, Ryan Sieg, Hemric, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Jeb Burton remained on the track.
With the race restarting under green with 76 laps remaining, Allgaier and Hemric dueled for the lead until Allgaier pulled ahead through Turn 2 as Ryan Sieg closed in while in third place. Behind and in the ensuing laps, Earnhardt Jr. overtook Jeb Burton for fourth as Nemechek and Custer followed suit.
With 60 laps remaining, Allgaier retained the lead by two-tenths of a second over Hemric while Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Sieg and Nemechek were in the top five. Behind, Custer was in sixth ahead of Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith, Bayne and Herbst while Creed was back in 12th ahead of Jeb Burton.
Following another caution period eight laps later after Josh Bilicki got sideways off the front nose of Rajah Caruth and wrecked on the frontstretch, select names that included Allgaier, Jeb Burton and Retzlaff pitted while rest led by Hemric remained on the track.
With the race restarting with 44 laps remaining, Hemric fended off Nemechek to lead from outside lead while Custer and Earnhardt Jr. battled for third. Though Nemechek led Lap 257 by a hair, Hemric regained momentum from the outside lane to reassume the lead in his No. 10 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro. As Hemric worked to retain lead from Nemechek, Earnhardt Jr. trailed closely in third while Custer and Chandler Smith were in fourth and fifth.
With 30 laps remaining and amid a four-car battle for the lead, Hemric was leading by two-tenths of a second over Nemechek while Custer and Earnhardt Jr. were under seven-tenths of a second as they joined the battle. Shortly after, Earnhardt Jr. fell off the pace and pitted under green before he then parked his No. 88 Chevrolet in Nemechek’s stall as smoke and fire started to billow inside of the car. Despite his event coming to a late closure, Earnhardt Jr. was able to emerge unscathed and the race remained under green flag conditions as the safety crew put out the fire and towed Earnhardt Jr.’s car back behind the wall.
With Earnhardt out of contention, Hemric retained the lead by a tenth of a second over Allgaier followed by Nemechek, Custer and Chandler Smith with less than 25 laps remaining. Shortly after and with 20 laps remaining, the battle for the lead intensified as a side-by-side battle ensued between Hemric and Allgaier. Despite being pressured by Allgaier on the inside lane, Hemric, who nearly lost the lead after getting briefly held up by Kligerman, remained on the outside lane to retain the lead.
With 15 laps remaining, Hemric was still leading by a tenth of a second over Allgaier as both continued to challenge one another amid the turns for the lead. Then three laps later, Allgaier muscled his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro ahead from the inside lane. He would then clear Hemric through Turn 2 to assume the lead and continue to lead with 10 laps remaining as he had both lanes under his control.
Down to the final five laps of the event, Allgaier stretched his advantage to nine-tenths of a second over Hemric while third-place Nemechek trailed by more than two seconds ahead of Custer and Chandler Smith.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allgaier remained as the leader by more than a second over Hemric. With Hemric unable to close the deficit amid lapped traffic, Allgaier was able to navigate his way around the 0.533-mile oval circuit for a final time and cycle back to the frontstretch to claim the checkered flag and win for the third time this season by more than a second over Hemric.
Photo by Chad Wells for SpeedwayMedia.com.
With the victory, Allgaier notched his 22nd career win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, his third of the season, his first since winning at Daytona International Speedway in late August and first at Bristol since 2010, where Allgaier had claimed his first Xfinity career victory. The victory, which also marked the fifth of the season for JR Motorsports, automatically transferred Allgaier, crew chief Jim Pohlman and his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro team a spot into the Round of 8 in the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs.
During his victory celebration, Allgaier, who gave his father and team owner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., a ride across the side mirrors of his race-winning car to Victory Lane, broke the news that he will remain as a full-time Xfinity Series competitor for JR Motorsports for the 2024 season.
“How cool was it that I got to battle with the bossman, Dale Jr.,” Allgaier said on USA Network. “Just cannot say enough for this team. This team has done such an amazing job at this racetrack since I started at JR Motorsports. We led a lot of laps and the monkey was definitely on our back. The pit strategy there, man, coming down pit road all by myself, that was nerve racking. I’m speechless, man. This place, Jim Pohlman and I circled this place on our calendar when we started the year, before we ever even took the green flag lap. We said we want to win Bristol. Man, we won Bristol! It’s Bristol, baby! Let’s go!”
Hemric, who was announced to be driving for Kaulig Racing for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season earlier in the day, settled in second place for the third time this season and the 13th time in his career. Despite falling one spot shy of claiming his second Xfinity victory, Hemric was left satisfied with his result as he is currently ranked in sixth place in the Playoff standings while 12 points above the top-eight cutline.
“It’s been a hell of a day,” Hemric said. “I just want it so bad for these guys. Everybody at Kaulig Racing deserves it, so proud of our effort, though. We came a long way over the course of 300 laps there.”
Nemechek, Custer and Chandler Smith finished in the top five, thus joining Allgaier and Hemric as Playoff contenders to notch top-five results in the Playoff opener. Ryan Sieg, Trevor Bayne, Herbst, Sammy Smith and Grala completed the top 10 in the final running order.
Notably, Playoff contenders Sheldon Creed and Jeb Burton ended up 11th and 13th, Kligerman concluded his long night in 31st, 54 laps down, and Hill, Mayer and Berry were the three Playoff contenders who failed to finish the first Playoff event. In addition, Dale Earnhardt Jr. ended up 30th after his late ignition issues prevented him from finishing the event.
There were eight lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 48 laps. In addition, 14 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results.
1. Justin Allgaier, 110 laps led, Stage 2 winner
2. Daniel Hemric, 33 laps led
3. John Hunter Nemechek, one lap led
4. Cole Custer, 109 laps led, Stage 1 winner
5. Chandler Smith
6. Ryan Sieg
7. Trevor Bayne
8. Riley Herbst
9. Sammy Smith
10. Kaz Grala
11. Sheldon Creed
12. Derek Kraus
13. Jeb Burton
14. Connor Mosack
15. Parker Retzlaff, one lap down
16. Brett Moffitt, one lap down
17. Rajah Caruth, two laps down
18. Ryan Ellis, two laps down
19. Stefan Parsons, two laps down
20. Josh Williams, two laps down
21. Kyle Sieg, two laps down
22. Brennan Poole, three laps down
23. Kyle Weatherman, three laps down
24. Jeremy Clements, three laps down
25. Anthony Alfredo, four laps down
26. Joe Graf Jr., five laps down
27. Josh Bilicki, six laps down
28. Blaine Perkins, six laps down
29. Chad Finchum, 24 laps down
30. Dale Earnhardt Jr. – OUT, Ignition
31. Parker Kligerman, 54 laps down
32. Jeffrey Earnhardt – OUT, Brakes
33. Austin Hill – OUT, Dvp
34. Brandon Jones – OUT, Suspension
35. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident
36. Josh Berry – OUT, Accident
37. BJ McLeod – OUT, Power
38. Timmy Hill – OUT, Rear gear
*Bold indicates Playoff competitors
Playoff standings
1. Justin Allgaier – Advanced
2. John Hunter Nemechek +65
3. Cole Custer +39
4. Austin Hill +21
5. Chandler Smith +18
6. Daniel Hemric +12
7. Sammy Smith +5
8. Sheldon Creed +4
9. Jeb Burton -4
10. Sam Mayer -14
11. Parker Kligerman -22
12. Josh Berry -24
With the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs underway, the postseason battle for the title continues next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, for the second Round of 12 event. The event is scheduled to occur on Saturday, September 23, at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
The conclusion of the Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday, September 15, saw Dale Earnhardt Jr. stand outside of the care center and managing a small smile as he watched his JR Motorsports’ driver, Justin Allgaier, win the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff opener.
It occurred not long after the 15-time NASCAR Cup Series Most Popular Driver and two-time Xfinity Series champion from Kannapolis, North Carolina, was forced to retire due to a late ignition issue that sidelined him from a potential top-five finish in an event where he ran upfront and was battling amongst the front-runners for the victory prior to his late retirement.
Making his first of two scheduled Xfinity Series starts while driving his own-operated No. 88 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro, Earnhardt Jr. rolled off the starting grid during Friday night’s event at Bristol from 15th place. He managed to crack the top 10 at the first stage’s conclusion by Lap 85 and collect a handful of stage points while scored in ninth. Restarting sixth at the start of the second stage period on Lap 85, Earnhardt Jr. made his way into the top five as he was running third by Lap 125. Amid a handful of on-track incidents that wiped out his drivers, Josh Berry, Sam Mayer and Brandon Jones, Earnhardt Jr. managed to dodge the carnage and collect more stage points by finishing fourth at the conclusion of the second stage period on Lap 170.
