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John Hunter Nemechek led a dominating 198 of 250 laps to win Saturday night’s Call811.com Before You Dig 250 – beating his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Sammy Smith by 1.518 seconds to claim his second NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the season 2023 and his first win of the season to earn his first series start at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
25-year-old Nemechek of Mooresville, NC, finally took the lead in a race restart with 32 laps remaining after winning the first two stages of the race. He, Smith and third-place finisher Cole Custer were class of the field all night, driving a version of 1-2-3 for most of the race.
Smith was able to slip past Custer on the final lap to take second place.
As Nemechek drove his No. 20 JGR Toyota to the front track for a traditional burnout celebration, he literally briefly set the track on fire – perhaps a fitting finale to his hot night behind the wheel. Not only did he win the race, but he also won the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash Incentive award presented by series sponsor Xfinity.
“I can’t say enough about this whole team, if you asked me yesterday if we won I thought we were a 10th place car in practice,” said Nemechek, whose car was ironically sponsored by a fire extinguisher (Pye Barker Fire & Safety). “I’m just grateful the guys made the right adjustments.
“Let’s party.”
Despite Nemechek’s car being so good that night, there was still plenty of convincing wheel-to-wheel competition behind him. Fourth-placed Josh Berry, for example, was setting the second-highest lap count (27) – his No.8 JR Motorsport Chevrolet was looking particularly strong until a mid-race tire situation forced a lengthy pit stop. However, he rallied back through the field to claim his seventh consecutive top 10 finish in the year, which was the longest streak of his career.
Berry’s JR Motorsports teammate Brandon Jones was fifth – his first top 10 of the season in the No. 9 JRM Chevrolet – followed by another teammate, Justin Allgaier, who was able to keep his No. 7 JRM Chevy in the leading group of cars despite not feeling himself comfortable and finished the race on much older tires than the rest of the leading group.
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Nemechek – who has both stage wins – Smith, Custer and Berry are now eligible for the next installment of the $100,000 Xfinity Dash 4 Cash Award – next week at Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. The best-placed rider out of those four gets the big check.
“Congratulations to them, they were the best car all night,” Smith said.
Kaulig Racing teammates Daniel Hemric and Derek Kraus, AM Racing’s Brett Moffitt and Kaulig’s Chandler Smith rounded out the top 10.
Austin Hill – who leads all riders with three wins this season – was 16th and with Nemechek’s win, the second-generation rider takes the points lead, 21 points clear of Hill.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series is transitioning from the sport’s shortest track to the sport’s longest track — Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, where it will compete against the Ag-Pro 300 (4:00 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Results Call811.com Before you dig. 250
Martinsville Speedway
Martinsville, Virginia
Saturday April 15, 2023
1. (2) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 250.
2. (7) Sammy Smith #, Toyota, 250.
3. (1) Cole Custer, Ford, 250.
4. (6) Josh Berry, Chevrolet, 250.
5. (10) Brandon Jones, Chevrolet, 250.
6. (8) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 250.
7. (13) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet, 250.
8. (12) Derek Kraus, Chevrolet, 250.
9. (16) Brett Moffitt, Ford, 250.
10. (11) Kramer Smith #, Chevrolet, 250.
11. (4) Parker Retzlaff #, Chevrolet, 250.
12. (14) Ryan Truex, Toyota, 250.
13. (23) Blaine Perkins #, Chevrolet, 250.
14. (31) Jeb Burton, Chevrolet, 250.
15. (19) Kaz Grala, Toyota, 250.
16. (15) Austin Hill, Chevrolet, 250.
17. (21) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 250.
18. (17) Ryan Victory, Ford, 250.
19. (20) Josh Williams, Chevrolet, 250.
20. (25) Jeffrey Earnhardt, Chevrolet, 250.
21. (36) Patrick Emerling, Toyota, 250.
22. (26) Matt Mills(i), Ford, 250.
23. (37) Gray Gaulding, Ford, 250.
24. (38) Anthony Alfredo, Chevrolet, 250.
25. (30) Leland Honeyman, Chevrolet, 250.
26. (24) Alex Labbe, Chevrolet, 250.
27. (3) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 250.
28. (35) Ryan Ellis, Chevrolet, 249.
29. (32) Brennan Poole, Chevrolet, 246.
30. (9) Riley Herbst, Ford, Accident, 222.
31. (5) Sam Mayer, Chevrolet, accident, 221.
32. (22) Jeremy Clements, Chevrolet, accident, 210.
33. (18) Connor Mosack, Toyota, 205.
34. (27) Kyle Weatherman, Chevrolet, suspension, 198.
35. (28) Kyle Victory, Ford, Accident, 145.
36. (29) Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, Accident, 143.
37. (34) Joe Graf Jr., Ford, Accident, 133.
38. (33) Kaden Honeycutt(i), Chevrolet, engine, 83.
Average speed of race winner: 59.398 mph.
Race time: 2 hours 12 minutes 50 seconds. Margin of Victory: Attention seconds.
Warning flags: 10 for 82 rounds.
Lead change: 7 out of 6 drivers.
Round leaders: C. Custer 1-5;J. Nemechek 6-65; A. hills 66-73;J. berry 74-100;p. Smith #101-106;J. Nemechek 107-211;J. Allgaier 212-217; J. Nemechek 218-250.
Leading Summary (drivers, times in the lead, laps completed): John Hunter Nemechek 3 times for 198 laps; Josh Berry 1 time for 27 rounds; Austin Hill 1 time for 8 rounds; Justin Allgaier 1 time for 6 rounds; Sammy Smith #1 time for 6 laps; Cole Custer 1 time for 5 rounds.
Tier #1 Top Ten: 20,18,00,1,98,7,11,16,31,9
Tier #2 Top Ten: 20,8,00,18,11,9,19,98,16,10