By AMANDA VINCENT
John Hunter Nemechek claimed his seventh win of the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season Saturday in the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. With his latest win, Nemechek joined Justin Allgaier in clinching berths in the round of eight of the Xfinity Series playoffs by virtue of round of 12 race wins.
“Preparing for the round of eight. My goal coming into today was to lock ourselves in to the next round,l Nemechek said. “Our road courses haven’t been very great with me this year. Joe Gibbs Racing, as an organization, has been really good on road courses, but going into the Roval and not having to worry about that is definitely a relief. We are still going to go there and try to play strategy, try to win the race and get some more playoff points, but focus on Vegas, Miami and Martinsville and, then, on to Phoenix.”
Nemechek took his race-winning lead from Allgaier on lap 195 of the 200-lap race. Allgaier wound up fifth after leading a race-high 133 laps.
Parker Kligerman finished second after taking the position from Allgaier on lap 196. Sammy Smith and Chandler Smith finished third and fourth, respectively.
Allgaier was the leader when the yellow flag waved for Jeffrey Earnhardt on lap 108. But on the lap-115 restart, Cole Custer took the lead as Allgaier fell outside the top-10 because of contact.
Allgaier and Daniel Hemric pitted during a lap-119 caution for Dawson Cram and were among those who still hadn’t pitted under green when the yellow flag interrupted a green-flag cycle of stops on lap 160 when Daniel Dye spun.
Nemechek was the leader before the cycle of stops, having taken the lead from Custer on the lap-125 restart from the Cram caution.
Allgaier was one of only seven drivers on the lead lap and was the leader at the time of the Dye caution. Allgaier pitted under yellow and maintained his lead.
Drivers who pitted under green got back on the lead lap by taking the wave-around during the Dye caution. By lap 172, Nemechek was up to second, but he gave up that spot to pit during a lap-180 caution for debris.
When the race restarted on lap 184, the yellow was displayed again, for the 12th and final time in the race, for J.J. Yeley and Kaz Grala.
“Well, I messed up that final restart,” Nemechek said. “It bounced out of third gear. That one was on me. I knew that I had to push hard and try to recover, right there, but hats off to the 20 team, Joe Gibbs Racing. It is absolutely amazing what we’ve been able to accomplish, so far, this year, and I don’t think we are done yet. We set a lot of goals with this 20 team coming into this year and still yet to accomplish all of those, but win number seven – Romco back in victory lane here in Texas. Thank you to Toyota, TRD, Pye-Barker – all of our great sponsors that help us out. This thing at the end was as fast as Xfinity 10 G, that’s for sure. The best thing is there is some great fans here, and thank you, every single one of you for coming out and supporting us. Penelope (Nemechek’s daughter) is here. One of the first times that she has travelled to the race track with Taylor (Nemechek’s wife), Aspen (Nemechek’s daughter) and me. First victory lane for her; let’s go.”
Allgaier won the 45-lap opening stage after starting on the pole and dominating the stage. Austin Hill was second at the end of stage one.
Allgaier put Sheldon Creed a lap down just before taking the stage win, but as the first driver scored off the lead lap, Creed got that lap back during the caution that followed the stage.
The yellow flag waved twice in the first 15 laps of the race. The first caution came on lap two after Riley Herbst and Sam Mayer hit the wall on the opening lap in separate incidents. Both drivers, then, went to the garage, retiring from the race. The second caution was a result of a lap-11 crash involving Layne Riggs, Patrick Emerling and Joe Graf Jr.
Hemric clipped the infield grass on lap 19 and damaged his splitter, but the race remained under the green flag. Hemric struggled the remainder of the race.
Allgaier completed a stage sweep with a stage-two win on lap 90. Custer was second.
Custer led significant laps in the second stage after getting off pit road second following stage one and taking the lead from Allgaier on the lap-53 restart. Allgaier retook the lead on a lap-64 restart that followed a lap-56 caution for Brennan Poole and Joey Gase.
Another caution, the fifth of the race, came out for Earnhardt just after Allgaier retook the lead.
Allgaier maintained his lead on pit road after stage two while Josh Williams gave his seat up to Stefan Parsons and Jeb Burton lost a wheel on the track under caution.
Custer retook the lead on the lap-98 restart. Before the lap was completed, the yellow flag came back out for a crash involving Josh Berry and Trevor Bayne. Hill and Kyle Weatherman also were collected. Allgaier retook the lead on the lap-105 restart.
Other top-10 finishers Saturday included Custer in sixth, Hill seventh, Creed eighth, Brandon Jones ninth and Brett Moffitt in 10th.