Electing to remain on the track prior to the start of the final stage period and amid mixed strategy, Earnhardt Jr., who inherited the lead, led the field back to green flag competition with 121 laps remaining. He would proceed to fend off rookie Chandler Smith to clear the field, assume both lanes under his control and lead a total of 47 laps before pitting amid a caution period within 80 laps remaining. During the ensuing restart with 76 laps remaining, Earnhardt Jr. quickly carved his way up to fourth and would survive another late restart with 44 laps remaining to move up to third as he continued to mix up the competition amongst the Xfinity Series regulars.
Then while running in fifth place with 30 laps remaining, Earnhardt Jr. fell off the pace and directed his No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro to pit road before coming to a stop inside John Hunter Nemechek’s pit stall as smoke and fire were seen billowing inside the cockpit due to an ignition issue. Though Earnhardt Jr. was able to escape his smoking car, the ignition issue was enough to terminate his strong race on pit road and out of the race as he ended up in 30th place in the final running order.
“Somehow or another, the shifter tunnel caught on fire,” Earnhardt Jr. said on USA Network. “I saw some smoke in the car. I smelled it and I was like, ‘Hopefully, that’s not me’. That last lap, I saw a big fireball down in the tunnel in the car and I felt it. My uniform was burning up. I was like I can’t keep going. I gotta stop. I hate it. We were gonna finish in the top 10, maybe top five. We had a shot at winning it if the car was gonna run good at the end. I had fun.””
The result that left a small burnt mark on his fire suit, though, could not keep Earnhardt Jr. from smiling from both an owner and driver’s perspective amid his strong and “fun” run as he also celebrated Allgaier’s victory and automatic transfer to the Playoff’s Round of 8.
“I had a blast,” Earnhardt Jr. added. “Check that box. The Hellmann’s car was fast. We drove up there and led laps legitimately. I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘Man, what’s going on?’ It makes me wanna do more, but I’m going to Homestead. I’ll see everybody there. We’ll have some fun at Homestead riding the fence.”
Friday night’s Xfinity event at Bristol marked Earnhardt Jr.’s 145th career start in the series and his first since competing at Martinsville Speedway in April 2022. It also marked his sixth Xfinity start since retiring from full-time Cup Series competition at the conclusion of the 2017 season, where he has notched three top-five results and five top-15 results since 2018. To go along with 26 career victories in the Cup circuit, including two Daytona 500s, Earnhardt Jr. is also a 24-time race winner in the Xfinity circuit, with his latest victory occurring at Richmond Raceway in April 2016.
With his first Xfinity Series scheduled start of this season at Bristol complete, Earnhardt Jr. will make his second and final series start of this season at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Saturday, October 21, with the event’s coverage slated to occur at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.
JR Motorsports confirmed that Brandon Jones and Menards will be remaining with the organzation’s No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro entry for the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.
The announcement comes as the 26-year-old Jones from Atlanta, Georgia, is currently campaigning in his eighth full-time season in the Xfinity circuit and first with JRM. It also comes as Jones is coming off his best-recorded finish thus far this season in the form of a runner-up result at Kansas Speedway.
“Competing for race wins and series championships alongside John Menard and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a driver’s dream come true, especially since both have worked together with great success before,” Jones said in a released statement. “The partnership between the two organizations is top-notch and I am excited for the opportuning to continue that success.”
This season, Jones has recorded three top-five results, seven top-10 results, 48 laps led and an average-finishing result of 17.2 through the first 26 events of the 2023 Xfinity Series schedule. Despite not making the 2023 Xfinity Playoffs, the Atlanta native, who is currently ranked in 14th place in the driver’s standings, remains in contention for race wins for the final seven events on the schedule, beginning this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Jones, who made his first five career starts in the Xfinity Series in 2015 before competing on a full-time basis for Richard Childress Racing in 2016, is a five-time Xfinity race winner, all of which occurred while competing for Joe Gibbs Racing from 2019-20 and 2022. His latest victory to date occurred at Martinsville Speedway in April 2022.
In addition to winning five Xfinity races, Jones has recorded eight poles, 39 top-five results, 108 top-10 results, 876 laps led and an average-finishing result of 15.3 through 262 series starts. His best points result to his Xfinity career is a sixth-place result in the 2020 Xfinity driver’s standings in a season where he also claimed a career-high three victories. The Atlanta native also has one Craftsman Truck Series victory and eight ARCA Menards Series victories to his resume.
The confirmation of Jones’ return to JR Motorsports for the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series season completes another missing puzzle to JRM’s lineup for next season. Three days earlier, Sam Mayer, a two-time Xfinity winner this season, confirmed his return to the organization for next season. The remainder of JRM’s driver lineup for next season remains undetermined.
With his plans for next season set, Jones’ next scheduled Xfinity Series event is Bristol Motor Speedway that will occur on Friday, September 15, at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
This weekend NASCAR heads to Bristol Motor Speedway as the 2023 Playoffs continue with the final race in the Cup Series Round of 16. Four drivers will be eliminated following the race. Kyle Larson (Darlington) and Tyler Reddick (Kansas) are locked into the Round of 12 by virtue of wins, leaving 10 available spots.
The Xfinity Series Playoffs begins with a diverse 12-driver field that includes participants from seven different teams:
JR Motorsports: Josh Berry, Justin Allgaier, Sam Mayer Joe Gibbs Racing: John H. Nemechek, Sammy Smith Richard Childress Racing: Austin Hill, Sheldon Creed Kaulig Racing: Chandler Smith, Daniel Hemric Stewart-Haas Racing: Cole Custer Jordan Anderson Racing: Jeb Burton Big Machine Racing: Parker Kligerman
Last week Matt Crafton and Matt DiBenedetto were eliminated from the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series post-season. The Round of 8 begins at Bristol with drivers Corey Heim, Christian Eckes, Grant Enfinger, Carson Hocevar, Zane Smith, Ty Majeski, Ben Rhodes and Nicholas Sanchez still in contention for the coveted championship trophy.
All times are Eastern.
Thursday, September 14
2 p.m.: ARCA Practice – All Entries – No TV 3 p.m.: ARCA Qualifying – Impound/Timed – No TV 4 p.m.: Truck Series Practice – Groups 1 & 2 – FS2 4:35 p.m.: Truck Qualifying (Impound) Single Vehicle/2 Laps/All Entries FS2/MRN 6 p.m.: ARCA Bush’s Beans 200 200 Laps = 106.6 Miles FS1/MRN/FloRacing 9 p.m.: Truck Series UNOH presented by Ohio Logistics Stages 55/110/200 Laps = 106.6 Miles FS1/MRN/SiriusXM The Purse: $692,239 Post Truck Series Race: NASCAR PressPass
Friday, September 15
2:35 p.m.: Xfinity Series Practice USA/PRN 3:10 p.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying USA/PRN 4:35 p.m.: Cup Series Practice USA/PRN/SiriusXM 5:20 p.m.: Cup Series Qualifying USA/PRN/SiriusXM Post Cup Series Qualifying: NASCAR PressPass 7:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series Food City 300 Stages 85/170/300 Laps = 159.9 Miles USA/PRN/SiriusXM Purse: $1,675,370 Post Xfinity Series Race: NASCAR PressPass
Saturday, September 16
7:30 p.m.: Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race – Start time moved up to 6:30 p.m. Stages 125/250/500 Laps = 266.5 Miles USA/PRN/SiriusXM Purse: $8,805,799 Post Cup Series Race: NASCAR PressPass
Joey Meier is best known today as the pilot for Dale Earnhardt Jr. but his journey into the NASCAR world began as a child. He was raised in a racing family in Marathon, Florida, where his dad, Freddy, raced on the beaches of Daytona and then famously qualified for the final race held on Daytona Beach in 1958.
Growing up, Meier used to work on cars and quite often went to Hialeah Speedway and Punta Gorda Speedway in the West Hollywood Florida area in Lee County. Racing was always in his life but flying wasn’t. He even raced street stocks and won a race but always thought he would be a better mechanic than a driver. Later in his career, he utilized that skill to help a driver and crew chief with feedback during a race.
MW: How did you get into flying?
JM: I graduated high school on a Wednesday and the following Saturday after I graduated, my mom was in an airplane accident. She was with her boyfriend at the time in some type of general aviation – amphibious type airplane, and they were messing around, and they were involved in a very bad wreck. She survived but was never the same. She had broken her neck in several spots but she regained some mobility. I was at the speedway and I got called to go to the hospital.
But because of that accident, and I didn’t even know what kind of airplane she crashed in, it immediately sucked me into aviation. But I never thought I was smart enough to be a doctor, a lawyer, or a pilot. And so it was never in my reach. That was my thought process.
