John Hunter Nemechek Wins His First Xfinity Race at Kansas

Nigel Kinrade

KANSAS CITY, KS – RIS – John Hunter Nemechek took the lead after a caution with eight laps to go and went on to get his first NASCAR Xfinity Series win in the Kansas Lottery 300 on Saturday.  Nemechek took the checkered flag 5.200 seconds ahead of Daniel Hemric to win at Kansas Speedway, the venue where his father, Joe Nemechek, won his final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race in 2004.

Nemechek fell behind Hemric after sliding through his pit box during a green-flag stop on Lap 150 (of 200), but he caught a break when Vinnie Miller stalled near the exit from pit road to cause the seventh and final caution on Lap 164. He started from sixth place on the restart and passed Hemric for good after a side-by-side battle on Lap 171.

“When that caution came, I knew we had a chance,” Nemechek said. “Luckily, Daniel and I raced each other hard and clean all day. We got the track position, and this thing was on rails today. I feel like we’ve been contending for wins all year. We just haven’t pulled through.

“To check the first one off—that’s the hardest one to get. Hopefully, we can go on. We’re racing for the owners’ championship at Homestead.”

When the race started, a multi-car accident that was almost like Talladega’s “Big Ones,” took out most of the championship and contender cars.

Third-place starter Justin Allgaier, second in points, got loose in the second corner on Lap 1 and clipped the No. 20 Toyota of series leader Christopher Bell, turning Bell’s car into the outside wall. Allgaier’s No. 7 Chevrolet bounced off Bell’s Camry like a pinball and collected the No. 22 Ford of Playoff driver Austin Cindric.

Allgaier and Cindric were unable to continue. Bell’s team tried in vain to repair his Toyota, but Bell retired after completing two laps. Also damaged in the first-lap incident was the No. 00 Ford of Cole Custer, which fell 10 laps down while his team tried to fix the power steering.

The wreck wiped out the Playoff point advantage Bell and Allgaier held at the start of the Round of 8. Bell, Allgaier and Cindric finished 37th, 38th and 39th, respectively.

Hemric, who led 128 laps, leaves Kansas as the series leader, 23 points above the cut line. Allgaier dropped below the Playoff cut line behind Matt Tifft in fifth. Bell stayed one point to the good Tifft, who finished sixth on Saturday as one of eight drivers on the lead lap.

All the carnage helped soon-to-retire Elliott Sadler. Sadler ran third to hold second in the standings, very much alive in his quest to win a first championship in his last season of full-time competition. Tyler Reddick, Sadler’s JR Motorsports teammate, came home fourth and is third in the series standings.

Kansas Speedway - Kansas City, KS - 1.5 Mile Paved
Total Race Length - 200 Laps - 300 Miles
Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Stage 1 Pos Stage 2 Pos Pts Status Tms Laps Playoff Pts
1 13 42 John Hunter Nemechek Fire Alarm Services Inc. Chevrolet 200 2 1 59 Running 2 64 6
2 1 21 Daniel Hemric (P) South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet 200 1 2 54 Running 5 128 1
3 11 1 Elliott Sadler (P) Textron Off Road Wildcat XX Chevrolet 200 5 4 47 Running 1 2
4 8 3 Shane Lee Childress Vineyards Chevrolet 200 4 6 45 Running
5 6 9 Tyler Reddick # (P) BurgerFi Chevrolet 200 6 3 45 Running 1 2
6 9 2 Matt Tifft (P) American Ethanol e 15/ Sorghum Chevrolet 200 7 5 41 Running 1 2
7 16 16 Ryan Reed Drive Down A1C Lilly Diabetes Ford 200 8 8 36 Running
8 18 60 Ty Majeski Ford Ford 200 7 33 Running
9 19 39 Ryan Sieg Frank Foster 'Til I'm Gone Chevrolet 199 9 30 Running
10 40 51 Jeremy Clements RepairableVehicles.com Chevrolet 199 27 Running
11 14 11 Ryan Truex LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet 198 9 10 29 Running
12 27 36 Alex Labbe # AlphaPrimeUSA.com Chevrolet 197 25 Running
13 23 0 Garrett Smithley teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 196 10 25 Running
14 31 15 Quin Houff teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 196 23 Running
15 20 35 Joey Gase Absarokatuff.com Chevrolet 195 22 Running
16 33 40 Chad Finchum # Smithbilt Homes/The Preserve Toyota 195 21 Running
17 34 52 David Starr Wilkerson Crane Rental Chevrolet 194 20 Running
18 32 8 Ja Junior Avila ART General Contractor LLC / JW Transport LLC 193 19 Running
19 35 76 Spencer Boyd # Grunt Style Chevrolet 192 18 Running
20 37 45 Josh Bilicki # Prevagen/GNC Toyota 191 17 Running
21 7 18 Ryan Preece Craftsman Toyota 189 3 24 Running
22 36 78 Vinnie Miller # CorvetteParts.net Chevrolet 189 15 Running
23 29 01 BJ McLeod teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 189 14 Running
24 28 90 Josh Williams Sleep Well/Star Tron Chevrolet 187 13 Running 1 2
25 22 4 Ross Chastain teamjdmotorsports.com Chevrolet 182 12 Running
26 10 00 Cole Custer (P) Haas Automation Ford 181 11 Running
27 30 66 Bobby Earnhardt HABCO Toyota 133 10 Fuel Pump
28 38 74 Mike Harmon The Journey Home Project Chevrolet 129 9 Running
29 39 38 Angela Ruch Connecting Families Chevrolet 98 8 Oil Leak
30 12 98 Chase Briscoe Nutri Chomps Ford 79 7 Suspension
31 25 13 Timmy Hill OCR Gaz Bar Toyota 54 6 Vibration
32 24 99 Stephen Leicht Chevrolet 26 5 Steering
33 17 23 Spencer Gallagher Allegiant Chevrolet 24 4 Accident
34 26 93 Jeff Green RSS Racing Chevrolet 16 3 Rear Gear
35 21 37 JJ Yeley RSS Racing Chevrolet 16 2 Brakes
36 5 19 Brandon Jones Game Plan For Life Toyota 12 1 Accident
37 2 20 Christopher Bell # (P) Rheem Toyota 2 1 Accident
38 3 7 Justin Allgaier (P) BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet 1 1 Accident
39 4 22 Austin Cindric # (P) Menards/Richmond Ford 0 1 Accident
40 15 5 Michael Annett Pilot Flying J Chevrolet 0 1 Accident
Time of Race: 02 Hrs, 31 Mins, 16 Secs. Average Speed: 118.995 MPH Margin of Victory: 5.200 Seconds

Ron Fleshman

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2018, Issue 10, Posted 8:07 PM, 10.21.2018