But at the end of her recovery, I found myself very invested in the aviation world. I took pilot lessons and got my initial pilot’s license and I didn’t have a direction on the aviation side.
So, I actually went back to aviation maintenance for two and a half years. I still really didn’t have a direction but my great uncle was an airline pilot and he allowed me to pursue a part of the flying side as far as being a mechanic. I was still young, not quite twenty years old. So once I realized that I could take my love and passion for racing and pursue it via an aviation entrance, that’s where it all began.
And ever since then I’ve gone on to fly charter cargo maintenance and went to work in the airlines for five years. But the entire time I was doing that, I was pursuing a job with Dale Earnhardt.
So my future boss at the time, Mike Collier, it just happened to work out that in 1997 when they expanded their flight department with Dale, they called one day and asked, ‘Are you still interested?’ I said, ‘Yep’ and I was in his office two weeks later and started at DEI.
MW: After your final season, with Brad Keselowski, how and when did you have this conversation with Dale Jr. about becoming his pilot, the opportunities it would bring, and what it would require?
JM: Midway through 2018 as drivers do, they were looking to make a change. Brad wanted to take me off the roof to pursue a different direction in his flight department and in his spotting department. So after multiple conversations in which I didn’t want to come off the roof, we agreed to step away from the spotting and flying side at the end of 2018.
But he needed somebody to fill in flying in 2019. So I actually went and I stayed at Penske from a spotter standpoint and spotted the Wood Brothers car in 2019 and did a little bit of flying for Brad. But then also flew for Victory Air which is another race organization that just does aviation for race teams that don’t have their own flight department. So I spotted the Wood Brothers and flew for Brad, a little bit and Victory Air a little bit and that got me through the end of August in 2019.
Dale had an event occur in Bristol in 2019 that changed the direction of his flight department and opened up an opportunity for employment right away, and as they were searching for someone to take a place that was opening. I was involved in those conversations of if I knew of anybody and it was a perfect opportunity for me to change directions and what I felt was a better course in my life and I went to work for him in December of 2019.
MW: I’ve talked to a couple of people that have actually flown with you and they’ve said that you have kind of like a signature move?
JM: What we used to do and I don’t do it anymore because we haven’t really experienced the opportunity to, but, back in the day, whenever we went to race, we would do a victory lap before we took off. And what that consisted of was on the ground before you took off, you would actually ask (and most of your Towers would allow it) to simply do a Victory 360 on the runway and make an announcement, “Hey congratulations,” kind of like what you would do with the race car. You go around in circles with your hand out in the air.
So that’s what we’re doing with the airplane and it seems to be what all the guys are now doing. So, if you have an opportunity to get on a flight where the team has won, a lot of the pilots will still do the 360, but it’s on the ground. I don’t know if it’s a signature move but, I definitely was one of the first that did it to celebrate whenever we’d win a race.
MW: What’s the difference between your communication while flying and while spotting?
JM: The difference with me from a flying standpoint as you got to remember in flying, you only have one radio and there might be 20 aircraft on the same radio, so I don’t want to say a lot of words. But I want to be very concise with what word I say. That one word will convey a very large message. So I want to be on the radio as short as I can and I transferred that over to the spotting so we could get in these different styles of techniques years ago.
Plate racing is where the word energy came from and it was very successful at the time. And now that word has gone. It’s taken on its own little life but, I never wanted to spot as much as I like talking clearly, I always wanted to try to keep my words in my messages as short as possible, while trying to convey, a very large message with the least amount of words possible
MW: I was going to ask if you ever watch from the roof, and if so, has it ever made you want to get back into spotting?
JM: This year I’m going to have an opportunity to spot for my current boss as he runs a couple of Xfinity races. He’ll be running at Bristol and Homestead. Also, I’ll be spotting for Carson Kvapil during his truck debut at Bristol and I’m looking forward to that immensely. (Meier also filled in for T.J Majors while he was out sick recently).
Also, I was fortunate enough last year as a lot of the truck teams were looking for spotters and I was fortunate enough that the KVM Truck team with John Hunter called and I was able to spot in Knoxville with him. We had an amazing amount of fun. And then at the same time, Ryan Blaney’s spotter, Josh Williams had a chance to run a modified race at Caraway, and I went up and spotted him and we had a really good time.
And that made me realize that I do miss it. I enjoy it thoroughly. I’ll also travel with Dale on The Late Model side whenever he does a Late Model race. It’s kind of a volunteer group of guys because we don’t race full-time. We’ve raced in North Wilkesboro and Florence. And we did that a couple of times this year.
I’ll also travel with Dale on The Late Model side whenever he does away a Late Model race. It’s kind of a volunteer group of guys because we don’t race full-time. We’ve raced in North Wilkesboro and Florence. And we did that a couple of times this year.
MW: Is there anything that you and Dale do together, particularly outside of racing?
JM: No, it’s definitely a working relationship and that’s fantastic. We text quite a bit back and forth when we’re not working together, relative to whatever it might be, you know. As long as it continues that way because we have a good working relationship, I hope I can keep doing that.
MW: With you having all of this valuable knowledge and experience, has it ever crossed your mind to enter the booth or be a Pit Road commentator at any point?
JM: You know, back in 2013 MRN was gracious enough to put myself and the team up with Woody Cain and we had our own podcast. It ran for nine years. I thought we had a lot of good times. We were under the MRN Banner in which we had some guidelines. If an opportunity presents itself, I’ll tell you who does a really good job nowadays and I would love to do it and wish I could have been in that spot but Coleman Presley has been approached by Fox and does some TV from the roof from the spotter’s viewpoint.
I think that’s wonderful. I’ve always said that I thought that in the future and I was clearly wrong, but I always thought there’d be crew chiefs from the roof because you see a much bigger picture. Now, one of the reasons I’m wrong is because technology has brought all that information to the computer tables in their pit boxes. So they don’t need to be on the roof anymore to see what the spotter sees. But it’s still a good viewpoint.
Visually obviously, the spotters will always stay on the roof. But Coleman does a really good job. And if that opportunity ever presented itself, I’d love to do it. I do miss being at the racetrack. Now, I’m not going to risk or entertain moving on from the position I’m in now, because this is something I hope I can stay for the next 10, or 20 years doing. As I know, it sounds, a long way away but. my health is virtually perfect.
MW: What do you do while Dale’s working?
JM: Melissa, that’s a good question because now that I’m not involved in racing, there’s no need for us to stay with the race team, right? So the flight department has its own budget and our requirements are to try to be as efficient as possible. If you’re traveling as much as I do; you know that the closer to the racetrack/airport, you get, the more expensive your hotels are. All right, so we don’t need to be there. I don’t need to be close to a racetrack or close to the airport. I land and I can drive. For instance: I can go north from Daytona or north from Homestead or wherever I have to go to get what’s a little more efficient for our hotel needs. So I do that and we’ll get in a car and we’ll drive
40, 50 miles up north. This is also allowing me to enjoy one of my greater hobbies that I enjoy away from racing and that’s bowling. And what I do is – I carry a set of bowling balls with me in the airplane. Actually, I carry three with me wherever I go. And I do a lot of tournaments on the road, or I just do some open bowling and practicing or some tournaments. And I’ve had the luck to run into some good people around the U.S., and I’ve actually taken some instruction which I did down in Daytona in March, which was really cool, but allows me to bowl because I’m a bowling fool. I work to support my bowling habit.
MW: Is there anything on your bucket list you have yet to achieve?
JM: Professionally, all I’ve ever wanted to do is my job. Hopefully, I can carry this off into the sunset. My bucket list is to able to finish that out. Personally, I’ve got two wonderful kids. One’s in the Navy and one’s a manager at Celsius Manufacturing. They’re just now starting their lives right there just getting into their 30s. Believe it or not, I’ve got two wonderful grandkids, and as a grandfather supporting them is a very unique experience and I’m looking forward to continually experiencing things in life with my wife, kids, grandkid, and our dogs. I don’t really have a bucket list, I just want this ride to continue on.
I’d like to personally thank my friend, Joey Meier for this interview as I’m grateful for the many opportunities we’ve had over the years to chat about racing and flying.
Joey Meier hands Dale Earnhardt Jr. the American Flag at Dover Motor Speedway after 9/11.
Three days after unveiling his planned return to the NASCAR Cup Series for the 2024 season, John Hunter Nemechek took care of extra business in his closing stretch as a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series competitor and capped off this year’s regular-season stretch on a dominant note by winning the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, September 9.
The 26-year-old Nemechek from Mooresville, North Carolina, led four times for a race-high 154 of 200-scheduled laps in an event that was mired with 10 caution flag periods and on-track chaos that affected a bevy of competitors who were either locked in or looking from the outside to make the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoff field. Amid the battles for the final Playoff berth, Nemechek, who had already guaranteed himself a Playoff spot based on winning five times throughout the regular-season stretch, came into Kansas with a mission to both win and try to gain ground on Austin Hill to steal the regular-season title in last-minute fashion.
Despite falling short in claiming the latter, Nemechek, who led for the first time on Lap 41, was flawless while leading as he executed the final restart with 50 laps remaining to perfection by muscling away and beating runner-up Brandon Jones by more than seven seconds to claim his unprecedented sixth checkered flag of the 2023 Xfinity season and officially enter the Playoffs with strong momentum in preparation to claim the series championship.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Justin Allgaier started on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 176.206 mph in 30.646 seconds. Joining him on the front row was rookie Sammy Smith, who clocked in the second-best qualifying lap at 175.347 mph in 30.796 seconds.
Prior to the event, Leland Honeyman, who initially failed to qualify for the event, dropped to the rear of the field after replacing Timmy Hill in the No. 66 MBM Motorsports entry. Matt Mills also dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to his entry along with CJ McLaughlin, who fell back due to an engine change.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Allgaier and Sammy Smith dueled for the lead as the field began to fan out through the frontstretch and entering the first turn. Then as the field led by Allgaier made its way through the backstretch, the first caution flag of the event flew after Nick Leitz and Anthony Alfredo wrecked towards the outside wall and against each other in Turn 1.
When the race restarted under green on the fifth lap, Allgaier used the outside lane to his advantage as he rocketed away from Sammy Smith to retain the lead while Cole Custer, who restarted behind Allgaier, followed suit by claiming the runner-up spot. With Allgaier leading, Custer retained second over Sammy Smith while John Hunter Nemechek, Josh Berry, Brandon Jones and Daniel Hemric followed suit as the field behind fanned out and jostled for early spots.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps and as the field continued to jostle for spots, Allgaier was leading by six-tenths of a second over Custer followed by Nemechek, Sammy Smith and Brandon Jones while Berry, Hemric, Brett Moffitt, Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill were in the top 10. Behind, Ryan Sieg was in 11th ahead of Riley Herbst while Sam Mayer, Parker Kligerman and rookie Chandler Smith battled in the top 15.
Two laps later, the second caution flag of the event flew due to debris reported near the entrance of pit road. During the caution period, select names, among which included rookie Chandler Smith and Jeremy Clements, pitted while the rest led by Allgaier, who was spotted to have a brake pad stuck on the splitter of his No. 7 BRANDT Chevrolet Camaro, remained on the track. Amid the pit stops, Chandler Smith’s pit crew went under the hood to diagnose a mechanical issue that would eventually send Smith and his No. 16 Quick Tie Products Chevrolet Camaro team to the garage.
During the proceeding restart on Lap 18, Allgaier and Custer dueled for the lead through the frontstretch and they continued to duel through the backstretch while the field behind fanned out to three and four lanes. Then as Allgaier cleared the field and drove away from Custer entering the frontstretch, the caution quickly returned during the following lap when Sam Mayer, who was running ninth, made contact with Creed and spun across the frontstretch and was T-boned by Kyle Weatherman, thus knocking both out of the event.
As the event restarted under green on Lap 25, Allgaier and Custer dueled again for the lead through the frontstretch and backstretch until Allgaier used the outside lane to his advantage and rocketed away with the lead. With Allgaier leading, Nemechek started to gain ground on Custer for the runner-up spot as the field fanned out through the backstretch with Berry losing a bevy of spots and slipping out of the top 10 on the track.
At the Lap 30 mark, Allgaier was leading by six-tenths of a second over Nemechek, who overtook Custer for the runner-up spot a few laps earlier, while Custer, Sammy Smith and Hemric, who officially clinched his spot for the 2023 Xfinity Playoffs, were in the top five. Behind, Brandon Jones, needing a victory to make the Playoffs, was in sixth as he tried to close in on Hemric for a top-five spot while Hill, Kligerman, Creed and Derek Kraus were running in the top 10. With Kaz Grala, Ryan Sieg, Jeb Burton, Brett Moffit and Herbst occupying the top 15, Berry was back in 16th ahead of Connor Mosack, Joe Graf Jr., Rajah Caruth and Josh Williams.
Five laps later, Allgaier continued to lead by half a second over Nemechek while third-place Custer trailed by more than a second. Meanwhile, Hemric, who was running in the top five, plummeted to 20th due to an issue with his No. 10 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro and while Berry was mired back in 14th. By then, Brandon Jones cracked the top five in fourth while Sammy Smith was in fifth. With Hemric continuing to fall off the pace and running in the apron, his early run went from good to bad and worse after he missed his pit stall while trying to pit and dropped out of the lead lap category as he would eventually take his car to the garage.
Then on Lap 41, Nemechek, who gained a massive run through the backstretch on Allgaier during the previous lap, overtook Allgaier for the lead in his No. 20 Pye Barker Fire & Safety Toyota Supra. With Allgaier trying to fight back through Turns 1 and 2 along with the backstretch, he nearly got loose in Turn 1 and slid up the track in Turn 3, which allowed Custer to battle him for the runner-up spot while Nemechek slowly started to pull away. Meanwhile, Herbst, who was battling Kligerman for the final spot to make the Playoffs, worked his way up to ninth while Kligerman, who was currently scored five points above the cutline over Herbst, was in seventh.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 45, Nemechek, who was trying to gain ground on Austin Hill in battling for this year’s Xfinity regular-season title, captured his eighth Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 season following his late rally and overtake on Allgaier for the lead. Custer settled in second followed by Allgaier while Brandon Jones, Sammy Smith, Kligerman, Hill, Creed, Herbst and Derek Kraus were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Nemechek pitted. Following the pit stops, Custer moved into the lead after exiting pit road first while Nemechek, Allgaier, Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones, Creed, Kligerman and Herbst followed suit.
The second stage started on Lap 51 as Custer and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start, Custer and Nemechek dueled for the lead as the field fanned out through the frontstretch and entering the first two turns until Nemechek managed to cycle around Custer and reassume the lead. With Nemechek back out in front with the lead, Allgaier started to battle Custer for second in front of Brandon Jones and Sammy Smith while Kligerman muscled his No. 48 Spiked Light Coolers Chevrolet Camaro up to sixth place in his bid to make the Playoffs. During the proceeding laps and with Nemechek still leading, Berry returned to the top 10 as he was running ninth in between Creed and Hill while Herbst joined the battle as he was five spots behind Kligerman on the track.
Then on Lap 58, the caution returned due to debris in the form of a tire carcass coming apart from Jeremy Clements’ entry in Turn 1. In the midst of the issue, Custer, who was running third in front of Sammy Smith, went up the track after running over the debris and scrubbed the outside wall in Turn 1 as he limped his damaged No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang to pit road for repairs. The damage, which broke the upper control arm in the No. 00 entry, was enough to terminate Custer’s strong run in the garage.
On the ensuing restart on Lap 64, Nemechek and Allgaier dueled for the lead in front of the field. Behind, however, Kligerman, who restarted in the top 10, spun the tires while trying to regain pace, which caused the field to briefly stack up as he was then hit by Herbst, who then fell off the pace as he went up the track with a flat tire and pitted his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang under green. Back on track, Nemechek retained the lead over Allgaier while Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones and Berry followed suit.
At the Lap 70 mark, Nemechek was leading by three-tenths of a second over Allgaier while Sammy Smith, Brandon Jones and Berry continued to run in the top five. By then, Kligerman, who continued to run under full power, was in eighth while Herbst was mired back in 32nd after he lost two laps in the process of pitting under green and was now 29 points behind Kligerman for a Playoff spot.
Four laps later, the caution flew when Brandon Jones, who was running fourth, snapped sideways and spun his No. 9 Menards Chevrolet Camaro across the frontstretch grass, though he continued without sustaining any damage.
With 11 laps remaining in the second stage period, the event restarted under green. At the start, teammates Nemechek and Sammy Smith dueled for the lead as the field fanned out through the frontstretch. With Nemechek muscling away with the lead, where he proceeded to lead the Lap 80 mark, Allgaier trailed and started to challenge Smith or the lead while Hill, Allgaier and Berry battled for fourth. Teammates, Allgaier and Berry would overtake Hill for third and fourth while Sammy Smith tried to gain ground on teammate Nemechek for the lead.
When the second stage period on Lap 90, Nemechek captured his ninth Xfinity stage victory of the 2023 and second of the day after extending his advantage to more than a second over teammate Sammy Smith. Smith settled in second followed by Allgaier, Berry and Hill while Kligerman, Creed Kraus, rookie Parker Retzlaff and Moffitt were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Nemechek returned to pit road for service while Brandon Jones remained on the track to inherit the lead. Following the pit stops, Nemechek exited first while teammate, Sammy Smith, Hill, Creed, Allgaier, Kraus, Berry and Kligerman followed suit.
With 104 laps remaining, the final stage started as Brandon Jones and Nemechek occupied the front row. At the start, Nemechek reassumed the lead after gaining a strong start from the inside lane while Hill, Allgaier, Sammy Smith and Creed followed suit with the field fanning out through the backstretch. Not long after, the caution quickly returned when Sammy Smith, who was bumped by Creed, clipped and sent Allgaier for a spin as both wrecked against the outside wall in Turn 3 while Brandon Jones, who was losing spots while restarting on old tires, spun sideways to avoid the carnage. In the midst of the carnage, Herbst, who gained one of his two lost laps during the second stage break period, was the recipient of the free pass to cycle back on the lead lap and potentially draw himself back into contention to still make the Playoffs.
During the proceeding restart with 97 laps remaining, Nemechek and Hill battled early for the lead past the restart zone as the field scattered and jostled for late positions through the first two turns and the backstretch. With Nemechek retaining the lead through the proceeding laps, Creed muscled his way up to second while Berry came out late to overtake Hill and move his No. 8 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro to third. By then, Kligerman cracked the top five as he was in fifth in front of Kraus while Retzlaff, Ryan Ellis, Grala and Jeb Burton were in the top 10. In the process, Nemechek retained the lead by more than a second with 90 laps remaining.
With 80 laps remaining, Nemechek extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Berry while Creed trailed in third place by more than four seconds. With Creed and Kligerman in the top five, Kraus, Retzlaff, Brandon Jones, Grala and Moffitt trailed in the top 10 while Herbst carved his way up to 12th. As Nemechek continued to extend his advantage to more than three seconds with 75 laps remaining, Herbst continued his march back to the front as he returned to the top 10 by moving up to 10th behind Grala.
A few laps later, however, Herbst’s late rally from his early issues evaporated after he was forced to pit under green due to a flat right-front tire with smoke coming out of his car amid a tire rub. Mired back multiple laps once again, Herbst found himself strapped in 29th place while Kligerman continued to run in fifth as he was now scored 30 points above the cutline and in position to claim the final Playoff spot. Meanwhile, Nemechek extended his advantage to more than six seconds over Berry.
With 63 laps remaining, the caution flew when Rajah Caruth was turned by Matt Mills and spun his No. 45 Circle Pay Chevrolet Camaro across the frontstretch grass and towards pit road before he looped his car straight and continued. During the caution period, the lead lap field led by Nemechek peeled off the track to pit for service. Following the pit stops, Nemechek retained the lead after exiting first while Berry, Hill, Creed and Kligerman followed suit.
As the race restarted with 57 laps remaining, Nemechek rocketed away from the field to retain the lead while Hill and Berry battled for second. As Berry rocketed away from Hill during the following lap with Nemechek out in front, Brandon Jones overtook both Kligerman and Creed through the backstretch just before the caution returned when Caruth slid his car sideways through Turns 3 and 4.
When the race restarted with 50 laps remaining, Nemechek and Berry dueled for the lead through the frontstretch until Nemechek managed to muscle ahead with the lead entering the backstretch. Behind, Hill, Brandon Jones and Kligerman battled for third as Jones overtook both to move up to third before proceeding to catch teammate Berry for more. In the process, Hill and Kligerman kept battling for fourth place in front of Creed. Jones would then overtake teammate Berry for the runner-up spot with 47 laps remaining as he now set his sights on Nemechek for the lead and win to get into the Playoffs.
With 35 laps remaining, Nemechek was leading by more than a second over Brandon Jones while Hill moved his No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet Camaro up to third place in front of Berry and Kligerman. Behind, Moffitt was in sixth while Creed, Kraus, Jeb Burton and Grala were scored in the top 10.
Ten laps later, Nemechek stretched his advantage to more than three seconds over Brandon Jones while third-place Hill trailed by more than five seconds ahead of Berry and Kligerman. Nemechek would continue to extend his advantage to more than four seconds over Brandon Jones followed by Hill while Kligerman overtook Berry for fourth place with 20 laps remaining.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Nemechek stabilized his advantage to nearly six seconds over Brandon Jones while Hill, Kligerman and Creed were trailing behind in the top five and by more than nine seconds. By then, Berry fell back to sixth while Moffitt, Kraus, Grala and Joe Graf Jr. were mired in the top 10.
With five laps remaining, Nemechek continued to lead by more than six seconds over Brandon Jones as he continued to muscle away from the field while navigating his way through lapped traffic.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Nemechek remained as the leader by more than six seconds over Brandon Jones. With Jones too far back to mount a late charge, Nemechek, who continued to deal with lapped traffic, was able to cycle his way around the Kansas circuit for a final time smoothly and cross the finish line to claim his sixth checkered flag of the 2023 Xfinity season and by more than seven seconds over Jones.
With the victory, Nemechek scored his eighth career victory in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, his sixth of the season, his second at Kansas and the 10th of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing. In addition, Nemechek recorded the milestone 200th Xfinity career win for the Toyota nameplate. Despite falling short of claiming the Xfinity Series regular-season title to Austin Hill by a mere margin, Nemechek enters the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs with momentum and with the top seed with 2,049 points as he prepares to embark on his quest to win his first Xfinity title.
“I don’t if this [win] makes us the [championship] favorite or not, but super proud of this No. 20 team, Joe Gibbs Racing,” Nemechek said on NBC. “Man, it’s been a week. It’s been an exciting week, but I’m super pumped to get [the] Pye Barker Toyota GR Supra back in Victory Lane. [Crew chief] Ben [Beshore] and all the guys made the right adjustments all day. They brought a really fast hot rod. Overall, just super pumped, super ecstatic. I’m looking forward to getting in the Playoffs starting next weekend at Bristol [Motor Speedway]. We came in here today trying to get the regular-season championship. I said that we’re gonna have a 60-point day this weekend and that’s what we did. We controlled where we can control. We did everything that we could possibly do, so let’s get to the Playoffs. I’m ready.”
Brandon Jones rallied from his pair of on-track spins by settling in second place, which marks his highest-finishing result of the season, but was not able to gain enough ground to make the Playoffs for himself and the No. 9 JR Motorsports team.
Creed settled in third place followed by Parker Kligerman, who was able to clinch the 12th and final transfer spot into the Playoffs as both he and Big Machine Racing will make their inaugural presences in the Xfinity Series Playoffs as title contenders while seeded 12th in the Playoff standings with 2,002 points. With Kligerman in the Playoffs, Herbst, who came into Kansas a single point ahead of Kligerman, ended up dropping below the cutline amid his series of on-track issues and with a 23rd-place finish as he too missed the Playoffs.
Photo by Simon Scoggins for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“That’s a very satisfying feeling,” Kligerman said. “I was definitely the biggest John Hunter [Nemechek] fan that last run there, seeing [Brandon Jones] be so fast that last run. I’m really proud of this whole Big Machine Racing team. They brought a really good Spiked Light Coolers Chevy as we showed throughout this race. We executed at a high level and that’s what I’m seeing us do for the last 12 weeks. I felt like if we could just get in the Playoffs and we bring this going forward, we’re gonna go racing for a championship. What an honor to get the first Playoff berth for this race team. Overall, just a really solid day where we executed on a high level. If we can do that in the next eight weeks, we got a chance at this thing.”
“We just weren’t good enough today,” Herbst said. “I feel like we weren’t good enough, though, so that’s what’s frustrating. I just don’t think we executed on that restart [on Lap 64]. I don’t really know what happened. They all got stacked up. I don’t know if somebody missed a gear or spun the tires, but at that point, our day was kind of in a big hole. I feel like we can go now and try to win races. I don’t think we’re gonna quit working by any means and I think we’re gonna hopefully end up in Victory Lane by the year’s over.”
Finishing behind Kligerman on the track was Austin Hill, who was able to lock up the Xfinity Series regular-season championship over Nemechek. As a result, Hill, who was awarded an additional 15 Playoff bonus points, will be seeded in second place behind Nemechek in the Playoff standings with 2,039 points as he prepares to contend for his first Xfinity title.
“We just struggled all day with the balance of our Bennett Chevrolet,” Hill said. “We persevered, we dug deep. Not even sure how we finished in the top five there. Us getting the regular-season championship just shows that no matter how tough the battle is and how tough the uphill climb is, we never give up. We keep fighting. The guys did an awesome job on pit road on gaining me spots. That helped. We just had to go out there and just salvage what we could. Going into the Playoffs, we have a lot of work to do to catch up to [Nemechek]. He was class of the field today. We gotta be better come Bristol time.”
Berry, Moffitt, Derek Kraus, Joe Graf Jr. and Kaz Grala finished in the top 10 on the track.
John Hunter Nemechek, Austin Hill, Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Sam Mayer, rookie Chandler Smith, Josh Berry, Sheldon Creed, rookie Sammy Smith, Jeb Burton, Daniel Hemric and Parker Kligerman have made the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs and will embark on a seven-race stretch to battle for this year’s Xfinity Series championship.
Riley Herbst, Brandon Jones, Brett Moffitt, rookie Parker Retzlaff, Kaz Grala, Ryan Sieg, Jeremy Clements, Anthony Alfredo, Joe Graf Jr., Kyle Sieg, Josh Williams, Brennan Poole, Ryan Ellis and Blaine Perkins are among the rest of the competitors who missed the Playoffs.
There were seven lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured 10 cautions for 49 laps. In addition, 11 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results.
1. John Hunter Nemechek, 154 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner
2. Brandon Jones, two laps led
3. Sheldon Creed
4. Parker Kligerman
5. Austin Hill
6. Josh Berry
7. Brett Moffitt
8. Derek Kraus
9. Joe Graf Jr.
10. Kaz Grala
11. Parker Retzlaff
12. Jeb Burton, one lap down
13. Josh Williams, one lap down
14. Connor Mosack, one lap down
15. Jeremy Clements, one lap down
16. Mason Massey, one lap down
17. Ryan Ellis, one lap down
18. Justin Allgaier, one lap down, 40 laps led
19. Matt Mills, two laps down
20. Kyle Sieg, two laps down
21. Dawson Cram, two laps down
22. CJ McLaughlin, two laps down
23. Riley Herbst, two laps down
24. Joey Gase, two laps down
25. Garrett Smithley, two laps down
26. Leland Honeyman, three laps down
27. Anthony Alfredo, three laps down
28. Brennan Poole, three laps down
29. Rajah Caruth, three laps down
30. Ryan Sieg, four laps down
31. Nick Leitz, six laps down
32. Chandler Smith, 14 laps down
33. Blaine Perkins – OUT, Brakes
34. Daniel Hemric, 80 laps down
35. Sammy Smith – OUT, Accident, one lap led
36. Cole Custer – OUT, Accident, three laps led
37. Sam Mayer – OUT, Accident
38. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Accident
The 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs is set to commence next Friday, September 15, at Bristol Motor Speedway, with the event’s broadcast slated to occur at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
Denny Hamlin continued his Xfinity Series dominance at Darlington Raceway Saturday afternoon, claiming his sixth series victory at the track. The winning move came after a restart on Lap 147 of the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW forced the race into overtime, opening the door for Hamlin to overtake Austin Hill for the lead.
“I really needed some long runs,” said Hamlin, “but I didn’t really want to show everything that we had ’til the very end of the race there. We really did a good job of maintaining everything that we had.”
Hill, frustrated after the race, said, “I just need to go back to the drawing board and figure out what I’m doing wrong on the restarts there, because that was really frustrating all day today. It didn’t matter where I was restarting, I would buzz the tires really bad and just lose track position every time I’d do it.
“So I got to do a better job of that if I’m going to win a championship. All in all, solid for us. That’s kind of something that we’ve been preaching the last six races that if you can’t be first, be second. If you can’t be second, be third. We were second today, but it still stings a little bit when you want to win.”
John Hunter Nemechek had to settle for third after sweeping the first two stages and leading a race-high 99 laps as Cole Custer and Josh Berry rounded out the top five. Riley Herbst, Justin Allgaier, Sheldon Creed, Kyle Busch and Daniel Hemric completed the top-10 finishers.
Riley Herbst currently has a one-point lead over Parker Kligerman for the final playoff spot with only one race to go in the regular season. Unfortunately for Kligerman, contact with Sam Mayer during the race cost him multiple spots resulting in a disappointing 24th place finish.
The Xfinity Series regular-season finale is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 9 at Kansas Speedway at 3 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock with radio coverage provided by MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Amid early adversity by dropping to the rear of the field and serving a pass-through penalty for multiple pre-qualifying technical failures to his No. 7 JR Motorsports entry, Justin Allgaier rallied in thrilling fashion by surviving two overtime attempts and late on-track chaos to edge Sheldon Creed in a photo finish and win the Wawa 250 at Daytona International Speedway on Friday, August 25.
The 37-year-old Allgaier from Riverton, Illinois, led twice for 14 of 110 over-scheduled laps, including the final 12, in an event where he was one of five competitors who served a pass-through penalty through pit road following the opening lap and due to his entry failing pre-qualifying inspection three times. Being mired towards the rear of the field, Allgaier managed to methodically carve his way to the front amid the draft and tight-packed racing before he led for the first time with 15 laps remaining.
Following a caution period due to a multi-car wreck with eight laps remaining, Allgaier, who was then running on fumes to have enough fuel to the finish, reclaimed the lead at the start of a two-lap shootout when another multi-car wreck sent the event into an overtime attempt. Amid another multi-car wreck that sent the field into a second overtime attempt, where he managed to retain the lead, Allgaier then fended off late challenges from Parker Kligerman and Daniel Hemric before Sheldon Creed launched a final side-by-side duel on the final lap. With both drag-racing to the finish, Allgaier managed to edge Creed by 0.005 seconds to claim his second checkered flag of the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season and his first at Daytona.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Austin Hill started on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 182.719 mph in 49.256 seconds. Joining him on the front row was his Richard Childress Racing teammate Sheldon Creed, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 181.620 mph in 49.554 seconds.
Prior to the event, the following names that included Justin Allgaier, Jordan Anderson, Jeb Burton, rookie Parker Retzlaff and Ryan Sieg dropped to the rear of the field and were assessed pass-through penalties through pit road as a result of their respective entries failing pre-race technical inspection multiple times. Connor Mosack and Natalie Decker were also sent to the rear of the field for unapproved adjustments to their respective entries, but not assessed pass-through penalties.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, teammates Hill and Creed dueled for the lead entering the first turn until Hill muscled ahead from the outside lane. Hill then transitioned from the outside to the inside lane and back to the outside lane to defend his line and the lead while rookie Chandler Smith dueled and challenged rookie Sammy Smith for the lead. With the field running two by two and just as Allgaier, Anderson, Jeb Burton, Retzlaff and Ryan Sieg served their pass-through penalties, Hill proceeded to lead the first lap while Chandler Smith and Sammy Smith continued to duel for the runner-up spot.
Just past the third lap mark, Hill maintained the lead as he was running on the outside lane while Sammy Smith tried to challenge Hill for the lead on the inside lane as he had Creed following him while Chandler Smith and Daniel Hemric remained on the outside lane to assist Hill amid the draft.
Through the first five scheduled laps and with the field still running in two stacked lanes amid the draft, Hill was leading ahead of Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith, Hemric and Trevor Bayne while Creed, Sam Mayer, Parker Kligerman, Riley Herbst and Justin Haley were in the top 10. By then, Kaz Grala was in 11th ahead of Cole Custer, Anthony Alfredo, Josh Berry and John Hunter Nemechek while Brandon Jones, Brett Moffitt, Joe Graf Jr., Jeremy Clements and JJ Yeley occupied the top 20. In addition, the top 32 competitors were separated by three seconds.
A lap later, Sammy Smith gained a run beneath Hill entering the frontstretch and started to inch ahead, but Hill managed to regain his momentum and retain the top spot by a hair towards the start/finish line mark. Hill and Smith continued to duel for the top spot during the proceeding laps until Smith managed to lead a lap for himself on the eighth lap.
At the Lap 10 mark, Sammy Smith, who continued to duel against Hill for the lead, was leading by 0.003 seconds over Hill as the top-32 competitors were separated by five seconds amid the draft.
Five laps later, Hill, who reassumed the lead on Lap 11, retained the lead ahead of teammate Creed followed by Chandler Smith, Hemric and Alfredo while Mayer, Moffitt, Clements, Custer and Kligerman were in the top 10, with a majority of the field migrating to the outside lane behind Hill. Meanwhile, Herbst, who was running 31st, reported a steering issue to his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang, though he continued to run at full pace.
At Lap 20 and with nearly the entire field running in a long single file line on the outside lane, Hill, who had debris on his front grille, continued to lead ahead of Creed followed by Chandler Smith, Hemric and Alfredo while Moffitt, Clements, Mayer, Custer and Kligerman retained the top-10 spots in the running order. Shortly after, Mayer, who was running eighth, attempted to make a move to the front amid the draft as he transitioned from the outside to the inside lane, but he had no assistance from anyone as he dropped towards the top 15 on the track. With Kligerman also meeting the same fate as his move to the bottom lane did not prevail, Hill would retain the lead ahead of teammate Creed and Chandler Smith through the Lap 25 mark.
When the first stage concluded on Lap 30, Hill, who fended off a late surge from Chandler Smith through the backstretch as he maintained control of both lanes through Turns 3 and 4, claimed his fourth stage victory of the 2023 season. Creed edged Chandler Smith to settle in second while Moffitt, Alfredo, Brandon Jones, Hemric, Clements, Custer and Bayne were scored in the top 10. By then, Herbst blew a left-front tire and damaged his fender amid his steering issue as he limped his Ford back to pit road. The issue would place Herbst three laps behind the leaders despite continuing under full pace while his Playoff hopes were taking another hit amid on-track issues.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Hill pitted. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, Hill exited first ahead of Nemechek, Creed, Sammy Smith and Kligerman, all of whom took two tires, while sixth-place Chandler Smith was the first competitor to opt for four fresh tires ahead of teammate Hemric and Brandon Jones.
The second stage started on Lap 36 as teammates Hill and Creed occupied the front row. At the start, Nemechek gave Hill a push to muscle ahead of Creed which enabled Hill to maintain the lead. Hill then continued to run the outside lane in front of Nemechek, Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith while Creed was trying to fight back on the inside lane with drafting help from Kligerman. As the field fanned out to three lanes entering the frontstretch, Hill retained the lead.
By Lap 40, Creed gained a run on the inside lane with drafting help from Kligerman as he muscled ahead of Hill and led a lap for himself. A lap later and with the field fanned out to three lanes, the caution flew when Anthony Alfredo moved up the track and made contact with Brandon Jones who got loose and clipped Moffitt before both veered and collided against the outside wall towards the frontstretch. The incident triggered a multi-car wreck that involved Connor Mosack, Kyle Weatherman, Allgaier, Haley, Connor Mosack, Moffitt, Grala, Joe Graf Jr., Ryan Sieg, Natalie Decker and Alex Guenette. During the extensive caution period, some led by Berry pitted while the rest led by Creed remained on the track.
When the race restarted on Lap 50, which marked the halfway mark of this event, Creed received a shove from teammate Hill to muscle ahead from the outside lane ahead of Kligerman. Despite Kligerman drawing even with Creed through the backstretch, Creed fired back on top through Turns 3 and 4 and back to the frontstretch before Kligerman fought back during the following lap in Turn 1. Kligerman then received a huge push from Nemechek and Bayne through the backstretch to rocket ahead with the lead as he led the Lap 52 mark.
By Lap 53, however, Bayne, who was making his first of three Xfinity starts of the season while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, powered past Kligerman and emerged as the new leader while Kligerman and Chandler Smith battled for second in front of Nemechek, Creed, Hill and Hemric. Bayne would proceed to lead through and past the Lap 55 mark as the field settled in a long single-file line behind Bayne and towards the outside wall amid the draft.
Two laps later, Creed made his move beneath the inside lane and overtook Bayne to reassume the lead followed by teammate Hill and Kligerman. Hill then bailed on Creed as he assumed the lead. In the process, Bayne and Kligerman moved to second and third while Creed fell back to fourth in front of Sammy Smith and Hemric.
When the second stage concluded on Lap 60, Creed, who threw a big block on Custer through the backstretch before drawing even against teammate Hill through Turns 3 and 4, edged Hill by a fender to claim the stage victory, which marked his fourth of the 2023 season. Hill settled in second ahead of Custer, Sammy Smith and Hemric while Nemechek, Bayne, Kligerman, Mayer and Chandler Smith were scored in the top 10.
Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Creed pitted. Following the pit stops and another cycle of mixed strategies, Mayer, who nearly spun his car upon exiting his pit stall, exited first after opting for no fresh tires followed by Creed, who pitted for two fresh tires, as Allgaier, Hill, Sammy Smith, Custer and Berry followed suit. By then, Bayne, who exited pit road in 10th, was the first competitor who opted for four fresh tires.
With 34 laps remaining, the final stage started as Mayer and Creed occupied the front row. At the start, Mayer and Creed dueled for the lead entering the first turn until Creed muscled ahead from the inside lane with drafting help from teammate Hill while Mayer was trying to connect with teammate Allgaier from the outside lane. Creed and Hill, however, would prevail on the inside lane as they rocketed away from the field that fanned out to three stacked lanes through the frontstretch and during the proceeding lap.
With 30 laps remaining, Creed and Sammy Smith dueled for the lead in front of two stacked lanes as Creed had teammate Hill assisting him amid the draft while Smith had teammates Bayne and Nemechek along with Kligerman assisting him on the inside lane. Smith would prevail through the backstretch as he led the following lap before Creed returned the favor and reassumed the lead. By then, Smith, who nearly got turned by Hill through the backstretch, was deadlocked against Bayne for the runner-up spot until Bayne muscled ahead and started to challenge Creed for the lead with drafting help from Nemechek.
Five laps later, Bayne, who had been dueling against Creed during the previous few laps for the lead, had the top spot and both lanes to his control as he was ahead of teammates Nemechek and Sammy Smith amid two tight-packed lanes. Shortly after, Kligerman made a bold three-wide move on the backstretch to assume the runner-up spot as he settled behind Bayne while Creed dueled Sammy Smith for third in front of Nemechek and Hill. Teammates Sammy Smith and Nemechek would reclaim second and third during the following lap as they both settled behind Bayne amid the draft. Nemechek and Smith, however, would both get shuffled out of the draft with 22 laps remaining as Kligerman reclaimed second while Creed, Mayer, Hill and Allgaier were in the top six.
With 20 laps remaining, Bayne, trying to block both lanes, was still leading ahead of Creed and Kligerman while Hill, Mayer and Allgaier joined the battle toward the front. Two laps later, Mayer muscled ahead beneath Bayne to lead a lap for himself before Bayne fought back on the outside lane. With Bayne having Creed pushing him from the outside lane, Mayer had teammate Allgaier assisting him on the inside lane as Jeb Burton charged his way into the top five along with Creed, Kligerman and Nemechek.
Five laps later, Allgaier, who received a huge push from Bayne through the backstretch, managed to duel and overtake teammate Mayer to lead and muscle ahead of the pack that fanned out to three tight lanes. With Allgaier leading, he then blocked teammate Mayer to defend the spot and maintain control of both lanes as Bayne also tried to fight back with drafting help from Creed. Bayne would then draw even against Allgaier through Turns 3 and 4 before sliding in front of Allgaier and reassuming the lead with 13 laps remaining. With Bayne back out in front ahead of Allgaier and Creed, Hill pushed Kligerman to fourth while Mayer was getting shuffled out of the top five. With Hill cracking back in the top three, he gave teammate Creed the assistance needed to reassume a brief lead from Bayne with 12 laps remaining before Bayne fought back and dueled with Creed for the lead.
Dow to the final 10 laps of the event, Bayne was leading by 0.027 seconds ahead of Creed with Allgaier, Hill and Kligerman running in the top five while Chandler Smith, Hemric, Mayer, Alfredo and Jeb Burton were battling in the top 10. By then, Sammy Smith and Nemechek were back in the top 12 while Custer and Berry were mired outside the top 15.
Then two laps later, the caution flew when Jeb Burton, who was running in the top 10, veered sideways entering Turns 3 and 4 and despite trying to keep his car straight, he ended up spinning before making contact with the outside wall. Amid Burton’s wreck, more issues ensued behind the lead pack as Haley got hit by Caesar Bacarella as he spun while Ryan Ellis also spun and pounded the inside wall towards the pit road entrance head-on while Bacarella plowed his damaged car through the frontstretch grass. At the moment of caution, Bayne retained the lead after executing a bold block on Hill through Turns 3 and 4 as Allgaier, Hill, Kligerman and Chandler Smith were scored in the top five.
During the caution period, some like Custer, Berry, Moffitt, Clements, Ryan Sieg, Garrett Smithley and Blaine Perkins pitted while the rest led by Bayne remained on the track.
With the event restarting with two laps remaining, where Bayne and Allgaier occupied the front row front of Kligerman and Hill, Allgaier and Bayne dueled for the lead exiting the backstretch until Hill tried to make a move to the outside of Bayne. As Bayne tried to block Hill, his late move ended up being costly as Bayne got turned into the outside wall and ignited a chain reaction multi-car wreck with Chandler Smith getting bumped by teammate Hemric and turned into Nemechek and Mayer, who spun and clipped Bayne’s No. 19 He Gets Us Toyota Supra as Bayne then clipped teammate Nemechek in the process and destroyed his rear deck lid, as Sammy Smith, JJ Yeley and Jeffrey Earnhardt sustained damage to their respective entries. Amid the wreck that eliminated most of the front-runners, Allgaier escaped with the race lead followed by Kligerman, Retzlaff, Hemric and Creed. The wreck also sent the event into overtime.
During the first overtime attempt, where Allgaier and Kligerman occupied the front row, Allgaier muscled ahead in his No. 7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro with a narrow lead over Kligerman’s No. 48 Spiked Coolers Chevrolet Camaro as the field started to fan out exiting the frontstretch and entering the first turn. Allgaier and Kligerman dueled for the top spot through Turns 1 and 2 before Allgaier started to inch ahead with drafting help from Creed on the inside lane. Then through the backstretch, the caution returned and the event was sent into a second overtime attempt when Blaine Perkins got loose and turned into Josh Williams, who spun and clipped Berry into a spin before he hit the outside wall head-on as his car briefly got airborne after then getting hit by Nemechek’s No. 20 Yahoo! Toyota Supra, whose event came to a fiery end. Bayne, Clements and Moffitt were also involved in the wreck as their runs came to a late end.
For the second overtime attempt, Allgaier surged ahead on the inside lane while Hemric and Kligerman battled for the runner-up spot. As the field fanned out through the first two turns and the backstretch, Hemric and Kligerman appeared to have formed a two-car tandem behind Allgaier before Kligerman made a move to Hemric’s outside. This allowed Allgaier to maintain the lead as Creed drafted Kligerman away from Hemric with more momentum coming to the outside lane.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Allgaier remained as the leader over Kligerman, Creed and the field through the frontstretch. With the event remaining under green flag conditions as Kaz Grala spun towards the frontstretch, Creed made his move into the runner-up spot amid a tight battle with Kligerman while Allgaier was left to fend off both lanes by himself as he was pulling away from the field.
Then through the backstretch, Creed gained a draft from Hemric to make his move to Allgaier’s outside as both dueled for the top spot through Turns 3 and 4. With the field approaching the frontstretch while Jordan Anderson and Berry wrecked behind, Allgaier managed to surge ahead and edge Creed’s No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro by 0.005 seconds to claim his first victory at Daytona.
With the victory, Allgaier scored his 21st career victory in the Xfinity Series, his first since winning at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May and his first at Daytona in his 26th series start as he became the fifth series regular to achieve multiple victories this season. The victory was the fourth of the season for JR Motorsports, the team’s eighth at Daytona and the 13th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate.
“I’ve been coming to this place for a long time,” Allgaier, who celebrated on the frontstretch with his team, said on USA Network. “I’ve wanted to win here so bad and we’ve been so close. This team, I just can’t say enough. [Crew chief] Jim Pohlman, everybody on this No. 7 team, everybody at JR Motorsports. Our Hellmann’s Camaro was awesome tonight. To come through the adversity we had to come through and to not really be sure what we were going to have there at the end. We did all the things we needed to do. The team never quit, never gave up and we rallied. Obviously, we put ourselves in good position. Man, it’s special. This is Daytona. This is one of the iconic places in the world and I’m just so thankful to be here.”
Despite finishing in the runner-up spot for the fifth time in his Xfinity career and second in recent weeks after falling short a week ago at Watkins Glen International, Creed remained optimistic over his strong run throughout the night as he is 60 points above the top-12 cutline to make the 2023 Xfinity Series Playoffs with two regular-season events remaining on the schedule.
“We have some momentum, finally,” Creed said. “Back-to-back second places. I’m cleaning it up and doing better myself. Just putting races together. I thought we killed it tonight. [Finished] second [in] Stage 1, won Stage 2…Just an amazing night for us. Good points night for us, so we’re gonna make the Playoffs this year and we’re gonna keep fighting for these good finishes. It’s a good time to be heating up.”
Hemric came home in third place for his fifth top-five finish of the season followed by Kligerman, who nabbed his sixth top-five result of the season and coming off the announcement that he will be remaining at Big Machine Racing for the 2024 season. Hemric’s run currently places him 57 points above the top-12 cutline to make the 2023 Xfinity Playoffs while Kligerman was able to crack the top-12 cutline and be 20 points within the cutline amid Herbst’s issues as Herbst ended up 24th, two laps down.
Cole Custer finished fifth while Ryan Sieg, Parker Retzlaff, Alfredo, Gray Gaulding and Haley completed the top 10 on the track.
There were 20 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 32 laps. In addition, 19 of 38 starters finished on the lead lap.
With two Xfinity regular-season events remaining on the schedule, Austin Hill continues to lead the regular-season standings by 27 points over Justin Allgaier and 28 over John Hunter Nemechek.
Results.
1. Justin Allgaier, 14 laps led
2. Sheldon Creed, 21 laps led, Stage 2 winner
3. Daniel Hemric
4. Parker Kligerman, one lap led
5. Cole Custer, one lap led
6. Ryan Sieg
7. Parker Retzlaff
8. Anthony Alfredo
9. Gray Gaulding
10. Justin Haley
11. Jeffrey Earnhardt
12. Jeb Burton
13. Kyle Sieg
14. Joey Gase
15. Jordan Anderson
16. Garrett Smithley
17. Josh Berry
18. Brett Moffitt
19. Sam Mayer, six laps led
20. Kaz Grala, one lap down
21. Sammy Smith, one lap down, four laps led
22. Chandler Smith, one lap down, one lap led
23. Austin Hill, one lap down, 36 laps led, Stage 1 winner
24. Riley Herbst, two laps down
25. Blaine Perkins, two laps down
26. Jeremy Clements – OUT, Accident
27. Josh Williams – OUT, Accident
28. John Hunter Nemechek – OUT, Accident
29. Trevor Bayne – OUT, Accident, 26 laps led
30. JJ Yeley – OUT, Accident
31. Caesar Bacarella – OUT, Accident
32. Ryan Ellis – OUT, Accident
33. Kyle Weatherman – OUT, Dvp
34. Joe Graf Jr. – OUT, Dvp
35. Natalie Decker – OUT, Accident
36. Brandon Jones – OUT, Accident
37. Connor Mosack – OUT, Accident
38. Alex Guenette – OUT, Accident
Next on the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the series’ second and final visit of this season to Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, September 2, during Labor Day weekend at 3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.
This weekend the NASCAR Cup Series travels to Daytona International Speedway for the regular season finale to determine the 16-driver field of the Playoffs. There is only one available spot, currently held by 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, based on points earned.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs, in 17th place, is 32 points behind Wallace and Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez is 43 points back. If Wallace has a bad day at the track either driver could mathematically earn their way into the Playoffs. And we can’t forget the 14 other drivers who could score their first win of the year and claim the final spot.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Daytona with only three races remaining in the regular season. Eight drivers have already secured a spot in the 12-driver postseason field, including Austin Hill, John Hunter Nemechek, Justin Allgaier, Cole Custer, Sam Mayer, Chandler Smith, Sammy Smith and Jeb Burton.
Milwaukee Mile Speedway will host the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Sunday afternoon for the first time in 14 years as their postseason continues with the second race in the Round of 10. Ty Majeski won the first event at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on August 11 and will automatically advance to the Round of 8 at Bristol Motor Speedway on September 14.
All times are Eastern.
Friday, August 25
3 p.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying (Daytona) Impound (Single Vehicle/1 Lap/2 Rounds) NBC Sports App
5:05 p.m.: Cup Series Qualifying (Daytona) Impound (Single Vehicle/1 Lap/2 Rounds) USA/MRN/SiriusXM/NBC Sports App
7:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series Wawa 250 powered by Coca-Cola (Daytona) Stages 30/60/100 Laps = 250 Miles USA/MRN/SiriusXM/NBC Sports App
Saturday, August 26
2 p.m.: Truck Series Practice (All Entries) at Milwaukee – No TV 3 p.m.: ARCA Menards Series Practice (All Entries) at Milwaukee – No TV 4 p.m.: ARCA Menards Series Qualifying at Milwaukee Impound (Timed, All Entries) No TV
7 p.m.: Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 (Daytona) Stages 35/95/160 Laps = 400 Miles NBC/Peacock/MRN/SiriusXM
Sunday, August 17
11:30 a.m.: Truck Series Qualifying (Milwaukee) Impound (Single Vehicle/1 Lap/All Entries) FS2
1 p.m.: ARCA Sprecher 150 (Milwaukee) 150 LAPS = 152.25 Miles – FS1/MRN
4 p.m.: Truck Series Clean Harbors 175 (Milwaukee) Stages 55/110/175 Laps = 177.625 Miles FS1/MRN/SiriusXM
NASCAR Press Pass will be available throughout the weekend.
Notes:
Cup Series Purse: $8,778,583 Xfinity Series Purse: $1,640,749 Truck Series Purse: $644,030
